What are readers to do with this abrupt and startling last verse of Mark's gospel? As the Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman asks, "is that ending enough?" And she is far from the first person to ask this. As Dr. Bridgeman notes, the original ending "was not enough for the early church," since later, one, and then another, more resolved-sounding conclusions were added on.
Dr. Bridgeman focuses on the original ending, though, showing that "this text does open many possibilities of the ways humans experience loss and grief; the ways humans need ritual to make some sense of that loss; and the ways seeing is not the same thing as believing. Grief submerged in fears can distort one's abilities to comprehend an event as 'good news.'"
One thing Professor Bridgeman proposes we can do with this ending is to remember that "these also are the women who stood at a distance as he was being crucified. (15:40-41) Maybe something about our connection to them could serve our prayers, our songs, and our spiritual longing. Maybe something about our connection to them can help us face our own fears and terror when the 'good news' seems lost in the world's death-dealing realities."
"I do not know. However, I do know that the church needs to grapple much more with the intersections of 'I believe' and 'I am afraid' to help people on their spiritual and religious journey."
Thank you, Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman!!
In the days ahead, may we have courage to be present with our fears and grief and to connect with one another in prayer, across all kinds of distances, so that the good news of Jesus, that we are able to love one another, may indeed transform and amaze us.
The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman is Associate Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, in Delaware, Ohio. Her fuller reflections on Mark 16:1-8 can be found in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B, Volume 2, pages 201-202, 2020.