Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 16:11
And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
11. had been seen of her ] The original word here translated “had been seen” occurs nowhere else in St Mark except here in this section and in Mar 16:14.
believed not ] So incredible to them did the whole story appear.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Believed not – This is proof that they did not expect his resurrection; proof that they were not easily deceived, and that nothing but the clearest evidence could undeceive them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
11. And they, when they had heardthat he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed notThis,which is once and again repeated of them all, is most important inits bearing on their subsequent testimony to His resurrection at therisk of life itself.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they, when they had heard that he was alive,…. That is, the apostles, and those that were with them; when they heard the report of Mary Magdalene, that Christ was raised from the dead, and was certainly alive; or of all the women, for the Syriac version reads, “when they heard them saying that he was alive”, not only Mary Magdalene, but Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women; for these all related this to the apostles, and the rest; see
Lu 24:9.
And had been seen of her; of Mary Magdalene, or “of them”; as the Syriac version reads, and as it is read in one of Beza’s copies:
they believed not; the words of Mary, and the other women, for they seemed as idle tales to them, Lu 24:11, imagining they were deceived with the sight of a spectre, or apparition; and fearing the news were too good and great to be true; forgetting the words of their Lord, that he should rise again the third day, and which had been so often repeated to them; and all this through stupidity of mind, occasioned by the trouble and consternation they were in.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Disbelieved (). This verb is common in the ancient Greek, but rare in the N.T. and here again verse 16 and nowhere else in Mark. The usual N.T. word is . Lu 24:11 uses this verb () of the disbelief of the report of Mary Magdalene and the other women. The verb (from ) occurs only here and in verse 14 in Mark.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And they, when they had heard that He was alive,”, (kakeinoi akousantes hoti ze) “And those disciples and
apostles who heard that He was alive,” Luk 24:8-11.
2) “And had been seen of her,” (kai etheathe hup’ autes) “And that He had been or was seen alive by her,” Joh 20:18.
3) “Believed not.” (epistesan) “They disbelieved,” doubted, were skeptical, for to them her words were as “idle tales,” “fantasies,” Luk 24:11; Luk 24:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mar 16:11
. And when they heard. The testimony of Mary alone is related by Mark; but I am convinced that all of them in common conveyed the message in obedience to the commands of Christ. And even this passage confirms more fully what I have just now said, that there is no disagreement among the, Evangelists, when one of them specially attributes to Mary Magdalene what the other Evangelists represent as common to all the women, though not in an equal degree. But the disciples must have been held bound by shameful indifference, so that they did not recall to their recollection that what they had often heard from their Master was accomplished. If the women had related any thing of which they had not formerly heard, there would have been some reason for not immediately believing them in a matter which was incredible; but now they must have been uncommonly stupid in holding as a fable or a dream what had been so frequently promised and declared by the Son of God, when eye-witnesses assured them that it was accomplished. Besides, their unbelief having deprived them of sound understanding, they not only refuse the light of truth, but reject it as an idle fancy, as Luke tells us. Hence it appears that they had yielded so far to temptation, that their minds had lost nearly all relish for the words of Christ.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
11. Believed not They had not forgotten, nor did they truly disbelieve their Lord’s predictions. But in their dejection of mind they had lost the realizing power and could not grasp the fact. Besides, if our Lord is to rise again he ought to come in the glory of his kingdom, appearing perhaps in the skies. Mar 9:10-31. Hence they afterward ask our Lord, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Act 1:6. It is quite unexpected, therefore, that his resurrection shall steal upon them, and be first announced to them by women. Nor, had the resurrection been a fable invented by these apostles, would they have made themselves so little the heroes of the history.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mar 16:11 . Comp. Luk 24:10-11 ; Joh 20:18 .
