Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 16:9

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 16:9” utilice nuestra app.

Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

9 11. The Appearance to Mary Magdalene

9. Now when ] On this section from 9 20, see Introduction, pp. 15, 16.

he appeared first ] As yet, it will be observed, no human eye had seen the risen Conqueror of Death. The holy women had seen the stone rolled away, and the empty tomb, and had heard the words of the Angels, and announced all that had occurred to the Eleven, but their words appeared to them as “ idle tales ” (Luk 24:11). The Apostles Peter and John also, when they visited the Sepulchre, beheld proofs that it was indeed empty, but “ Him they saw not.” The first person to whom the Saviour shewed Himself after His resurrection was Mary of Magdala. After recounting to the Apostles Peter and John the rolling away of the stone, she seems to have returned to the sepulchre; there she beheld the two angels in white apparel, whom the other women had seen (Joh 20:12), and while she was in vain solacing her anguish at the removal of her Lord, He stood before her, and one word sufficed to assure her that it was He, her Healer, and her Lord.

out of whom he had cast seven devils ] That He should have been pleased to manifest Himself first after His resurrection not to the whole Apostolic company, but to a woman, and that woman not His earthly Mother, but Mary of Magdala, clearly made a strong impression on the early Church.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Mar 16:9

Now when Jesus was risen.

Evidence of the fact of Christs resurrection

The empty tomb of Jesus recalls an event which is as well attested as any in history. It is so attested as to put the idea of what is called illusion out of the question. The main purpose, the first duty, of the apostolic ministry was to witness to the fact that Christ had risen. The apostles did not teach the resurrection as a revealed truth, as they taught, e.g., the doctrine of justification; they taught the resurrection as a fact of experience-a fact of which they themselves had had experience. And this is why the different evangelists do not report the same appearances of our risen Lord. Each one reports that which he himself witnessed, or that which was witnessed by the eyewitness on whose authority he writes. Put the various attestations together, and the evidence is irresistible. That which these witnesses attest must be true, unless they have conspired to deceive us, or are themselves deceived. The idea that they are deceived, however, cannot be entertained by any man who understands human character; the idea that they were themselves deceived is inconsistent with the character of the witness which they give. No doubt there are states of hallucination, states of mental tension, in which a man may fancy that he sees something which does not in fact present itself to his senses. The imagination for the moment is so energetic as to impose upon the senses an impression which corresponds to that, whatever it be, which creates an emotion within the soul. Nay more, the New Testament itself speaks of inward revelations, sometimes during sleep, sometimes during the waking hours, as was that rapture of which St. Paul wrote, into the third heaven, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell-God knoweth. But the accounts of the appearances of our risen Lord do not at all admit of either of these explanations. If He had been seen only for a passing moment, only by one or two individuals separately, only in one set of circumstances, under one set of conditions again and again repeated, then there would have been room for the suspicion of a morbid hallucination, or at least of an inward vision. But what is the real state of the case? The risen One was seen five times on the day that He was raised from the dead; He was seen a week after; He was seen more than a month after that; and frequently, on many occasions, during the interval; He was seen by women alone, by men alone, by parties of two and three, by disciples assembled in conclave, by multitudes of men, five hundred at a time; He was seen in a garden, in a public roadway, in an upper chamber, on a mountain in Galilee, on the shore by the lake, in the village where His friends dwelt. He taught as before His death, He instructed, He encouraged, He reproved, He blessed, He uttered prolonged discourses which were remembered, which were recorded; He explained passages of Scripture, He revealed great doctrines, He gave emphatic commands, He made large and new promises, He communicated ministerial powers; and they who pressed around Him knew that His risen body was no phantom form, for He ate and drank before them just as in the days of yore, and they could, if they would, have pressed their very fingers into the fresh wounds in His hands and feet and side. In short, He left on a group of minds, most unlike each other, one profound ineffaceable impression, that they had seen and lived with One who had died indeed and had risen again, and that this fact was in itself and in its import so precious, so pregnant with meaning and with blessing to the human race, that it threw in their minds all other facts into relative insignificance; it was worth living for, it was worth dying for. (Canon Liddon.)

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene

The Saviours first appearance after resurrection was to a woman. For all He had died. But not to an assembled world does He manifest Himself now that He has risen victorious oer the grave; not to angels, or apostles; not to the faithful Joseph, or the true-hearted Nicodemus; but to a woman!

I. The character of the person to whom Christ appeared. A woman, and an inhabitant of a distant and unimportant town bordering towards the Gentile frontier, who had been possessed of demons, until Christ reached forth to her the hand of pity.

II. The circumstances under which he appeared to her. He called her by her name.

III. The grand truth here illustrated.

1. It was not a mere chance encounter. Christ having already left the tomb, must have purposely concealed Himself from all His disciples save the one whom He wanted to see and comfort.

2. Jesus revealed Himself to her, unaccompanied by any. No angel hosts: Christ was all in all.

3. The manifestation was afforded in a garden to a woman. Eden: Eve. (George Venabbes.)

The power of the gospel to restore the fallen

The flee grace of the gospel, and the holiness it produces, distinguish it from every other system. It both justifies and sanctifies. In its method of justifying, it gives glory to God, and brings peace to man. In its method of sanctifying, it displays the fulness of grace, and delivers from the power of Satan.

I. Those who are most under Satanic influence, are yet within the reach of the Gospel.

1. The power of evil spirits would be exerted over both body and soul, if they were not restrained by a greater power. As it is, Satan blinds the mind; works powerfully in the hearts of the children of disobedience; puts it into mens hearts to betray the best of Masters, and to lie against the best Friend. All sins, whether against God or against men, are committed in consequence of his temptation.

2. No power can counteract this evil influence but that which is Divine. In heathen countries Satan reigns uncontrolled; in Christian countries his devices are revealed, all his malice is baffled, his kingdom is overthrown.

3. The gospel not merely delivers men from Satanic influence, but exalts men into the most holy characters.

II. The Gospel can effect the reformation of the most abandoned. No sooner was Mary Magdalene dispossessed, than she devotes herself to the service of her Lord. So with all who heartily embrace Christs religion. The power of sin in them is destroyed, the influence of Satan is dissolved, and they become willing captives of Christs love. Justin Martyr, in one of his apologies, says, O Emperor; we, who were formerly adulterers, are now chaste; we, who used magic charms, now depend on the immortal God; we, who loved money, now cheerfully contribute to the wants of all; we, who would not sit down with those who were not of the same tribe with us, now cheerfully sit among and pray for the conversion of them that hate us, and persuade them to live according to the excellent precepts of Christ.

1. Let us learn how admirably the gospel is adapted to the present state of human nature. It finds us guilty, and reveals to us the sovereign mercy of God in Christ. It subdues the corrupt heart; turns men from darkness to light, etc.

2. See what ground this affords for exertion, even in the most desperate cases. (W. Marsh, M. A.)

Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene

I. Who she was. Christ revealed Himself first to a woman. A woman out of whom He had cast seven devils. She had been a special trophy of Christs delivering power. In her mighty grace had proved its power. She had become a constant attendant on the Saviour. She spent her substance in relieving His wants.

II. How she sought. Very early in the morning. With very great boldness. Very faithfully: stood at sepulchre. Very earnestly-weeping. Perseveringly. Sought Christ only. There was much ignorance, very little faith, but much love.

III. How she found Him. Jesus Christ was discovered to her by a word. Her heart owned allegiance by another word. Her next impulse was to seek close fellowship. She then entered on His service. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Mary Magdalene

I. A melancholy instance of Satanic power.

II. A glorious trophy of Divine grace. The cure was unsought by her. Mary resisted the healing hand. She was healed by a word. She was healed instantaneously.

III. An ardent follower of Christ.

IV. A faithful adherent to her Master under all trial.

V. One of the most favoured beholders of Christ.

VI. An honoured messenger of Christ to the apostles. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Woman first

Was it not most meet that a woman should first see the risen Saviour. She was first in the transgression, let her be first in the justification. In yon garden she was first to work our woe; let her in that other garden be the first to see Him who works our weal. She takes the apple of that bitter tree which brings us all our sorrow; let her be the first to see the Mighty Gardener, who has planted a tree which brings forth fruit unto everlasting life. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Magdalene

Mary Magdalene represents those who have come under the tormenting and distracting power of Satan, and whose lamp of joy is quenched in tenfold night. They are imprisoned not so much in the dens of sin as in the dungeons of sorrow; not so criminal as they are wretched; not so depraved as they are desolate. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Demented

Persons possessed with devils were unhappy; they found the gloom of the sepulchre to be their most congenial resort. They were unsocial and solitary. If they were permitted, they broke away from all those dear associations of the family circle which gave half the charms to life; they delighted to wander in dry places, seeking rest and finding none; they were pictures of misery, images of woe. Such was the seven-times unhappy Magdalene, for into her there had entered a complete band of devils. She was overwhelmed with seven seas of agony, loaded with seven manacles of despair, encircled with seven walls of fire. Neither day nor night afforded her rest, her brain was on fire, and her soul foamed like a boiling cauldron. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Demented

To sum up much in few words, there is no doubt that Mary Magdalene would have been considered by us to be demented; she was, practically, a maniac. Reason was unshipped, and Satan stood at the helm instead of reason, and the poor barque was hurried hither and thither under the guidance of demons. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A modern illustration

I remember a man of excellent character, well-beloved by his family and esteemed by his neighbours, who was for twenty years enveloped in unutterable gloom. He ceased to attend the house of God, because he said it was no use; and although always ready to help in every good work, yet he had an abiding conviction upon him that, personally, he had no part nor lot in this matter, and never could have. The more you talked to him the worse he became; even prayer seemed but to excite him to more fearful despondency. In the providence of God, I was called to preach the Word in his neighbourhood; he was induced to attend, and, by Gods gracious power, under the sermon he obtained a joyful liberty. After twenty years of anguish and unrest, he ended his weary roamings at the foot of the cross, to the amazement of his neighbours, the joy of his friends, and to the glory of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Hope for the worst

Until the gate of hell is shut upon a man, we must not cease to pray for him; and if we see him hugging the very door posts of damnation, we must go to the mercy seat and beseech the arm of grace to pluck him from his dangerous position. The case of Mary Magdalene is a looking glass in which many souls, wrung with anguish, may see themselves. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 9. Now when Jesus was risen, c.] This, to the conclusion of the Gospel, is wanting in the famous Codex Vaticanus, and has anciently been wanting in many others. See Wetstein and Griesbach. In the margin of the later Syriac version, there is a remarkable addition after this verse it is as follows: – And they declared briefly all that was commanded, to them that were with Peter. Afterward Jesus himself published by them, from east to west, the holy and incorruptible preaching of eternal salvation. Amen.

Mary Magdalene] It seems likely that, after this woman had carried the news of Christ’s resurrection to the disciples, she returned alone to the tomb; and that it was then that Christ appeared to her, Joh 20:1-12; and a little after he appeared to all the women together, Mt 28:9; Lu 24:16.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Concerning this appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene,

See Poole on “Mat 28:9“, See Poole on “Joh 20:14“, and following verses to Joh 20:17 who gives a more full account than any other of this appearance.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. Now when Jesus was risen earlythe first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, outof whom he had cast seven devilsThere is some difficulty here,and different ways of removing it have been adopted. She had gonewith the other women to the sepulchre (Mr16:1), parting from them, perhaps, before their interview withthe angel, and on finding Peter and John she had come with them backto the spot; and it was at this second visit, it would seem, thatJesus appeared to this Mary, as detailed in Joh20:11-18. To a woman was this honor given to be the first thatsaw the risen Redeemer, and that woman was NOThis virgin-mother.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week,…. Though the word “Jesus” is not in the text, it is rightly supplied; for of the rising of no other, can the words be understood; and so the Persic version supplies “Messiah”, or “Christ”; that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, agrees with the accounts of all the evangelists, and is here expressly affirmed; the phrase, “the first day of the week”, is so indeed placed, as that it may be thought to connected with the following words; as it is by some; fancying there would otherwise be a disagreement with Mt 28:1, whereas there is none;

[See comments on Mt 28:1] though it is true also, that he did appear on that day to Mary Magdalene, it being the same day he rose from the dead. But the true reading and pointing are as here placed; and the phrase belongs to, and points out the day of Christ’s rising from the dead; and which ambiguity is removed in the Syriac version, which renders it, “now early on the first day of the week he rose”; and so the Persic version, “the Messiah”, or “Christ, therefore on the morning of the, first day, rose from the dead”: and that he rose early on that day, is clear from the women, who set out at the end of the sabbath, when that was past and over; and got to the sepulchre by the time the day dawned; and one of them, while it was dark, and all of them by break of day, at least by sunrising, and he was then risen:

he appeared first to Mary Magdalene; in the habit of a gardener, for whom she took him at first; and this was at the sepulchre, where she staid after the disciples were gone. That she was the very first person that Christ showed himself to, after his resurrection, may be concluded from hence, and from the account the Evangelist John has given, Joh 20:14, nor is there any reason to think, that before this, he appeared to his mother, of which the evangelists are entirely silent. This was a very great favour, and an high honour that was bestowed upon her; and who had received large favours from him before:

out of whom he had cast seven devils, see Lu 8:2. And if she had been a very wicked person, as she is commonly thought to be, and very likely she had been, since Satan had such a power over her, as to lodge seven devils in her, it is an instance of abounding grace, that Christ should heap up favours on such an one; and she should be the first that he should appear to and converse with after his resurrection.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christ’s Appearances to Mary Magdalene and the Two Disciples.

9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

We have here a very short account of two of Christ’s appearances, and the little credit which the report of them gained with the disciples.

I. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, to her first in the garden, which we have a particular narrative of, John xx. 14. It was she out of whom he had cast seven devils; much was forgiven her, and much was given her, and done for her, and she loved much; and this honour Christ did her, that she was the first that saw him after his resurrection. The closer we cleave to Christ, the sooner we may expect to see him, and the more to see of him.

Now, 1. She brings notice of what she had seen, to the disciples; not only to the eleven, but to the rest that followed him, as they mourned and wept, v. 10. Now was the time of which Christ had told them, that they should mourn and lament, John xvi. 20. And it was an evidence of their great love to Christ, and the deep sense they had of their loss of him. But when their weeping had endured a night or two, comfort returned, as Christ has promised; I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. Better news cannot be brought to disciples in tears, than to tell them of Christ’s resurrection. And we should study to be comforters to disciples that are mourners, by communicating to them our experiences, and what we have seen of Christ.

2. They could not give credit to the report she brought them. They heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her. The story was plausible enough, and yet they believed not. They would not say that she made the story herself, or designed to deceive them; but they fear that she is imposed upon, and that it was but a fancy that she saw him. Had they believed the frequent predictions of it from his own mouth, they would not have been now so incredulous of the report of it.

II. He appeared to two of the disciples, as they went into the country, v. 12. This refers, no doubt, to that which is largely related (Luke xxiv. 13, c.), of which passed between Christ and the two disciples going to Emmaus. He is here said to have appeared to them in another form, in another dress than what he usually wore, in the form of a traveller, as, in the garden, in such a dress, that Mary Magdalene took him for the gardener but that he had really his own countenance, appears by this, that their eyes were holden, that they should not know him; and when that restrain on their eyes was taken off, immediately they knew him, Luke xxiv. 16-31. Now,

1. These two witnesses gave in their testimony to this proof of Christ’s resurrection; They went and told it to the residue, v. 13. Being satisfied themselves, they were desirous to give their brethren the satisfaction they had, that they might be comforted as they were.

2. This did not gain credit with all; Neither believed they them. They suspected that their eyes also deceived them. Now there was a wise providence in it, the proofs of Christ’s resurrection were given in thus gradually, and admitted thus cautiously, that so the assurance with which the apostles preached this doctrine afterward, when they ventured their all upon it, might be the more satisfying. We have the more reason to believe those who did themselves believe so slowly: had they swallowed it presently, they might have been thought credulous, and their testimony the less to be regarded; but their disbelieving at first, shows that they did not believe it afterward but upon a full conviction.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

When he had risen early on the first day of the week ( ). It is probable that this note of time goes with “risen” (), though it makes good sense with “appeared” (). Jesus is not mentioned by name here, though he is clearly the one meant. Mark uses in verse 2, but in 14:12 and the plural in verse 2, though the singular here.

First (). Definite statement that Jesus

appeared () to Mary Magdalene first of all. The verb (second aorist passive of ) is here alone of the Risen Christ (cf. , Lu 9:8), the usual verb being (Luke 24:34; 1Cor 15:5).

From whom (‘ ). Only instance of with the casting out of demons, being usual (Mark 1:25; Mark 1:26; Mark 5:8; Mark 7:26; Mark 7:29; Mark 9:25). is past perfect indicative without augment. This description of Mary Magdalene is like that in Lu 8:2 and seems strange in Mark at this point, described as a new character here, though mentioned by Mark three times just before (Mark 15:40; Mark 15:47; Mark 16:1). The appearance to Mary Magdalene is given in full by Joh 20:11-18.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The first day of the week [ ] . A phrase which Mark does not use. In verse 2 of this chapter it is miav sabbatwn.

Out of whom he had cast seven devils. With Mark’s well – known habit of particularizing, it is somewhat singular that this circumstance was not mentioned in either of the three previous allusions to Mary (xv. 40, 47; 16 1).

Out of whom [ ] . An unusual expression. Mark habitually uses the preposition ejk in this connection (i. 25, 26; Mr 5:8; Mr 7:26, 29; Mr 9:25). Moreover, ajpo, from, is used with ejkballein, cast out, nowhere else in the New Testament. The peculiarity is equally marked if we read with some, par h=v.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

FIRST DAY APPEARANCES OF JESUS V. 9-14

1) “Now when Jesus was risen,” (anastas de) “Then after He was risen,” had come forth as a basis of future hope and assurance to those who trust in Him, Rom 8:11; Rom 8:23. The name of Jesus is not in the original here in this verse or in the remainder of the chapter.

2) “Early the first day of the week,”(proi prote sabbatou) “Early on the first day of the week,” directly as the day began, the first day of the week or on Sunday, also called the Lord’s Day, 1Co 16:1-2.

3) “He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,” (ephane proton Maria te Magdalene) “He appeared first (in order of post- resurrection appearances) to Mary, the one of Magdalene,” out of whom He had cast seven demon spirits, Joh 20:11-18. This appearance was after she had gone and told the disciples and returned to the tomb area weeping.

4) “Out of whom He had cast seven devils.” (par hes ekbeblekei hepta daimonis) “From whom He had expelled (driven out) seven demons,” seven deranged, unclean spirits,” Luk 8:2. She was as one “snatched from destruction,” by the miraculous power of Jesus, that men might believe as Nicodemus did, Joh 3:2; Joh 20:30-31.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar. 16:9-20. See Appendix, p. 641.

Mar. 16:15. Go ye into all the world.That is to say, Go wherever ye will, wherever ye can, that the gospel may be diffused: no limits of place are henceforth prescribed to you. Every creature.Every human creature. Cp. all nations (Mat. 20:19), as contrasted with the one Jewish nation to which their labours hitherto had been restricted. See Mat. 10:5.

Mar. 16:16. He that believeth not.Against heretics denying, from the omission in this latter clause, the necessity of baptism, it is sufficient to reply that baptism, if not a necessary means of grace, would not have been introduced as such, and without qualification, in the previous clauseto say nothing of the assertion of its necessity elsewhere (e.g. Joh. 3:3). Nor, indeed, is the insistence on baptism really absent from this clause after all; although not verbally expressed, it is evidently implied; the previous conjunction of the twofaith and baptismis such that to accept or deny one is to accept or deny both. Moreover, saving faith is practical, and includes the observance of all things enjoined, of which baptism is among the first.

Mar. 16:17. These signs shall follow them that believe.Not to be understood of every believer, nor of all times alike. Miracles were more needed while the Church was in its infancy than after it had obtained a secure footing in the world. Yet it must not be concluded that the power of miracles in the body of the faithful is absolutely extinct. We dare not attempt to draw the line, and say that miracles were possible up to such a date, but not beyond, since God has not drawn any such line for us Himself. To be critical in investigating evidence is wise and right; to be sceptical, in the teeth of evidence, is foolish and wrong.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 16:9-18

(PARALLELS: Mat. 28:9-20; Luk. 24:13-43; Joh. 20:11-29.)

Christs first appearance after His Resurrection.

I. Why did He appear first to a woman?

1. To shew that God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11)that is, that in the bestowing of spiritual graces or privileges God does not regard the outward quality or condition of the persons upon whom He bestows them, but He doth freely and indifferently bestow such graces and privileges upon persons of all sorts and conditionsupon women as well as men, poor as well as rich, etc.

2. To shew that the fruit and benefit of His resurrection, and consequently of His death and passion, belong to women as well as to men.

II. Why did He appear first to this woman in particular?

1. Because she shewed most love to Christ, and was most forward and diligent in seeking after Him.

(1) She is first named; yea, she alone (Joh. 20:1).

(2) She continued longest seeking.
(3) She sought Him with tears.
2. To comfort her against her former miserable and afflicted condition.

Lessons.

1. Christ is most ready and forward to reveal and manifest Himself and His comfortable presence to such as truly and earnestly love Him, and are most forward to shew and express their love towards Him.
2. Christ hath a great care of such of His saints and servants as have been in great misery and distress, that they may not want comfort and encouragement afterward.
3. Such as have received great mercies and favours from God, if they be thankful to Him and make good use of those favours, shall have more added unto them.
4. The more any have tasted of the mercy of God, the more they will love God and Christ, and the more forward they will be to shew their love by its fruits.G. Petter.

Christs appearance to two disciples.Had St. Lukes Gospel never been written, or contained no reference to this incident, we might have indulged in a variety of conjectures and speculations regarding it. Who were these two disciples? we might have asked; and where were they going? On what day, and what time of day? What are we to understand by the expression in another form? Did Christ merely shew Himself to them? or did He converse with them? and if so, on what subjects? If He appeared to them under a different form from that under which they had hitherto known Him, how did they recognise Him? What feelings and impressions did the incident leave upon their minds? These and many other questions might have been suggested by St. Marks brief account; but little or nothing satisfactory could have resulted from the inquiry. In this state of uncertainty, how gladly should we have welcomed the discovery of another and hitherto unknown portion of Scripture, containing the very information we were seekinga narrative taken down from the lips of one of the two disciples, giving a full and particular account of the whole transactionjust such a narrative, in short, as we find in Luk. 24:13-35! Let us suppose that this narrative were now before us for the first time, and see what information may be obtained from it as to the particulars upon which we were in doubt.

