Reading the Gospels Together

How do you end a Gospel? – Part 1

Just as each gospel writer needed to make a decision about how to begin their gospel they also needed to make a decision about how to end their gospel. We have already come to the end of each gospel so our reading this week will be to review Mark 16:1-8; Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:1-5; and John 20:30-32 and John 21:20-25.

We have already spent a good deal of time thinking about how Mark chose to end his gospel so we will not need to spend much time here. Mark creatively ends his gospel by “pulling the rug out” from under his readers feet. His “surprise ending” is meant to draw Mark’s readers into his story and challenge them to be a witness for Jesus. We have noticed that Mark as not told us what actually happened – at least not all that happened. Was Mark successful in choosing to end in this way? I think he was – in fact his ending is the most powerful ending of any gospel. Yet, Mark has left himself open to misunderstanding – the alternate endings to Mark’s gospel are evidence of that. All those who attempt to “fix” Mark’s ending likely have not really got Mark’s point. This “surprise ending” is really a mark of Mark’s brilliance and we need to give him credit for it.

There is one more thing that we should notice about Mark’s ending. Mark’s ending drives his readers back to the beginning of his gospel. Readers of Mark’s gospel are told that when Jesus died the curtain of the Temple was torn in two which alerts his readers to the way in which Mark began his gospel with the heavens be torn open at the time of Jesus’ baptism. Mark wants us to make this connection – and likely as we are stunned by his “surprise ending” we are driven back to read the story again. And when we start reading Mark’s gospel again we hear the words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” and it may dawn on us that everything that Mark has written is only the beginning. The gospel continues far beyond Mark’s gospel which is only the beginning. Mark is depending on his readers to carry his gospel forward into the world – to finish his gospel.

Mark has written a wonderful gospel. It is a powerful expression of God’s action in and through Jesus, the Crucified Messiah. Mark has given us all we need. His gospel is a treasure for us to cherish and share with one another. It is God’s Word proclaimed to us to create and sustain faith. What is most important about Mark’s gospel is what it does to us!