Mark 16 - The Empty Tomb Makes Christianity True!
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Jesus Has Risen
16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
Like Simon of Cyrene, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea, the women who followed Jesus played a part in the events around Jesus' death. This was part of the way they worked out their grief. The women were on the way to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week. This was is what we now know as Sunday, which we now call the Day of Resurrection. This is why we have church on Sunday.
The only question was who would roll away the huge stone so they could anoint Jesus' body? It would be humanly impossible for them to do this.
"The earliest the women could go to the tomb and properly embalm the body of Jesus was on Sunday morning. Sabbath was over at the start of Saturday evening, but it wasn’t light enough until Sunday morning to do the work. The time from sundown on Friday to sunrise on Sunday must have been dark, empty, desperate days for the disciples." - Guzik
The women were not expecting to find an empty tomb. They came wondering how the stone door would be opened. This shows that the resurrection accounts cannot be the product of wishful thinking. The disciples of Jesus did not expect it to happen.
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
The tomb was supernaturally opened for them. They saw a young man in a white robe sitting on the right side which alarmed them. Many think he was an angel. The angel was the first one to proclaim the good news that Jesus was risen from the dead, just like he said he would. The empty tomb was proof that Jesus rose from the dead.
The empty tomb gives a plausible and logical witness to the truth of Christianity. Some have theorized the disciples could have taken the body of Jesus to cause the tomb to be empty, but this couldn't have happened for several reasons.
1. They were dejected and forlorn, and they all went back to their homes. There is nothing to indicate they were emotionally or physically ready to do this.
2. Even if they could have rolled away the stone, why would they steal the body? It would only prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Since Jesus told them several times he would die on the cross but be raised three days later, to find a dead Jesus would have made Jesus a liar.
3. We know the disciples died for their faith in Jesus' as they shared the Good News with the world. Would they have died for a lie? Very few people would die for the truth, but the likelihood of dying for lie is virtually non-existent.
The only logical conclusion is Jesus did rise from the dead like he said he would. He was not a liar, He is the Lord.
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Many who prefer the shorter ending of Mark are left with this as the closing verse. If this were the end of the gospel it would leave a lot of unknowns, which is probably why Mark 16:9-20 were added. These verses are pretty similar to the endings in Luke and Matthew, except for the part about picking up snakes and drinking poison. Also verse 2 and verse 9 are redundant which is problematic.
Generally speaking those who do textual criticism (deciding which manuscripts are the most accurate to use) favor the shorter ending, because it is more likely that someone would have added material then subtracted it. This is especially true because Mark was the earliest gospel written and both Matthew and Luke were written after it. So once Matthew and Luke's gospel were circulated someone might have wanted to add verses 9-20 onto Mark's gospel to make it consistent with the other two. For this reason I prefer the shorter ending.
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