Mark 16:1-8 - The Tomb is Empty! - Easter Sunday
Mark 16: 1) When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2) And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3) They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4) When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 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) But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7) But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you. 8) So 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 Resurrection of Jesus refers to the glorious reality that, though dead and buried, Jesus was raised from the dead by God. Many attempts throughout the centuries have been made to find a scientific explanation for what happened to Jesus. Some have suggested that he wasn’t really dead and was simply revived. Some have suggested that his body was stolen and the whole story concocted. None of those theories satisfy the sum of the details of the story. There is simply no way to explain the resurrection of Jesus as anything other than a supernatural event brought about by the power of God for a specific purpose. That purpose is the vindication of Jesus’ life and death and the declaration of the promise of eternal life for all that believe.
What is Unique in the Gospel of Mark? Most scholars agree that the original Gospel of Mark ends with today’s passage. The remaining verses of chapter 16, in several different forms in the ancient manuscripts, were probably pieced together from accounts in the other Gospels and Acts, sometime during the 2nd century in order to include a number of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. The question, then, is why did Mark not include these stories himself? While we can never be certain, one possible motivation lies at the heart of Mark’s Gospel itself. Mark’s Gospel is a Passion Gospel. (The word “Passion”, in regards to the gospels, refers to the events of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.) Mark spends nearly 1/3 of his gospel on the last week of Jesus’ life. It is a Gospel of the cross. It is on the cross that salvation is sealed and it is on the cross that the model for discipleship is revealed. The empty tomb is the sign and seal of the validity of the cross. The empty tomb is God’s response to the cross. Many scholars of Mark’s Gospel believe that the exclusion of the resurrection appearances was a call to discipleship based on faith and not on signs. For Mark, the glory of the empty tomb is its call to carry on with the promise of vindication by God in the end.
The witness of the women is particularly important to the story. It is impossible to believe that in a culture such as that in which Jesus lived and died, a story such as this could have been conceived and entrusted to women to declare. Women were not considered reliable witnesses. They were not allowed to give testimony in a court of law. For the angelic message of resurrection and the mission of proclamation to be entrusted to them is just not something anyone would have made up if they wanted to be believed. It is, however, utterly consistent with Jesus’ counter-cultural valuing of all people.
Word Study
Vs. 1 – When the sabbath was over – this would have been about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening when the shops re-opened.
Anoint – at this point the anointing was not so much for the preservation of the body as to honor Jesus. It would be like going to put flowers on a grave today.
Vs. 2 – very early on the first day of the week – This would have been just at sunrise on Sunday morning. The women would have gone home after their shopping to tend to their families and get some sleep.
Roll away the stone– this was no easy feat. The stone, a huge disc shaped stone would have been set in a groove to roll down to cover the entrance to the tomb. It would have taken several strong men to roll it up hill.
Tomb – the tomb would have had a large initial chamber with a small (2 foot) door at the back that led to the 6-7 foot burial chamber itself. The bodies would have been stored on shelves in that chamber. When decomposition was complete, the bones were removed and the tomb was reused. The tomb belonged to a wealthy and prominent Jew named Joseph of Arimathea. We no from the other gospel accounts that the tomb had never before been used.
Vs. 5 – a young man – this word sometimes refers to an angel or a messenger
Dressed in a white robe – the white robe indicates the heavenly nature of the “man”
Right side – the place of honor
Alarmed – a rare word, used only in Mark. It indicates great astonishment in the presence of the supernatural.
Vs. 6 – he has already been raised – much more accurate translation than “he is risen”. The actor in the resurrection is God. This is God’s vindication of God’s son. Jesus did not just get up of his own accord. God does the raising.
Vs. 7 – go, tell – see above to understand how incomprehensible it was to give this command to the women.
Peter – singling Peter out here was a sign of forgiveness. Peter would not have considered himself worthy of hearing the message after his betrayal of Jesus the night before the crucifixion.
Vs. 8 –terror and amazement – awe, fear and astonishment overcame them.
Said nothing to anyone – as they fled. They obviously told it eventually.
They were afraid – throughout the scriptures fear is often a first response to heavenly revelation. Hence all of the “fear nots” in the Bible. It is a process that is worked through.