Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Christopher Tuckett refers to it as a "sequel to the story of Jesus' death and burial". The chapter begins after the sabbath has ended, with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome purchasing spices to bring to the tomb next morning to anoint Jesus' body. There they encounter the stone rolled away, the tomb open, and a young man dressed in white who announces the resurrection of Jesus (16:1–6). The two oldest manuscripts of Mark 16 (from the 300s) conclude with verse 8, which ends with the women fleeing from the empty tomb, and saying "nothing to anyone, because they were too frightened".
Textual critics have identified two distinct alternative endings: the "Longer Ending" (verses 9–20) and the unversed "Shorter Ending" or "lost ending", which appear together in six Greek manuscripts, and in dozens of Ethiopic copies. Modern versions of the New Testament generally include the Longer Ending, but place it in brackets or otherwise format it to show that it is not known whether or not this was part of the original text.
Text
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (325–350; extant verses 1–8) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360; extant verses 1–8) Codex Bezae (~400; complete: 1–20) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440; complete: 1–20) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete: 1–20)
Sources
While some scholars argue that Mark 16 is a Markan composition, others argue that the chapter comes from an older tradition in the pre-Markan passion story. Those arguing in favor of Markan creation point to the numerous time indicators in verse 2, which bear similarities to other phrases in Mark. The scholars who argue in favor of Mark's use of a prior tradition argue that phrases such as "on the first day of the week" instead of the "third day" motif indicates a primitive tradition. Furthermore, many phrases found in Mark 16 seem to be non-Markan in their vocabulary. Dale Allison argues that, "The reduction of the empty tomb to Markan creativity, whatever the redactional motivation postulated, is not a compelling point of view...the case for the redactional origin of Mark 16:1–8 is unpersuasive, which is why so many Markan scholars, despite their differences on the details, see tradition here." The fact that Mark 16 is extremely reserved in its theological expression, having no Christological titles, proofs or prophecies, descriptions of the resurrection, and a reserved description of the angel at the tomb indicate a more primitive narrative source.
Verses 1–8 (the empty tomb)
Verse 1
The Sabbath ended at dusk, on the day known to Christians as Holy Saturday.
Verse 2
Just after sunrise, Mary Magdalene, another Mary, the mother of James, and Salome come with the spices to anoint Jesus' body. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome are also mentioned among the women "looking on from afar" in , although those who "saw where the body was laid" in were only Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses.
Luke 24:1 states that the women had "prepared" the spices but seems to say that Nicodemus had already anointed his body. John 20:1 and Matthew 28:1 simply say "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" came to see the tomb.
Verses 3–4
The women wonder how they will remove the stone over the tomb. Upon their arrival, they find the stone already gone and go into the tomb. According to Jesuit writer John J. Kilgallen, this shows that in Mark's account they expected to find the body of Jesus. Instead, they find a young man dressed in a white robe who is sitting on the right and who tells them that Jesus "has risen" and shows them "the place where they laid him" (verses 5–7).
Verses 5–7
The white robe indicates that he is an angel: Matthew 28:5 describes him as such. In the account in there were two men. John says there were two angels, but that Mary saw them after finding the empty tomb and showing it to the other disciples. She comes back to the tomb, talks to the angels, and then Jesus appears to her.
Jesus had predicted his resurrection and returning to Galilee during the Last Supper in Mark (). Mark uses the passive verb form ēgerthē, translated "he was raised", indicating God raised him from the dead, rather than "he is risen", as translated in the NIV.