Of all the four gospels, Mark’s account of the resurrection is the strangest… so strange that two others wrote different endings for it (Mark 16:8b, 9—20). Two things make Mark’s account of the resurrection strange. Mark’s gospel ends with the women fleeing from the tomb in terror, telling no one about their experience (Mark 16:8). Mark records no post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.
Of course, we want to know why Mark ended his gospel this way. But our wondering only leads to speculation, not truth. We are better served by dealing with what is—the strange ending.
It seems to me Mark is telling us something in the way he ended the gospel. He is inviting us to write our own ending.
In Mark’s gospel, the disciples went through three stages in their understanding of who Jesus was: blind and not seeing, seeing but not clearly, seeing clearly. These three stages are reflected in the healing of the blind man that required a second touch (Mark 8:22—26)—a healing that only Mark records. The healing reflects the outline of his gospel.
In the first half of gospel, the disciples did not understand who Jesus was or his teachings. Their lack of understanding is reflected in their response to Jesus’s stilling the storm: “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). When Jesus walked on the water, “they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51b—52). When the disciples asked him to explain his teaching, he responded “Then do you also fail to understand?” (Mark 7:18). The first half of the gospel ends with him asking, “Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? Do you not understand?” (Mark 8:17—18, 21).
Immediately after this questioning, Mark recorded the miracle that required the second touch.
Following the miracle that required the second touch, Mark recorded the experience at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked the disciples “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). That’s when Peter said, “You are the Messiah!” (Mark 8:29). The disciples now were able to see, but not clearly—the second stage of the process.
Seeing, but not clearly is the story of the second half of Mark’s gospel. Although they understood Jesus was the Messiah, the disciples struggled to understand his teachings about the suffering and death that he was facing in Jerusalem (see Mark 8:31—33; 9:10; 9:32). Their concept of the messiah as a conquering king blocked their ability to hear Jesus’s teachings about the Suffering Servant. So they argued among themselves, jockeying for positions in the kingdom they expected Jesus to establish (Mark 9:33—37; 10:35—45). They entered Jerusalem, totally unprepared for what they would experience. Consequently, when Jesus was arrested, “all of them deserted him and fled” (Mark14:50).
The gospel ends with the disciples at this stage of the process—seeing, but not clearly. The final stage—seeing clearly—is not recorded. It is foreshadowed in the healing of blind Bartimaeus as Jesus left Jericho on his way to Jerusalem (Mark 10:46—52). When Jesus healed him, Bartimaeus “followed him on the way” (Mark 10:52). Seeing clearly leads to following Jesus as a disciple, understanding, embracing, and living the ways of God Jesus taught. The final stage of seeing clearly is foreshadowed, but not recorded in the gospel.
The gospel ends, leaving us hanging.
Was Jesus’s death and resurrection the second touch that enabled the disciples to finally see clearly? We know it was because of what the other gospels recorded. But Mark’s gospel doesn’t say. It leaves us hanging.
Ending his gospel this way, it’s as though the gospel writer shifted the focus from the disciples to us. The important question was not “did the disciples finally see clearly?” The more important question was “do we see?” Are we disciples who understand, embrace, and follow what Jesus taught?
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