The fact that apart from this section does not occur in Mark, forms, considering the frequency of the use of the word elsewhere, one of the signs of a strange hand. By is not merely indicated that He had been seen , but that He had been gazed upon . Comp. Mar 16:14 , and see Tittmann, Synon. p. 120 f.
does not occur in Mark except here and at Mar 16:16 , but is altogether of rare occurrence in the N. T. (even in Luke only in chap. 24)
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
Ver. 11. See Trapp on “ Mat 28:8 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 28:9 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] See Joh 20:18 ; Luk 24:11 .
is a construction only found here in N.T., and (which occurs again Mar 16:14 ) is not used by Mark.
is only used in Mar 16:16 and Luk 24:11 ; Luk 24:41 , throughout the Gospels.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 16:11 . , was seen. This verb, used again in Mar 16:14 , is foreign to Mk., as is also , also twice used here ( , Mar 16:11 ; , Mar 16:16 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
was alive = is alive [again from the dead]. See note on zao. Mat 9:18.
seen. Greek. theaomai. App-133.
of = by. Greek. hupo. App-104.
believed not = disbelieved [it].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] See Joh 20:18; Luk 24:11.
is a construction only found here in N.T., and (which occurs again Mar 16:14) is not used by Mark.
is only used in Mar 16:16 and Luk 24:11; Luk 24:41, throughout the Gospels.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
believed: Mar 16:13, Mar 16:14, Mar 9:19, Exo 6:9, Job 9:16, Luk 24:11, Luk 24:23-35
Reciprocal: 1Ki 10:7 – I believed Psa 126:1 – we were like Joh 20:25 – We Act 12:15 – Thou
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Chapter 30.
The Disciples’ Unbelief
“And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 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 16:11, Mar 16:13, Mar 16:14.
The Great News-
-Discredited and Denied.
-Doubted.
There were only two things at which Christ in the days of His flesh expressed astonishment-the faith of the Roman centurion and the unbelief of the Nazarenes. But of His own people after the Resurrection we read in Mar 16:14 that “He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.” And I am sure it filled the heart of the writer of this paragraph with wonder too. Notice how he recurs to it again and again. He cannot get it out of his mind. Next to the wonder of the Resurrection itself, the most wonderful thing was the stubborn and persistent refusal of the disciples to believe it had really occurred. Follow the story as he summarises it. The first to bring the disciples the good news was Mary Magdalene. She came upon them as they mourned and wept with the gladdening announcement that she had not only seen the Lord, but had spoken with Him, and was the bearer of a message from Him to them. And instead of receiving the news with joy, the disciples chilled Mary to the marrow by the blank incredulity with which they listened to her. Notice what the evangelist says. “They, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.” They disbelieved. It was not simply that they could not persuade themselves that what Mary said was true, they scornfully and contemptuously rejected her story. It was a case of positive and summary repudiation. They said that Mary’s story was an idle tale. There was something almost aggressive in their attitude. It was not doubt; it was denial. Then later in the day, came the incident of the two disciples who had set out to Emmaus, but who had immediately returned to Jerusalem when they had discovered Who their wonderful Companion was. And once again instead of breaking into Thanksgivings and Hallelujahs, the disciples received the news in chilling silence. “They went away and told it unto the rest: neither believed they them.” “Neither believed they them.” The expression, you will notice, is not so emphatic as that which is used in Mary’s case. Here it is, “they did not believe”; in Mary’s case it is, “they disbelieved.” They had abruptly rejected Mary’s tale. But certain things had happened since then. It had been rumoured, for example, that Peter had seen the Lord. At any rate, they did not feel that they could reject the story of the two disciples off-hand. And yet they could not bring themselves to accept it as true. The stage of blank denial had passed, but they were in the stage of doubt and difficulty still; “Neither believed they them.”
Doubt Passing into Faith.
