Mark’s Abrupt Ending (March 18, 2026 Wednesday Nigh Sunday School)

Mark ends his Gospel with an empty tomb, a breathtaking claim, and then one of the strangest final lines in the Bible: the women run away and say nothing because they are afraid. That’s it. No closing appearance of Jesus. No tidy wrap-up. If you’ve ever felt like faith is supposed to end with certainty but your real life ends with questions, this conversation is for you.

We walk through the resurrection endings in Matthew, Luke, and John to feel the contrast in our bones. Matthew closes with the Great Commission and a clear sense of mission. Luke slows down with the road to Emmaus, where grief shifts into recognition around a shared meal. John gives us the human realism of Doubting Thomas and the surprising tenderness of Jesus meeting exhausted disciples by the water. Then we turn to Mark 16:1–8 and face the abrupt stop, including a quick look at why many Bibles contain later shorter and longer endings.

Along the way we talk about the women at the tomb, what fear might mean in the face of resurrection, and why an unfinished ending can be a deliberate theological move. Mark’s cliffhanger does not let us stay spectators. It asks what we will do with the news that Jesus is risen when our lives still feel messy, unpredictable, and raw.

If you found this helpful, subscribe for more Bible study and theology conversations, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. What do you think Mark is trying to do with that final word: afraid?

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Transcript

No Singing And A Big Question

SPEAKER_02 0:01

So, no singing today. If that makes you sad, I'm very sorry. If that makes you happy, I'm happy for you as well. So, alright, yeah. So, today we are just gonna look at how Mark's gospel ends. Um, taking a look at, because it's it's quite unique, uh, how Mark's gospel ends. Has anybody ever heard the term synoptic gospels? I have, but I know. I don't know what they mean. I don't know what it means. So the synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Synoptic means that they all look the same. Synoptic means look the same, which means that they kind of that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all kind of act very similar. They have somewhat similar timelines, and then John just John just does his own thing. John is John. Um, which usually that that stands up except when it comes to the resurrection narrative. When it comes to the resurrection narrative, Mark does his own thing. Okay? So I want to walk us through before we read Mark's gospel what Luke, what Luke and Matthew do. So if you just want to turn with me to the, I know I told you to turn to Mark, but if you want to turn to the end of Matthew, go ahead and do that now. And look at uh chapter 28 of Matthew. So we're gonna look at how Matthew, Luke, and John deal with the resurrection, and then we're gonna see Mark, and Mark's super different. So at chapter 28 of Matthew, we have Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb, and they see the angel whose appearance was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. And then he says, Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, he has been raised. Yada, yada yada yadda. Keep on going. And then you have the report of the guard, where it says, While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priest everything that had happened. After the priest had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, You must say, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this comes to the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Nobody really pays attention to that. Those couple of verses, but I'm betting you know the next one, which is verse 16. Mary, you want to read Matthew 16 through 20, please?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

If you haven't there for you, nice and loud.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Okay. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Luke’s Road To Emmaus

John’s Doubting Thomas And Breakfast

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Alright. What do we tend to call that passage? It's called the Great Something. Anybody remember what we call that? The Great Commission. Is frequently referred to as the Great Commission. So that's how Matthew's gospel ends. Now flip to the end of Luke's Gospel. Look at Luke chapter 24. Luke is probably one of the wordiest of in terms of how he ends his gospel. Specifically, look at Luke 24, verse 13. If you got this Bible, the blue one, it's on page 90. This is where we have the really long story of the walk to Emmaus, right? You may know, remember the story. The disciples are walking along a road to Emmaus, and this strange guy just happens to join them. And they're talking to this guy about uh they're talking about what has happened with Jesus and his crucifixion. And um this stranger says, Oh, I haven't heard about this. And then the disciples say, What are you? Where have you been? Like, have you been living under a rock? And the stranger's like, Yeah, I haven't heard about this. Tell me all about it. And so they get talking, and then they go, and then uh the stranger walks down the road a little bit further, and the disciples go, Wait, they have this feeling. They go, Stay with us. Come with us. And then uh they go and they eat a meal together, and then when the bread is broken, what happens? They recognize them. They recognize them. Absolutely, Phyllis. That in that moment when they recognize that this stranger was Jesus all along, and there's that really beautiful moment when it's in the breaking of the bread that the light bulb goes off, right? Uh and then what does Jesus do? He vanishes. He just, yeah, poof, he just disappears. So, yeah, that great story. Now turn to the end of John and see how John ends his gospel. Uh for example, look at John 20 verse 24. Chapter 20, verse 24. We have the post-resurrection story of Thomas. Remember, what do we call Thomas in this chapter?

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Doubting Thomas.

