Mark 15:40 - 16:8 Jesus is buried and the story goes on in Galilee

The King is dead; long live the King! The body is not left on the cross, which is unusual. In order to maximize the humiliation of the crucifixion, the victims were hung close enough to the ground that wild dogs could feed off their corpses. Bodies would be left there to rot and be scavenged and become unrecognizable. Jesus’ body was taken down and laid in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

Why is a Jewish leader being nice to him? Mark’s story doesn’t allow us to generalize and say that all Jewish religious leaders were opposed to Jesus. We haven’t met Joseph before but we have met Jairus the synagogue leader whose wife and daughter were restored to him, and we have met the scribe who was very close to the kingdom of God. Joseph is “a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God”. Mark doesn’t treat Joseph as a disciple of Jesus. He is acting in pious recognition of the injunction that the corpse of an executed person is not to be left hanging there all night but is to be buried. (Deut, 21:21f)

As readers, we have known that Jesus has breathed his last – the narrator told us in 15:37 and we heard the centurion confirm it. The issue of Jesus being dead is put before us three more times: Pilate wonders if it has happened, the centurion confirms (again) that it has happened, Pilate now acts on it and releases the body to Joseph. From Pilate’s point of view, it is a pretty risk-free option since Jesus followers don’t get the body. The representatives of the Roman State have testified that Jesus died and now a respected member of Jewish society does the right thing and buries Jesus before he is savaged by dogs or abandoned in a common pit.

Time is a wasting; dusk is near; the Sabbath is about to start when work is ruled out (but acts of loving kindness are, arguably, permitted). Things move quickly: Joseph buys, and takes down, and wraps, and places. The women disciples (who used to provide for him when he was in Galilee cf. Lk. 8:1-3) note where the body is laid (so that they might return to the right place after the Sabbath finishes), so that they might still provide for him by preparing his body for burial. So, as the Sabbath starts, Jesus is entombed in a burial cave but not yet washed or anointed. All is now at rest on the Sabbath. The minimum has been done, the rest can wait.

And now the Sabbath is over, time for things to happen. What happens?

The witnesses to the burial site return, hence we can be assured that they have come back to the right burial cave. They note that the stone has been rolled away from the door.

A young man in a white robe (a neaniskos, another one) is sitting on the right hand side; he is not explicitly called an angel/messenger but that is his function.

They receive an announcement: he is not here; the crucified one has been raised.

They receive a message to take to Peter: Jesus has gone on ahead of them to Galilee, as he promised (14:28). When they return to the point from whence they began they will see it as for the first time, “… they’ll find out that their journey wasn’t useless; it isn’t hopeless — and it isn’t over! They’ll find that Jesus has come to Galilee ahead of them.” (Malbon, 99)

The women flee in terror and say nothing to anyone for they are afraid. The story ends but it doesn’t finish. Does this mean that it is now up to us? We are certainly driven back to the beginning of the story to read it against with fresh insight. We must make closure of the story.

We see various attempts to fix the text up, on the assumption that it couldn’t have ended like that, with the words “for they were afraid”, this must be a mistake and we should make amends. Our judgment is that there was no mistake, the ending is intentional and clever and the two other endings are later, post-Markan, attempts to tidy things up. The “shorter ending” has the women pass on the message and gives us a happy ending. [Read it] The “longer ending” adds verse 9-20 that appear in the King James translation, verses that add familiar stuff from Matthew and Luke and also the infamous “snake handling” verse. (“What is that?” you ask. Where have you been hiding out all your life? Have you never lived in Tennessee? “They will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them…”). You can read this ending for yourself and then put it back where it belongs, as an interesting, historical footnote.

Mark’s ending at verse 8 makes good sense. He finishes with “for they were afraid.” It is very abrupt and forces us to do the work of seeking closure.