I. The meeting of the two disciples with their Risen Lord.St. Mark only states that after Jesus had first appeared to Mary Magdalene, who went and told them that had been with Him (i.e. the general body of disciples in Jerusalem), but failed to convince themafter that He appeared in another form unto two of those who had heard Marys story and believed it not. We might almost infer from this that the appearances both took place on Easter Day itself; and St. Luke confirms this (Luk. 24:13). We also gather from his account that it was in the afternoon (Luk. 24:29). The name of one of themCleopasis mentioned incidentally (Luk. 24:18); but no hint is given as to who the other was. All we know for certain is, that he was not one of the eleven apostles (Luk. 24:33). To these two disciples, then, Jesus appeared, as they walked and went into the country. Had we only St. Marks statement, we might have supposed it was a walk of recreation, not of business (as Gen. 24:63). What could be more natural than for persons in such a state of agitation and suspense to seek an opportunity of calm reflexion and discussion in a quiet country walk! We learn, however, from St. Luke that they were on their way to a certain place, several miles distant from Jerusalem (Luk. 24:13), where they intended to lodge that night (Luk. 24:29), though whether at an inn, or at the house of one of them, or at a friends house we cannot determine. As they walked they talked; and their conversation could not but turn upon those recent and still passing events in which they were so deeply interested (Luk. 24:14). Their hearts were full, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Their discourse was earnest and solemn, for it related to matters on the ultimate event of which the whole course and character of their future lives might turn. As they thus talked a Stranger came up and joined them. It was Jesus; yet they knew Him not (Luk. 24:15-16). They were not struck with blindness; they saw other objects, and saw them as they really were; they saw the person and features of Jesus Himself, but by some providential arrangement of which we can form no conception they were prevented from recognising Him. Even His voice, with whose accents they must have been as familiar as a child with its parents, failed to convey its wonted impressions to their ears. The same mysterious influence which had been exercised for a brief period over the senses of Mary Magdalene (Joh. 20:14-16) now took possession of them, and maintained its ascendency throughout the lengthened conversation which ensued. First the two disciples related to the Stranger the things which were come to pass there in those days (Joh. 20:18-24). When they had finished their statement, the Stranger Himself took up the discourse; and their share in the conversation consisted chiefly (we may suppose) in such inquiries and remarks as scholars are in the habit of addressing to their master, to elicit further explanation, and so forth. There was but one subject which at that time could be of the slightest interest to any of the party, viz. the accordance of all that had happened to Jesus with the prophetic announcements respecting the Messiah (Joh. 20:25-27). On this subject He held His hearers in mute and rapt attention until towards evening they drew near their destination. All this time they had no idea who their Companion really was; but thinking Him a man like themselves, they begged Him to take up His quarters with them for the night. All three therefore turned in, and sat down to meat; and it was during this meal that the mist or veil was removed from their eyes, and they saw Him in His own proper form in which He had always appeared to them. Even the precise moment of the discovery is recorded by St. Luke (Luk. 24:30-31; Luk. 24:35); it was when He was in the act of breaking bread, and blessing it, and giving it to them, that they recognised Him who had so often before performed the same pious act in their presence. The recognition being complete, the purpose of this whole transaction was answered, and Jesus vanished out of their sight.

II. The feelings of the two disciples in the presence of their Risen Lord.Did not our heart burn within us! they exclaimed (Luk. 24:32). The expression is a striking one, and seems to be as pregnant with meaning as their hearts were with feeling. It indicates the presence not of one but of many strong and stirring emotions within the breast, all too big for the confined space in which they were pent up. It reminds us of the psalmists language (Psa. 39:3), or of Jeremiahs (Jer. 20:9).

1. The first feeling excited in their breasts was perhaps that of hope. They had had hope in Christ before (Luk. 24:21); but His condemnation and death had filled their minds with despondency. To look for the salvation of their nation to One who had not been able to save Himself would indeed have been to hope against hope. But the discourse of their Fellow-traveller rekindled the dying embers, and fanned them into a flame. Did not the Scriptures of the prophets expressly point to a suffering as well as a triumphant Messiah, and suffering in order to triumph? See Isaiah 53. And as to His being alive again, as announced to the women by a vision of angels, why should they discredit it or be astonished at it? See Psa. 16:10. If we at this day are able to build up for ourselves a good hope through grace on the foundation of these and similar texts, we may imagine what it must have been to hear Jesus Himself expounding in all the Scriptures the things concerning His own sufferings and exaltation; we may well believe that while they listened the hearts of these two disciples beat high with hopethe hope of seeing their Lord again, triumphant over death and the grave, and of themselves sharing His triumph. We often hear it said, What is life without hope? but those who say it are thinking of some temporal advantage, some improvement in worldly condition, the hope of which cheers them under present difficulties and animates them to fresh exertion in the struggle of life. But what is life, when all its hopes are realised and all its objects attained, without the Christian hope?

2. Did not the hearts of the two disciples burn within them with love and gratitude while the unknown Object of that love talked with them by the way and opened to them the Scriptures? And what should be more effectual to inflame love where it exists, or to kindle it in hearts as yet unconscious of it, than the contemplation of those events which were recalled to the minds of these men by the discourse of Jesus? The thought of Christ being wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities is one with which we have been familiar from childhood, which may have weakened somewhat the effect it ought to have upon our minds. But whenever it is placed strongly and clearly before us, cold and dead must be that heart which does not respond to the appeal! Fools indeed must they be, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken and all that the Evangelists have recorded, who are not melted by the bare recital of all that the Son of God suffered in the flesh for us men and for our salvation!

3. Doubtless the predominant emotion was joy. The two disciples had set out on their journey in sorrow and heaviness. But as the Stranger proceeded to shew them from Scripture not only the probability but the certainty and necessity of their Lords resurrection, their hearts were cheered and warmed with the prospect of beholding Him again, in accordance with His own most gracious promise (Joh. 16:20-22). And if they had cause to rejoice, how much more have we! See Psa. 118:24-29; 1Co. 5:7-8.

Mar. 16:14-18. The departing Saviour.

I. Our departing Saviours chidings (Mar. 16:14).It sounds somewhat harsh to hear that the gentle Jesus mingled rebukes with His parting words. But it was love itself that gave birth to these upbraidings. It was not that Jesus took pleasure in reproaching His disciples, or that He did not wish them every comfort and peace of mind; but it was just because their highest welfare was the chief desire of His heart that He thus admonished them. Faith is the great saving grace; and where that is wanting there is misery, darkness, and death. It was just because He loved them, and wished to have them take in and possess the true joys of faith, that He upbraided them with their unbelief. Every interest of their own, and of those who were afterward to believe through their word, was put into terrible jeopardy by the indulgence of such stubborn scepticism. And as the Saviour loved them, and loved the souls of men in general, He referred to it in His last interview, expressed again His dissatisfaction, and gave to them, and through them to all men, a last solemn warning against an evil heart of unbelief. Nor can we plead that no such evil temper and hardness have in any way characterised us hitherto. Have we so believed the Resurrection of Christ as to take all its momentous implications home to our souls, and to have them living in our lives? Have we so believed it, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, etc.? (Rom. 6:4-6). Admitting that Christ is risen, have we then so risen with Him as to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God? (Col. 3:1-2). Conceding it as true that there is a blessed resurrection life for the virtuous and the good, have we really set ourselves to attain to that resurrection of the just? Yielding that Jesus is declared the Son of God with power, have we embraced Him with all our heart, and clung to Him as the only Saviour of our souls, and given ourselves to obey Him in all things as the Captain of our salvation?

II. Our departing Saviours commands (Mar. 16:15-16).Here is another grand testimony and manifestation of our Great Redeemers love. It is assumed that there is a heaven and that there is a hell; but the desire of Jesus is that all men should escape the horrors of the one and secure the blessedness of the other. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Pe. 3:9). But there is only one way in which men can be saved (Joh. 3:36). The Saviour Himself here reannounces the same, and has made it firm and unalterable for ever. But it is impossible for men to believe on the Son, or to turn themselves heartily to Him as their hope, without first having had Him preached unto them. This is now the grand commission of all Christs disciples. The gospel calls men not only to be saved themselves, but to be agents and messengers in carrying the same salvation to others. No Christian is exempt from its binding obligation, and no Christian is excluded from the high privilege and honour of taking part in it, according to his sphere and measure. There is indeed a line of discrimination to be observed between Christians in general and those who are the chosen and appointed ministers of the Church; but the election of some to officiate more directly for the rest assumes that there is a common office of this sort inhering in the whole body and in all its members in common. That office it is the business of every individual to exercise, if not in his own person, yet in and through others, by his vote, concurrence, and aid. But the mere preaching and hearing of the truth is not all. Something more is necessary in order to full profit in Divine grace. As Christ commands the preaching of the gospel to every one, so He also at the same time appoints and ordains the holy sacrament of baptism to be received by every one, as a test of his obedience to the truth, and as a further means of imparting His Holy Spirit. Faith without obedience is nothing, and salvation is promised only to him that believeth and is baptised. We must remember, also, that saving faith is not a product of our reason and will. It is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). It is a thing wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. And the instrument of the Holy Ghost is the Word and sacraments. God has appointed baptism as well as preaching; and the promise of salvation rests on one as upon the other. Hence it is written: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (Joh. 3:5). And again: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Tit. 3:5). And, again, that the ark wherein eight souls were saved by water was a like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us, which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God (1Pe. 3:20-21). Hence the farewell charge of the loving Jesus is, that we carry this sacrament wheresoever we carry the gospel itself; and that, equally with our preaching of His truth to every creature, it is our duty to offer baptism to every creature, and to demand of all men obedience to the one as we require faith in the other, as the Divine conditions on which alone we are authorised to promise salvation to them that hear us.

III. Our departing Saviours promises (Mar. 16:17-18).These are grand and startling announcements. Scepticism has often pointed to them, and challenged Christians to attest their faith accordingly. Whether such miracles occur now or not, if they ever were actually wrought by Christians, then the promise has been fulfilled, and the taunt of infidelity falls to the ground. Turning back, then, to those trying times when Christianity went forth in a few humble fishermen and tent-makers, to grapple with the hoary systems which then held empire over the world, we are also abundantly certified that in no instance did these assurances fail (Heb. 2:4). Were they to be able to cast out demons? (Act. 16:16; Act. 16:24; Act. 19:11-12). And many demons of pride, covetousness, uncleanness, drunkenness, gluttony, ambition, and demons of lust, hatred, moroseness, and spirits of wickedness of innumerable sorts, did these same apostles expel by their preaching, turning men from their idols and corruptions to serve the Living and True Godthus both literally and spiritually fulfilling the blessed promise of the Master, that in His name they should cast out devils. Were they to be able to speak in languages which they had never learned? (Act. 2:5-11; Act. 10:46). Were they to be able to take up poisonous reptiles unharmed? (Act. 28:1-6). Were they to be able to drink deadly draughts with impunity? Church history tells of a fatal potion prepared for the destruction of the Apostle John, which he drank, but was unhurt by the poisoned cup, which it was confidently counted would be his death. Were they to be able to heal the sick and the suffering? (Act. 3:1-9; Act. 9:33-35; Act. 14:8-11). And time would fail to tell the works of healing wonder which the disciples wrought in the name of Jesus, by prayer and the laying on of hands, in which the Master fulfilled His promise: They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. They went forth, and preached the Word everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Nor was the promise or the fulfilment of it confined to them alone. It was not made to apostles simply, but them that believe, and hence to Christians in general. Accordingly we find this miraculous power working in and by the Church for a hundred years after the Saviours ascension. It is still outstanding, firm, and good; and always must hold good, as long as the gospel is preached, and men are found to believe it. The lack is not to be sought in the absence of necessity, but in the weakness and the infirmity of our faith. There were places, when Christ was on earth, at which He did not many mighty works, because of the unbelief of the people. Want of faith will always restrain and grieve away the gracious power of God. And instead of reasoning these precious promises into a state of superannuation, let us rather conclude that the Churchs living confidence in her Lord has declined. Let us look for more, pray with more confidence, realise more thoroughly what our high calling is, and what an Almighty Saviour we have, and as God is true His promise will be verified now as well as in other ages.J. A. Seiss, D.D.

Mar. 16:15. What is Christian preaching?Our Lord believed in the work of the preacher, not only as one of the chief methods of disseminating the gospel, but as the chief method. By Him it was never undervalued as something secondary. He went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching. When He sent forth the apostles He said, As ye go, preach. After His Resurrection they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word. And Paul rejoices that he was ordained a preacher.

I. Realising the importance of this office, as we turn to study the great Model we find ourselves at first discouraged, because that which impresses us most strongly is the dissimilarity between the discourses of Him who spake as never man spake and any which we may ever hope to produce.

1. We must study and frame our sentences beforehand, and many times sit down afterward and wonder that so great a truth could be so poorly told. The most striking element in Christs discourses is their marvellous spontaneity. His words were real lightning: they flashed. With us, and our perhaps necessary elaborate methods, they become too often only lightning on canvasa streak of yellow paint. But even here, in this at first most discouraging attribute of our Lords preaching, we may find for ourselves an idea and an ideal. The ideal Christian discourse will be that which in manner and spirit as nearly as possible resembles Christs. With Him preaching was speaking. He opened His mouth and spake. We cannot do this as He did it; and if the perpetuation of the Christian religion had depended upon this kind of Christian preaching, it would have died with the death of the apostles and their immediate successors. If the inspiration which they received was not indeed different in kind from that which falls on us to-day, it was so infinitely different in degree that the result is the same in either case.
2. And yet there is one method by which in its effect we may approximate the manner of Christs preaching. And because of the difference between us and the apostles that method is exactly the opposite of that which He suggested to them. What they, fresh from immediate personal contact with the Christ, were to do by taking no thought, we can accomplish only by recognising in a very special sense the need of taking much thought. Thomas Guthrie began in Edinburgh a pastorate which lasted thirty years; and he determined from the beginning to preach extemporaneously, as Christ preached. But he realised that he had limitations which Christ and His apostles had notthat if he would accomplish this, it must be, not with less study than would be required for a written sermon, but more. He rose regularly at five in summer and six in winter, and for five days in the week devoted the first three hours of every morning to the preparation of his sermon. Thus for fifteen hours it was the single object of his thought. He wrote it and rewrote it, eliminating here and emphasising there, until when Sunday came he did not need to learn it; as our school-children say, It had learned itself. Unconsciously he had absorbed it, and by reading it over once or twice on the morning of its delivery he went into the pulpit surcharged. The ideas leaped to his lips without conscious effort, in almost or quite the very language in which he had thought and written them out, with all the polish of a scholar and all the spontaneity of a speaker. He preached like Christ; and that which happened eighteen hundred years ago happened again, as it always will under similar circumstances: The common people heard him gladly.

II. What was the substance of Jesus preaching?

1. Our Lords sermons were doctrinal, if we remember that docere means to teach. When He speaks, He speaks as though something were settled; and that is dogma, truth crystallised. The very name of His followers was that of disciples, learners. He had something to teach. His discourses were not guesses at truth. There was nothing in them which would remind one of the debating society, where everything is an open question. Do you know, said the late Oliver Wendell Holmes, I dont like to listen to these everlasting negations that some ministers deal out from the pulpit.

2. Christs preaching was pictorial: He knew how to teach it. That was probably an overstatement when some one said of Him that our Lord never preached a sermon in which He did not tell a story, because it is written that without a parable spake He not unto them. But there is no doubt that His style of address was essentially Oriental. Neither is there any doubt that this was one of the chief reasons why the throngs hung so breathlessly upon His words. His eye swept all heaven and earth for metaphors and parables and similes. We may mark the perils to be met with here by noting how deftly He avoided them. He never fondled an illustration, as one does a pretty babe, to call attention to itself. His illustrations illustrated. They were suggestive, not exhaustive. With Him a metaphor was only a window into an argument. He never deliberately constructed ornamentation; but we must believe, with His sermons before us, that He did ornament construction. But even here we need a qualifying word. Though His teaching was illustrative, it was always teaching. His figures were not wax flowers, put on for adornment, simply adherent. They were inherent, they were the truth in blossom.
3. His preaching was persuasive: He knew why He taught it. There is no true Christian sermon ever preached which does not contain, directly or indirectly, this element of persuasion to a Christian life. It is this which differentiates it from other forms of literature, and makes it a Christian sermon. A drama is always pictorial, and sometimes instructive: a lyceum lecture is supposed to be both. But the distinctive mark of a Christian sermon is that it is a discourse aimed at the will, for the purpose of inducing or strengthening the Christian life. What Christ said of Himself was eminently true of His preaching: it was a way not stopping with itself, but leading farther on.
4. In His teaching He was spiritual: He addressed the inner life. He not only had something to teach, and knew how to teach it, and why He taught it; He knew likewise to whom He taught it. His appeal was ever to the spiritual yearning which in greater or less degree is to be found in every soul. I dont care whether its Briggsism or anti-Briggsism, said a man at the close of a celebrated service in a New York church, as he ran up into the pulpit and grasped the hand of the clergyman; but for Gods sake help me; for I am a ruined soul. In every word He ever uttered Christ always had in mind that ruined soul, longing to be borne upward into an atmosphere of health. I am come, He said, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.G. T. Dowling, D.D.

Mar. 16:17-18. The signs of faith.When we remember such words as those which tell us that he who believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, how should it at once arrest our attention to hear, from the lips of Him who cannot deceive, an account of those very signs which shall mark out the possession of this invaluable gift!

I. We seem to be readingwe are evidently readingof gifts and of powers which have long passed away from Christs Church: gifts and powers which never infallibly pointed out the true members of His spiritual bodyfor some had these who had little, if any, experience of the inward graces of Christs Spiritand which now, at all events, do not survive, to make any distinction, real or apparent, amongst the multitude of His professed disciples. It was one great object of Christs revelation to draw up the veil which separated between the material and the spiritual, and to disclose to the eyes of men those great but unseen realities in the very midst of which they were blindly and unconsciously dwelling. This unseen world was of a twofold character. There was the world of God, and the world of the devilthe world of Divine agency, and the world of antagonist evil. With both of these every man upon earth was deeply concerned; and yet the nature, the very existence, of either could only be made known to him for certain by disclosures from God. Thus, on the one hand, the devil was permitted in that generation to manifest his operation upon mens souls by visible tokens of his presence in their bodies. On the other hand, that generation was blessed also with equally palpable proofs of the operation of Gods Spirit. He enabled the tongue to utter languages which the understanding in many cases could not interpret; He made the word of a man powerful to heal diseases which had defied all the skill of physiciansto cast out from the convulsed and distorted body those evil spirits which had usurped it for their abode. But these visible and sensible proofs of the presence of Gods Spirit were never designed, we may venture to say, to remain with the Church of Christ. The signs which were to follow them that believedif in the first instance they were of a mixed character, partly gifts and partly graces, partly outward powers and partly spiritual virtueswere designed to become ere long wholly of the latter kind: the only powers with which Christs people were ultimately to be endued in this life were such as are inseparable from the graces of love and knowledge and holinessfrom the insensible but resistless influence of one who is proved by his life and spirit to have God with him and in him of a truth.

II. Every one of these signs has a corresponding token in times when miracles are no more.Let us view by the light of other words of God each of the four particulars here enumerated in its application to our own days.

1. If Christ stood now in the midst of us and said, These signs shall follow those amongst you that believe: in My name shall they cast out devils, should we not at once understand Him to declare, that, whatever be the peculiar sins to which we are most often and powerfully tempted, whatever the snares by which the great enemy most easily prevails over us, in His name we must overcome them?-that, knowing as we all do our weaknesses, our faults, our past sinful acts, our present foolish and hurtful desires; knowing whether it be in the form of passion, or of selfishness, or of sensuality, or of sloth, that sin has most power over us; knowing by experience that in some one or in all of these forms it has great power over us, and recognising, as Christ teaches us to do, in all these things indications of his presence and his agency who like a roaring lion is ever going about seeking whom he may devour, we must cast him out in His name and strength?that, If we really believe, we shall do so; that if we do it not, it is because we have no faith and therefore no life in us?
2. They shall speak with new tongues. The miraculous power which fulfilled this prediction has long passed away. But what was the miraculous gift of tonguesglorious as it was, and most convincing as an argument of the Divine origin of the gospelwhen viewed in comparison with that grace which was so aptly signified by its exercise, and for so many ages has survived its withdrawal? If he who has hitherto found no response within, when he would fain have summoned his heart to awake and utter praisewho has knelt on his knees to pray, and found his very prayers dried up at their inmost source by the withering power of long indifference or unbeliefis now able to realise Gods being, to trust in Christs mediation, to enter in through that door into the heavenly courts of the Lord, to present there with a full heart his daily offering of confession and prayer and thanksgiving, to believe that he is heard, and to receive according to his need the supply of life and strength and comfort,what is this but the gift of a new tongue, a sign which follows them that believe, and betokens an heir of salvation?
3. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. In other words, this is one of the signs which attend Christs servants, that what is perilous to others is safe to them, that that is health to them which to others is but an occasion of falling. They live in an ensnaring world. Their own hearts are weak and treacherous. Their occupations in life are often perilous to the well-being of their souls. They hear evil maxims often avowed, corrupting principles more often insinuated. Their own duty sometimes requires them to read or to hear that of which they had been happy to have remained ignorant. Some friend, whom nature or choice had endeared to them most closely, seeks by argument or persuasion or ridicule to shake their steadfastness, and by his own example encourages them to sin. But what then? Greater is He that is in them than he that is in the world. To the pure all things are pure. The tempest which overthrows others but roots them more firmly.
4. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. We have dwelt upon other signs of true faith: how it shews itself in fighting against our own sinsin bridling the tongue, and yet loosing itin giving safety amidst danger, and stability amidst general defection. And now we are taught to remember how the same principle tends to make us useful in the worlduseful in our own world, whatever that be, whether the world of youth or the world of men; how it enables us to help the weak, to warn the sinful, to comfort the weak-hearted, to establish the wavering, to bring back the wandering; how the consistent maintenance, in word and conduct, of that spirit of faith in Christ of which we are speaking, will, by Gods blessing, often without a word of direct exhortation, act upon others with a powerful influence, silently reproving, teaching, guiding, supporting our brethren, even when we are least conscious of any eye being upon us.Dean Vaughan.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar. 16:9. Christs appearance to Mary of Magdala.St. Mark reminds us that Mary had once been possessed by seven devils; and whatever else and more be included in demoniacal possession, we know that it must have perilously weakened brain and nerve. Is it not obvious, then, that, as we might have expected of Him, Jesus appeared first to Mary because she was in the most desperate need of Him? Wandering about the garden like one distraught, blinded with her tears, possessed with one ideaso possessed that even the angelic vision seems to have had no awe for her, and she fails to recognise the Lord she loved, till in familiar tones He cries, Marywho does not see the extreme danger her susceptible and excitable nature was in? Insanity was not far off when she flung herself upon Him with the cry, My Master, and would have clasped His feet. How wholesome for her too and calming to have a commission confided to her, to be made useful, to be sent to the disciples with the message, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God!S. Cox, D.D.

