Mar 16 | TNotes | STEP | 16:1 At the end of the Sabbath at sunset, the shops reopened and the women were able to buy burial spices to anoint Jesus’ body (16:1 ). Their purpose was not to embalm the body, but to alleviate the stench that a decaying body would create. • The women were clearly not anticipating Jesus’ resurrection. Even the empty tomb would fail to convince them that Jesus had been raised from the dead (John 20:2 , 11-15 ).

16:1 ^a At the end of the Sabbath at sunset, the shops reopened and the women were able to buy burial spices to anoint Jesus’ body (16:1 ^b). Their purpose was not to embalm the body, but to alleviate the stench that a decaying body would create.

• The women were clearly not anticipating Jesus’ resurrection. Even the empty tomb would fail to convince them that Jesus had been raised from the dead (John 20:2 ^c, 11-15 ^d).
Summary for Mark 16:3-4: 16:3-4 ^e The women wondered how the large stone sealing the tomb could be removed. God had already rolled the stone away to let the women and disciples in.
16:7 ^f The angel’s message for the disciples repeated Jesus’ prediction and promise (14:28 ^g). The disciples’ desertion and denial would be forgiven and their apostolic commission restored.
16:8 ^h The account ends with the women fleeing the tomb in bewilderment.

• said nothing to anyone: This can be understood positively (they were not distracted from their commission to tell the disciples, 16:7 ⁱ; cp. Luke 10:4 ^j; 2 Kgs 4:29 ^k) or negatively (they failed to deliver the message). Cp. Luke 24:5-11 ^l; John 20:1-2 ^m, 18 ⁿ.
Summary for Mark 16:9-20: 16:9-20 ^o Nearly all scholars agree that Mark did not write the “shorter” and “longer” endings. There are clear differences in their style, vocabulary, and theology. Also, the best two available Greek manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus) lack these endings. However, there is reason to doubt that Mark intended to end his Gospel at 16:8 ^p: (1) Mark emphasizes the fulfillment of Jesus’ predictions throughout his Gospel, and if the Gospel ended with 16:8 ^q, there would be no reference to the resurrection appearance(s) of Jesus; (2) all the other Gospels contain accounts of Jesus’ appearances to the women and the disciples; (3) early readers of Mark evidently did not think the book could have ended with 16:8 ^r, because they wrote these endings; (4) there is no convincing explanation as to why Mark would have wanted to end his Gospel at 16:8 ^s (all such explanations sound like modern existential literary interpretations that revel in paradox, very unlike the way a first-century Christian author would have thought); (5) it is strange for a Gospel to begin with a bold proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah (1:1 ^t) and end with the women’s fear; (6) it would be unique for an ancient Greek book to end with gar (“because”) as the last word—no other example of this has been found; and (7) 16:7 ^u raises the expectation that the disciples will meet Jesus in Galilee—if 16:8 ^v was the original ending of Mark, it is the only unfulfilled prediction in the Gospel. Many scholars conclude that the original ending was accidentally torn off and lost, or was never finished.