Mark 16

Mr 16:1-20.

ANGELIC

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE

WOMEN ON THE

FIRST

DAY OF THE

WEEK, THAT

CHRIST

IS

RISEN--HIS

APPEARANCES AFTER

HIS

RESURRECTION--HIS

ASCENSION--TRIUMPHANT

PROCLAMATION OF

HIS

GOSPEL.

Mt 28:1-10, 16-20;

Lu 24:1-51;

Joh 20:1, 2, 11-29).

The Resurrection Announced to the Women

(Mr 16:1-8).

1. And when the sabbath was past--that is, at sunset of our

Saturday.

Mary Magdalene--(See on

Lu 8:2).

and Mary the mother of James--James the Less (see

Mr 15:40).

and Salome--the mother of Zebedee's sons (compare

Mr 15:40

with Mt 27:56).

had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him--The

word is simply "bought." But our translators are perhaps right in

rendering it here "had bought," since it would appear, from

Lu 23:56,

that they had purchased them immediately after the Crucifixion, on the

Friday evening, during the short interval that remained to them

before sunset, when the sabbath rest began; and that they had only

deferred using them to anoint the body till the sabbath rest should be

over. On this "anointing," see on

Joh 19:40.

2. And very early in the morning--(See on

Mt 28:1).

the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising

of the sun--not quite literally, but "at earliest dawn"; according to

a way of speaking not uncommon, and occurring sometimes in the Old

Testament. Thus our Lord rose on the third day; having lain in the

grave part of Friday, the whole of Saturday, and part of the following

First day.

3. And they said among themselves--as they were approaching the sacred

spot.

Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

. . . for it was very great--On reaching it they find their difficulty

gone--the stone already rolled away by an unseen hand.

And are there no others who, when advancing to duty in the face of appalling difficulties, find their stone also rolled away?

5. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man--In

Mt 28:2

he is called "the angel of the Lord"; but here he is described as he

appeared to the eye, in the bloom of a life that knows no decay. In

Matthew he is represented as sitting on the stone outside the

sepulchre; but since even there he says, "Come, see the place where

the Lord lay"

(Mt 28:6),

he seems, as ALFORD says, to have gone in with

them from without; only awaiting their arrival to accompany them into

the hallowed spot, and instruct them about it.

sitting on the right side--having respect to the position in which

His Lord had lain there. This trait is peculiar to Mark; but compare

Lu 1:11.

clothed in a long white garment--On its length, see

Isa 6:1;

and on its whiteness, see on

Mt 28:3.

and they were affrighted.

6. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted--a stronger word than "Fear

not" in Matthew

(Mt 28:5).

Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified!--"the Nazarene, the

Crucified."

he is risen; he is not here--(See on

Lu 24:5, 6).

behold the place where they laid him--(See on

Mt 28:6).

7. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter--This Second Gospel,

being drawn up--as all the earliest tradition

states--under the eye of Peter, or from materials chiefly furnished by

him, there is something deeply affecting in the preservation of this

little clause by Mark alone.

that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he

said unto you--(See on

Mt 28:7).

8. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre: for they

trembled and were amazed--"for tremor and amazement seized them."

neither said they anything to any man; for they were afraid--How

intensely natural and simple is this!

Appearances of Jesus after His Resurrection

(Mr 16:9-18).

9. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he

appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven

devils--There is some difficulty here, and different ways of removing

it have been adopted. She had gone with the other women to the sepulchre

(Mr 16:1),

parting from them, perhaps, before their interview with the angel, and

on finding Peter and John she had come with them back to the spot; and

it was at this second visit, it would seem, that Jesus appeared to this

Mary, as detailed in

Joh 20:11-18.

To a woman was this honor given to be the first that saw the risen

Redeemer, and that woman was NOT his

virgin-mother.

11. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been

seen of her, believed not--This, which is once and again repeated

of them all, is most important in its bearing on their subsequent

testimony to His resurrection at the risk of life itself.

12. After that he appeared in another form--(compare

Lu 24:16).

unto two of them as they walked, and went into the country--The

reference here, of course, is to His manifestation to the two disciples

going to Emmaus, so exquisitely told by the Third Evangelist (see on

Lu 24:13,

&c.).

13. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed

they them, &c.

15. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the

Gospel to every creature--See on

Joh 20:19-23

and

Lu 24:36-49.

16. He that believeth and is baptized--Baptism is here put for the

external signature of the inner faith of the heart, just as "confessing

with the mouth" is in

Ro 10:10;

and there also as here this outward manifestation, once

mentioned as the proper fruit of faith, is not repeated in what follows

(Ro 10:11).

shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned--These

awful issues of the reception or rejection of the Gospel, though often

recorded in other connections, are given in this connection only by

Mark.

17, 18. And these signs shall follow them that believe

. . . They shall take up serpents--These two verses also

are peculiar to Mark.

The Ascension and Triumphant Proclamation of the Gospel

Thereafter

(Mr 16:19, 20).

19. So then after the Lord--an epithet applied to Jesus by this

Evangelist only in

Mr 16:19, 20,

when He comes to His glorious Ascension and its subsequent fruits. It

is most frequent in Luke.

had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven--See on

Lu 24:50, 51.

and sat on the right hand of God--This great truth is here only

related as a fact in the Gospel history. In that exalted attitude He

appeared to Stephen

(Ac 7:55, 56);

and it is thereafter perpetually referred to as His proper condition in

glory.

20. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with

them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen--We have in

this closing verse a most important link of connection with the Acts of

the Apostles, where He who directed all the movements of the infant

Church is perpetually styled "THE

LORD"; thus illustrating His own

promise for the rounding and building up of the Church,

"LO,

I AM WITH

YOU

alway!"

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