First to Mary Magdalene.To reconcile this representation with Matthews (Mat. 28:9), we must supposewhat is perfectly naturalthat there was a variety of runnings to and fro. We may conceive the case in some such way as the followingwithout, however, imagining that it embodies the absolute historic truth: When the group of women saw the open tomb and the angels, Mary may instantly, in a kind of ecstatic bewilderment, have turned on her heels to run and carry word of the fact to the apostles. By-and-by the other women would follow. Ere long Peter and John would come running, and then return. Mary for a little season was alone, near the sepulchre, and Jesus revealed Himself to her. By-and-by the other women rejoined her, and Jesus appeared to them all, as they were on their way to the apostles. There would be in all their bosoms not only interest, strung to the highest pitch, but ecstasy, and trepidation, and an impossibility of resting anywhere longer than a few moments at a time. See Greswells Forty-third Dissertation.J. Morison, D.D.

Mar. 16:12. Another form.By another form St. Mark seems to mean a different form to that in which Christ appeared to Mary, but may, and probably does, mean nothing more than a form other than that with which they had been familiar in the days of His humiliationa spiritual body, and no longer a natural body. This conjecture is confirmed by the word rendered manifested, a different word to that rendered appeared in Mar. 16:9. It implies that in His new form He was not necessarily visible, though He could render Himself visible where and to whom He would.S. Cox, D.D.

Mar. 16:13. The unbelief of the apostles. Neither believed they them. The original is stronger: but not even them did they believe. And yet it is said in Luk. 24:33-34, that when they got into the midst of the eleven and them that were with them, they were met with the exclamation, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. This apparent contrariety demolishes at a stroke the theory of Hitzig, who supposes that Luke is the author of Mar. 16:9-20. It also completely overturns the theory of those who imagine that the section, though not composed by Luke, was, by the hand of some other one, culled out of Luke. But there is no real contradiction nevertheless. The disciples of our Lord were in the midst of the inconsistencies of a tumultuating and transition state of mind. All their hopes had been suddenly dashed. They had been utterly disappointed. And yet they could not bring themselves to believe that their late Beloved Lord had been an impostor. Had He not been uniformly and perfectly pure? Had He not been almost infinitely unselfish and noble? It could not be that He was a deceiver. And yet the unchallengeable fact stared them in the face, that, instead of throwing off His disguise and assuming His royal prerogatives, as they had anticipated, He had been seized, tried, condemned, and crucified like a slave! What could they make of the case? Mary Magdalene and other women had told them that the sepulchre was found by them open and illumined by the presence of angels. Peter and John had run to it, and found the report of the women true, in its main element at least. Then Mary had told them that the Lord actually appeared to her. They could not for a moment doubt her sincerity. But surely her imagination must have imposed on her! By-and-by, however, the Lord appeared to Peter also, and he reported the fact to his brethren. His testimony had weight; and they received it with raptures (Luk. 24:34). And yet after a little, and because of the very preciousness of their new-born hope, they begin to be inquisitive and critical in reference in its foundation. What if Peter himself had been overmastered by his imagination? What if, under the influence of his sanguine nature, and with that haste which has been all along his besetting failing, he had mistaken a mere subjective vision for an objective fact? Then perhaps the assembled brethren would question Peter, and cross-question him, going into the varied details of the appearance, until, it may be, Peters own faith began to waver. When once in the full flow of this doubting mood, they would be ready enough to set aside the testimony of the two comparatively humble brethren who had returned from the country. They would say, No doubt the brethren are honest. But surely it cannot be true that He who actually on the Cross gave up the ghost, and was then buried, is now literally alive again! How could such a thing be? Must not the brethren and Peter himself, as well as Mary, be the dupes of their fond imaginations? Such would naturally be the state of the disciples minds for a considerable length of timethe tide of thought and feeling surging and resurging in contrary directions. And hence the facile conciliation of Marks statement with Lukes.J. Morison, D.D.

Mar. 16:15. Christs commission.

I. What is implied in preaching the gospel?

1. It means to spread the good news.
2. To make known that revelation which God has given of Himself.
3. To exhibit the privilege the gospel offers.
4. To declare the precepts the gospel enjoins.

II. To whom the office is committed.

1. It was not confined to the apostles.
2. The preacher must have a deep and a living sense of the importance of Divine truth.
3. The preacher must have good sense and a power of argument.
4. A spiritual and experimental knowledge of the gospel.
5. A particular call by the grace of God.
6. A fervent love to the Lord Jesus, and an earnest desire to advance His honour and interest.
7. An intense desire for the salvation of souls.
8. A willingness to endure hardship and persecution in the work on which he is engaged.

III. Where and to whom is the message to be preached?Every rational being of the race of Adam is to receive this important message, for all have sinned and come short of the kingdom of God.

1. None are excluded by the decree of God. He is loving to all men.
2. None are excluded by natural or moral incapacity. They are not too weak, ignorant, or depraved to obey the precepts of the gospel.

IV. The condition required from those who hear.Faith is required in order to have salvation, for the gospel is

1. A revelation of truths, and implies a persuasion of their certainty and importance.
2. An offer of privileges, and implies that we accept that offer in the way God has appointed.
3. A promulgation of laws, and implies that we acknowledge the authority of the Lawgiver.Preachers Analyst.

Gospel responsibility.It was the saying of a great missionary preacher, We shall soon have done with the gospel, but the gospel will not soon have done with us.

Mar. 16:16. Belief and baptism.By joining believing and being baptised, as both necessary to salvation, did the Lord mean to put on an equality the highest action of the soul in embracing the truth of God and of Christ and the reception of an outward rite? Certainly not. For He did not consider that the baptism which He ordained was an outward rite. It is, according to His own words, a new birth of water and the Spirit into His kingdom. According to the teaching of St. Paul, it is a death and burial with Him to sin, and a rising again with Him to newness of life (Rom. 6:1-4), so that the baptised man must, no matter what the difficulty, count himself to be in a new state, born anew into the Second Adam, grafted into the True Vine, endued with a new life from Christ, and gifted, if he will faithfully strive to use them, with new powers against sin and on the side of holiness of life. It was the Lords intention, by His death and resurrection, not only to deliver men from sin as individuals, but to incorporate them into His mystical body, i.e. His Holy Catholic Church, so that in the unity of that Church, in the unity of its faith, its hope, its charity, they might grow up, not singly, but together, in the fellowship of the One Body. And so the reception of His baptism being the outward sign of this, and the means for bringing it to each one, was worthy to be put side by side with believing.M. F. Sadler.

Words applicable to nations.Whatever unbelievers think about individual souls, it is plain that these words have proved true for communities and nations. He that believeth and is baptised has been saved; he that believeth not has been condemned. The nation and kingdom that has not served Christ has perished.Dean Chadwick.

Nominal Christianity insufficient.Let a man (I speak of the generality of men) be asked upon what he builds his hopes of salvation. He will reply: I am a Christian. I was born in a Christian land, of Christian parents, and baptised in the name of Christ, and therefore I am a Christian. It is well for him that he has been blessed with such advantages. But has he improved them as they might have been improved? The words of Christ are not, He that is baptised shall be saved; but, He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved. The name of a Christian will, of itself, do nothing for us; it will only be an aggravation of our guilt, if we be found without a Christian heart, without a Christian faith, without a Christian practice. But perhaps he will say: I am something more than a nominal professor of the gospel. I am constant in my attendance at the house of God, and regular in the observance of the Holy Communion. But let him be asked again: Is the heart in all this? Is it done solely and wholly to please God? Is it done with seriousness, earnestness, and sincerity? Or is this outward shew of religion the result of habit, put on in conformity with the custom of the world, or to deceive and gain the favour of mankind? Does he enter the holy sanctuary with the full determination that, when he has been taught his duty, he will perform the same? Does he, as he kneels at the holy table, acknowledge and bewail his manifold sins and wickedness, and, intending to lead a new life, pray for strength and grace to that God with whom alone dwelleth the power to bring him unto happiness? Does he commune with his own heart in public and in private, at all times and seasons, to discover whether he be wandering from the right way, from his duty, his religion, and his God, and with the purpose to correct what he finds to be wrong, and to improve what is deficient? The man who can answer these questions to the satisfaction of his conscience and his God will be accepted with Him; but too many, it is to be feared, are very far removed from such an advanced state of spiritual excellence.H. Marriott.

Shall be damned.God is too good to damn anybody. Quite right. God does not damn anybody; but many damn themselves. Damnation is sin and suffering producing and perpetuating each other. Look at the low dens with their diseased, poisoned, putrescent inmates, their depravity, their profligacy, their brutality, their bodily torture, their mental anguish. Is not that damnation?sin and suffering acting and reacting. Hell is that same thing projected into the souls future. God does not damn men. He moves heaven and earth to prevent it. The Crucifixion was Gods supreme effort to keep men from hell. How unreasonable to charge God with your death! Suppose I went, sick and suffering, through the stormy night to hold a light for you at some dizzy chasm; suppose you struck down the light which I had brought with so much pains; suppose you lost your foothold and fell into the abyss below: could I be charged with your death? Well, then, did not God bring you light? Did He not with scarred hand hold that light over your pathway? If you reject it and fall, can you charge Him with your death? No; oh no! This is the condemnation, that light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.R. S. Barrett.

Mar. 16:17-18. These signs.The Holy Church doth spiritually every day what she then did through the apostles corporally. For when the priests, by the grace of exorcism, lay hands on believers, and forbid evil spirits to inhabit their minds, what do they but cast out devils? And any believers whatever, who henceforth abandon the secular words of the old life, and utter holy mysteries, and rehearse as best they can the praise and power of their Maker, what do they but speak with new tongues? Moreover, while by their good exhortations they remove evil from the hearts of others, they are taking up serpents: which miracles are greater, because they are the more spiritual; the greater, because they are the means of raising not bodies, but souls. These signs then, dearest brethren, ye do, if ye will (Psa. 91:13; Joh. 14:12; 1 Corinthians 13).Gregory.

Mar. 16:17. The promise of power.This promise, observe, is contingent upon faith; and it is a promise of power over spiritual foes and over natural disqualifications.

1. Over spiritual foes, so that even demons shall be subject unto us. 0 Christian worker, therefore abandon not the hardest case.
2. Over natural disqualifications. The timid, shrinking Peter shall speak with boldness before three thousand men; and John, the hasty Boanerges, shall become the apostle of gentleness and love.E. A. Stuart.

Mar. 16:18. Safety amid danger.The Master promises to His disciples, on the condition of their faith in Him, perfect safety amidst the dangers of the work, so that what is harmful to others shall not hurt them. And this safety will consist not in the avoidance of evil, for the Master knew they would still be in the world, and that temptations would be round about them on every side. Therefore He does not promise immunity from danger, but immunity from harm. Yet this also, of course, only in the pathway of obedience. We may not throw ourselves from the pinnacle of the Temple, and expect His angels to bear us up in their preserving hands, for we may not tempt the Lord our God; but right sure we are that no harm can happen unto us if we be followers of that which is goodthat He doth give His angels charge over us to keep us in all His waysthat upon the highway of the Lord no lion shall be there. And is it not so? Take, for instance, sceptical books; and can you take up a more deadly serpent, or drink a more poisonous cup? If you take it up simply from curiosity, or because the book is popular, and you covet the reputation of being liberal-minded or up with the times, even if you retain your faith, the poison of that book will oftentimes sting you in years to come. But if you read that book because it is your duty, because you wish to expose its fallacy to some young heart who is being led astray thereby, then you may take up the serpent or drink the deadly thing, and it shall not hurt you. And so it is all through. This man enters into politics strong in faith and in his desire to serve both God and man, and therefore walks erect amidst the pitfalls of public life, into which that poor miserable wretch, so selfishly ambitious, most miserably falls. This tradesman preserves his character unspotted and unsullied because he is a man of God, when yonder hucksters conscience is seared day by day by the tricks of trade, until he grows so callous that evil ceases to cause pain.E. A. Stuart.

The promise of usefulness.They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Yes, the blessing shall not end with yourself; others shall live by your side. You will only be helpful when you yourself are safe, and you will only be safe when you are helpful. Bring yourself into contact with those who are sick and sorrowing, and you will know the exquisite delight of doing good. But we must lay hands upon them, come close to them, bring our personality into touch with them. You can never do good if you stand at a distance from your fellow-men. The Risen Jesus has left you in this world as His representative, to heal the sorrows of the world, and works through you in conferring blessings upon the outcast and the sad.Ibid.

Christian treatment of the sick.In nothing has the spirit of Christianity been more apparent than in the treatment of the sick. The latest discoveries of medical science are, in our great hospitals and infirmaries, immediately on their discovery, applied to the benefit of the poorest and meanest who have been taken to these places.M. F. Sadler.

APPENDIX

[For this interesting review of the evidence for and against the Last Twelve Verses of St. Mark, I am indebted to my friend the Rev. F. W. Christie, M.A., Rector of St Marys. Aberdeen.]

NOTE ON ST. Mar. 16:9-20

THE great majority of modern scholars are agreed that with the eighth verse of this chapter the genuine work of St. Mark comes abruptly to an end, and that the twelve verses which follow are an addition by another hand in the earliest sub-apostolic age. Westcott and Hort insert these verses within double brackets, as an interpolation, probably Western in origin, containing important matter apparently derived from extraneous sources;[1] and Lightfoot ascribes them, together with the account of the woman taken in adultery (Joh. 7:53 to Joh. 8:11), to that knot of early disciples who gathered about St. John in Asia Minor, and must have preserved more than one true tradition of the Lords life and of the earliest days of the Church, of which some at least had themselves been eye-witnesses.[2] And so most scholars. On the other hand, such eminent critics as Dr. Scrivener, Dean Burgon, Prof. Salmon, Bishop John Wordsworth, and others, maintain, on grounds of external and internal evidence, that these verses are the genuine work of St. Mark. Dean Burgons elaborate monograph (The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to St. Mark vindicated: Oxford, 1871) won the admiration of Lagarde,[3] and is acknowledged to have proved that the external evidence against the passage has been greatly overstated and that the patristic evidence resolves itself into that (perhaps ultimately of Origen, but immediately) of Eusebius.[4] Without presuming to settle so difficult a controversy, it will be useful to review the evidence on which the decision depends.

[1] New Test., smaller edition, p. 583.

[2] On Revision of N. T.

[3] Expositor, September 1894, p. 226.

[4] W. H. Simcox, Writers of N.T., p. 11.

External evidence.The verses are wanting in the two oldest MSS., the great uncial Bibles of the fourth century, Codex Vaticanus (B) and Sinaiticus (). Tischendorf has, however, pointed out that these MSS. are here not independent witnesses, as in the last leaf of St. Mark has been written by the scribe of B.[5] In B there is a blank columnthe only one in the whole MS.after Mar. 16:8; and in the letters of the last page of St. Mark, which might easily have been written in one column, are spread out so as to carry over a few lines to the second column, as if to avoid leaving it quite blank. Dr. Salmon infers from these facts that both MSS. had, as first copied, contained the disputed verses, and that the leaves were then cancelled and rewritten by the original scribe of B. The scribe was evidently aware of the twelve verses, and rejected them. Eusebius (Bishop of Csarea 315 A. D., died 340 A. D.) says of these verses:[6] He that rejects Marks section as spurious will say that it is not current in all the copies. The accurate copies at least end with afraid. For this is the end in nearly all the copies. Eusebius himself, the great critic of that century, seems to have rejected this section, for the so-called Eusebian Canons were not carried beyond Mar. 16:8. The words of Eusebius just quoted are almost verbally repeated by Jerome (circ. 400 A. D.),[7] Hesychius of Jerusalem (circ. 400 A. D.), and Severus of Antioch (circ. 500 A. D.). Doubts about the genuineness of this section were therefore familiar to them. The evidence of the important Armenian Version made in the fifth century is specially interesting. All MSS. prior to 1100 A. D. omit the verses. Later MSS. containing them have Here ends Marks Gospel after afraid, and then after a pause continue with Mar. 16:9-20. There is, however, one old MS. in the Patriarchal Library at Etchmiadzin which not only gives the verses, but seems to throw light upon their origin. This MS. was examined by Mr. F. C. Conybeare in 1891, and in the Expositor for October 1893 he describes it and gives his conclusions. The MS. is an Evangeliarium written about 986 A. D., and purporting to have been copied from a true and accurate Armenian exemplar. St. Mark is written out to Mar. 16:8. Then there is a space of two lines, after which in the same uncial hand, only in reda distinction otherwise reserved for the titles of the four Gospels themselvesis written Ariston Eritzou, which means Of the Presbyter Ariston. This title occupies one whole line (the book is written in double columns), and then follow the last twelve verses, still in the same hand. This discovery of Mr, Conybeares is an important one. The heading no doubt embodies a very ancient tradition, and may meet with-verification elsewhere. Mr. Conybeare identifies this Ariston the Presbyter with the Ariston mentioned by Papias (Euseb., Hist. Eccl., iii. 39) as one of the elders who were disciples of the Lord. Dr. Resch[8] thinks he was Ariston of Pella, a Jewish Christian who wrote about 140 A. D., and whoDr. Resch thinks after this discoveryalso arranged the Canon of the Gospels. There are also MSS. which exhibit a duplicate ending. The uncial Codex L, eighth century, in the National Library at Paris, noted for its frequent agreement with and B, breaks off after Mar. 16:8, and then continues:[9] The following also is current: And they briefly brought word of all the things that were commanded them to Peter and his company: but after these things Jesus Himself also sent forth by them from the east even unto the west the holy and incorruptible preaching of the eternal salvation. But then is also current the following after for they were afraid, But when He was risen again, etc. The same duplicate ending is also found in a fifth-century MS. of the old Latin, the Codex Bobiensis. The alternative ending is added in the margin of the Harklean Syriac (616 A. D.), and is found in various MSS. of the Memphitic and thiopic versions. In the recently discovered Sinai Palimpsest of the Old Syriac, allied to the Curetonian, the text of St. Mark ends with Mar. 16:8, as in , B (see Guardian, October 31st, 1894). On the other hand, the twelve verses are found in the other two great uncial MSS., the Codex Bez (D) and the Codex Ephremi (C), both of the fifth century; in all the other uncial MSS.; in MSS. of the old Latin (including the important Codex Colbertinus); in the Vulgate; in three Syriac versions (Curetonian, Peschito, Jerusalem); in the Gothic and various Memphitic and thiopic MSS. Irenus (circ. 185 A. D.) quotes Mar. 16:19 as St. Marks (Adv. Hr., III. x. 6). Justin Martyr[10] seems to cite these verses; but decision seems impossible.[11] They are found in Tatians Diatessaron (160170 A. D.). Victor of Antioch (400450 A. D.) wrote a commentary on St. Mark which had a wide repute (see list of MSS, in Burgon). The last words of his commentary are these: Notwithstanding that in very many copies of the present Gospel the passage beginning, Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first day of the week, be not found (certain individuals having supposed it to be spurious), yet we at all events, inasmuch as in very many we have discovered it to exist, have out of accurate copies subjoined also the account of the Lords ascension (following the words for they were afraid) in conformity with the Palstinian exemplar of Mark which exhibits the Gospel verity: that is to say, from the words Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first day of the week, etc., down to with signs following. Amen.

[5] Salmon, Introd. to N.T., p. 161.

[6] Qust. ad Marinum, iv. 957, ed. Migne.

[7] Ep. 120, ad Hedibiam.

[8] See Thinker, October 1894, pp. 291, 292.

[9] McClellan, New Test., p. 681

[10] See Dr. Taylors article, Expositor, July 1893.

[11] Westcott and Hort.

Internal evidence.Against the genuineness it is urged:

1. There is a want of connexion between this section and the foregoing. St. Mark would never have written consecutively . , … Also Mary Magdalene is introduced in Mar. 16:9 as if she had not been mentioned before in Mar. 16:1.

2. The usual relation between St. Mark and St. Matthew fails in this section. Mar. 16:1-8 is parallel with Mat. 28:1-8, but there the connexion ceases. From Mar. 8:7 we might have expected a mention in the sequel of this appearance in Galilee, such as we find in St. Matthew. The twelve verses contain no mention of it, and must therefore be from another hand.

3. The diction is unlike St. Marks, ) is unique; in Mar. 16:2 Mark had written the usual (cp. Gen. 1:5, R.V.). is never used elsewhere in St. Mark without a substantive; here it occurs four times without a substantive. , , , , , , , , do not occur before in this Gospel. On the other hand, arguments for the genuineness of these verses based on internal evidence are not wanting. Dr. Salmon traces in the first fifteen verses of this Gospel a resemblance in style to the last twelve. These opening and closing sections are, he thinks, the framework in which St. Mark set the Petrine tradition. He also finds the characteristic ideas of the Gospel in these verses. Thrice does St. Mark alone of the Synoptics record the unbelief of men (Mar. 3:5, Mar. 6:6; Mar. 6:52), and thrice in this last section (Mar. 16:11; Mar. 16:13-14) does this thought appear. Westcott also notices this correspondence (Introduction to Study of Gospels, p. 334). But nowhere has it been stated so fully as in a university sermon of the present Bishop of Salisbury.[12] St. Mark, he thinks, depicts Christ as the strong Son of God, Lord of spirits and men and nature, contending with and overcoming evil and unbelief. Hence miracles occupy so large a space in this Gospel. Especially does St. Mark dwell on the moral resistance offered to Christ by the hardness of the human heart. These being the general lessons of this Gospel, the last chapter fits on to the rest with a perfect and exact harmony. What do we read, in fact, in the last chapter? It describes with greater fulness than any of the other Gospels, how hopeless and weak in faith the community of disciples was left by the Crucifixion,how slow of perception and hard of heart they still remained, notwithstanding all that had been done for them,how the women, going to anoint the body, found the tomb empty, and fled in trembling and astonishment and fear at the angels message,how the disciples disbelieved Mary Magdalene, to whom the Risen Jesus first appeared,how the two who met Him in another form, as they were going into the country, failed to convince the rest,how, at last, He appeared to all Himself, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart; and then, finally, and after a long and gradual process, gained a conquest over their wills. Then it was that He addressed them, bidding them to go and preach the gospel to the whole creation, offering salvation to those that believe and are baptised, foretelling the condemnation of those who reject the message, and promising fourfold miraculous powers, like His own, to His faithful followers and messengers. Then, and not till then, when He reveals His full majesty by the transfer of these gifts, does He receive the title of Lord from the Evangelists own lips. The word, though found not unfrequently in the reports of speeches in this Gospel, is used twice only in it as an historical title, and that in these last two verses. The Lord, it is said, after He had spoken with them, was received up to heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they, thus conquered by Him, are no longer faithless, but believing. Having gained them, He has gained the instrument which He came down to earth to fashion, the only instrument which in His wisdom He thinks fit to use in the conversion of the worldthe instrument of personal faith begetting faith. And thus endowed they go forth and preach everywhere, not in their own strength, but His; for the Lord works ever with them. And as in His own ministry He has supported and illustrated His teaching with appropriate miracles and mighty works, so now He confirms their word with signs following.