And then Jesus came and stood in the midst and said, “Peace be unto you.” And so obstinately unbelieving were they, that they could not believe the evidence of their own senses. They were terrified and affrighted, Luke says, and supposed that they beheld a spirit. With their Lord there before them, they debated in their hearts whether it was He or not. And not until Jesus said to them, “See My hands and My feet that it is I Myself; handle Me and see,” did their stubborn unbelief give way to a timid and trembling faith. And even after that first Sabbath evening, Thomas refused to believe. It was in vain his fellow disciples told him that they had seen Him, and rehearsed to him the words which Jesus had said. Thomas, I suppose, put all his fellow-disciples in the same category with Mary. They had taken to believing and repeating idle tales; nothing they said carried weight with Thomas. He was stubbornly, obstinately unbelieving. “Except I shall see in His hands the prints of the nails,” he said, “and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” “I will not believe,” that was the sort of temper in which the disciples met the news of the Resurrection.
The Value of the Disciples’ Unbelief.
Now, as I have already said, from the point of view of apologetics it is better that the disciples should have been thus stubbornly and obstinately incredulous. It adds enormously to the value of their testimony. It knocks the bottom out of the vision-theory which is the theory of the Resurrection most favoured by sceptic writers. These “appearances” of the Lord, they say, were all the work of the imagination of the disciples. They wanted to see Him and so they thought they saw Him. It all began with the excited imagination of Mary, and the other disciples followed suit.
The Vision Theory disproved.
But before people see visions, they must expect the vision and believe it possible. Even the advocates of the theory admit as much as that. They concede the point, when they say the disciples wanted to see, and so they saw. Visions only come where there is expectancy, anticipation, enthusiasm. Had there been amongst the disciples an exultant belief in the Resurrection, we can understand how they should have taken to seeing visions. But there was no such expectation, no such anticipation, no such enthusiasm. When the disciples saw Christ laid in Joseph’s rocky tomb, they thought they had seen the last of Him. Their temper was one of desolation, dismay, despair. Anything more grotesquely unlike the facts than Renan’s picture of the disciples as a group of imaginative and enthusiastic and ecstatic people, cannot well be imagined. Far from expecting the Resurrection, it required proof after proof to convince them it had taken place. They were not excited people ready to accept any story, they were sceptical, incredulous, slow to believe. Mr Lathom in his Pastor Pastorum has a very interesting passage on the character of the Apostles as witnesses. He contends that by the very nature of their upbringing, education, and occupation, they were admirably fitted to be plain, straightforward, matter of fact witnesses. Well, whatever we may think of Mr Lathom’s general contention (and I for one quite agree with it), at any rate we can say that the witness of the Apostles to the Resurrection carries special weight and conviction, for it is the witness of cool, critical, and almost sceptical men.
-But the Doubt Sinful.
But while from the apologetic point of view we may almost be grateful that the Apostles were thus persistently and obstinately incredulous; from the moral point of view, their doubt was unreasonable, indefensible, sinful. That was evidently how it appeared to our Lord Himself, “He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.” He reproached them with it. In our Lord’s eyes, their stubborn unbelief was blameworthy. Now let me remind you once again that there was a certain kind of doubt and unbelief that our Lord treated very gently and tenderly. How gently, for example, He dealt with the doubt of that agonised father who could only cry, “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” Doubt arising from ignorance, from honest difficulty-our Lord never “reproached” men for that. A bruised reed He never broke and smoking flax He never quenched. The only doubt Christ ever “reproached” was the doubt that had a moral or rather an immoral root, the doubt that had its rise, not in the perplexed intellect, but in the evil heart. And that is exactly why He upbraided these disciples of His with their unbelief. Their unbelief rooted itself in moral defect. He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. If they had only kept their hearts open and guileless, they would have been on the lookout for the Resurrection instead of scornfully disbelieving it, even when it actually occurred. For consider how many intimations of their Lord’s Resurrection had been given to them.
-A Sin against Light.
