Mark 16:9-14 Witnesses to the resurrection

Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant United Reformed Church

From: The Holy Bible and J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

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Review

Mark: Three years of Jesus’ earthly ministry

Message: “Repent and believe the Gospel” - the Gospel was Jesus life and death

Preached, taught, performed miracles for three years”

At the conclusion of His public ministry, He came to Jerusalem, where He was arrested, convicted and crucified

As we begin this text, Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome have discovered an empty tomb, and have been told by an angel that Christ is risen

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Mark 16:9–14 NASB95

Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Introduction

To begin, there is some disagreement about the text we are looking at.

Many believe that someone besides Mark added this text to Mark’s original letter - that the original letter finished at verse 8. this because some of the early copies of the letter omit the passage. Because of this, they question its “authenticity”

I think that while this text was added later, it may well have been added by John Mark, after he spoke to Matthew, Peter and John, who would have been eye witnesses to the events discussed.

We do not have the original letter, only copies. It is possible that the original contained this text, but some of the copies omitted the text while others retained it.

Having said that, my faith in God says that He wanted this text passed down to us, and so we must respect it as His word.

Now - let’s see what we can learn from this text

#1 We have plenty of proof that Christ really rose again from the dead

In his Gospel, mark records at least three separate occasions when Jesus was seen after His resurrection

First he tells us that the Lord appeared to one witness, Mary Magdalene, then to two witnesses walking into the country, - and finally to eleven witnesses, the eleven apostles who were meeting together

Other appearances of the Lord are reported by the other writers in the New Testament, besides these mentioned by Mark. In all the Gospel letters, we find that hundreds of witnesses saw the risen Christ

Let us not hesitate to believe that of all the facts in our history of the Lord, there is none more completely established than the fact that he rose from the dead

God has been most loving and merciful in confirming this for us so completely

The resurrection of Christ is one of the foundational elements of the Christian faith

It was the crowning confirmation of the work He came on earth to do

It is the proof that the punishment He accepted for sinners had been accepted by the Father, the atonement for our sin was accomplished, that the power of death was broken, and He had won the victory over Satan

In their writings, the apostles refer to it often

Rom. 4:25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”

1 Pet. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

We ought to thank God that He has so clearly proven that fact of the resurrection

The Jew, the Gentile, the priests, the Roman guard, the women who went to the tomb, the disciples who were so reluctant to believe, all were witnesses, many of them reluctant, and their testimony cannot be contradicted

Christ not only died for us, but He has also risen again

Unbelief of this fact takes far greater faith than belief. I would offer that to deny it is delusional

To deny it someone must believe in massive and ridiculous theories

To believe, you only have to look at the simple, and undeniable facts and evidence as presented in the biblical record.

#2 The Lord Jesus Christ was particularly kind to Mary Magdalene

Mark 16:9 “Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.”

Mary Magdalene, of all people, got the privilege of being the first to see the risen savior

Mary, Jesus mother, was still alive as was John, the beloved disciple - both were passed over in favor of Mary Magdalene

This was a woman who at one time had probably been one of the worst sinners - she had been possessed by seven devils

This was the first person Jesus showed himself to alive, after coming out of the grave

There is a lot we can learn from this fact

We can be sure that, for one thing, by appearing first to Mary Magdalene, the Lord intended to show us how much He values love and faithfulness.

Mary Magdalene was the last to come to the cross and the first to come to the grave - she was last to confess Jesus as her Master while He lived, and the first to honor Him when He was dead

She was the first to see Him, after He won the victory over sin, death, and the cross

This is a permanent tribute to the Church, and to those who love and honor Jesus - those who honor Him, He will likewise honor

Those who serve Him on earth, he also will serve on earth.

Let’s not forget that for those who give up everything for Christ, they will get back a hundred times that

The fact that He appeared to Mary Magdalene first should comfort all sinners who have repented and become believers, who have been serious sinners

No matter how far we may have fallen, by His resurrection we too are raised up to entire peace with God - if we repent and believe the Gospel

Even though we were once far from Him, we have come near

Though we were once His enemies, we are now His children

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

The blood of Jesus Christ makes us completely clean, in God’s sight

We may have started like Augustine or John Newton, and been leaders in every kind of sinful activity - but once we are drawn to Christ, we can know for sure that we are completely forgiven

We can come near to Christ in prayer boldly and confidently

Like Mary Magdalene, our sins and wickedness are no more remembered

#3 Finally, let’s note how weak is the faith of even the best Christians

Three times in this text we find Mark describing the unbelief of the eleven apostles

1 Mark 16:11-14 “(1) When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. (2) They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. (3) Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

These were some hard-headed people - never has there been such a striking example of man’s unwillingness to believe those things that run against their prejudice

Never has there been a better example or proof of how soon we forget plain teaching

Jesus has repeatedly told the eleven apostles He would rise again, yet when the time came, they forgot it all and didn’t believe it when it happened

they were convinced Jesus was dead, until He came and set them straight

Having said that, the over-ruling hand of God is seen in this unbelief

Eventually, as skeptical and unbelieving as they were, they all came around and believed

If their skepticism was overcome, the evidence that Christ rose must have been powerful

Those doubts of the apostles confirm our faith today

The unbelief of the apostles is a good practical lesson for us

We shouldnt be surprised when we have doubts arising in our own hearts about our faith

We still have our earthly bodies and we are people with emotions and feelings much like the apostles

We should not be surprised then, if we have the same experiences they did and if our faith, like their’s, sometimes becomes weak

We need to resist and pray against unbelief - we need to work hard to be delivered from it’s power

BUT, we should not feel that we have no grace, because we are bothered by doubts - nor should we think that we are not like the apostles because we have times when our faith becomes weak

The real question is whether we have risen with Christ, that we have been made spiritually part of His resurrection

This, after all, is the one thing we truly require

To know the facts of the Christian faith with our heads, and to be able to talk about them, will not save us

Rom 6:13 “present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

We must be raised from the death of sin, born again, to walk in newness of life - this alone is saving Christianity

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