[12] Sermon II. in University Sermons on Gospel Subjects: Parker, 1878. See also Addendum by same author to commentary on St. Mark, in Bishop Chr. Wordsworths Greek Testament.

Whatever we may infer from the internal evidence as to the genuineness of these verses, one conclusion is forced upon us. These verses are certainly authentic. They have the ring of truth. This section, says Dr. Resch,[13] is free from all affectation, and from all legendary colouringsuch as, for example, we meet with in the pseudo-Petrine Gospel. It is rather characterised by a compendious abruptness, such as shews that the author of it says less than he knows. Compare the vague generalities of the alternative ending with the fulness of independent knowledge shewn in these verses. Although the statements that the first appearance was to Mary Magdalene and that she bore the message to the apostles might conceivably be derived from St. Johns Gospel, and Mar. 16:9; Mar. 16:12 seem to reflect expressions in St. Luke (Luk. 8:2; Luk. 24:13), yet the section taken as a whole is plainly not the work of a compiler. It adds to our knowledge by explicit statement and vivid detail. Here only in the Gospels is it stated that our Lord rose again on the first day of the week (Mar. 16:9); that the disciples mourned and wept (Mar. 16:10); that they disbelieved the tidings of Mary Magdalene (Mar. 16:11); that He appeared to the two in another form (Mar. 16:12); that the disciples again disbelieved the testimony of the two (Mar. 16:13); that the eleven were at meat when He appeared (observe the undesigned coincidence with Luk. 24:41-43); and that He upbraided them (Mar. 16:14). The apostolic commission in Mar. 16:15-16, though resembling that in Mat. 28:19 in the two points universal mission and the injunction of baptism, is evidently independent. The promise of signs to follow believers as such is a new one. (cp. Mat. 10:8). And the majestic closing verses (19 and 20) stand alone in the Gospels in their assertion of the Lords sitting at the right hand of God and His continued working with the apostles.

[13] Expositor, September 1894, p. 228.

Concluding summary.After this review of the evidence, external and internal, it may be said by way of summary, that if these verses be from St. Marks pen and formed part of his Gospel from the first, it seems very difficult to account for the multiplication of copies without these verses in widely separate lands, for the obstinate doubts which clung to them (which Eusebius states and Jerome repeats), for the existence of an alternative ending, and lastly for the tradition which ascribes the twelve verses to the presbyter Ariston. To account for all that by an imagined accident which may have torn away from some MS. its last leaf, on which just these twelve verses were written, and so gave rise to a mutilated family of MSS., is to assign a very inadequate cause. But on the assumption, to which so much of the evidence points, that these verses are an appendage by another though still authoritative hand, in the earliest times, all the phenomena may be explained. St. Mark for some reason left his Gospel unfinished.[14] It may have been, as Godet thinks,[15] the breaking out of persecution and the death of St. Peter which caused the interruption. It was no wonder then that some early disciple should, it may be by request, complete the unfinished narrative with an account of the Ascension; so that this Gospel, as it began from the baptism of John, should extend to the day that He was taken up, and thus correspond to the requirement of the chief of the apostles (Act. 1:22).

[14] might very well be the end of a sentence or paragraph. Cp. Plato Protagoras, p. 328, D, where a chapter ends with But Plato did not end a Dialogue with a particle, nor would St. Mark end his Gospel with one. The reference to Plato is due to Prof. Marcus Dods in Expository Times, March 1894.

[15] Studies on N.T., p. 38.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 16

Mar. 16:14. Unbelief unreasonable.To one who affected to question the received account of the death of Julius Csar we should not say You want faith, but You want sense.Isaac Taylor.

Mar. 16:15. How to preach.A wise clergyman, now deceased, once said he had learned to preach not only so that people could understand him if they had a mind to, but also that they could not misunderstand him if they wanted to. A hint here to all called upon to make statements with pen or lips.

The preservation of the gospel.The monks of Lindisfarne set sail for Ireland with the book of the Gospels; a storm arose; the book fell overboard and was lost: they were driven back to the English coast. Disconsolate, they went in quest of the precious volume: for a long time they searched in vain, but at length (so says the story) a miraculous revelation was vouchsafed to them, and, following its directions, they found the book on the sand, far above highwater mark, uninjured by the waves, nay, even more beautiful for the disaster. Does not this story well symbolise the power of the gospel working on the Church? Through the carelessness of man it may disappear amidst the confusion of the storm, the waves may close over it and hide it from human sight, but lostlost for everit cannot be.Bishop Lightfoot.

Preaching Christ everywhere.Dr. Boaz, of Calcutta, tells in his journal of the following incident, which happened to him and a fellow-missionary at the great fair on Saugor Island, whither they had come to preach to the assembled multitudes. While they were speaking, a respectable-looking man, in evident astonishment, came upon the scene, and exclaimed: What, are you here also? When I am in the north of Calcutta, there I am sure to meet you, and hear you speaking about Jesus Christ. When business takes me to the south of the city, there you are again, telling the people about the same Jesus Christ; and if I go to a distant village, I am sure to hear the same story; and here, in the midst of the very jungles, I hear the name of Christ. What is all this? You seem to be everywhere, and always talking about the same thing. Who would have thought to hear anything about Jesus Christ in such a dreary spot as this?

The true preacher a Divine creation.Speaking of art-training, Mr. Ruskin says: Until a man has passed through a course of academy studentship, and can draw in an improved manner with French chalk, and knows fore-shortening, and perspective, and something of anatomy, we do not think he can possibly be an artist. What is worse, we are very apt to think that we can make him an artist by teaching him anatomy, and how to draw with French chalk, whereas the real gift in him is utterly independent of all such accomplishments. So the highest powers of the teacher or preacher, the power of interpreting the Scriptures with spiritual insight, of moving the hearers to earnest worship and decision, may exist with or without the culture of the schools. Learned Pharisees are impotent failures compared with a rough fisherman Peter anointed with the Holy Ghost. Inspiration is more than education.

Missionary zeal.Raymond Lully, or Lullius, to whom the Arabic professorship at Oxford owes its origin, was the first Christian missionary to the Moslems. When shipwrecked near Pisa, after many years of missionary labour, though upwards of seventy, his ardour was unabated. Once, he wrote, I was fairly rich; once I had a wife and children; once I tasted freely of the pleasures of this life. But all these things I gladly resigned that I might spread abroad a knowledge of the truth. I studied Arabic, and several times went forth to preach the gospel to the Saracens. I have been in prisons; I have been scourged; for years I have striven to persuade the princes of Christendom to befriend the common cause of converting the Mohammedans. Now, though old and poor, I do not despair; I am ready, if it be Gods will, to persevere unto death. And he died so, being stoned to death at Bugia, in Africa, in 1314, after gathering a little flock of converts.

Missionary enthusiasm.In the first centuries every Christian looked on it as a part of his life to be Gods missionary, and for centuries the Church produced men like Boniface and Columban. Then for a thousand years the darkness was only broken here and there by a man like St. Louis of France or St. Francis of Assisi. It is to Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians that we owe the revival of missionary zeal. In the last century missionaries were regarded as foolish and rash, and I know not what. When Carey proposed to go as a missionary to India, he was told that if God wished to convert the heathen He would doubtless do so in His own way. Think of John Eliot, the lion-hearted apostle of the Indians, and his motto that prayer and painstaking can accomplish everything. Think of young and sickly David Brainerd going alone into the wild forests of America and among their wilder denizens, with the words, Not from necessity but from choice, for it seems to me that Gods dealings towards me have fitted me for a life of solitariness and hardship. Think of Adoniram Judson and the tortures he bore so cheerfully in his Burmese prison. And we, too, in these days have seen Charles Mackenzie leave the comforts of Cambridge to die amid the pestilent swamps of the Zambesi, and Coleridge Patteson, floating, with his palm branch of victory in his hand, over the blue sea among the Coral Isles. Nor do I know any signs more hopeful for the nation than these, that our public schools are now founding missions in the neglected wastes of London, and our young athletes are going out as poor men to labour in China and Hindostan.Dean Farrar.

Christ wants to get the gospel into every home in the world; and the way He wants to do this is through the hearts and hands of those whom He has already saved. If we do not carry the good news, the lost will not receive it at all. It is told of a boy who was converted that at once he started. to walkfor he was poor and could not afford to go by trainaway to a place more than a thousand miles from his home, to tell his brother about Christ. History relates that the early Christians, many of them, were so eager to carry the gospel everywhere, that they even hired themselves out as servants or sold themselves as slaves, that they might be admitted into the homes of the rich and great among the heathen, to live there, and thus have opportunity to proclaim the love of Jesus and His salvation.
A non-missionary Church is like Coleridges ice-ship, manned by dead men from prow to stern.
A clergyman was once asked by the Duke of Wellington, How are you getting on with the propagation of the gospel abroad? Is there any chance of the Hindoos becoming Christians? To which the clergyman replied, Oh no! I do not see anything doing there; I see no reason to suspect any work of the kind being successful. Well, said the duke, what have you to do with that? What are your marching orders? Are they not, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature? Do your duty, sir, and never mind results.
An English preacher asked some British soldiers, If Queen Victoria were to issue a proclamation, and, placing it in the hands of her army and navy, were to say, Go ye into all the world and proclaim it to every creature, how long do you think it would take to do it? One of these brave fellows, accustomed to obey orders without hesitation or delay, and at peril of life, promptly answered, Well, I think we could manage it in about eighteen months.

Mar. 16:16. Baptism in the apostolic age.It coincided with the greatest religious change which the world had yet witnessed. Multitudes of men and women were seized with one common impulse, and abandoned by the irresistible conviction of a day, an hour, a moment, their former habits, friends, associates, to be enrolled in a new society, under the banner of a new faith. That new society was intended to be a society of brothers, bound by ties closer than any earthly brotherhoodfilled with life and energy such as fall to the lot of none but the most ardent enthusiasts, yet tempered by a moderation, a wisdom, and a holiness such as enthusiasts have rarely possessed. It was, moreover, a society swayed by the presence of men whose words even now cause the heart to burn, and by the recent recollections of One whom, not seeing, they loved with love unspeakable. Into this society they passed by an act as natural as it was expressive. The plunge into the bath of purification, long known among the Jewish nation as the symbol of a change of life, was still retained as the pledge of entrance into this new and universal communionretained under the sanction of Him into whose name they were by that rite baptised. In that early age the scene of the transaction was either some deep wayside spring or well, as for the Ethiopian, or some rushing river, as the Jordan, or some vast reservoir, as at Jericho or Jerusalem, whither, as in the baths of Caracalla at Rome, the whole population resorted for swimming or washing. The water in those Eastern regions, so doubly significant of all that was pure and refreshing, closed over the heads of the converts, and they rose into the light of heaven new and altered beings. It was natural that on such an act were lavished all the figures which language could furnish to express the mighty changeRegeneration, Illumination, Burial, Resurrection, A new creation, Forgiveness of sins, Salvation. Well might the apostle say, Baptism doth even now save us, even had he left his statement in its unrestricted strength to express what in that age no one could misunderstand. But no less well was he led to add, as if with a prescience of coming evils, Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God (1Pe. 3:21).Dean Stanley.

New birth in baptism.An old man of eighty was baptised in America by a missionary, and thenceforth led a life devoted to God. Two years later he was lying on his death-bed, and when asked his age he replied, I am only two years old, for my life began when I was born for God in baptism; the previous eighty years were a life of death.

Saved.At the wreck of the steamer Atlantic on the coast of Halifax hundreds of lives were lost. Amongst the passengers who escaped was a Christian merchant from Boston, who, as soon as he could reach a telegraph office, sent a message to his family. It contained only a single word, but it was worth more to them than all the world. It was the word Saved. Afterwards the merchant had the telegram framed and hung up in his office to remind him of Gods mercy to him.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(9-11) First to Mary Magdalene.See Notes on Joh. 20:11-18, but note that St. Marks account of her as one from whom Jesus had cast out seven devils is not from St. John, but from Luk. 8:2.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(9-20) Now when Jesus was risen early.See Notes on Mat. 28:16-20. The history of the verses that follow is in every way remarkable. They are not found in two of the oldest MSS.the Sinaitic and the Vaticanare marked as doubtful in many others, and are wanting in some versions. In some of these (e.g., in the Vatican MS.) there is a blank space left between Mar. 16:8 and the beginning of St. Luke, as though the writer had suspended his work and waited for materials. The absence was noticed by Jerome, who says that nearly all the Greek texts omit them. Eusebius states the same fact as true of the correct MSS.; and no reference is made to them in the tables of parallel passages which were constructed for reference by Eusebius and Ammonius. On the other hand, they are referred to by Irenus (about A.D. 170), and are found in the Alexandrian and Cambridge MSS., and in twelve other uncials which are nearly (some say, quite) as old as the two which omit them. When we turn to the internal evidence we find that the narrative, which up to this point had followed closely in the footsteps of St. Matthew, now becomes a very condensed epitome of St. Johns record of our Lords appearance to Mary Magdalene (Mat. 20:11-18), of St. Lukes account of the journey to Emmaus (Luk. 24:13-35), of the appearance to the ten disciples in Joh. 20:19-25 and Luk. 24:36-43, of the mission of the eleven reported in Mat. 28:16-20, of the Ascension as given by Luk. 24:50-53. Two explanations of these facts are possible. (1) We may suppose that the writer of the Gospel wrote two copies of it, leaving one unfinished, ending at Mar. 16:8; that this passed into the hands of persons by whom it was copied as complete, and so became the archetype of the MSS. in which the verses are wanting; while those that contain the subsequent verses were made from a more perfect text, written by St. Mark himself. (2) That the Gospel, having been originally completed by the writer, was in some way, by accident or design, mutilated; that as such it was reproduced faithfully by some transcribers, while others thought it better to give it a completion of some kind, by condensing what they found in the other Gospels. Of the two hypotheses the latter seems the more probable. It seems better, looking to these facts, to reserve notes, for the most part, for the Gospels in which the narratives appear in what was probably their original and certainly their fuller form.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9. Appeared first to Mary Magdalene A close comparison of John and Luke will perhaps show that our Lord could hardly have been seen first of all by Mary Magdalene. For as these women hasted from the sepulchre, Luke informs us that they were met by the risen Saviour before they arrived at the residence of the disciples. But before Mary saw the Saviour, she had gone to the residence of Peter and John, followed them to the tomb, was left there by them, and conversed with the angels before she saw the Lord. A comparison of the time of Jesus being seen by the women and by Mary Magdalene will show a strong improbability that the last occurred first. But perhaps the word first here is to be taken not absolutely, but relatively, as the following considerations may show.

In the entire remainder of the chapter Mark gives three appearances of our Saviour, which illustrate the matter of the unbelief which his resurrection had to overcome in the minds of the apostles. First of all, to Mary Magdalene, whose narrative was discredited; “after that” to the two from Emmaus, whose account was also disbelieved; and “afterward” (or rather finally, , Mar 16:14) to the whole eleven, whom he “upbraided with their unbelief.”

The word first then in this verse by no means implies that the Lord’s absolutely first appearance at all was to Mary Magdalene; but the first of this class of three cases. No more does the , or finally, of Mar 16:14 imply that it narrates our Lord’s last appearance on earth. Both terms may indicate the first and last of the three instances. Our Lord, therefore, may really have appeared to the company of women earlier than to Mary Magdalene. See note on Mat 28:7.

