To the end and back

The crucifixion. The centurion's confession. The women at the cross. The burial. The empty tomb. Mark's gospel ends at 16v8 with the women silent and afraid — and the resurrection witness handed to them, and through them to us.

Pre-session video

This is the last session of the course. Mark 15v21–16v8 covers the final twelve hours of Jesus' life and the morning after: the path to Golgotha and the crucifixion (15v21–32); the death and the centurion's confession (15v33–39); the women watching from a distance (15v40–41); the burial by Joseph of Arimathea (15v42–47); and the empty tomb (16v1–8). Most Bibles print verses 9 through 20 too — the so-called longer ending — but the earliest manuscripts close at 16v8, with the women fleeing in terror and saying nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. The course reads what Mark wrote.

Three things to watch for

The first is the centurion (15v39). A Roman officer, standing at the foot of the cross, watches Jesus die and says truly this man was God's Son. The first human in Mark's gospel to confess Jesus as the Son of God is not a disciple, not a religious authority, not a Jew; he is a Roman soldier — an officer in the army of the empire that is just then killing him. Mark places this confession deliberately. The gospel that opened in 1v1 with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God reaches its first human confession of the title at the foot of the cross. Discipleship in Mark is cross-shaped from the inside; the centurion sees it because he is watching the cross happen.

The second is the women at the cross and the tomb (15v40–41; 16v1–8). When the male disciples have fled and Peter has denied, the women are there. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome — Mark names them. They watch from a distance; they buy spices; they come to the tomb at dawn. They are the first witnesses of the resurrection. The gospel hands the work of bearing witness to women whose voices have been quietly central all along. The Markan women teach the church what to honour in those who follow Jesus today: the touch in the crowd, the broken jar, the steady watching from a distance, the dawn walk to anoint a body.

The third is the ending. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. The Greek ends, abruptly, with the word gar — for — which is almost grammatically impossible to end a sentence with, let alone a gospel. The gospel does not resolve. The reader is left holding the ending. Mark's argument, on the Myers reading we have followed through the course, is that the resurrection is not on the page because it is in your hands. The women's silence is the place the church is invited to break. The gospel hands the reader the work.

Exegetical key video

Practice for the week

Three to choose from, or write your own. Sit with the line they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid; ask where in your own discipleship the silence has been, and what speaking would cost. Or: go back to Galilee in your own life — the place where the calling first came — and look for the risen Christ there, where the gospel says he has gone ahead. Or: name one person whose witness has been quiet and steady through the year, the way the Markan women were quietly steady; honour them, or thank them, before this week is out.

Materials for this session

Facilitator brief, participant workbook, and slides are available to facilitators and pilot participants on request; final downloadable versions will appear here once permissions on the scripture text settle.