First of all, there was their own Jewish Scripture. If they had only read their Scripture with open and unprejudiced minds the Cross and the Grave would not have filled them with despair. They would have known that it was through the Cross and the Grave that Messiah was to march to His triumph. “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God,” said Jesus to those Sadducees who denied the Resurrection of man. He might have brought exactly the same charge against His own disciples. They had read the Scriptures through the spectacles of Jewish prejudice. If they had read the Scriptures with open and unprejudiced mind, they would not have despaired because of the Cross, but they would have been waiting with eager hope for the dawn of the Resurrection morning.
-A Sin against Experience and Christ’s Character.
Then, again, they had been privileged to come into close touch with Jesus Himself. It was this that really made their unbelief so inexcusable and blameworthy. As they had companied with the Lord, they had been privileged to see in Jesus an absolutely holy person. He was unlike every one else who ever lived in this respect. He did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. These men felt that His holiness was so perfect, His purity so dazzling, that sometimes it filled them with an overwhelming sense of their own sin and shame, and they were almost ready to leave Him because that sense of shame was almost more than they could bear. Now, if they had had open and guileless hearts, it ought to have been no surprise to them that such a person should have escaped the bonds of death. One of the Psalmists ventured long before the assertion that while death might be the wages of sin, death could not conquer and overcome perfect holiness. “Thou wilt not leave Thine Holy One,” he cried, “to see corruption.” And Paul afterwards finds, shall I say, the key to the Resurrection in the same stupendous fact of our Lord’s sinlessness. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the Resurrection of the dead” (Rom 1:4). They ought to have known that death and corruption could never be the portion of One Who was without spot or stain of sin. And they would have known, had it not been that their hearts were hardened.
-And of His Works.
In addition to the wonder of our Lord’s person, there were the wonders of His deeds. These very disciples had seen the most amazing evidences of His power. They had seen His power over disease. He had given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, cleansing to the leper, power to the paralysed. He had even shown Himself to be Lord over death, itself. He had summoned back the breath of the little daughter of Jairus the Ruler of the Synagogue. He had stopped a funeral procession outside the gates of Nain and restored the young man, whom they were carrying out to burial, to his weeping and brokenhearted mother. He had, most amazing wonder of all, summoned Lazarus back to life though he had been in the grave four days. He had in these wonderful ways shown Himself Lord and Master of death. And was it likely that He Who had snatched this one and the other from the jaws of death, was Himself at the last to become death’s helpless victim? They might have known, they ought to have known, in face of what they had seen, that here was One Who had the keys of Death and of Hades. They would have known, had it not been that their hearts were hardened.
And Forgetfulness of His Predictions.
And then finally, there were the plain and, definite predictions of our Lord Himself. He had spoken of “His Resurrection” by symbol and parable. He had said that in three days He would build the Temple of His body up again. He had said that the only sign that would be given His generation was the sign of Jonah the Prophet. But He had also spoken of it in set terms. He had done it again and again, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests; and they shall condemn Him to death, shall deliver Him unto the Gentiles, and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again.” Nothing could have been more specific or definite. But the disciples took no heed. The words fell on deaf ears. They refused to believe that Jesus would die, and therefore were deaf to any speech about Resurrection.
The Results of Prejudice.
And so it came to pass that when the third day came it found them absolutely unexpectant, sceptical unbelieving. They disbelieved Mary; they did not believe Cleopas and his friend; they could scarcely believe the evidence of their own senses. And if you ask what it was that had thus made their hearts hard and impenetrable, I reply it was prejudice. They had been brought up in the Jewish conception of Messiah. They expected the conquering prince of the popular imagination. Death had no place in their ideas of God’s anointed. When the Lord spoke therefore about death, He was confronted with deaf ears and absolutely impenetrable hearts. You remember what John Bunyan in his Holy War says about the defence of Ear Gate? When Immanuel set out to capture Man Soul he addressed his summons first to the Captain in charge of Ear Gate, which of course is only Bunyan’s way of saying that the Gospel is announced to most men and makes its appeal to most men by means of human speech. But my Lord Willbewill, Diabolus’ Commander-in-Chief, had taken precautions to meet the attack, for he had stationed one, old Mr Prejudice (an angry and ill-conditioned fellow) as Captain of the Ward at that Gate, and put under his power sixty men, called Deaf-men, men advantageous for that service, for as much as they muttered no words of the captains nor of their soldiers. And that is exactly what had taken place in the case of these disciples: they had put old Mr Prejudice in charge of Ear Gate, so that all that their Master said to them fell on deaf and unheeding ears. For when prejudice is in possession of the heart, truth finds no admission. And that is why Christ blamed and reproached His disciples for their unbelief.
