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It is generally agreed that Mark's gospel ends at verse 8 of chapter 16 and that verses 9-20 were a later addition made by someone who thought the absence of resurrection stories made the gospel incomplete. The additional verses seem to be a digest of post-resurrection stories lifted from the other gospel accounts. There has been speculation about whether Mark ever intended to "complete" his account and why he ends where he does. But what better place could there be to end than with the clear declaration "He has risen!"
This tremendous truth brings hope to a world otherwise condemned. In his magisterial account of the Christian message Paul sums up the state of mankind:
Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As
it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
All have turned away,
They have altogether become worthless;
There is no one who does good,
Not even one."
(Romans 3:9-12)
How many times have you heard it said of someone, "He would make a good Christian"? The truth is that no one would "make a good Christian" because:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God…(Romans 3:23)
Some are tempted to think of this as a simple shortfall in an otherwise reasonably good life. But the phrase "fall short" here doesn't mean a simple shortfall as in, for instance, when you owe a sum of money and can only pay in part. It is a term that means to completely miss the target by falling short of it. We are not simply short of the full amount we owe. We are totally bankrupt before God and incapable of measuring up to God's standard because we are "in Adam":
Just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin, because all sinned…consequently the result of
one man's trespass was condemnation for all men…(Romans 5:12,18)
For those who feel they must somehow earn a place in God's good books there is a stark and serious massage:
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)
If you would earn something you should know that it is sin that pays wages, and the wages is death. God offers not wages but a priceless gift - eternal life. The whole point of wages is that they are what we deserve. The whole point of a gift is that you don't pay for it. It costs the giver something but the recipient nothing. There is a children's song that declares:
Grace is when God gives us the things we don't deserve
Mercy is when God does not give us what we deserve
He does it because he loves us.
We must understand this because the Bible tells us we are powerless to do anything about our condition, which is why Christ came:
You see, just at the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
When Jesus hung on the Cross, we are told, he uttered the words "It
is finished!" (John 19:30). The Greek is Tetelest, which means,
"paid in full". This is the gift we celebrate at Easter, that Christ
was paying "in full" the price for our sin, and that,
"God was reconciling the world to himself
in Christ, not counting men's sins against them."(2 Cor.5:19).
The proof of all this? "He has risen!" The message of
Easter is the message of a risen and reigning Lord through whom we may
be reconciled to God. How do we appropriate this gift?
If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved." For it is with your heart you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture
says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is
Lord of all, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved." (Romans 10:9-13)
In churches across the world this Easter the cry will go up, "He
has risen!" and the answer will echo back, "He has risen
indeed!" In a world facing death from disease, hunger, neglect,
war and natural disaster what more relevant message could there possibly
be than this, "He has risen!" In a world more alienated
from its spiritual roots than ever what more appropriate cry could go
up than this, that "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ."
May you know his grace and may this Easter be a blessed time as you
"Look and live" because "He has risen indeed!"
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