But the counter view of Milman seems to me perfectly satisfactory. Peter and John alone of the apostles had followed Jesus to the cross, and were probably staying not far from the sepulchre. So near were they that they ran the distance in a race. The other disciples had fled, had scattered, were very likely to be at Bethany, (the place of Christ’s seclusion during the nights of Passion Week,) and the appearance of Jesus to these women may have been on Mount Olivet, or somewhere else, long after the interview with Mary of Magdala first.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven devils. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen of her disbelieved.’
Note the abrupt connection and the introduction of Mary Magdalene as though she had not been mentioned earlier.
The appearance first to Mary Magdalene agrees with Joh 20:11-18. Jesus seems deliberately to have appeared to the women first in order to test the faith of His disciples in view of what He had previously told them. But they refused to believe them. It was the reception of the Holy Spirit that would change their whole understanding and perspective (Joh 20:22; Luk 24:45). They needed such humiliation so that later they would not become over-exalted.
‘They mourned and wept.’ There was no expectancy in their hearts. They were just broken men.
For this appearance compare Joh 20:11-18. For ‘cast out seven devils’ see Luk 8:2.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Longer Ending of Mark – Many scholars question the authenticity of Mar 16:9-20, supposing that it has been added at a later time based upon the fact that two of the oldest and most valuable manuscripts, the Sinaitic ( ) (4 th c.) and the Vaticanus (B) (4 th c.), omit this passage, while the Bobbiensis (k) (5 th c.) contains the short ending, and some other manuscripts follow these variations. However, because an overwhelming majority of ancient manuscripts contain the longer ending, many other scholars support this passage of Scripture as original. This debate is not a recent one. Scholars tell us that Eusebius [167] and Jerome [168] and a few others [169] state that the longer ending was missing in almost all the Greek copies of the gospels of their time. The ancient Armenian manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel also exclude the longer ending, with one exception. In 1891 F. C. Conybeare discovered an Armenian manuscript of the Gospels in an ancient monastery of Armenia dated A.D. 986 in which there was “a space of two lines” after Mar 16:8, followed by the text written with red ink, “Ariston Eritzou,” meaning “of the presbyter Ariston,” after which was written the text containing Mar 16:9-20. [170] Since the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel is of ancient origin and has been so well accepted by the modern, evangelical community, it is considered by many as authentic as the rest of Mark’s Gospel.
[167] Eusebius notes that in nearly all of the accurate manuscripts, the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel is missing ( Quaestionum ad Marinum 1) . The Greek text of Quaestionum ad Marinum is found in PG 22 cols. 937-958. See also Douglas Ezell, “Gospel According to Mark,” [on-line]; accessed 14 March 2010; available from http://mb-soft.com/believe/txs/mark.htm; Internet.
[168] Jerome writes, “The solution of this question is two-fold; for either we do not accept the testimony of Mark, that is carried in few gospels, almost all the books of Greece not having this passage at the end, especially and since it seems to speak various and contrary things to the other evangelists; or this must be replied, that both speak truly.” ( Epistle 120: To Hedibia 3) See Jerome, Episle 120: To Hedibia, On Biblical Problems, trans. Roger Pearse (Ipswich, UK: 2007) [on-line]; accessed 14 March 2010; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/jerome_letter_120.htm; Internet. The Latin text of this quote of Jerome in Epistle 120 can be found in PL 22, col. 987.
[169] James L. Kelhoffer lists Eusebius, Jerome, Hesychius of Jerusalem, Severus of Antioch and Theophylactus of Ochrida as church fathers who dealt with this textual problem in Mark’s Gospel. See James L. Kelhoffer, “The Witness of Eusebius ad Marinum and Other Christian Writings to Text-Critical Debates concerning the Original Conclusion to Mark’s Gospel,” Zeitschrift f r die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft NW 92 (2001): 78-112. This is cited by Stephen C. Carl, “Hypotyposeis: Sketches in Biblical Studies,” [on-line]; accessed 14 March 2010; available at http://www.hypotyposeis.org/weblog/2004/02/kelhoffers-article-on-eusebius-and.html; Internet.
[170] F. C. Conybeare, “Aristion, the Author of the Last Twelve Verses of Mark,” The Expositor Fourth Series, vol. 8, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1893), 241-243.
Mar 16:9-11 Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene ( Mat 28:9-10 , Joh 20:11-18 ) In Mar 16:9-11 we have the account of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene.
Mar 16:12-13 Jesus Appears to Two Disciples ( Luk 24:13-35 ) In Mar 16:12-13 we have the account of Jesus appearing to two of His disciples.
Mar 16:14-18 Mark’s Version of the Great Commission ( Mat 28:16-20 , Luk 24:36-49 , Joh 20:19-23 , Act 1:6-8 ) Mar 16:14-18 is Mark’s version of the Great Commission. However, we find that each of the Evangelists ends his Gospel with a commission. A careful study reveals that each commission is based upon the structural theme of its particular Gospel. The theme of Matthew is the coming of the King to establish the Kingdom of Heaven and lay down the doctrine of the Kingdom. Jesus does this in Matthew’s Gospel by delivering five major discourses, which establishes the structure of this Gospel. As a result, Jesus commissions His disciples to go and teach, or disciple, all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe His commandments, or doctrines, laid down in Matthew’s Gospel. This commission best reflects the office and ministry of the teacher in the five-fold ministry.
In contrast, the commission that closes Mark’s Gospel emphasizes the preaching of the Gospel with signs following. This is because Mark is structured around the proclamation of the Gospel with miracles accompanying it. Jesus tells His disciples in Mark to preach the Gospel and promised them that signs and miracles would accompany their preaching. This commission best reflects the office and ministry of the evangelist in the five-fold ministry.
The structural theme of Luke’s Gospel is the collection of verifiable eyewitness accounts as to the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, Jesus commands His disciples to be witnesses of these events by preaching the Gospel to all nations beginning at Jerusalem (Luk 24:47), and to tarry in Jerusalem unto they be endued with power on high (Luk 24:49). He is making a clear reference to the contents of the book of Acts and establishes its structural theme. Since the Gospel of Luke does not reach this goal of spreading the Gospel, (this is why Luke’s commission seems incomplete) we must rely upon an additional volume to fulfill our Lord’s commission. The book of Acts opens with the fulfillment of power coming from on high and closes with the fulfillment of the spread of the Gospel to Greco-Roman world. Thus, Luke clearly links these two writings in an unmistakable way through this commission. This link is necessary because the office of the prophet and apostle work together in the Church. This commission best reflects the office and ministry of the prophet (Luke) and apostle (Acts) in the five-fold ministry.
The structural theme of John’s Gospel is the five-fold testimony of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. John’s Gospel reveals His deity with the testimony of the Father, of John the Baptist, of Jesus’ miracles, by the fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures and finally in the last chapter by the testimony of Jesus Himself. This is why John’s commission is simply, “Come, follow Me.” This commission best reflects the office and ministry of the pastor in the five-fold ministry.
Mar 1:18 Illustration T. L. Osborn tells the story of his evangelistic crusade in Thailand, a nation where very few converts had been made by the missionaries after years of work. He preached the first night with no results. Returning back to the hotel, he began to pray and question the Lord on why his preaching was having no effect upon the people. The Lord spoke to him and told him that he was preaching about Jesus, but he was going to have to go preach Jesus. In other words, T. L. Osborn was going to have to preach boldly with an expectation of signs and wonders, praying for miracles in faith. He returned the next evening and preached with all of his might, praying for the sick, demonstrating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in power and signs and wonders. Many people responded and gave the lives to Jesus Christ, and churches began to grow at this point in Thailand. [171]
[171] T. L. Osborn, Good News Today (Osborn Ministries International, Tulsa, Oklahoma) , on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 1990-91.
Mar 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Mar 16:14 Comments – The previous passages list two appearances of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (Mar 16:9-11) and the two on the road to Emmaus (Mar 16:12-13), with both passages closing with remarks that the apostles did not believe. Thus, the statement, “And these signs shall follow them that believe,” means that Jesus’ disciples needed to believe in His resurrection in order to be able to preach the Gospel. It was necessary for Jesus to appear unto the eleven in order for them to believe.
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:15 “Go ye into all the world” Comments – We know that word “the world” refers to the nations and their physical boundaries, and it also to people as much as a physical location. It can also refers to various sectors of a society. In other words, we are to go into the world of the alcoholic, into the world of the sick and hurting, into the prison wards, into the cultures of the prostitutes and drug addicts and into all social classes and people in order to meet them at their point of need. Jesus told us where to go and what to say. Yet, how to accomplish this task is the work of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to us in order lead, guide and direct us to complete this great commission.
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” Comments – In the preceding passages the Gospel of Mark gives three examples of those who did not believe when they first heard the proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection; the testimony of Mary Magdalene was met with unbelief (Mar 16:9-11), as well as the testimony of the two on the road to Emmaus (Mar 16:12-13), and Mark records the rebuke of Jesus at His first appearance to the eleven for their unbelief (Mar 16:14).
Why does Mark tell us that someone must believe and be baptized to be saved? We know that this is a reference to salvation and water baptism. In order to answer this question, we must understand the meaning of water baptism. This is most clearly explained in 1Pe 3:21.
1Pe 3:21, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”
1Pe 3:21 tells us that the baptism that saves us is not being dipped in water to wash away dirt, but a water baptism, which is an act of faith that allows us to have a good conscience towards God. It is the act of baptism, in obedience to God’s command, that gives us this good conscience. A formal altar call is a relatively recent activity in church. But before this time, the act of water baptism served as the first outward testimony that a person had become a Christian. It was the first act that a new believer does in obedience to Christ. In the early Church, water baptism was a new believer’s first public testimony of his/her decision to follow Christ rather than a response to an altar call. It serves as a “crossing over the line” into a genuine commitment to join a local fellowship of believers. It is the first step in the Christian life as an act of obedience. Water baptism is the pledge of a good conscience toward God and our initial response to faith in Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary. As an act of faith and promise to serve God, baptism is our way of pledging to serve God with a good conscience night and day. In this sense, the new believer becomes identified with the body of Christ. If his old friends ever questioned his sincerity and hoped that he would come back into their worldly traditions, then water baptism served to settle the issue once and for all. The new believer was then genuinely considered a “Christian.” This is why water baptism gives the believer a good conscience towards God. It is like responding to an altar call. With his act of water baptism, he is allowed to join the local church congregation, which is how is will be established in the faith and secure his entrance into Heaven. Thus, from a biblical perspective, there is very little “daylight” between the experience of salvation and the act of water baptism. Water baptism serves to “establish” a person’s decision to follow Christ. In the book of Acts people were baptized the same day they were saved
When I was twenty-one years old I rededicated my life to the Lord privately on the steps of my church at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. Several weeks later during a Sunday morning altar call the Spirit of God convicted me to walk forward and rededicate my life publicly. I was later re-baptized, because God wants us to give Him our public testimony. It is one thing for a person of a different religion to say he believes in Jesus, but it is very different when that person leaves his traditions and religion and goes to join a church. At that point his family may attempt to kill him, as is common in the Muslim religion and other extreme religions. Or, a person may simply be ostracized. This is why water baptism is so closely linked to the act of salvation, though the two are certainly distinct. We know that it is possible for a person to go to Heaven without experiencing the act of water baptism, but this is the exception and not the norm.
Mar 16:16 “but he that believeth not shall be damned” Comments – If one does not put his faith in Jesus, he certainly is not going to be baptized.
Mar 16:16 Comments – Paul tells us in 2Co 2:14-16 that those who hearken unto the preaching of the Gospel see the messenger as a sweet savour of life in Christ Jesus, but to those who reject the Gospel, the messenger is to him the savour of death.
2Co 2:14-16, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”
Ezekiel spoke on a similar topic was a watchman over the nation of Israel in Eze 3:16-21. God called him to tell the people to repent of their sins.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe” Comments – Within the immediate context of Jesus’ final commission to His disciples, the statement, “And these signs shall follow them that believe,” means that Jesus’ disciples needed to believe in His resurrection in order to be able to preach the Gospel. They could not effectively witness about Jesus Christ unless they first accepted His resurrection. Although the Resurrection of Jesus Christ became a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith in the early church, prior to Pentecost these disciples were struggling with this divine truth. Jesus was asking His disciples to settle the fact in their hearts that He was most certainly resurrected and alive for evermore. Thus, faith in His resurrection would become the foundation for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Anyone who has become a believer can become an evangelist for Jesus Christ, with signs following, but not everyone enters into the office of an evangelist, and regularly walks with signs and wonders, which office is emphasized in Mark’s Gospel. The reason we do not see every believer operating in the miraculous is because they do not believe preaching with signs and wonders is for them, in other words, he is not taught to expect God to work miracles through him as a young believer; but the simple requirement is that he believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Mark places emphasis upon the office and ministry of the Evangelist, and Mark’s commission is a commission primarily for the work of the evangelist. Therefore the statement “And these signs shall follow them that believe,” refers more specifically to a particular type of disciple of Christ, who becomes passionate about evangelizing, who will thus find himself operating in the miracles listed in Mar 16:17-18. If we interpret this verse within the context of Mark’s Gospel we note that Jesus trained His disciples to preach the Gospel and signs and miracles following. For example, when He rebuked the storm, He asked His disciples, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” (Mar 4:40). When they could not heal the boy with epilepsy, Jesus rebuked his disciples for their “unbelief.” (Mar 9:19) Jesus then explained that they needed to maintain their faith level for the miraculous by a disciplined lifestyle of prayer and fasting (Mar 9:28-29). He then taught them how to believe by cursing the fig tree in Mar 11:12-26. They can speak to mountains and it shall be removed if they believe that whatever they say shall come to pass. In other words, Jesus was saying in Mar 16:17, “And these signs shall follow the Christians that maintain their faith-level through a disciplined lifestyle of prayer.” This explains why only some Christians, and not others, are operating in the miraculous.
Mar 9:19, “He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.”
Mar 9:28-29, “And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”
I asked the Lord why I did not see signs in my preaching. He quickened to me Mar 16:17 and I understood that I must expect and anticipate these signs (26 August 2007). I then remembered sitting on the platform in a Benny Hinn crusade in May 2007 and recognizing Hinn’s intense expectations for healings during the course of the meeting. He took time during each meeting to give the Lord a chance to heal people, and then gave many people an opportunity to testify. I have also observed Rodney Howard-Brown expecting the miraculous to manifest during his meetings in the form of laughter and drunkenness. I have also seen Joyce Meyer doing an altar call for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and she expected many to be filled. These miracles also apply to salvation altar calls for the evangelist. Thus, I must give the Lord an opportunity during my meetings to move and manifest for miracles. Cecil Stewart says, “There is not an age of miracles. There is a God of miracles who fills every age.” [172]
[172] Cecil Stewart, “Sermon,” Leadership Conference, Africana Hotel, Kampala, Uganda, 4 September 2009.
Mar 16:17 “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” Comments – This passage teaches us that these signs will follow believers, not just the pastors and church leaders. It tells us that the least believer in the Kingdom of God has authority over the devil to cast him out. In the name of Jesus Christ we have authority over the devil because Jesus Christ delegated this authority to us in Mat 28:18-20.
The Lord told Kenneth Hagin that after His ascension into Heaven, He gave His Church the authority and responsibility of casting out demons and delivering people from the bondage of darkness. If the Church does not cast out demons and deliver people, then this work will not be done. Jesus Christ delegated His authority and this task to the Church and if we fail to deliver others, then it will not get done. [173]
[173] Kenneth Hagin, I Believe In Visions (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1984, 1986), 87-90; Kenneth Hagin, The Triumphant Church (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1993, 1994), 131-7.
The signs of demons coming out of people, and them being filled with the Holy Spirit are events that take place primarily at the time of one’s conversion, when the evangelist is first proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ to a heathen people.
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:18 Word Study on “sick” BDAG says the Greek word literally means, “powerless,” and carries the additional meaning, “sick, ill.” Leon Morris says this word means, “feeble, sickly,” being derived from the Greek prefix and the verb , which means, “to strengthen.” [174]
[174] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 376.
Comments – The evangelist is a person who must travel in order to preach to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. If he begins to fulfill the requirements of Mar 16:17 and sees demonic deliverances and sees converts being filled with the Holy Spirit, then the devil will try to fight against this man of God. Therefore, Jesus promises in His next statement, “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” This statement reflects spiritual warfare that an evangelist experiences, as well as physical challenges of eating and drinking foods that are possibly harmful in a foreign land, or even wicked people trying to poison this minister. God will protect this evangelist as he goes forth preaching the Gospel.
“they shall take up serpents” – This does not mean that they will tempt God by holding snakes, but like Paul on the island, God delivered him when he was bitten by a snake as a testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. See:
Act 28:3-5, “And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.”
“drink any deadly thing” – Illustration: Arthur Blessitt, while carrying cross through the jungles of Central and South America, had to drink filthy rain water in order to survive on a number of occasions. [175] Andrew Wommack tells the story of how he was locked inside his room while in India under martial law and had to drink the faucet water, which he was told was practically deadly. Andrew did not get sick. [176]
[175] Arthur Blessitt, Praise the Lord, on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.
[176] Andrew Wommack, “Sermon,” (Pentecostal Assemblies of God church, Kasese, Uganda, 14 February 2007).
“and they shall recover” The Greek literally says, “and they shall do well.” The ACV reads closely to this literally meaning by saying, “They will lay hands on the feeble, and they will fare well .” The YLT reads, “on the ailing they shall lay hands, and they shall be well .”
Summary – Mar 16:18 covers all types of healings, from instant healings to gradual healings. When hands are laid upon us, we are never to turn off the switch of faith that healing is for us.
Mar 16:19-20 The Ascension of Jesus ( Luk 24:50-53 , Act 1:9-11 ) In Mar 16:19-20 we have the account of Jesus’ ascension into Heaven.
Mar 16:20 “the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” Comments – As a young Seminary student, I began to be exposed to many different messages and sermons from Bible scholars, preachers, and professors. One of these messages was delivered in a chapel service at my seminary by a British theologian who did not even believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I began to ask the Lord how to distinguish between those who are teaching the Word of God accurately, and those who are misinterpreting the Scriptures, the Lord helped me to understand this verse and a similar verse in Heb 2:4. When God’s Word is preached, He will always confirm His Word with signs and miracles. He gives proof to the accuracy of His Word. I quickly saw that most preachers lacked this evidence in their ministries. I began to seek those ministers who had this Scriptural testimony in their ministry of miracles. I could trust that they are preaching the genuine Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heb 2:4, “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Appearances and the Ascension of Jesus.
The appearance to Mary Magdalene:
v. 9. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.
v. 10. And she went and told them that had been with Him as they mourned and wept.
v. 11. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
Just how highly Jesus thought of the women that had served Him so faithfully, especially during the last year and the closing weeks of His life, is evident from the fact that He appeared to one of these, to Mary Magdalene, first. The evangelist is here evidently summarizing the events of the forty days after the resurrection of Christ in his characteristically brief manner. He therefore does not give a full account of this meeting with Christ, as John did, ( Joh 20:14 -, but enumerates this appearance as one of many. And for the sake of the readers that were looking for distinguishing marks, he identifies Mary Magdalene as the woman out of whom Christ had driven seven devils. No sooner had Mary received this evidence of the Lord’s resurrection than she hurried to tell it, not only to the apostles, but to all the disciples that were at Jerusalem, who were now in bitter grief over their great loss. So deeply had the Passion and death of their Master affected these people that they simply refused to believe this eye-witness. Their hearts had not yet risen to an understanding of the prophecies of Christ concerning His resurrection, as often as He had tried to impress this fact upon their minds. Another bit of evidence against the theory of the Lord’s stolen body.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mar 16:9. Now when Jesus was risen Now Jesus being risen early on, &c. See Maii Observ. 100: 2: p. 72. The earliness of his rising was before expressed, Mar 16:2.
, very early. This appearance after it, was , early. See Bengelius and Grotius.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mar 16:9-10 . Now begins the apocryphal fragment of some other evangelical treatise (doubtless written very much in the way of epitome), which has been added as a conclusion of our Gospel. In it, first of all, the appearance related at Joh 20:14-18 is given in a meagre abstract, in which the remark, which in Mark’s connection was here wholly inappropriate (at the most its place would have been Mar 15:40 ), . ., is to be explained by the fact , that this casting out of demons was related in the writing to which the portion had originally belonged (comp. Luk 8:2 ).
.] is joined by Beza, Castalio, Heupel, Wolf, Rosenmller, Paulus, Fritzsche, de Wette, Ewald, and others with , but by Severus of Antioch, Gregory of Nyssa, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Victor, Grotius, Mill, Bengel, Kuinoel, Schulthess, and others, with . We cannot decide the point, since we do not know the connection with what went before, in which the fragment originally occurred. If it were an integral part of our Gospel, it would have to be connected with , since Mar 16:2 already presupposes the time of the resurrection having taken place, and now in the progress of the narrative the question was not about this specification of time, but about the fact that Jesus on the very same morning made His first appearance.
As well as the singular (comp. Luk 18:12 ) is surprising after Mar 16:2 . Yet it is to be conceded that even Mark himself might so vary the expressions.
] (see the critical remarks): away from whom (French: de chez ). See Matthiae, p. 1378. The expression with is not elsewhere found in the N. T.
Mar 16:10 . Foreign to Mark is here (1) , which never occurs (comp. Mar 4:11 , Mar 7:15 , Mar 12:4 f., Mar 14:21 ) in his Gospel so devoid of emphasis as in this case. As unemphatic stands in Mar 16:11 , but not at ver 13, as also in Mar 16:13 and , at Mar 16:20 are emphatic. (2) , which word Mark, often as he had occasion for it, never uses, while in this short section it occurs three times (Mar 16:12 ; Mar 16:15 ). Moreover, (3) the circumlocution , instead of (the latter does not occur at all in the section), is foreign to the Gospels. The in the more extended sense are meant , the apostles and the rest of the companions of Jesus; the apostles alone are designated at Mar 16:14 by as at Luk 24:9 ; Luk 24:33 ; Act 2:14 .
. ] who were mourning and weeping . Comp. Luk 6:25 , although to derive the words from this passage (Schulthess) is arbitrary.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

