Early Christian History: Studies — The End of the Gospel According to Mark

A Strange and Abbreviated Ending

Most Christians are unaware of the literary cloud that hangs over the ending of the gospel according to Mark. All of the oldest manuscripts we possess of this gospel, end as follows:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mk 16:1-8)

This is a truly odd way for a gospel to end, especially in light of what the word “gospel” means. In its original κοινη (koinē, or “common”) Greek, it’s ευαγγελιον (euangelion) which means “bearing good news” or simply “good news.” The women fleeing from the tomb and saying nothing to anyone isn’t what most folks envision as “good news.”

But more than that, the young man telling the women that Jesus was already on his way to Galilee and they’d see him there, suggests there was more to be said. But clearly, it was left out. Over time, it became evident to Christians that something needed to be done about this — and it was.

The Additional, Longer Ending

Nearly all modern copies of Mark don’t end at verse 16:8. They have more material:

Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either.

Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. (Mk 16:9-20)

The Additional, Shorter Ending

A small number of later manuscripts don’t have this twelve-verse-long ending. They have one that’s considerably shorter:

And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. (unversed)

In most of the manuscripts that have this ending, it comes after verse 8. In a very few manuscripts, this abbreviated ending follows the longer ending.

Where this shorter ending follows verse 8, it would appear directly contradictory; after all, verse 8 states that the women “said nothing to anyone.” But immediately after that, this ending states “they promptly reported” their story. It’s almost as if the writers of these documents didn’t even pay attention to what they’d penned, just one sentence before.

Making Sense of the Puzzle

Scholars have tried to work out the problem of Mark’s ending for a bit over a century. Among the possible solutions, are:

1. The “original” Mark — for which there are no surviving manuscripts — had an ending that somehow was lost.
   1. The presumption is that a copy of Mark was made from a codex which lacked its final leaf (or page). It was this copy which ended at 16:8 and was subsequently propagated in antiquity; it became the sole version of Mark for at least several decades, and survived for us to read
   2. At some point after the complete original Mark was lost, two different endings were concocted and tacked on, by scribes who only had incomplete copies, to take the place of what had been lost. Those continued to be propagated. Over time, efforts were made to reconcile the two different endings, mainly by including both of them
2. Mark had originally ended at verse 16:8. The strange, ambiguous and open ending was intentional.
   1. A number of reasons have been offered, most centered on the notion that it was the reader him- or herself who carried on the story, on the premise that he or she had, as a believer, figuratively met the risen Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee
   2. It may also have related to the practice of reading such documents aloud in congregational settings, with the abortive ending leading to something else happening (perhaps a ritual of some kind, or the reading of another document)
   3. Scribes disturbed by this incomplete ending took it upon themselves to solve this problem. Two different endings were composed. Eventually some copies included both of these

Adding to the speculation is that, in its original Greek, verse 16:8 ends with γαρ (gar), meaning “for” and having an added implied meaning of “because.” While it’s not impossible for a Greek sentence to end with gar, it is unusual.

How the Additional Endings Were Built

The additional, longer ending (i.e. Mark 16:9-20) contains references and even exact phrases found in other gospels and a couple other canon documents:

• Verse 9 mentions Jesus meeting (or appearing to) Mary Magdalene, as reported in Matthew 27:56. It also mentions the seven demons Jesus had cast out of her in Luke 8:2
• Verse 10 describes Mary telling the others as reported in John 20:18
• Verse 11 references disbelief of Mary Magdelene as reported in Luke 24:11
• Verse 12 references Jesus appearing in an alternate form to two people who were walking as reported in Luke 24:15-16
• Verse 14 references Jesus appearing to the remaining eleven apostles, and rebuking them, as reported in Luke 24:36-39
• Verse 15 refers to Jesus sending the eleven to proclaim the gospel, as mentioned in Matthew 28:19, John 20:21, and other places
• Verse 16 reflects a number of references elsewhere in the New Testament
• Verse 17 mentions casting out demons, likewise mentioned many times, and speaking in new tongues, a reference to Acts 2:4
• Verse 18 mentions picking up serpents (a reference to Luke 10:19) and poison (referred to in a few places, including Jeremiah 8:14)
• Verse 19 mentions Jesus’ ascension, referred to in Acts 1:11 and elsewhere
• Verse 20 mentions the apostles preaching and working signs (see above)

The shorter ending also describes Jesus sending the apostles out to proclaim salvation, similar to Mt 28:19, Jn 20:21, and other passages. In other words, it appears more than one person cribbed from other gospels and sacred scripture to fill out Mark.

Dating the Additions and the Manuscripts

Based on the manuscript evidence, as well as references and even quotations by other Christian writers, it appears the long ending was composed sometime in the early 2^nd century. Justin Martyr writing in the 150s CE may have known it. His protégé Tatian included the long ending in his Diatessaron, written sometime around 170 CE.

That said, manuscripts of Mark continued to be produced which ended at 16:8, for another few centuries yet. This includes copies in the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, both from the 4^th century, and Codex Bobbiensis in the 5^th century. So, editions of Mark lacking either of the additional endings continued to be propagated for quite some time.

By the Middle Ages, the long ending became the most common form in which the gospel according to Mark was penned. Even so, some manuscripts — even in classical times — that had it, also noted that it wasn’t found in some manuscripts. Even medieval scribes were fully aware of this particular problem — and weren’t afraid to make note of it.

Thus, this conundrum isn’t news within the ranks of Christendom, even if laymen might not know about it. Any decent edition of the Bible that a modern English reader picks up, today, should include some notation of this kind, whether by bracketing Mark 16:9-20, using a footnote, or something else.

References

Quotations from Mark are from New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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