Mark 16 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Doubting Thomas, a label that he has not been able to shake these 2,000 years. Poor guy, right? Have you ever doubted once in your life, Mary? Oh, yeah. Do we call you doubting Mary every single time we see you? No, we don't. It's really not fair, is it, that we call him doubting Thomas, okay? Um, so we have that story that I trust that many of y'all know. And then we have one of my favorite stories later on in chapter 21, which is when Jesus appears to the disciples when they're when they're fishing. Remember, um, they haven't met the resurrected Jesus yet, and uh Peter, they're sitting around twiddling their thumbs, and Peter says, Let's go fishing. And all the other disciples are like, We got nothing better to do. So, yeah, let's do that. And then they go out, they have no luck catching the fish, and then this stranger comes along. You're seeing a theme here in the post-resurrection, Jesus says, Hey, you're not catching any fish, are you? And they respond, Yeah, you're a real jerk. Thank you for telling us that. Uh, and then Jesus says, tells them to do what? Throw their nets. Throw the nets on the other side, and they're like, fine, whatever. And then um the the nets come in full of fish, and then what do they do? They recognize that it's Jesus, right? And then what is uh the the disciples turn the boat around and start to row towards the the shore to get to Jesus, but what is what does Peter do? I remember jumping. Yeah, he just he can't wait. He just jumps right in and swims to Jesus. So, okay, so that gives you an idea of how Matthew, Luke, and John end their gospels. Now we're gonna turn to Mark and see by comparison how Mark finishes his gospel. So everyone turn to Mark chapter 16. And Megan, why don't you read sixteen uh Mark sixteen verses one through eight.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Solomon brought abot spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb. When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised, but he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 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. So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement has seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Curtain! The end. Now you may notice in your Bible, it may or may not end there. My guess is that it doesn't. What does the next part of your Bible say after verse 8?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

An old ending to the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

There you go. Mine says the shorter ending of Mark.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Or the longer ending.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Or exactly, if you read a little bit further, it says the longer end of Mark. So it's important to note that that shorter ending and that longer ending were later editions. The very earliest form of Mark stopped right at verse 8. And what was the very last word of that sentence?

SPEAKER_00 9:43

They were afraid.

A Cliffhanger Ending And Shock

SPEAKER_02 9:45

It says that the disciples, that the women, keep in mind, these are not the men disciples, these are the women disciples, uh, went and did not say anything, for they were afraid to fade to black. Notice how radically different that is from Matthew with the Great Commission, and Luke with the walk to Emmaus, and John with the story of Thomas, who happened to be doubting, uh, and Peter and the disciples, fishing. Mark is just, by comparison, what? It's just, it's abrupt, right? Um what other emotions does this ending elicit for you again by comparison to Matthew and Luke and John?

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Well, it doesn't tie it in a neat bow like the others. It's very like and then what happened? Kind of like the end of a horror movie.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a it's a cliffhanger. It's like, oh, what? You know, um, I I know that these two people here will appreciate this metaphor. It's like the last episode of The Sopranos. Um, The Sopranos, I'm sorry, I've got to I'm gonna ruin it for it, but for y'all, but The Sopranos has been out 25 years, so that's your own problem if this is a spoiler alert. But but The Sopranos is this uh epic TV show about a mob boss, uh Tony Soprano, and it ran for seven seasons, eight seasons? Um, anyways, but the very last scene you're wondering whether he's gonna get off. Um, and he is uh gathering in a uh very famous diner in New Jersey with his family, and um Journey's um song Don't Stop Believing is playing on the uh playing on the uh on the jukebox, thank you. And this is one of the most infamous scenes in all of television history, and then he turns and the door opens, and then guess what? You're wondering, is someone gonna come shoot him, or is it just somebody else? And then fade to black, roll the credits.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

I didn't pay it, it was in blackout.

Sopranos Fade To Black Parallel

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Which which led endless, endless uh theories by fans as to what really happened. Did Tony live or did he finally get his comeuppins? So, anyways, Mark is kind of like that. Gets us to this part, we have the empty tomb, and then it's they're afraid. The end. What do y'all make of that? Why on God's green earth would Mark choose to end his gospel in its purest original form with such a you know? What do you think? Anybody have any guesses? Yeah, Jack. Because the other three.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

