February 11, 2026

Sunday morning

Mark 16:1-8

It is after the conclusion of the Sabbath, that three women come to the tomb to complete the burial in proper fashion.  Jesus is not there, and they are instead met by a young man, in the tomb, whom we would interpret is a heavenly being, an angel. 

The women are alarmed, but this messenger tells them not to be.  He tells them that Jesus has been raised, and has gone to Galilee, where they will see him. 

They run from the tomb, in a mixture of terror and amazement, and Mark tells us that they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

That is the end of the Gospel of Mark.  Now I know, if you are looking at the text, then you see an additional twelve verses.  But scholars think that this was the original ending of the gospel, because the style of those additional verses is different than these eight verses.  But it is certainly an unsatisfying ending, with no sharing, no announcement, no nothing.  Some scholars speculate that some additional verses were lost.  In my Bible, there are two additional sentences between verses 8 and 9 that seems to offer some sense of completion, with mention of the news coming to Peter and the others, and then the universal sharing of the message of salvation.  This seems to be an attempt to provide a more satisfying ending.  And, of course, in the next installment here we will look at those additional twelve verses.

But it is interesting to note in this first ending of Mark that the disciples are not involved in the story at all.  In addition, the reunion with Jesus will be in Galilee, not as we see it in Jerusalem in the other gospels.  Small things to note for now.