Warning for us.
-Against Doubt.
-Especially Doubt when a Cloak for Sin.
Now, in all this there is a rather solemn warning for us. First of all, let us plainly recognise this, that there are certain kinds of doubt for which our Lord has not pity, but blame. I think that needs to be said, and perhaps emphatically said, in these days, for we have exalted doubt into a kind of virtue. Perhaps that hackneyed line of Tennyson’s, about their being more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds, is in part responsible for it. Now there are two things we ought to be clear about and those are these. Doubt, even when honest, is a condition to be deplored. We talk in these days as if the condition of “honest doubt” was really the kind of ideal condition, and as if the “honest doubter” was a very superior person. What we have to recognise is that doubt is not a thing to be bragged about or admired, even when honest, it is to be deplored. For doubt always means weakness, indecision, misery of soul. In fact, I will go further, and say that doubt when it is really honest, is always in an agony. That is the mark of honest doubt. Like the man in the story it cries out with tears, “Help mine unbelief.” Braggart doubt, flippant doubt, is by those very characteristics revealed to be not honest doubt at all. And the second thing is this; much that parades as honest doubt, is not honest doubt at all, but doubt that springs from an evil heart. Yes, I will believe that Christ will deal very gently with the honest seeker, the man who longs for the light but finds himself still in the dark; but for the parade of doubt that covers an evil heart, that is really nothing but a cloak for sin, the Lord has not pity but indignation. It is a terrible thing to say, but it is nevertheless true, many men do not believe, because they do not want to believe. There is a close and intimate connection between scepticism and moral wrong. Men reject Christ not because they have examined His claims and found them wanting, but because they love their sin. Such a doubt, it is as well to be plain, does not receive the pity of Christ, but is exposed to the wrath of the Lamb.
-And Appeal.
“He reproached them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.” And do you not think our Lord has similar cause for upbraiding this generation? What multitudes of people are absolutely indifferent to Him and to all intents and purposes reject Him! And it is not for lack of evidence of His grace and power. Here in the Gospels we have the story of His life, the one perfect and sinless life; here in His Church we have the evidence of His continuous life; here in saved and regenerated lives we have the evidence of His divine power! And still men go on their way unheeding. It is unbelief for which there is no excuse. It springs from “hardness of heart.” And do you not think He has ground of complaint against His Church? For we do not take Him at His word, and we are incredulous of His power, and we fail to exercise the mighty privileges that are ours in Him. Like the disciples, we are not able to cast the evil spirits of our age out and it is all because of our unbelief. And our unbelief again springs from hardness of heart. What is our great need? Simple, guileless, believing hearts; hearts freed from prejudice; hearts that will take God at His word; hearts purged of all secret reservations. “A humble, lowly, contrite heart, Believing true and clean.”
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
1
It was somewhat on the principle of a phrase “too good to be true” that the disciples believed mt. But according to Luk 24:25 Jesus rebuked the disciples for such unbelief.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 16:11. Had been seen of her. Another expression peculiar to this section. But new facts, new words.
Disbelieved. A different form from believed not (Mar 16:12). Comp. Luk 24:11. Their disbelief has been overruled for good; it furnishes abundant proof that they did not invent the story of the resurrection.