And there's no particularly right or wrong answer. There's a lot of people have wondered about this, but go ahead, Jack. Because the other three focus on the male disciples, what we know of, and this is the primarily experience of Mary and Mary Magdalene. And it's and that's it. That's where their story ended with Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Yeah, so note um that this is told really from the perspective of the women, which um many have said in Mark's gospel um are actually better examples of discipleship than the men disciples, right? Um you remember there's this really important trio of men, um uh John, John, Jane, Peter, James, and John, right, that are kind of the inner circle. Um, and they kind of all mess up. Peter infamously denies Jesus three times. And um, and after he is dead, they're really nowhere to be found. But who shows up the day the next day? The women show up. They show up ostensibly to do what?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Prepare to prepare to prepare the body, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Because it says that they came with spices so that they might anoint him. So they came to give honor to his body, right? So um uh so some have said that this really does emphasize that the women were no less disciples than the men were. So very good observation, Chad. Anyone else want to one uh want to take a guess, maybe why on earth Mark would have chosen to end with such a cliffhanger? What does a cliffhanger do? Keeps you wanting more, right? It it leaves you wanting more, right? It's a really great that's one here. We are so Sopranos ended in like what, 2001? Is it late?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Maybe if not, just a year or so after that.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Okay, so it's been 25 years. And here the three of us are still sitting here arguing what actually happened to Tony Soprano.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

The creator came out and said it.

The Reader Becomes The Next Scene

Resurrection Shows Up In Fear

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Well, he wasn't supposed to do that, so that's it. But but but the point is, just from an artistic standpoint, whether it's a song or a play or a book, a cliffhanger leaves you leaning forward, like, okay, well, what's next? And um many have there's specifically a commentator by the name of Ched Myers, who wrote a book that I commend to everyone called Binding the Strong Man, which is a commentary on Mark that uh really changed the way a lot of his preachers preached on Mark, and this was written before I was born, it was written in the 80s. But he makes the case that Mark deliberately ended in such an abrupt fashion because it puts the reader, it puts the ball in our court, right? It's this okay, Jesus is risen, the tomb is empty, now what are you going to do? What are we going to do? Are we going to flee like the men do? Or are we going to follow like the women did? Mary and Mary and uh Salome. Um so yeah, that kind of cliffhanger. And I also like personally that resurrection um on Easter morning, many of us love to get up, and I we have our I don't know about you all, I have my own little Easter traditions. My Easter tradition is every single morning when I come into the office, I get in really early, I crank up my stereo, and I listen to V doorstaccata. Anybody know what Vor's V Dor's Takata is? It sounds a lot better than that. But anyways, um yeah, V Dor's Takata, the big booming, and uh and that's how I get like pumped up for Easter morning. Um so some Easter mornings I feel very happy and jubilant and grateful for the resurrection, but not everybody is always in that place. Imagine having coming to Easter worship and you just lost your spouse of 40 years a few weeks prior, and you're feeling scared. You're you don't know what's coming next, you've never paid the bills, or you've never whatever. You've never or or you just got a diagnosis and you're wondering what's coming next, or and you're sitting here and everybody else is singing, Jesus Christ is risen today, and you're just feeling, oh, I don't know. Um I like that Mark's gospel reminds us that resurrection doesn't always have a nice tidy bow on it. Um, that resurrection sometimes comes to us when we're scared, like the women were. Would you be scared too? I mean, yeah. What do you think they were scared of? What do you think was the basis of their fear?

SPEAKER_04 17:24

I mean, one of them was his mom.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Like his mom's gotta be terrified. I mean, my baby's body's gone. Who leads us now?

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Oh, oh, my my baby's body is gone.

unknown 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

She was there to anoint him.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah. Who took my child, right? Um, resurrection is not a common thing in vocabulary. What's dead is supposed to stay what? If that's all of a sudden on the table, what is what is up and what is down, right? What else might they be afraid of? Who's leading us now? Who's leading us now? It doesn't say whether they believed that what the young man or angel, this mysterious person we don't really know. The text doesn't tell us whether they believed it or not. So maybe they didn't believe it and were wondering, where's my child's body, or who's gonna lead us now? Maybe they did believe it. And maybe they were afraid of, well, who's gonna believe us? We believe the angel, but we're three women whose uh testimony is not admissible in court. So we're gonna go, how what how are people gonna react when we go and tell people that he is risen, right?

SPEAKER_04 18:37

That I I would imagine the person that took them most seriously just died, like essentially.

Messy Hope And Closing Amen

SPEAKER_02 18:43

So I I think it's really important that I I personally find, um, and we have to leave here in a minute or two because I have my hand slapped for keeping you all late like this week. Um I really love the theological point that's made here that resurrection doesn't just wait to happen to us when we have our um.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, we're ready for the end.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Resurrection doesn't just happen when we have all of our ducks in a row. It doesn't just happen when we are happy and joyful. Resurrection comes in the messiness and the unpredictableness and the fear of our lives. And I hope that's good news for you all. Okay? I like that. All right, Amen.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Where did the