2. Mary Magdalene and the two Disciples. Mar 16:9-13
(Parallels: Mat 28:9-15; Luk 24:9-35; Joh 20:11-19)
9Now, when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week, he appeared first to 10Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See Matthew and Luke.According to Meyer, the apocryphal fragment of some other evangelical writing begins here. Compare the Introduction on this point.5 The epithet apocryphal, would not be appropriate, even if the section were an addition taken from another Evangelists narrative. The narrative contained in our Gospel comprehends within its very brief hints the detailed statement of John regarding the Easter-message of Mary Magdalene, and the still more detailed account by Luke of the Easter-message sent by the disciples met on the road to Emmaus. Mark groups both accounts under the single head of two duly-authorized embassies, which do not meet with full credence. The first and second halves of this chapter are, however, united into an inseparable unity in the one fundamental thought, that the risen Saviour is the absolute and universal conqueror of unbelief, which was already, even in the circle of disciples, throwing obstacles in the way of Jesus; and that Christ, as the subduer of this unbelief, stands raised above all the messages of men and angels.
Mar 16:9. Was risen early.The manifestation of the Risen One by the angels had been preceded by His own personal appearances. The first day of the week is again named, of course, for the purpose of bringing into prominence, even at that early period, the Christian day of rest. We would translate: Upon the first of the seven days ( indicating here, as frequently, the week, after the later and more extended custom of the Jewish language). Upon this day He appeared to the Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. Christ, as the Risen One, has sanctified the week as a holy period; and at the beginning of the holy week, He reveals Himself to one who was preminently sanctified and susceptible, because He had cleansed her from seven demons. The Evangelist has, accordingly, not merely before him the contrast,the risen Saviour revealing Himself to a poor woman,but the spiritual relationship,she who had been freed from seven devils stands especially near to the conqueror of demons on the morning of His great triumph, and she is peculiarly fitted in spirit to be the first to see Him, and to announce to the disciples His resurrection. Accordingly, in this revelation we have the activity of the Saviour, in His conquest over devils, set over against the passivity of the pardon-seeking woman, who had been freed from the seven devils. Meyer considers this remark concerning Mary as not belonging to this passage. We view the expulsion of seven devils in connection with the sacred number seven, and regard the term symbolic of a glorious deliverance out of the great snares which Satan had prepared. (Comp. Matthew.) Mark is wont to employ in other passages to express strongly a glorious redemption. It is questionable whether the words, early on the first day of the week, go back to (Beza, Ewald, etc.), or are to be construed with (Grotius and others). We prefer the first construction, because the second mention of the resurrection as having occurred upon the first day of the week appears to point at the sanctification of that period. In verse second, had reference to Jewish customs; but here the allusion is to the renewed week, the .
Mar 16:10. And she went.That is, even she. It must be conceded that Mark employs to express a solemn proclamation of the Gospel only in this place (Mar 16:15 excepted). By this, however, he reminds us of the mode of expression employed by his teacher, Peter: 1Pe 3:19.6Them that had been with Him.This also is a peculiar expression to indicate the disciples in a wider sense. It indicates, however, their scattered condition, their present despairing state, as opposed to their former blessed communion with Him. The expression itself is not an unusual one with Mark; see Mar 1:36.As they mourned and wept.Comp. Luk 6:25. This has undoubtedly a special reference to the sorrowful and weeping Peter. To bring prominently out that Jesus revealed Himself to Peter, after the message given to Mary, consists not with the matter-of-fact disposition of Mark.
Mar 16:11. And had been seen of her, .A strong expression. That is not found elsewhere in the Gospel by Mark, considering how frequent is its use by others, is one of the marks of a strange hand. Meyer. Hermeneutics might, we think, have taught him: new facts, new words.
Mar 16:12. In another form.An explanation of the expression in Luk 24:16, but by no means a condensation of Luk 24:13-35, as Meyer would represent. Jesus form was, on the one hand, changed: different clothes (Joh 20:15), traces of the sufferings during the crucifixion: on the other hand, more sublime in its appearance, Jesus being in the transition-state from humiliation to glorification.
After that.The three specifications, , , , relate manifestly to one another. Hence it cannot be at all remarkable that is not elsewhere to be found in Mark (comp. Mar 13:24).Of themof the unbelieving disciples in a wider sense.
Mar 16:13. Neither believed they them.Even they did not gain credence. Meyer: A different tradition from that given in Luk 24:34. It is certain that no interpolator would have allowed this manifest appearance of a discrepancy. But the Evangelist, who was writing from the stand-point of a special idea of the resurrection, was not afraid to employ it. And Luke gives the means of knowing what is meant. The Eleven knew for a certainty, in the evening, that Christ had appeared to Simon, and were consequently for the moment believing. Now the Emmaus disciples arrive, and declare that Jesus had revealed Himself unto them. Not being able to comprehend this new mode of existence on the part of Christ, that He now is here, and now there, new doubts fill them. The thought of a spiritual apparition occurs to them; and hence they are affrighted when Jesus at length appears in their midst, and imagine that a ghost is present. And now the Lord must convince them as to the truth of His new corporeality. The point brought forward by Mark testifies, accordingly, to an exceedingly accurate, and moreover, a perfectly independent, knowledge of the facts of the resurrection. The expression is, of course, explained by Luke 26:34, without, however, referring to it (Schulthess). And so it is unnecessary to suppose, with Augustine, that the were certain believing disciples, to be distinguished from certain who did not believe; or to say, with Calvin, At first they doubted, then they believed. The situation of affairs was of such a nature as to lead them into new difficulties on hearing the message of the Emmaus disciples, instead of strengthening them in their belief. Because, as yet they were not in possession of the idea of a glorified body; and hence they thought very naturally, that if the Lord had appeared to Simon in Jerusalem, He could not at the same time have appeared unto others at a distance from the city. Not to speak of this, that several of the Eleven might very reasonably have thought: Why should He reveal Himself to these two at Emmaus earlier than to us at Jerusalem?
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See Matthew and the parallels in Luke and John: also the foregoing Note on Mar 16:13.
2. The Easter-embassy of the angelic world to the human world has been replaced by the message of the resurrection passing from man to man, at first from the female disciples to the male disciples, then the message passing between individual disciples and the disciple-band. The Risen One has destroyed, in His resurrection, the bands and bolts of the grave; He must now destroy, likewise, the doubts, the weak faith, the unbelief of His own, in order with them to destroy in like manner the unbelief of the world. The certainty of His resurrection presses gradually forward; but the Church comes only to perfect knowledge when He reveals Himself in her midst.
3. The appearing and disappearing of Jesus in the circle of disciples is a type of His appearance in, and of His disappearance from, the Church.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See Matthew, and the parallel passages in Luke and John.The risen Saviour presents Himself to be recognized by one who stood especially near to the kingdom of heaven and of the Unseen, because He has freed and cleansed her heart from seven devils.Mary Magdalene, the much-forgiven sinner, sent as a comforter to the weeping Peter, to the sorrow-laden and mourning disciples.The two Maries, who had remained with Jesus beside His grave, late into the night of His dying day, are to be the first to see Him on His resurrection morn.The distinction made in the case of the two disciples going into the country: 1. Because they, like Magdalene and Peter, especially required consolation; 2. because they united in going before the Lord as two messengers and witnesses unto the Church.The risen Saviour brings His own at once together again.Jesus appearing in another and new form, as the Prince and Pledge of another, new world: 1. In the form of one who had passed through death; 2. with the glorified crucifixion-marks; 3. with the signs of the new life (even the Magdalene did not at once recognize Him).The threefold form of the unbelief which departed not, even from the community of believers, without assistance: 1. They cannot conceive to themselves the mysterious majesty in which Christ caused an angel to represent Him; 2. they cannot conceive to themselves the greatness of the grace, in consequence of which He appears to Mary Magdalene first; 3. they cannot conceive to themselves the might of His exaltation, by reason of which He appears now here, now there.Neither the angels, nor the women, nor the two Evangelists, satisfy their faith: they wish to be assured of His actual existence by His own appearance.Not having yielded themselves to faith in His prediction, they find it difficult to believe in its fulfilment.
Starke:As the woman was the first to sin, so hath Christ, after finishing salvation, chosen to reveal Himself to a woman first.The most despised in the opinion of the world are often the most precious in the eyes of God.Quesnel:God delights in blessing those who have remained faithful to Him in persecution, and have not been ashamed of the cross.Christ imparts His grace according to the need for it, Mat 5:4.Jesus ever, even upon our journeyings, with us.
Braune:The intelligence brought by Mary and the women concerning the resurrection of the Saviour is believed neither lightly nor superstitiously; and hence we see that their belief, and their testimony, is the more firmly founded, and the more trustworthy.
Footnotes:
[5][The reasons for assuming that Mar 16:9-20 are an original portion of Marks Gospel much outweigh those to the contrary. 1. They are found in the Uncial Codd. A., C., D., X., ., E., G., H., K., M., S., U., V.; as well as in 33, 69, and the rest of the Cursive MSS. which have been collated. They are in copies of the Old Latin, in the Vulgate, Curetonian Syriac, Peshito, Jerusalem Syriac, Memphitic, Gothic, and thiopic. 2. Irenus (Cont. Hr. iii. 10, 6) recognizes their existence; as do also Hippolytus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose, Augustine, Nestorius. Scholz also claims that Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and Clement of Alexandria sanction the passage; but Tregelles regards this as an error. The chief argument against the genuineness of this section is found in the fact, that it was wanting in some of the early copies of Marks Gospel. This is attested by Eusebius, Gregory Nyssa, Victor of Antioch, and Jerome. But this is certainly an insufficient reason for affirming its spuriousness in the face of the strong testimonies upon the other side. See Tregelles on the Printed Text of the Greek Testament, p. 246 seq. Its genuineness is affirmed by Simon, Mill, Bengel, Matthi, Eichorn, Kuinoel, Hug, Scholz, Guericke, Olshausen, Ebrard, Lachmann; is denied by Griesbach, Rosenmller, Schulz, Fritzsche, Paulus, wieseler, Ewald, Meyer, Tischendorf.Ed.]
[6][Lange seems to have in his eye the objection of Meyer (in loc.) to the genuineness of the section, drawn from the fact that the word occurs three times in it.Ed.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 1460
CHRISTS APPEARANCE TO MARY MAGDALENE
Mar 16:9. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
ON few subjects has the ingenuity of critics been exercised more than in reconciling the accounts which the different Evangelists give respecting the appearances of Christ after his resurrection. It is not to be wondered at, that, when such a great variety of occurrences are related in so small a space, some by one person, and others by another, some in a more concise, and others in a more detailed way, there should arise a difficulty in adjusting the precise order in which every fact arose. Cavillers indeed, and infidels have made this a matter of triumph; as if the existence of a difficulty in such a particular as this would invalidate the testimony of the inspired writers altogether. But we do not hesitate to say, that it confirms rather than lessens, the credibility of their testimony; since it proves to a demonstration, that there was no concert between them, but that they related in the simplicity of their minds what they knew to be true, without inquiring whether, in recording a fact, the omission of a trifling circumstance might occasion some obscurity respecting the order or manner of its accomplishment. Leaving those smaller matters, we shall fix our attention on points of the first magnitude and importance: we shall,
I.
Notice the manifestations which Jesus gave of himself after his resurrection from the dead
His first appearance only is mentioned in the text: but it was so speedily followed by others, and their united effect is so important in establishing the truth of his Divine mission, that we may well combine them together, and set them before you in a collective view.
They were,
1.
Early
[It was necessary that our Lord should rise on the third day after his crucifixion. Not only did the period of Jonahs deliverance from the belly of the fish determine the time of Christs continuance in the grave [Note: Mat 12:40], but it was expressly declared by David, that Gods Holy One should not see corruption [Note: Psa 16:10.], and consequently that he should rise from the dead before the fourth day, when bodies in that hot climate, usually began to corrupt [Note: Joh 11:39]. Our Lord himself also had said, that, if they should destroy the temple of his body, he would in three days raise it up again [Note: Joh 2:19-21.]: And so frequently had he foretold that he would rise again on the third day, that the prediction was generally known among his enemies, and was indeed the ground of those very precautions which they used to guard the sepulchre, and thereby defeat any conspiracy amongst his followers [Note: Mat 27:63-66]. If then he had not risen on the third day, he would have been proved to be a deceiver: and if he had not made his appearance on that day, he would have given such occasion of triumph to his enemies as could scarcely ever have been removed. The absurd report that was circulated by the soldiers respecting his being stolen away while they were sleeping, would have been sanctioned; and the difficulty of removing that first impression would have been greatly increased. The Disciples too, who were already disconsolate, and, in their own apprehension, deceived, would have abandoned themselves wholly to despair. To prevent these evil consequences, our blessed Saviour manifested himself to Mary early on the morning of his resurrection; yea, at least five times on that very day did he make his appearance to different parties of his Disciples; first to Mary, then to the other women, then to Peter, then to two Disciples on their way to Emmaus, and then to the eleven who were gathered together. Thus early were his triumphs proclaimed; and thus seasonably were his Disciples comforted!]
2.
Numerous
[We have already mentioned five appearances on the day of his resurrection. How many he vouchsafed to his Disciples afterwards, we cannot ascertain: for we are sure that they are not all recorded by the Evangelists. St. Paul mentions that Jesus was seen by James, and by five hundred brethren at once; neither of which appearances are particularly specified in the Gospels. We are told however, that he was seen of the Disciples forty days; which is a clear intimation that his intercourse with them was both frequent and familiar. Now in this he graciously condescended to our weakness. Had his manifestations of himself been very few, we might have been ready to fear, that those who testified of his resurrection were either deceivers or deceived. Not even the Apostles themselves credited the appearance of their Master to Mary, or the other females: the very report was considered by them as an idle tale. Much more therefore may we expect that his avowed enemies would have disbelieved it; and we at this distance of time should have had scarcely any foundation for our faith and hope. But the number of his appearances was such as to preclude a possibility of intentional collusion, or unintentional mistake.]
3.
Indubitable
[However numerous the appearances had been, if they had been all in dreams or visions, or to separate individuals, or at a distance, there would have been reason to doubt the truth and reality of them. But they were of the most satisfactory kind imaginable. Let it be granted, that Mary Magdalene, and the other women, and Peter, and the Disciples going to Emmaus, were deceived; and that the various conversations which they had with him were mere impositions on their eyes and ears; were the eleven deceived, when, notwithstanding the doors were shut, he presented himself in the midst of them, and bade them handle him (to see that he was not a mere spirit, but had flesh and bones, like any other man), and did eat and drink before them? Was the unbelieving Thomas deceived, when our Lord bade him put his fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into the wound that had been made in his side; and when, in consequence of the impossibility of resisting conviction any longer, he exclaimed, My Lord, and my God? Were the five hundred brethren, who saw him at once, deceived; or were they all in a conspiracy to deceive others? Were Peter and the rest deceived, when he told them on which side of the ship to cast their net, and then partook with them of the fish which they had caught? Were they deceived, when, after conversing with him a long time, his Disciples saw him ascend gradually from the midst of them, and taken up into heaven? Blessed be his name! he has taken care that so important a truth, on which all our hopes depend, should not rest on any doubtful testimony, but that it should be substantiated by proofs which cannot be denied without subverting all kinds of evidence, and all human testimony whatsoever.]
Let us now proceed to,
II.
Inquire, Why he appeared first to Mary Magdalene in particular?
It is said of Mary Magdalene, that he had cast out of her seven devils. And if she was, as she is generally supposed to be, that Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus in the Pharisees house [Note: Luk 7:36-38.], she had been, not like the common demoniacs, a mere object of pity, but a vile, notorious, abandoned sinner. In this view, the mention of Jesus having cast seven devils out of her, gives singular importance to the text; and most forcible reasons may be assigned, why he appeared to her first, in preference to all other persons. He did so,
1.
To display the exceeding riches of his grace
[This was the chief design of God in that plan which he formed for the redemption of mankind [Note: Eph 1:6; Eph 2:7.]. The same glorious design also may be seen in a variety of incidents, which, though apparently perhaps of small importance, are deserving of very attentive consideration. The command, for instance, respecting the publishing of the Gospel first in Jerusalem, where all ranks of people had so recently united in crucifying the Lord of glory [Note: Luk 24:47.], is a most astonishing display of grace and mercy: one would rather have thought that the Apostles should have been ordered to pass them by for ever, than to make them the first offers of salvation. The instruments employed to propagate the Gospel, yet further illustrate this point. The person chosen to minister the Gospel to the circumcision, and to convert thousands of them to the faith, was Peter, who had just before denied his Lord with oaths and curses. Yea, to him was such peculiar attention shewn, that he was selected by the angel, as the person to whom, above all others, the knowledge of our Saviours resurrection was to be instantly conveyed [Note: ver. 7.]. And our blessed Lord himself thrice renewed his call to the Apostleship, in the presence of the other Disciples, lest his past denial of his Lord should be construed as a renunciation of it, or a dismission from it [Note: Joh 21:15-17.]. In like manner, the person who was commissioned to go unto the Gentiles, was Saul, the persecutor; who was arrested in his murderous career, and made the most honoured, and most useful, of all the Apostles.
In the same light we view the preference shewn to Mary Magdalene above all others: in manifesting himself first of all to her, our Saviour may well be considered as declaring, that where sin has abounded, grace shall much more abound [Note: Rom 5:20.].]
2.
To reward her pious assiduity
[Mary having purchased ointments and spices for the purpose of embalming our Lords body, went early, while it was yet dark, to the sepulchre, to perform that last and mournful office. Though her prospects with respect to his establishing a temporal kingdom were altogether blasted, her regard for him was not in the least diminished. She was anxious to testify her respect in the only way that now remained to her: nor did any considerations of expense, or trouble, or danger, operate for a moment to impede her efforts. Such expressions of undissembled love could not escape the notice of an omniscient and gracious God. Our adorable Emmanuel would have accounted himself unrighteous, if he could have overlooked such works and labours of love as she now shewed towards his name [Note: Heb 6:10.] It had long before been announced by him to the world, Him that honoureth me, I will honour: and now he fulfilled that word to this highly-favoured handmaid: nor will he ever suffer even a cup of cold water, given to a person for his sake, to lose its reward.]
3.
To give encouragement to all future penitents to the end of time
[The various events recorded in the Scriptures are not to be limited to the persons to whom they more immediately refer. Many judgments were inflicted, and many mercies vouchsafed, for the benefit of the Church in future ages: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. We read of pardon being revealed to David the very instant that he confessed his heinous crime: and the improvement which he himself makes of that stupendous mercy, is; For this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found [Note: Psa 32:5-6.]. St. Paul also informs us of the exceeding abundant grace shewn to him; and then adds, that he had been thus eminently distinguished by God for this reason; that God might shew forth in him all long suffering, for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting [Note: 1Ti 1:14; 1Ti 1:16.]. For the same end, it should seem, was Mary Magdalene thus highly favoured. Persons, who are conscious of having committed enormous sins, are apt to think that they can never obtain mercy of the Lord: but our blessed Saviour would have them know, that though our sins may have been as crimson, they shall be white as snow, and that he is never more willing to feast with us upon the fatted calf, than on our first return from a dissolute and abandoned life.]
Conclusion
[Behold how effectually every ground of doubt is removed from us! Can we doubt Christs power and authority to save? He has risen from the dead, and thereby given the most convincing evidence that he is ordained of God to be the Saviour of the world: and his umerous appearances to his Disciples after his resurrection preclude all possibility of deception. Can we doubt his willingness to save even the chief of sinners? This astonishing exercise of grace to one out of whom he had cast seven devils, forbids us to entertain the thought. Let all then trust in him as both able and willing to save them to the uttermost.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

(9) Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. (10) And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. (11) And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
I cannot help pausing over this view of CHRIST’s grace to Mary Magdalene, that she should have the honor of beholding the LORD of life and glory the first of all his redeemed, after he rose from the dead. And as the Evangelist adds, out of whom he had cast seven devils. Doth it not seem to intimate, in that GOD the HOLY GHOST hath thought proper, to have this act of grace of JESUS mentioned at the same time, as if the LORD would thereby encourage, and comfort any, and every one, of his more than ordinarily distressed members, to this conclusion, that where sin aboundeth, grace shall much more abound? All CHRIST’s redeemed shall have the love-tokens of JESUS; but the one which Satan most afflicts, CHRIST will more abundantly comfort.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Ver. 9. He appeared first ] This honour done to Mary Magdalene, Mark relateth more at large than the rest, though otherwise mostly he be more brief than the rest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

9. ] = Mar 16:2 , and is remarkable as occurring so soon after it (see Luk 18:12 ).
. ] This notice, coming so late, after the mention of Mary Magdalene in Mar 16:1 , is remarkable. The instances quoted by De Wette to shew that the unexpected introduction of notices contained in the other Gospels is in Mark’s manner, do not seem to me to apply here.
This verse agrees with Joh 20:1 ff. but is unconnected with the former narrative in this chapter.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mar 16:9-20 may be divided into three parts corresponding more or less to sections in John, Luke , and Matthew , and not improbably based on these; Mar 16:9-11 , answering to Joh 20:14-18 ; Joh 20:12-14 , answering to Luk 24:13-35 ; Luk 24:15-18 , answering to Mat 28:19 . Mar 16:19-20 wind up with a brief reference to the ascension and the subsequent apostolic activity of the disciples.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mar 16:9-11 . refers to Jesus, who, however, is not once named in the whole section. This fact with the favours the hypothesis that the section is a fragment of a larger writing. .: whether these words are to be connected with , indicating the time of the resurrection, or with , indicating the time of the first appearance, cannot be decided ( vide Meyer). . ., first to Mary of Magdala, as in John (Joh 20:14 ). , etc.: this bit of information, taken from Luk 8:2 , is added as if this woman were a stranger never mentioned before in this Gospel, a sure sign of another hand. , in this verse = appeared to, does not elsewhere occur in this sense.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mark
THE INCREDULOUS DISCIPLES
‘FIRST TO MARY’
Mar 16:9 .
A great pile of legend has been built on the one or two notices of Mary Magdalene in Scripture. Art, poetry, and philanthropy have accepted and inculcated these, till we almost feel as if they were bits of the Bible. But there is not the shadow of a foundation for them. She has generally been identified with the woman in Luke’s Gospel ‘who was a sinner.’ There is no reason at all for that identification. On the contrary, there is a reason against it, in the fact that immediately after that narrative she is named as one of the little band of women who ministered to Jesus.
Here is all that we know of her: that Christ cast out the seven devils; that she became one of the Galilean women, including the mothers of Jesus and of John, who ‘ministered to Him of their substance’; that she was one of the Marys at the Cross and saw the interment; that she came to the sepulchre, heard the angel’s message, went to John with it, came back and stood without at the sepulchre, saw the Lord, and, having heard His voice and clasped His feet, returned to the little company, and then she drops out of the narrative and is no more named. That is all. It is enough. There are large lessons in this fact which Mark or whoever wrote this chapter gives with such emphasis, ‘He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.’
Think what the Resurrection is-how stupendous and wonderful! Who might have been expected to be its witnesses? But see! the first eye that beholds is this poor sin-stained woman’s. What a distance between the two extremes of her experience-devil-ridden and gazing on the Risen Saviour!
I. An example of the depth to which the soul of man can descend.
This fact of possession is very obscure and strange. I doubt whether we can understand it. But I cannot see how we can bring it down to the level of mere disease without involving Jesus Christ in the charge of consciously aiding in upholding what, if it be not an awful truth, is one of the grimmest, ghastliest superstitions that ever terrified men.
In all ways He gives in His adhesion to the fact of demoniacal possession. He speaks to the demons, and of them, rebukes them, holds conversations with them, charges them to be silent. He distinguishes between possession and diseases. ‘Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead’-these commands bring together forms of sickness running its course; why should He separate from them His next command and endowment, ‘cast out devils,’ unless because He regarded demoniacal possession as separate from sickness in any form? He sees in His casting of them out the triumph over the personal power of evil. ‘I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.’ But while the fact seems to be established, the thing is only known to us by its signs. These were madness, melancholy, sometimes dumbness, sometimes fits and convulsions; the man was dominated by an alien power; there was a strange, awful double consciousness; ‘We are many,’ ‘My name is Legion.’ There was absolute control by this alien power, which like some parasitical worm had rooted itself within the poor wretch, and there lived upon his blood and life juices-only that it lived in the spirit, dominated the will, and controlled the nature.
Probably there had always been the yielding to the impulse to sin of some sort, or at any rate the man had opened the door for the devil to come in.
This woman had been in the deepest depths of this awful abyss. ‘Seven’ is the numerical symbol of completeness, so she had been utterly devil-ridden. And she had once been a little child in some Galilean home, and parents had seen her budding beauty and early, gentle, womanly ways. And now, think of the havoc! the distorted face, the foul words, the blasphemous thoughts! And is this worse than our sinful case? Are not the devils that possess us as real and powerful?
II. An example of the cleansing power of Christ.
We know nothing about how she had come under His merciful eye, nor any of the circumstances of her healing, but only that this woman, with whom the serpent was so closely intertwined, as in some pictures of Eve’s temptation, was not beyond His reach, and was set free. Note- There is no condition of human misery which Christ cannot alleviate.
None is so sunk in sin that He cannot redeem them.
For all in the world there is hope.
Look on the extremest forms of sin. We can regard them all with the assurance that Christ can cleanse them-prostitutes, thieves, respectable worldlings.
None is so bad as to have lost His love.
None is so bad as to be excluded from the purpose of His death.
None is so bad as to be beyond the reach of His cleansing power.
None has wandered so far that he cannot come back.
Think of the earliest believers-a thief, a ‘woman that was a sinner,’ this Mary, a Zacchus, a persecuting Paul, a rude, rough jailer, etc.
Remember Paul’s description of a class of the Corinthian saints-’such were some of you.’
As long as man is man, so long is God ready to receive him back. There is no place where sun does not shine. No heart is given over to irremediable hardness. None ever comes to Christ in vain.
The Saviour is greater than all our sins.
The deliverance is more than sufficient for the worst.
‘God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.’
Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones.
III. An example of how the remembrance of past and pardoned sin may be a blessing.
Mary evidently tried always to be beside Him. The cure had been perfect, but perhaps there was a tremulous fear, as in the man that prayed ‘that he might be with Him.’
And so, look how all the notices give us one picture of a heart set on Him. There were- a Consciousness of weakness, that made her long for His presence as a security.
b Deep love, that made her long for His presence as a joy.
c Thankful gratitude, that made her long for opportunities to serve Him.
And this is what the remembrance of Jesus should be to us.
IV. An example of how the most degraded may rise highest in fellowship with Christ.
‘First’ to her, because she needed Him and longed for Him.
Now this is but an illustration of the great principle that by God’s mercy sin when it is hated and pardoned may be made to subserve our highest joys.
It is not sin which separates us from God, but it is unpardoned sin. Not that the more we sin the more we are fit for Him, for all sin is loss. There are ways in which even forgiven and repented sin may injure a man. But there is nothing in it to hinder our coming close to the Saviour and enjoying all the fulness of His love, so that if we use it rightly it may become a help.
If it leads us to that clinging of which we have just spoken, then we shall come nearer to God for it.
The divine presence is always given to those who long for it.
Sin may help to kindle such longings.
He who has been almost dead in the wilderness will keep near the guide. The man that has been starved with cold in Arctic night will prize the glory and grace of sunshine in fairer lands.
Instances in Church history-Paul, Augustine, Bunyan.
‘Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before you.’
The noblest illustration is in heaven, where men lead the song of Redemption.
God uses sin as a black background on which the brightest rainbow tints of His mercy are displayed.
You can come to this Saviour whatever you have been. I say to no man, ‘Sin, for it does not matter.’ But I do say, ‘If you are conscious of sin, deep, dark, damning, that makes no barrier between you and God. You may come all the nearer for it if you will let your past teach you to long for His love and to lean on Him.’
‘He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,’ and those who stand nearest the throne and lead the anthems of heaven, and look up with undazzled angels’ faces to the God of their joy, whose name blazes on their foreheads, all these were guilty, sinful men. But they ‘have washed their robes and made them white.’ There will be in heaven some of the worst sinners that ever lived on earth. There will not be one out of whom He has not ‘cast seven devils.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

Now when Jesus was risen, &c. For the sequence of events after the Resurrection, see App-166. For the genuineness of these last twelve verses (9-20) of Mark, see App-168.
early : i.e. any time after sunset on our Saturday, 6pm. See App-165.
appeared. Greek. phaino. App-106. Not the same word as in Mar 16:12.
out of = from. Greek. apo. App-104.
devils = demons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

9.] = Mar 16:2, and is remarkable as occurring so soon after it (see Luk 18:12).
.] This notice, coming so late, after the mention of Mary Magdalene in Mar 16:1, is remarkable. The instances quoted by De Wette to shew that the unexpected introduction of notices contained in the other Gospels is in Marks manner, do not seem to me to apply here.
This verse agrees with Joh 20:1 ff. but is unconnected with the former narrative in this chapter.
Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mar 16:9. , early in the morning) Construe with , He appeared. Comp. Mar 16:12. However, it was on that very day the Lord arose, before the dawn.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mar 16:9-11
20. JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE
Mar 16:9-11
(Joh 20:1-18)
9 Now when he was risen early–Mark now records the fact of the resurrection. Heretofore, he had only recorded the message of the angel. “He is risen.” (Verse 6.)
on the first day of the week,–The mention of the day a second time (verse 2) is significant, as if to emphasize that which ever after was to be the day of days. It is of the first importance that Christians maintain the sacredness of the day by assembling themselves around the Lord’s table in commemoration of our Lord’s suffering and death in eating the bread and drinking the cup. (1Co 11:26.)
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.–Luke (Luk 8:2) mentions that “seven demons had gone out” of her and Mark repeats it here to show the power of love and penitence. “Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher. Jesus saith to her, Touch me net; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” (Joh 20:11-17.) She who had been filled with Satan becomes the honored messenger of Christ.
10 She went and told them that had been with him,–“Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples, I have seen the Lord; and that he had said these things unto her.” (Joh 20:18.)
as they mourned and wept.–They, Peter and John, had seen the empty tomb;that was all they personally knew.
11 And they,–The disciples to whom Mary went after she had seen Jesus and to whom she delivered the message of Jesus: “Go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” (Joh 20:17.)
when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.–That the disciples disbelieved the message of Jesus delivered by Mary reveals how completely they had given away to despair; and notwithstanding the fact that Jesus had foretold his resurrection, they did not expect it.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

