Mark’s version of the resurrection.

Mark 16.1-9 KWL

1 After Sabbath finished, Mary the Magdalene,

Mary James’s mother, and Salome

buy fragrances so they can anoint Jesus

when they come to his sepulcher.

2 Very early, on the first day of the week,

the women go to the sepulcher at sunrise.

3 They’re saying to themselves, “Who will roll away for us

the stone at the sepulcher door?”

4 As they look, they see the stone was rolled away

—for it’s very big.

 

5 As they enter the sepulcher they see a “young man”

sitting on the right, clothed in a white robe.

They’re alarmed.

6 The “young man” tells them, “Don’t be alarmed.

You seek the crucified Jesus the Nazarene.

He is risen! He’s not here. Look at the place he was put.

7 But go; tell Jesus’s students and Simon Peter this:

‘He goes before you to the Galilee.

You’ll see him there, like he told you.’ ”

 

8 Coming out, the women flee the sepulcher,

for they’re shaking and ecstatic.

They say nothing to no one, for they’re afraid.

This is all Mark has about Jesus’s resurrection. Seriously: The book ends with καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπαν· ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ/ke udení udén eínan—efovúnto yár, “and nothing to no one they say, for they be afraid.” Done. The end.

Since it’s kind of a sucky ending, Christians came up with two better ones. One is the Short Ending, which I’m gonna include here. The other is the Long Ending, which I’ll discuss later. You’ll find the Long Ending in the King James Version and most bibles. No, Mark didn’t write either of them; they were written centuries later. Even so, Christians are agreed both of them are scripture. (I’ll come back to that.) And now, the Short Ending:

Mark 16.9 KWL [Short Ending]

[The women concisely inform those with Peter

everything the “young man” commanded.

After these things, Jesus himself sends them forth

from the place of sunrise to the place of sunset,

with the holy and immortal message

of salvation in the age to come.

Amen!]