Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Open your Bibles to Mark 16:1-8.
•This morning we come to the final sermon in our study of Mark’s Gospel.
•We began in April of 2019.
And we’ve taken breaks here and there since then.
But now we finally come to the end.
•This sermon is the 102nd sermon I’ve preached from this glorious book.
•And, though I’m sure we’re all excited to turn to other portions of the Word of God, I think we all have seen what a joy it is to take our time and meditate upon the earthly ministry of Christ in this book.
•I’m grateful to God for everything we’ve learned from the Gospel of Mark.
Right off the bat, I have to address something.
•I’m ending our study in v8.
•But in our Bibles, there are more verses contained within a set of brackets.
(vv9-20)
•So, why am I not going to preach those verses?
Let me try to briefly explain a complicated and difficult situation:
•Basically, in light of internal evidence in Mark and external, historical evidence, many scholars believe that vv9-20 are a second century scribal addition to the Gospel of Mark.
•That is, they are not original to Mark.
Mark didn’t write them.
Instead, Mark ended his book with v8.
And there are some good reasons to take that position:
•As our ESV Bible indicates, those verses are NOT FOUND in some of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark that we possess.
•More than that, some of the earliest writings about Mark don’t mention those verses.
•Still more, we read in church fathers from the 300’s that some very influential men in the church believed that Mark ended at v8, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE AWARE OF THE LONGER ENDING.
•So vv9-20 have been disputed since the early days of Christianity.
•And, from explicitly clear manuscript evidence (Greek and other languages), not all Christians had vv9-20 in their copies of Mark.
Beyond that, there is some stuff within vv9-20 that make it seem different from the rest of Mark.
•In the Greek, there are new words and phrasing that don’t occur in the rest of the Gospel.
It SEEMS like the style has changed.
As if there was a different author.
•And, from what I understand, there aren’t just a couple of oddities like that, but there are many new words and ways of phrasing things.
•So this makes many believe that a scribe inserted vv9-20 at some point after the Apostolic age.
Now, why would a scribe do that?
•Well, Mark ends really abruptly and on a note of fear.
And that feels odd.
Especially when you compare it to the other Gospels that end on a more explicitly bright note and with resurrection appearances.
•So, it’s not unreasonable to think that a scribe tried to make what he thought was a fuller ending.
•Or maybe vv9-20 were put in the margin to give a brief summary of what the other Gospels say at the end.
And then over time it made it’s way into the text itself.
•Those are just theories.
We don’t know for sure.
•But what we do know is that, to many, it seems like Mark’s Gospel originally ended at v8.
And some of those arguments are compelling.
But, on the other hand, there are counter-arguments to some of the things I’ve said.
•And some of those counter-arguments are weighty and worthy of consideration.
•I don’t have time to go through them this morning.
But, trust me, they will make you pause and think.
•More than that, the fact that the majority of Greek manuscripts contain the longer ending, and that it was accepted for centuries by the Church is significant as well.
What am I getting at?
•This is a complicated issue.
And I’m not exactly sure what to make of it.
But I think that the safest route is for me to simply end with v8.
•And I say that because I know that vv1-8 are original to Mark’s Gospel.
They are undisputed.
But I am not so sure about vv9-20.
•And I don’t want to stand before you all and say, “This is the Word of God,” unless I know for sure that something is from the Lord.
•More than that, it is worth mentioning that nearly everything in vv9-20 can be found elsewhere in the NT.
So, by not preaching the long ending, we don’t lose anything doctrinally or theologically.
•And, if vv9-20 are original to Mark, I’m OK with having not preached the entirety of the book.
Why?
Because there are many books of the Bible of which I will not preach every verse.
So then, I’ve decided to end with v8 this morning.
•But that should not be interpreted as me saying definitively that vv9-20 are not Scripture.
•I’m saying that I don’t completely know what I think.
And because of that, I’m going with what I believe is the safest option for me as a man who will one day give an account for what I preach to you.
•I’d rather not preach some verses from the Word of God than declare that something uninspired is the Word of God.
•In matters like these, I think that silence is often safer and more pious than speech.
But, with that out of the way, I’m excited to preach this final sermon from Mark.
•And that’s because our subject this morning is the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
•This is the high point of Mark’s Gospel.
This is the main event.
•Here, our Lord is vindicated.
Here our salvation is demonstrated and receives it’s seal from God.
•Here we receive every comfort: HE IS RISEN!
JESUS IS ALIVE!
Now, many preachers like to use sermons about the Resurrection to give an apologetic defense of it.
•There is a place for that, for sure.
I’ve done it.
•But I won’t be doing that today.
•I assume that most, if not all, gathered here this morning are believers.
So, there is nothing to defend.
•We all KNOW that Jesus Christ is alive.
•So I want to preach a sermon that will encourage you in the risen Lord.
There are many comforts for us to find as we meditate on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
•And there is also a challenge issued to all of us in light of His Resurrection.
•And so, this morning I want us to think on what the Resurrection says to each one of us.
•After we walk through the text, we will consider some of the things that the resurrection of Jesus says to us.
•May God bless us today as we meditate on His Word.
•May He show us the risen Christ.
If you would, and are able, please stand with me for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.
Mark 16:1-8
[1] When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
[2] And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
[3] And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
[4] And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
[5] And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
[6] And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen; he is not here.
See the place where they laid him.
[7] But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.
There you will see him, just as he told you.”
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