CHAPTER 77
When Jesus was Risen
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
(Mar 16:9-14)
Many years ago, I read about an old woman, a believer, whose age began to take its toll on her, especially on her memory. At one time, she knew much of the Bible by heart. Eventually, only one precious, little portion stayed with her: I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Soon, part of that slipped from her mind as well. She would be found often quietly repeating what she could of the text. Family and friends would hear her going over it again and again. That which I have committed unto Him. Just before she slipped out into glory, her children noticed her lips moving, and they bent over to hear what she was saying. She was repeating just one word, Him…Him…Him. She had lost the whole Bible, but one word. Yet, she had the whole Bible in that one word, Him. The Book of God is all about Him. We come together to worship Him. We must know, trust and love Him. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit set our hearts on Him.
This portion of Marks gospel is about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; but it is not the Holy Spirits intention here merely to prove the resurrection, or convince us of the doctrine of the resurrection. These things are written that we might know him who is himself The Resurrection and the Life. May God give us grace to know him and the power of his resurrection.
An Undeniable Fact
The first thing that strikes me in this paragraph is that the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is an undeniable fact. That which is, in many ways, the most important and most significant fact revealed in Holy Scripture is an undeniable, irrefutable fact of history. This is a very important fact. If the literal, bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead could be disproved, everything else in the Bible must crumble to dust. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption, no atonement. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption, no forgiveness. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption, no salvation. If there is no resurrection, there is no redemption, no gospel, no hope, we are yet in our sins; and we are of all men most miserable!
In these six verses the Holy Spirit tells us three of the occasions when the risen Lord appeared to men. Mark mentions only three of Christs post resurrection appearances, though there were several others. The risen Savior appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then to the two disciples on the Emmaus road and, third, to the eleven apostles.
This is a great mercy to us. Our Lord Jesus made his resurrection from the dead a thoroughly established, undeniable fact of history. This fact is a matter of great mercy, because, as I have already asserted, everything we believe, everything revealed in the gospel stands or falls with the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection was the crowning proof of Christs having put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, the seal of our redemption, the receipt of our justification, and Gods public declaration of his Sons exaltation and glory. The Scriptures constantly lay great importance upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 1:1-4; Rom 4:25; Rom 8:34; Eph 2:4-6; Heb 13:20-21; 1Pe 1:3).
The multiplied witnesses of our Lords resurrection are simply irrefutable (Mar 16:9 and Joh 20:16-18 Mat 28:5-10 Luk 24:34 and 1Co 15:5 Luk 24:31; Joh 20:6 Joh 21:1 1Co 15:6 1Co 15:7 Mat 28:16-17 Mar 16:14-15 Luk 24:44 and Act 1:4 Act 1:3-8 Luk 24:50 and Act 1:9-12 Act 9:5 and 1Co 15:8). Our Lord Jesus Christ has not only died for our sins, he has risen up from the dead and reigns in glory upon the throne of universal monarchy to give life and salvation to those for whom he died. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living (Rom 14:9).
An Unqualified Forgiveness
The second thing that strikes me in this passage is the fact that our Lords forgiveness of sin is an unqualified forgiveness. Certainly this is evident in the heart of every sinner who has experienced it. It is evident in his many gracious displays of grace and forgiveness that are recorded in Holy Scripture; but there is no better picture of forgiveness than that which we have before us in the Lords dealings with Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
The Lord Jesus did not first appear to his mother Mary, or to John the Beloved. No. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. This seems to be written here by the finger of God as a remarkable fact, full of instruction.
Here the Holy Spirit shows us by example that which we are taught throughout the Scriptures. Salvation is a matter of absolute, free, unconditional grace. Because salvation is, in its entirety, a matter of free grace, in no way conditioned or dependent upon us, and in no way determined by us, all who are saved by grace stand upon an equal footing before God. In Christ there is no difference between saved virgins and saved harlots, saved scholars and saved sots, saved Pharisees and saved prostitutes, or saved princes and saved paupers!
Truly, God is no respecter of persons. In Christ we are all equal. The last is first and the first is last. All Gods elect are forgiven of all sin. We all possess perfect righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. We all have all grace. Christ is all in all who believe. As we read in 1Co 1:30-31, Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
The fact that our Lord Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene also teaches us that God honors those who honor him (1Sa 2:30). Mary had anointed the Lord for his burial in anticipation of his resurrection. Mary was the last one to confess Christ when he was alive and the first to honor him when he died. Mary was the last one at the cross and the first one at the tomb. And Mary was the first one to see the risen Lord.
Our Lord appeared first to Mary to teach us that He is distinctly the Savior of poor, needy sinners. Christ came into the world to save sinners; and when he saves sinners, he well saves them. He makes great saints out of great sinners. Those who were once filled with seven devils, he fills with the seven Spirits of God, that is with all the fulness of his Spirit. Those who were once far off, he brings nigh. Those who were the filth and off-scouring of the earth, he makes to be the sons of God. Those who once sat as beggars in the dung heap of fallen humanity, he lifts by his grace and sets them among princes. And our sins and iniquities he remembers no more (Rom 8:1-4; 2Co 5:17).
An Unparalleled Friend
The third thing that strikes me in this passage is the fact that Our Lord Jesus Christ is an unparalleled friend. Truly, he who is the Friend of publicans and sinners is the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother! How manifestly evident this is in our Lords dealings with his unbelieving, hard-hearted disciples.
Three times Mark describes the unbelief of the Lords disciples (Including himself!). The Lord appeared first to Mary; but no one believed her report. Then, he appeared to the two disciples on the Emmaus road; but no one believed them either. At last, he appeared to the eleven apostles in person and upbraided them for their unbelief.
How we rejoice to know that Gods salvation is an irreversible act of grace (Ecc 3:14). Our Lord rebukes and chastens his erring children to correct them from the error of their way; but he never forsakes them. Our salvation no more depends on us after conversion than it did before. We are kept by the power of God through faith; and the faith is itself the gift of God. Yes, we must persevere in faith; and all who are born of God shall; but we persevere only because we are preserved in Christ Jesus!
We are here reminded again that Gods saints in this world are sinners still. Frequently the Holy Spirit shows us this by example and by precept; but the surest proof of it is our own painful and bitter experience. There is much sin in the best of saints. There is great weakness in the strongest of Gods people. There is great corruption in the most upright. And there is great unbelief in the strongest believer. Our God would make us ever aware of these things, so that we might not despair of ourselves, and that we might be patient with our brethren (1Co 15:10).
It is ever the glory of our God to bring good out of evil. The terrible, strong doubt and unbelief of these disciples is itself a validation to the truthfulness of their testimony, once they were convinced (Psa 76:10).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Now when
The passage from Mar 16:9 to the end is not found in the two most ancient manuscripts, the Sinaitic and Vatican, and others have it with partial omissions and variations. But it is quoted by Irenaeus and Hippolytus in the second or third century.
appeared (See Scofield “Mat 28:9”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

the first: Joh 20:19, Act 20:7, 1Co 16:2, Rev 1:10
he appeared: Mar 15:40, Mar 15:47, Luk 24:10, Joh 20:14-18
out: Luk 8:2
Reciprocal: 2Ki 5:4 – and told his lord Psa 68:18 – ascended Mat 12:45 – seven Mat 27:56 – Mary Magdalene Mat 28:9 – as Luk 8:30 – many Luk 24:22 – General Joh 19:25 – and Mary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.
Mar 16:9
To Mary Magdalene, before all others of Adams children, was granted the privilege of being first to behold the risen Saviour. A woman who at one time had been possessed by seven devils was the first to whom Jesus showed Himself alive. The fact is full of instruction.
I. Our Lord meant to show us how much He values love and faithfulness.Last at the Cross and first at the grave, last to confess her Master while living, and first to honour Him when dead, this warm-hearted disciple was allowed to be the first to see Him when the victory was won. It was intended to be a perpetual memorial to the Church that those who honour Christ He will honour, and that those who do much for Him upon earth shall find Him even upon earth doing much for them.
II. It was intended to comfort all who have become penitent believers, after having run into great excesses of sin. It was meant to show us that, however far we may have fallen, we are raised to entire peace with God if we repent and believe the Gospel. Though before far off, we are made nigh. Though before enemies, we are made dear children. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new (2Co 5:17).
Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustration
There is nothing in the New Testament to justify the common notion that Mary Magdalene had been a sinner against the seventh commandment more than other commandments. There is no scriptural warrant for calling hospitals and asylums, intended for fallen women, Magdalene Hospitals. No better authority can be discovered for the common idea on the subject than tradition. At the same time it is only fair to say that there seems strong probability for supposing that the sins of Mary Magdalene had been very great. There was probably some grave cause for her being possessed by seven devils, though the nature of it has not been revealed to us.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Chapter 28.
Love and Vision
“Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.”-Mar 16:9-11.
The Last Twelve Verses.
In a commentary of this character it is not necessary for one to go into the critical questions connected with the last twelve verses of the Gospel according to St Mark. The R.V., as you know, makes a break, and interposes a space between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9. It explains in the following note the reason why it detaches this concluding paragraph from the main body of the Gospel:-“The two oldest Greek manuscripts and some other authorities omit from Mar 16:9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel.” For our present purpose it will suffice to say that, by whomsoever they were written, these verses were attached to the Gospel from its very earliest days. In the second century they were already recognised as part of the Gospel; and even if they are not Mark’s own workmanship they do not on that account lose their authority and force. We may confidently accept the passage as an “exceedingly ancient and authentic record of the words and deeds narrated in it.” The paragraph itself gives a kind of synopsis of Christ’s post-Resurrection appearances. It would have been a truncated and woefully imperfect Gospel if it had ended simply with the vision of the empty grave, and the angelic announcement that Jesus was alive. To complete the story it was necessary to add, not simply that some of the women had seen angels, but that this one and the other, now singly and now in companies, had seen the risen Lord Himself, and that ultimately the victory of the Resurrection had been crowned by the triumph of His ascension into glory. And that is exactly what we get in these concluding verses.
The First Appearance of the Risen Lord.
First of all, notice that though our paragraph does not follow naturally and easily upon what has gone before, it does mark an advance in the story. The first eight verses of the chapter tell us of the empty tomb and the announcement of the Resurrection; these verses tell us of the actual appearances of Christ to His disciples. The first of His disciples to whom He appeared was Mary Magdalene. But once again, we are compelled to confess that it is not easy to form a clear and definite judgment as to the sequence of events on the Resurrection morning. Apparently it was something like this. Very early in the morning, while it was yet dark, the holy women came with their spices to the tomb, found the grave empty and heard the angelic announcement. Then, as is stated in Mar 16:8, they fled from the tomb, ran back to where the other disciples were gathered, and stammered out their startling news. Whereupon Peter and John ran to the tomb and found for themselves that the women’s report about the grave at any rate was quite true. Peter and John had been followed by Mary Magdalene. And when they went away again, she lingered near the tomb, rooted to the spot by love and sorrow. And it was to this weeping, loving woman that Christ first revealed Himself. “He appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom He had cast seven devils.”
-Not as Man would have chosen.
Now this is not the kind of first appearance that we might have expected. The appropriate thing we might have thought would have been such an appearance as would have confounded all His foes and put them to an open shame. If we had had the arranging of Christ’s Resurrection appearances, we should, as Dr Glover says, have waked all Jerusalem with a blast of the angelic trumpet, and have bidden the people, who had shouted “Crucify Him,” come and look at His empty grave. Or we should have confronted Pilate and the priests and elders who had sentenced Him to death with a vision of the glorious, majestic Lord. An appearance that would have been striking, dramatic, and that should overwhelm His foes with confusion-that is the kind of first appearance we should have arranged for Him. Instead of that He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had cast out seven devils. It was to this humble (and as far as the great world outside was concerned, unknown) woman that Christ first showed Himself alive after His passion.
-But after our Lord’s Manner.
All this is quite typical of our Lord’s actions. He consistently set aside the temptation to startle men into some sort of faith in Him by spectacular displays of power. That is the real meaning of Christ’s rejection of the devil’s suggestion that He should cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple, and by such a display of power practically compel the people to accept Him as divine. That is why He flatly declined to give the people a sign from heaven though they repeatedly asked for it. It was faith that Christ wanted. And a compulsory belief is not faith. There is a moral element in faith. A man has to choose; he has to give his vote. But if Christ had overwhelmed men’s minds with tremendous displays of power there would be no room for choice. Men would simply be constrained to believe; in which case, again, belief would be absolutely no test of character. If there is to be a real faith, it seems as if there must be room left for doubt. Men must have an option; they must be able to believe or disbelieve. So the Lord was quiet, and unostentatious, in His working. The kingdom of God, as personified in His risen self, did not come with observation.
Why Mary was chosen.
But, while Mary was not the person we should have chosen to be the happy recipient of the first revelation of the risen Lord, yet when we think a little more deeply, and look at things a little more closely, we shall see that of all people she was the most fitted to receive the first revelation. For there is always a question of fitness in this matter of seeing Christ. It is not to every one He reveals Himself. “Thus saith the Lord, to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word” (Isa 66:2). There must be a certain moral preparedness if the Lord is to show Himself. The pure in heart shall see God, but the evil-hearted would not recognise God even if they saw Him.
-A Woman now of Faith and Love.
I notice two things about Mary, which are suggested even by the bare narrative of my text. She was a woman of persevering faith; and she was a woman of a loving heart. First of all, she was a woman of persevering faith. She had run with the other women to bring the disciples word of the empty grave and the vision of angels. But she did then what the other women apparently did not do, she returned in the wake of Peter and John to the grave. And when Peter and John had finished examining the grave, and had gone back again home, Mary still lingered in the Garden. Now why did she linger there? Possibly, as some commentators suggest, because, after her own experience of the Lord’s redeeming power, she had a mightier faith in His divinity than the rest of His disciples. “She was more capable of a belief in Christ’s Resurrection than even John was,” says Dr Glover. That may be so. But without dogmatising on that point, one thing I know, that after Peter and John had gone home because they felt there was nothing more to be heard or seen, Mary lingered on. Perhaps it was only gratitude and love that rooted her to the spot; but anyhow she lingered on. And to this woman who lingered on, there was given first a vision of angels, and then the sight of the risen Lord Himself. All of which suggests that it is the people who hold on and persevere and endure who get the blessing. Peter and John gave up too soon. They concluded too soon there was nothing to be gained by remaining at the grave. But the woman who lingered on saw the Lord. Do you not think we often give up too soon? In the matter of prayer, for example? Are we not all too ready to say, “The heavens are as brass, there is nothing”? It is the lingerers, the people who hold on, the people who endure, who get the blessing. That is what we want in these days, “Courage to wait and watch and weep, though mercy long delay.” Persevering faith is in the long run always rewarded faith. If we hold on, and do not grow faint or weary, our eyes too will be gladdened with the vision of the Lord. The first appearance to Mary implies the reward of persevering faith.
Love and Vision.
The Insight of Love.
And in the second place, it was the reward of a devoted and whole-hearted love. That little touch “from whom He had cast out seven devils” explains much. It explains why Mary was foremost in the work of preparing spices; it explains why she was very early at the grave; it explains why, when the other women remained in the Upper Room, she returned to the Garden; it explains why, when Peter and John went back again home, she still lingered near the grave. The other women and Peter and John and the rest of the disciples, loved the Lord. But perhaps none loved Him as Mary did. For none had received such unspeakable blessings at His hand as she had done. She had been lifted up out of the pit of degradation and shame and despair. “To whom much is forgiven,” said Jesus, “the same loveth much,” and we can vary it and say, “to whom mighty blessings are given, the same loveth much.” And Mary had received mighty blessings at the hand of Christ, and so she loved him best. Those are the people who see Christ still-the people who love Him best and long for Him most. People say that love is blind. They never made a greater mistake. Love is vision, love is sight. There are no eyes so keen as a mother’s eyes. How is it that mothers are able to detect things about their children-signs of illness or mental distress, for example-which had passed quite unnoticed by ordinary folk? It is simply because of the insight of love. “While he was yet a long way off, his father saw him.” No one else saw him; the elder brother with his narrow and jealous spirit did not see him. But his father saw him. Love caught sight of him. And it is love that sees the Lord; not intellect, not cleverness, but love. That is Christ’s own promise. “If any man love Me, I will come unto him and will manifest Myself to him.” And perhaps that is our greatest need today. More even than faith we need love; more even than the illumined mind, we need the devoted heart. We are living in dull days; there is no open vision. “Return, O Lord, how long?” we cry. But the fault is not in Him, but in ourselves. Our love is so cold and poor. We have no sense of the debt we owe to Him. If only our hearts got warmed, this sentence would have to be written of us, “Then were the disciples glad because they saw the Lord.”
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary

Alive After His Passion
Act 1:1-3; Mar 16:9-14
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
After the last cry which Christ uttered upon the Cross, and the commending of His Spirit unto the Father, the body of our Lord was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea. After the burial was over the sepulcher was made sure by the sealing of the stone and the setting of a watch.
Three dark days followed-days filled with doubts and despair. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the sepulcher, while it was yet dark, and found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher.
The first effect of the empty tomb was that of disappointment. The women thought that some one had taken away their Lord, and they knew not where they had laid Him.
To us one of the most beautiful statements of the Bible is found in the third verse of the first chapter of Acts.
“To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”
Those forty days were momentous and memorable. They established the fact of the resurrection on the one hand; and they imparted to the disciples much, by way of needed instruction, on the other hand.
It was not only that the Lord was raised, but that He showed Himself alive that grips our attention. It is the purpose of this study to endeavor, step by step, to enter in to those hallowed appearances and fellowships which followed the resurrection, as time by time, the Lord manifested Himself to His people.
Let it be remembered, as we proceed, that never to the world did the Lord show Himself. He reserved the glory of His presence and the effulgence of His Person to those who knew and loved Him.
Many of the messages of Christ’s public teachings during His earth life are given us in part or in full in the Gospels, but little, however, is told us of the words which He spoke unto them after His resurrection.
May our hearts burn within us by the way as we seek to enter in to those wondrous hours of personal privilege and fellowship which the Lord granted to His own.
I. HE APPEARED FIRST UNTO MARY MAGDALENE (Mar 16:9)
Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb, along with Mary the mother of James and Salome, to carry sweet spices that they might anoint their beloved Lord. They came in the morning of that memorable first day of the week, arriving at the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.
They had been inquiring among themselves, “Who shall roll us away the stone?” When they looked, however, they saw the stone rolled away and a young man sitting on the right side thereof. This angelic personage quieted their fears by announcing that Jesus was risen.
Mary Magdalene turned back, weeping, and she saw Jesus standing; but knew not that it was Jesus, “Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?”
Mary, supposing Christ to be the gardener, said unto him, “Sir, if Thou have borne Him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.” “Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.”
It will be impossible to emphasize all which is now before us. Let us therefore consider the significance of Christ’s words to Mary.
1. “Woman, why weepest thou?” The Lord Jesus asked her this in view of His empty, and not His occupied tomb. The words carry much weight. We would like to ask every one why they should weep at any tomb when God, in Christ, has given us both the Resurrection and the Life.
2. “Whom seekest thou?” Mary was seeking a dead Man, not a living Master. We wonder why so many still linger around the tomb of some loved one, when that loved one is with the Lord. We know the body was endeared, and yet that body is destined to be changed into His resurrection likeness. One thing we know that we need no longer to seek Christ in the lone and far distant tomb near Jerusalem. Our Lord was dead, but is alive forevermore.
3. “Mary.” Just one word did Jesus now speak, and yet a word so full of significance. The Risen Lord still knoweth His “sheep,” and He calleth them by name. The Risen Lord is still speaking unto us with tenderest solicitude. The Risen Lord is still thinking of us, and is ever ready to manifest Himself unto those who are His very own.
4. “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father.” It may be that, between this moment and the few moments later, when Christ spoke to the women who had been with Mary, He did ascend to the Father presenting the Blood of a perfect offering.
5. “Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.”
These words were in fulfilment of the twenty-second Psalm, where the sobs and sighs of Calvary that had run through twenty-one verses, changed suddenly to this resurrection pledge, “I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren.” It is by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection that we hold toward Him the relationship of “brethren”; and with Him, toward God, the relationship of “sons.”
II. HE APPEARED ALSO TO THE OTHER WOMEN (Mat 28:9)
We may be surprised that the first two appearances of our Lord were to women. However, we must remember that it was the women who loved Him, and not the men who had walked with Him, who were last at the Cross and first at the tomb. Christ thus honored the faithfulness of the few who had first sought His grave.
The women had come “while it was yet dark” to the sepulcher; they had found the stone rolled back from the door. The women had seen the angels sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
It was as these women, in obedience to the command of the angels, were hastening to tell the disciples that Christ was risen from the dead, that Jesus met them. Let us now read our key verse: “And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.”
The first spoken words to the women, were but two:-“All Hail,” that is, “All Joy.” Indeed it was joy-a joy unspeakable and full of glory that Christ was risen indeed.
The angel, at the birth of Christ, announced to the shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” The Lord Himself, following His resurrection, said to the women, “All [joy].” The message of the angels was joy to all people; the message of Christ was all joy, to a special people.
The resurrection of Christ, to the saint, is radiant with glory and full of joy-it is a resurrection which speaks to them of their own resurrection unto life.
The resurrection of Christ to the wicked is a resurrection of condemnation-it speaks to them of the resurrection of their own bodies unto damnation.
Permit us to sum up the three statements of Christ in this first appearance:
1.”All [joy].”
2.”Be not afraid.”
3.”Go tell My brethren * * there shall they see Me.”
III. HE APPEARED UNTO TWO DISCIPLES ON THE EMMAUS ROAD (Luk 24:13-17. Compare Mar 16:12)
Three days after the crucifixion, two disciples were en route to Emmaus. As they went along the way they were sad. A seeming Stranger approached and journeyed with them. He asked them what manner of communications they had one with another, as they walked, and were sad. The two answered Him with astonishment, saying, “Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” Jesus said unto them, “What things?” They replied, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.” Then they told their newly arrived Companion, who to them appeared a stranger, how Christ had been condemned to death, and had been crucified, and how they had thought that it would have been. He who would have redeemed Israel. They even told Him that certain women had astonished them by saying that Christ was alive.
As they walked along the way Christ said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe ail that the Prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?” Then, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
As they approached the village Christ made as though He would have gone further; but they constrained Him, and He went in to tarry with them. As they sat at meat, He took the bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them; even as He doubtless had done when He established the Lord’s Supper. Immediately their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.
Then said the disciples, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
IV. HE APPEARED UNTO THE ELEVEN (Mar 16:14. Compare Luk 24:36-45)
When Christ had disappeared from the group in Emmaus, “They rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem.” There they found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them. As they entered, the Jerusalem group were speaking of the marvelous events of the day, particularly of the fact that the Risen Lord had appeared to Simon.
The newcomers broke in with their wonderful tale, telling what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how Christ had made Himself known unto them in the breaking of bread. As they marveled with joy unspeakable, suddenly, “Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” This was more than their strained nerves could stand, and they were terrified and affrighted, supposing that they had seen a spirit.
The Lord Jesus quieted their troubled thoughts, and said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” Christ then showed them His hands and His feet.
The disciples could scarce believe for joy, and for wondering. Then Christ said, “Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them.”
Christ opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. He said, “Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.” Their minds, which had been beclouded, were now illumined. Hearts which had been grief-stricken, were now filled with joy.
V. HE APPEARED UNTO THOMAS (Joh 20:26-28)
When Christ first appeared to the Eleven, we read, “But Thomas, * * was not with them when Jesus came.” The disciples, however, told him that they had seen the Lord. Then said Thomas, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails,, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
For eight days Thomas wandered in needless doubt and despair. He might have known, but he did not know. What a warning is given herein to each of us. After eight days, however, we read, “Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in their midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”
Having thus announced His presence and granted His peace, He turned to Thomas, saying, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
No longer can we class Thomas as the “doubting disciple,” for immediately he cried, “My Lord and my God.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
How blessed and favored are we to have a living Christ who is “managing our affairs,” and is a present help in time of trouble!
“Weary with toil, and care, I sat one evening musing until surrounding objects faded away, and other forms and scenes filled their place. There came one to me who gently bade me follow him. Together we moved on until we came to a long and narrow valley. In this valley were many travelers, each bearing a burden.
“‘What place is this?’ I asked of my guide.
“‘It is the Valley of Burdens,’ he said.
“We descended into the valley, and drew near to some of these travelers. I soon observed a great difference in the way these pilgrims bore their burdens. Some sighed and groaned at almost every step; others bore themselves manfully, or at least uncomplainingly. At last my eyes fell upon a burden of unusual size.
“‘That man must have a hard time of it,’ I said.
“‘Draw nearer,’ said my guide.
“I obeyed; and found that he was treading the ground with a firm and even elastic step, much as if he had no burden. He was singing a cheerful song; and his face was radiant with a tender, subdued, chastened joy. I expressed my surprise.
“‘Draw nearer still,’ said my guide.
“I did so, and saw that there was One, before invisible, who was walking by his side, and while the burden seemed to rest on the pilgrim’s back, it was in reality borne by the strong hand of the One who was walking with him.
“‘Speak to him,’ said my guide.
“I went up to him, and said, ‘My friend, I thought you the most heavily burdened of all; but now I see that you do not carry the burden. How is it that you are so favored?’
“‘All might be equally favored if they would,’ he said. ‘When my burden was smaller I tried to carry it myself, and a sad time I had of it, Then the Friend who walks by my side, instead of making it lighter, added to its size and weight until I could bear it no longer, and gave it up to Him. It was in mercy and love that He made it so heavy, He would carry every burden in this valley, if those who bear them would only let Him do it.’
“After we left this man, I asked my guide if this was the gracious design of every burden.
“‘It is,’ he said; ‘but many resist this gracious purpose. See that man yonder with a similar burden. He has fallen under it, bruised, crushed, nigh unto death.’
“‘Has this man a friend by his side who is willing to take his burden?’ I asked.
“‘Yes; but the man will not give it up.’
‘”What folly!’ I exclaimed.
“My guide turned and gave me a glance which, somehow, reminded me of the words of the Prophet to David,-‘Thou art the man!’
“Soon we saw another man with a very heavy burden. He seemed to be pleading with some one to bear it for him.
“‘Is not that man asking his Friend to take his burden? I inquired.
“‘He is.’
“‘I understand you to say that He took every burden He was asked to take.’
“‘Every lawful burden; but this man has no right to his burden. Nearly all of it has been gathered up where he has no right to go. It is made up of borrowed trouble, while the Lord of the valley has said, “Take no thought for the morrow.”‘”
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

