Thursday, November 21, 2013

Bible Challenge - Three endings and a beginning

This week we have the end of the Gospel of Mark - or rather the ends of the Gospel of Mark.

Mark actually has three different endings - the oldest versions of the Gospel that we have end with verse 8 of Chapter 16 - that is with the disciples at the empty tomb and the words: "And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid."

A few of the older manuscripts end with an addition to verse 8 of Chapter 16 which says "And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter.  And afterward Jesus himself sent out through them from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."

Still other manuscripts end with the rest of Chapter 16 - the appearance to Mary Magdalene and two disciples and Jesus' commission and ascension.

The thoughts of most scholars is that the book originally ended with "they were afraid" but fairly quickly it became clear that people needed more hope - so they added the short ending and then over time some stories of post-resurrection events from other stories of Jesus.  Mark's main points - that God calls us to love and serve others and to share God's love even in the midst of persecution - didn't require a post-resurrection commission - but as time went on the first generations of Christians needed more, so more got added.

We also have the beginning of the Gospel of Luke - Luke is writing to non-Jewish believers in Jesus and he tells a lot of the story - but compare Luke's birth narrative to Matthew's and notice the differences.  There are no wisemen in Luke's story and we have the story of Jesus' presentation in the temple and a lot more about John the Baptist.

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