9
The first few verses of this chapter pertains to the scenes at the sepulchre. This verse begins to tell of things that took place elsewhere after the resurrection. The seven devils had nothing to do with the character of Mary Magdalene (it being an affliction), for she was a good woman and was interested in the work and fate of Jesus (Mat 27:61; Mat 28:1; Mar 16:1; Joh 19:25; Joh 20:14-15).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

LET us mark, in these verses, what abundant proof we have that our Lord Jesus Christ really rose again from the dead. In this one passage Mark records no less than three distinct occasions on which He was seen after His resurrection. First, he tells us, our Lord appeared to one witness, Mary Magdalene-then to two witnesses, two disciples walking into the country-and lastly to eleven witnesses, the eleven apostles all assembled together. Let us remember, in addition to this, that other appearances of our Lord are described by other writers in the New Testament, beside those mentioned by Mark. And then let us not hesitate to believe, that of all the facts of our Lord’s history, there is none more thoroughly established than the fact, that He rose from the dead.
There is great mercy in this. The resurrection of Christ is one of the foundation-stones of Christianity. It was the seal of the great work that He came on earth to do. It was the crowning proof that the ransom He paid for sinners was accepted, the atonement for sin accomplished, the head of him who had the power of death bruised, and the victory won. It is well to remark how often the resurrection of Christ is referred to by the apostles. “He was delivered for our offences,” says Paul, “and was raised again for our justification.” (Rom 4:25.) “He hath begotten us again to a lively hope,” says Peter, “by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1Pe 1:3.)
We ought to thank God that the fact of the resurrection is so clearly established. The Jew, the Gentile, the priests, the Roman guard, the women who went to the tomb, the disciples who were so backward to believe, are all witnesses whose testimony cannot be gainsaid. Christ has not only died for us, but has also risen again. To deny it shows far greater credulity than to believe it. To deny it a man must put credit in monstrous and ridiculous improbabilities. To believe it a man has only to appeal to simple undeniable facts.
Let us mark, secondly, in these verses, our Lord Jesus Christ’s singular kindness to Mary Magdalene. We are told that “when he was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” To her before all others of Adam’s children, was granted the privilege of being first to behold a risen Savior. Mary, the mother of our Lord, was yet alive. John, the beloved disciple, was yet upon earth. Yet both were passed over on this occasion in favor of Mary Magdalene. A woman who at one time had probably been chief of sinners, a woman who at one time had been possessed by seven devils, was the first to whom Jesus showed Himself alive, when He rose victorious from the tomb. The fact is remarkable, and full of instruction. [Footnote: There is nothing in the New Testament to justify the common notion that Mary Magdalene had been a sinner against the seventh commandment more than other commandments. There is no scriptural warrant for calling hospitals and asylums intended for fallen women, “Magdalene Hospitals.” No better authority can be discovered for the common idea on the subject than tradition.
At the same time it is only fair to say, that there seems strong probability for supposing that the sins of Mary Magdalene had been very great. There was probably some grave cause for her being possessed by seven devils, though the nature of it has not been revealed to us.]
We need not doubt, for one thing, that, by appearing “first to Mary Magdalene,” our Lord meant to show us how much He values love and faithfulness. Last at the cross and first at the grave, last to confess her Master while living, and first to honor Him when dead, this warm-hearted disciple was allowed to be the first to see Him, when the victory was won. It was intended to be a perpetual memorial to the Church, that those who honor Christ, He will honor, and that those who do much for Him upon earth, shall find Him even upon earth doing much for them. May we never forget this. May we ever remember that for those who forsake all for Christ’s sake, there “is an hundred-fold now in this present time.”
We need not doubt, for another thing, that our Lord’s appearing “first to Mary Magdalene” was intended to comfort all who have become penitent believers, after having run into great excesses of sin. It was meant to show us that, however far we may have fallen, we are raised to entire peace with God, if we repent and believe the Gospel. Though before far off, we are made nigh. Though before enemies, we are made dear children. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new. (2Co 5:17.) The blood of Christ makes us completely clean in God’s sight. We may have begun like Augustine, and John Newton, and been ringleaders in every kind of iniquity. But once brought to Christ, we need not doubt that all is forgiven. We may draw nigh with boldness, and have access with confidence. Our sins and iniquities, like those of Mary Magdalene, are remembered no more.
Let us mark, lastly, in these verses, how much weakness there is sometimes in the faith of the best Christians. Three times in this very passage we find Mark describing the unbelief of the eleven apostles. Once, when Mary Magdalene told them that our Lord had risen, “they believed not.”-Again, when our Lord had appeared to two of them, as they walked, we read of the residue, “neither believed they them.”-Finally, when our Lord Himself appeared to them as they sat at meat, we are told that “he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Never perhaps was there so striking an example of man’s unwillingness to believe that which runs counter to his early prejudices. Never was there so remarkable a proof of man’s forgetfulness of plain teaching. These eleven men had been told repeatedly by our Lord that He would rise again. And yet, when the time came, all was forgotten, and they were found unbelieving.
Let us however see in the doubts of these good men the over-ruling hand of an all-wise God. If they were convinced at last, who were so unbelieving at first, how strong is the proof supplied us that Christ rose indeed. It is the glory of God to bring good out of evil. The very doubts of the eleven apostles are the confirmation of our faith in these latter days.
Let us learn from the unbelief of the apostles, a useful practical lesson for ourselves. Let us cease to feel surprise when we feel doubts arising in our own heart. Let us cease to expect perfection of faith in other believers. We are yet in the body. We are men of like passions with the apostles. We must count it no strange thing, if our experience is sometimes like theirs, and if our faith, like theirs, sometimes gives way. Let us resist unbelief manfully. Let us watch, and pray, and strive to be delivered from its power. But let us not conclude that we have no grace, because we are sometimes harassed with doubts, nor suppose that we have no part or lot with the apostles, because at seasons we feel unbelieving.
Let us not fail to ask ourselves, as we leave this passage, whether we have risen with Christ, and been made partakers spiritually of His resurrection. This, after all, is the one thing needful. To know the facts of Christianity with the head, and to be able to argue for them with the tongue, will not save our souls. We must yield ourselves to God as those alive from the dead. (Rom 6:13.) We must be raised from the death of sin, and walk in newness of life. This and this only is saving Christianity.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mar 16:9. On the first day, etc. Not the same expression as in Mar 16:2. The emphatic repetition suggests that the readers knew the sacredness of the first day among Christians.
Appeared first. See the Chapter Comments on Matthew 28, and the full account of John (Joh 20:14-17).
From whom he had cast out seven demons. See Luk 8:2. This fact has not been previously stated in this Gospel, and this is an argument in favor of the genuineness of this section. Here, where Mary Magdalene is mentioned alone, was the most appropriate place for this description. The first manifestation of our Lords victory over the grave was made to one in whom He had won such a victory over Satan.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

An account is here given of a threefold appearance of Christ after his resurrection.
1. To Mary Magdalene, not to the virgin Mary; and it is observable, That our blessed Saviour, after his resurrection, first appeared to Mary Magdalene, a grievous sinner, for the comfort of all true penitents. Mary goes immediately to his disciples, whom she finds weeping and mourning, and tells them, She had seen the Lord; but they believed them not.
The second appearance was to the two disciples going into the country, that is, into the village of Emmaus; as they were in the way, Jesus joined himself to their company, but their eyes were holden by the power of God, that they did not discern him in his own proper shape, but apprehended him to be another person whom they conversed with.
His third appearance was to the eleven as they sat at meat, whom he upbraids with their unbelief; and, to convince them effectually that he was risen from the dead; he eats with them a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. Not that he needed it, seeing he was now become immortal, but to assure them that he had still the same body.
From the whole, note, How industriously our Lord endeavours to confirm his disciples faith in the doctrine of his resurrection; so slack and backward were they to believe that the Messiah was risen from the dead, that all the predictions of scripture, all the assurances they had received from our Saviour’s mouth, yea, all the appearances of our Saviour to them, after he was actually risen from the dead, were little enough to confirm and establish them in the certain belief that he was risen from the dead.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mar 16:9-11. When Jesus was risen early, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene There is something very remarkable in this passage of the history. None of the apostles, or male disciples, were honoured with the first visions of the angels, or with the immediate news of Christs resurrection, far less with the first appearances of Jesus himself. The angels in the sepulchre kept themselves invisible all the time Peter and John were there. Perhaps the male disciples in general had this mark of disrespect put on them, both because they had with inexcusable and shameful cowardice forsaken their Master when he fell into the hands of his enemies, and because their faith was so weak, that they had absolutely despaired of his being the Messiah when they saw him expire on the cross, Luk 24:21. How different was the conduct of the women! Laying aside the weakness and timidity natural to their sex, they showed an uncommon magnanimity in the whole of this melancholy transaction. Hence, in preference to the male disciples, they were honoured with the news of Christs resurrection, and had their eyes gladdened with the first sight of their beloved Lord after he arose, so that they preached the joyful tidings of his resurrection to the apostles themselves. And she went With the other women; and told them that had been with him That is, the disciples that had constantly attended him; as they mourned and wept For the loss of their dear Master. And they believed not Such were the prevailing prejudices that had taken possession of their minds, and so entirely were their spirits dejected and their hopes blasted by his death, that, though they could not think this was related with a design to impose upon them, yet they were ready to impute it to the power of imagination, and supposed that the women who gave them the information were deceived.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

CXXXV.
FIRST AND SECOND APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN CHRIST.
THE RESURRECTION REPORTED TO THE APOSTLES.
(Jerusalem. Sunday morning.)
aMATT. XXVIII. 9, 10; bMARK XVI. 9-11; cLUKE XXIV. 9-11; dJOHN XX. 11-18.
[The women, having received the message of the angels, and remembering that the message accorded with the words [742] of Jesus himself, made haste.] c9 and returned from the tomb, b9 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. [Mark here agrees with John that Mary separated from the other women. As to Mary Magdalene, see Luk 24:16), lest the shock of his sudden appearance might be too much for her, as it was for even his male disciples [743] ( Luk 24:37). Conversation with him assured her that he was not a disembodied spirit.] 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. [Christ’s first question expressed kindly sympathy; the second suggested that he knew the cause of her grief, and might be able to help her find what she sought. Thus encouraged, Mary at once assumes that the gardener himself had removed the body, probably under instructions from Joseph, and hope lightens her heart. In her effort to remove the body, she doubtless counts upon the help of her fellow-disciples.] 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. [Her eyes and ears were no longer held; she knew him. It was the same way he used to speak, the same name by which he used to call her. The grave had glorified and exalted him, but had not changed his love.] She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher. [Seasons of greatest joy are marked by little speech. Jesus and Mary each expressed themselves in a single word.] 17 Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God. [This passage is one of well-known difficulty, and Meyer or Ryle may be consulted by those wishing to see how various commentators have interpreted it. We would explain it by the following paraphrase: “Do not lay hold on me and detain yourself and me; I have not yet ascended; this is no brief, passing vision; I am yet in the world, and will be for some time, and there will be other opportunities to see me; the duty of the moment is to go and tell my sorrowing disciples that I have risen, and shall ascend to my Father.” Jesus does not say “our Father.” Our relation to God is not the same as his. While, however, our Lord’s language recognizes the difference between his divine and our human relationship to the Father, his words are intended to [744] show us our exaltation. We have reason to believe that next to our Lord’s title as Son our title as sons of God by adoption is as high in honor as any in the universe.] 18 Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth {bwent and told} dthe disciples, bthem that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. [The poignancy of the disciples’ grief, even after the intervention of the Sabbath day, explains why the Lord and his angels were so eager to bring them word of the resurrection.] dI have seen the Lord; and that he had said these things unto her. b11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved. [It is likely that Mary brought the first word, for we shall see below that Luke places her first in the catalogue of witnesses. The narrative now turns back to take up the account of the other women.] a9 And behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. [This was a customary salutation. But the old formula took on new significance, for it means “rejoice.”] And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. [This delay, permitted to them, and denied to Mary, probably explains why she became the first messenger, though the other women were first to leave the tomb.] 10 Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me. [The repetition may be due to the reticence of the women remarked by Mark in the last section by the key words “and they said nothing to any one.” The women may have been hesitating whether they should tell the disciples. Thus Jesus reiterates the instruction already given by the angel. This is the first time the word “brethren” is applied by our Lord to his disciples.] cand [they] told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James: and the other women with them told these things unto the apostles. 11 And these words appeared in their sight as idle talk; and they disbelieved them. [Lamar well says that this very incredulity on the part of the apostles “enhances the value of their [745] testimony to the fact of the resurrection. They were not expecting it; they were no visionary enthusiasts, prepared to welcome and credit any story that might be told them; nor would they be satisfied with any proof short of palpable and ocular demonstrations.”]
[FFG 742-746]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Mar 16:9-20. These verses constitute the longer of two alternative endings found in some MSS. In an Armenian text (of A.D. 986) the longer ending is attributed to Ariston, the Presbyter, perhaps the Aristion who was among the authorities of Papias, at the beginning of the second century. It is a summary, based on the gospels and Acts 9 refers to John 20; John 12 rests on Luke 24; Mar 16:17 f. on Act 2:28. In style and vocabulary it is distinct from the rest of the gospel. To this longer ending should be added (in Mar 16:14) the passage recently discovered in Codex W, the Detroit MS of the gospels. It is included in Moffatts translation of the NT. Moffatt also prints the shorter alternative ending referred to in RVm. It runs thus: But they gave Peter and his companions a brief account of all that had been enjoined. And after that Jesus Himself sent out by means of them from east to west the sacred and imperishable message of eternal salvation.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

THE RESURRECTION DENIED
9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

16:9 {1} Now when [Jesus] was risen early the first [day] of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
(1) Christ himself appears to Mary Magdalene to reprove the disciple’s incredulity.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

B. the appearances and ascension of Jesus 16:9-20
Many modern interpreters believe Mark ended his Gospel with Mar 16:8. [Note: E.g., Carson and Moo, pp. 187-90.] This seems unlikely to some others since if he did he ended it with an example of disciples too fearful and amazed to bear witness to the resurrected Jesus. Throughout this Gospel we have noted many unique features that appeal to disciples to serve God by bearing bold witness to Jesus, even in spite of persecution and suffering. They believe the women’s example would hardly be a good example for Mark to close his Gospel with.
The ending of Mark’s Gospel is one of the major textual problems in the New Testament. The main reason some interpreters regard Mar 16:9-20 as spurious is this. The two oldest Greek uncial manuscripts of the New Testament (fourth century), Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) and Codex Vaticanus (B), plus many other old manuscripts, do not contain them. Moreover the writings of some church fathers reflect no knowledge of these verses. On the other hand, Mar 16:9-20 do appear in the majority of the old manuscripts, and other church fathers do refer to them. [Note: For more details, see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, pp. 122-26.] Some interpreters believe the vocabulary, style, and content of these verses argue against Mark’s authorship of them. [Note: E.g., Wessel, p. 792; Bratcher and Nida, pp. 517-22; et al.] This has led many modern scholars to conclude that Mar 16:9-20 were not part of Mark’s original Gospel. [Note: E.g., Swete, p. cxiii; A. F. Hort, The Gospel According to St. Mark, p. 199; B. B. Warfield, An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, p. 203; Joel F. Williams, "Literary Approaches to the End of Mark’s Gospel," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42:1 (March 1999):21-35; The NET Bible note on 16:9; Lane, pp. 591, 601-5; et al.]
If they were not part of Mark’s original Gospel, where did they come from, and are they part of the inspired Word of God or not inspired?
It may be that Mar 16:9-20 were part of Mark’s original Gospel and, for reasons unknown to us today, they were not included in some ancient copies of it. Thus these verses are as fully authoritative as the rest of the Gospel. [Note: John W. Burgon, The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark; Morison, pp. 446-49, 463-70; Lenski, pp. 750-55; et al.]
Another view is that someone added Mar 16:9-20 to give this Gospel a more positive ending. He could have done so without divine inspiration, in which case these verses lack the divine authority that marks the rest of Scripture.
Alternatively someone could have added Mar 16:9-20 under the superintending influence of the Holy Spirit, in which case these verses have equal authority with the rest of the Gospel. [Note: Grassmick, p. 194.] There are other passages of Scripture that seem to have been written somewhat later than the body of the book in which they appear but which the Jews and later the Christians regarded as inspired. For example, the record of Moses’ death appears at the end of Deuteronomy, which most conservatives believe Moses wrote (cf. Deu 34:5-12). Another example is the references to the town of Dan in the Book of Genesis, which town did not go by that name until after Moses’ time. Evidently someone after Moses’ day updated the name of that town. Several other examples of this nature could be cited.
The view of many evangelicals, including myself, is that even though we may not be able to prove that Mar 16:9-20 were originally part of Mark’s Gospel, though they could have been, they appear to have been regarded as inspired and therefore authoritative early in the history of the church.
There are two other short endings to Mark’s Gospel that follow Mar 16:8 in some ancient copies, but almost all textual scholars reject these as being spurious.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Three post-resurrection appearances 16:9-18
These three accounts stress the importance of disciples believing what Jesus had taught, specifically that He would rise from the dead, with increasing urgency.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene 16:9-11 (cf. John 20:11-18)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The NIV has supplied "Jesus." The Greek text says, "Now after He had risen." The antecedent of "He" is obviously Jesus, but the lack of this antecedent in the immediately preceding context seems to some interpreters to indicate a major break between Mar 16:8-9. Perhaps the writer did not feel he needed to name Jesus since He is the obvious antecedent. [Note: Morison, p. 450.]
The writer may have described Mary Magdalene as he did here to explain why she was at the tomb. Jesus’ had done a great thing for her, and her love for Him was consequently very great. Perhaps the writer described her as he did to identify her more precisely since she becomes an important figure here for the first time in Mark’s Gospel. Mary had returned to the tomb after she had left it (Mar 16:1-8). Evidently people could not naturally perceive Jesus for who He was unless Jesus revealed Himself to them (cf. Luk 24:16; Luk 24:31). [Note: S. J. Andrews, The Life of Our Lord Upon the Earth, p. 590.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles