The endings of Mark's Gospel reminds me the of the epilogue to some great narrative or epic. I feel that the author, after reaching the climax of this work (the Passion), has now decided to tie up any loose ends left. In a way, it really helps readers come to understand and realize the transformation of our faith from the teachings from the Son of God, to a universally practiced religion. If this Gospel had merely ended right after Jesus was crucified, readers would have been left wondering to themselves whether or not he rose from the dead and what his disciples did in the aftermath. The multiple endings serve to bridge that gap. The disciples do go on to preach Christ's message and heal those in need. Jesus does ascend into Heaven to be reunited with God the Father. It's like one of those moments when you sit back and think to yourself aha, now I understand. So this is were we go from here.
Sophia
I think the four endings of Mark's Gospel are under the four bold titles in Mark 16.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem that these endings are little bit more vague than most of the rest of the Gospel of Mark. Considering that the Gospel of Mark was written 50+ years after the death/resurrection of Jesus, it's likely that substantive accounts of the post-resurrection time were somewhat muddled. So, these four endings are probably a patchwork of accounts that attempt to describe without contradicting each other how and with whom Jesus interacted after his resurrection.
I think multiple endings are included to try to add detail, though, as I mentioned, they are somewhat vague. However, some idea about how the word of God is spread is given. This is important because, though the actions of Jesus are of course amazing, they are really only a (approx.) two year blip in a two thousand year history. So, the four endings give us an idea of how the word of God is spread.
-Caleb Capozella
Mark's gospel is written to help us fully understand who Jesus was. Jesus is seen as the master in these stories. The four different endings help us fully understand the stories of Jesus. The endings help eliminate questions that people may have. It really helps us connect the dots about Jesus. I think the four endings are helpful in piecing together everything we previously read.
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Ritter
These questions definitely help the reader understand more about the life of Jesus. It also affirms everything that Jesus foretold during his life. In Mark's Gospel alone, Jesus talks about his Passion three times. "Behold...the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death...but after three days he will rise." (Mark 10:33-34) He also speaks of how the disciples' faith will be shaken, which is also exemplified in the four different endings to Mark's Gospel. Although Mark's account is very shortened in comparison to other Gospels, the Appearance to the two disciples proves just how they lost faith in Jesus. The risen Christ was walking with two of his disciples, however they failed to recognize Him. In the other endings, Jesus is solidifying all that he has preached about. He speaks to his disciples about preaching the gospel, and healing people through His name. Lastly, everything Jesus has preached about his life becomes a reality upon his ascension to Heaven, accounted by Mark at the end of his gospel.
ReplyDelete-Elisabeth O'Toole
I think that there are four different endings to the Gospel of Mark because of the various edits that might have been made throughout history. It could be that over time the additional pieces/endings were added on. Or, as others have brought up, maybe Mark put these various endings in his writings to make sure that he had given all of the possible information that he could. Maybe he did this to add in names of people he heard were involved (such as Mary Magdalene) but didn't know exactly how, or that he wanted to know he had covered all that he had heard. It is very odd to me that the Gospel of Mark has more than one ending, but this again might just show the passage of time and how edits could be the reason for there being four endings.
ReplyDelete-Tori McAllister
The Gospel of Mark is written mostly as a narrative of Jesus’ life and the many teachings he taught. I think that there are multiple endings to this gospel in order to help explain that Jesus was the Son of God. With the explanation of the resurrection and ascension, the reader is able to see that Jesus is transcendent and it shows those who doubted Jesus that they were wrong. The different endings also tie together the description of the messiah from the Old Testament to who Jesus was. Jesus died for our sins and saved us, just as the messiah was meant to do. Without the story of Jesus’ persecution, resurrection and ascension, a lot of questions about who Jesus was would go unanswered.
ReplyDelete-Nicole Dillon
I have found the structure of the Gospel of Mark to be very interesting. The first ten chapters describe his birth, baptism, and general stories that describe the people's faith, Jesus' teachings through parables, his miracles, and the Word of God. In contrast chapter eleven establishes a more chronological narrative of Jesus' final days. It is as if the first ten chapters are a prologue which gives the reader a basic understanding of God's message, and the final six chapters are a detailed story which fulfill the message mentioned earlier in the more complete and concrete example of Jesus' death.
ReplyDeleteThe four endings are very important in understanding the depth that Jesus' word spread to the people. They describe how different people, both men and women, discovered Jesus' word and went to spread it to everyone they knew.
~Nicholas Shields
In the last park of the gospel of Mark, it is evident that it's coming to an end (Jesus going about preaching/making miracles. Why? Because Jesus sits with his disciples and starts telling them what is about to happen and what they should do once he is put to death. It's like he is preparing them for what is ahead as well as telling them what they should do after he dies. From the moment Jesus and his disciples partake in "The Last Supper," the chapters get more and more intense until it hits the climax, his Crucifixion. I think it's important to have the longer and the shorter endings because if the gospel merely ended with a "short ending," then it wouldn't be as detailed and interesting. Also, maybe we would be left with more questions unanswered.
ReplyDelete-Katie Lamb
I believe that the purpose of the four endings of Mark' gospel was to fill the reader in on important details of the resurection without being inaccurate. It seems as though Mark only wanted to write in detail the parts of Jesus' life that he had witnessses himself. The other accounts, such as MAry Magdeline's, we important so he just wrote what he knew, without making any assumptions or false statements. I think this is important because it allows for a full understanding of Jesus, but it does not contradict any other writings.
ReplyDeleteMark's four gospels were listed within the Bible to fully account for all of the resurection, without including false information and/or leaving out specific details concerning the event. He had not personally witnessed the entire events which occured during the resurection, and therfore could not accurately describe the events truthfully and in detail. Mark included all of stories within the gospels in so allowing the reader to learn and believe whichever story they themselves believe to be correct. This results in a complete understanding of the event, because he covered all aspects of the event. He has both his own experience and the experiences of others, further creating a wider variety of evidence to support the idea as a whole, as well as many stories and perspectives.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Smedley
It seems to me that the four endings of Mark's Gospels give us a good picture of what happened, although it probably would have been just as good of a picture if there was one ending that incorporated all of that information into it. The author may not have known what happened in between each ending, and so decided to put them as four separate accounts... we can't really know. I'm not sure how these endings could all be congruent and work together, but there's probably something that I'm not getting. So at the very least, I think they give an interesting account and plenty of food for thought.
ReplyDeleteChelsey Sterling
I think Mark's Gospel has four endings because they were written/redacted at different times. The Gospel is considered to be the first one written so perhaps there were multiple contributors or multiple authors who wrote/contributed at multiple times. The Gospel ACCORDING to Mark means that he may not have written every word, rather, it was pulled together by a community Mark influenced or with Mark's supervision or contribution. Remember, Mark himself was not an Apostle so his own account would've been second hand to begin with. The four endings of Mark simply point to again the reality of human transferral of divine word. The human factor involves differences in presentation and time/setting/context. Any change in these figures can (and in the end of the Gospel of Mark, did) result in varying or overlapping or even technically disagreeing accounts.
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hlavin
The four endings in the Gospel of Mark help us further understand the stories of Jesus. We can further comprehend these stories by realizing they were most likely written at different times, or were written by a couple different authors. They were most likely written by different authors because the Gospel of Mark are passages pulled together by Mark. This is interesting because the different endings both agree and disagree with each other.
ReplyDeleteElise Ariens
While the last four endings of the Gospel of Mark differ, they do not act as contradictory accounts of the Resurrection. Rather, taken together they broaden the account of Jesus' actions after death.
ReplyDeleteThe first depiction of Mary Magdalene's involvement places her in the tomb itself. The second excludes the tomb scene- instead reporting that she was the first individual Jesus revealed Himself to. Here, she acted as the messenger to His companions concerning Jesus’s rising. Simply put, it is only the focus of each account which renders it different from the other.
Mark divides the disbelief of Jesus' disciples into two accounts. Both are extremely important in understanding the human reaction to the Resurrection. The first portrays the rejection of Jesus’ rising by the disciples-even after Mary Magdalene delivered her personal knowledge of the rising. Secondly, two disciples told the remaining nine about Jesus after they had personally been revealed to them. Again, the disciples remained disbelieving. Ultimately, these two accounts heighten the degree to which the disciples would not believe unless they saw. The division of the two accounts forces the reader to better understand the problems with “unbelief and hardness of the heart” (Mark 16:14).
Mark offers a shorter and longer account of Jesus’ Resurrection. His doing so gives both more breadth and depth into what Jesus did for humanity. The longer version expands upon what Jesus expects of us, while the second condenses all of his main points into one clear and concise declaration of salvation.
The end of Mark tells the death of Jesus on the cross. The story seems to be told by different people and the different perspectives of this story aids our understanding of his death. Mark's view of this is going to be different then anyone else based on his position with Jesus and his attitude towards Jesus. The death of Jesus is very important so Mark's position on it will be important as well.
ReplyDelete-Tara Costello
The appearance of the four endings to Mark's gospel causes your mind to question which ending was the true ending? Mark's gospel ends at 16:8, and this account ends rather suddenly with the women trembling at the site of the empty tomb. Although instructed to tell Peter and the disciples that "He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you" the women said nothing to anyone out of fear. Because of this abrupt ending perhaps other writers may have chosen to amend Mark's account. Another thought is that perhaps Mark included four endings to illustrate that a strict literal interpretation of the facts is not always necessary. What is essential is that we believe in The Resurrection itself.
ReplyDelete-Carolyn Spero
The Gospel of Mark ends four different ways. They tell of the death of Jesus on the cross; however, while some parts of the accounts are the same, some are different. I believe this is due to the accounts being written at different times, and so there are differing perspectives about crucifixion and death of Jesus. While the accounts are different, I think that as a whole we are able to see the whole picture better because of the different accounts.
ReplyDeleteTom May
The reason that there are different endings to the Gospel are because Mark wanted to highlight different important events in a different way from each other. He wanted to show the importance of Jesus appearing to specific people, and then also to a group of His disciples. This causes the unbelief amongst His followers and can be seen as a precursor to the different forms of Christianity that would eventually form. Those who see and believe, and those who do not see and still believe. The two different endings seem to contain the same message, one a more general account and one with added details.
ReplyDelete~Risa Eskew
I think that there are four different endings to Mark's Gospel to illustrate the ways that Christ made Himself present after His death. The endings inform readers that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, that the women who found the empty tomb were very afraid, that everyone who heard of the resurrection had doubts, that Jesus appeared to His disciples to send them out into the world to proclaim the Gospel, and that Jesus ascended into Heaven. I do not think that the four endings are contradictory; I think that they tell different aspects of one story.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of Mark brings about the death and crucifixion of Jesus. This event is being told from the view points of different people which leads to the opportunity for different perspectives. The different perspectives allow for a overall better understanding for the story of Jesus dying on the cross for us. it conveys to us a great picture of this important day in the catholic religion.
ReplyDeleteWhile there may be different endings in Mark's Gospel, each ending is telling the same story: the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. This event is the most important in the Christian faith, and it is important for us as Christians to hear this story.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, it is understandable how there might be different accounts of the death. Since Mark was not an Apostle, and was writing this account years after the resurrection of Jesus, there is no way to be sure whether or not his story is "accurate" in the historical sense. What is important about his Gospel is that it tells the same overall story, that Jesus had sacrificed himself for God's people, and how his resurrection is a crucial element to the story. Mark ends up telling the different perspectives of the same story; having different perspectives does not make one wrong, it just means the story is remembered in different ways. In the end, though, it is still the same story.
I believe Mark wrote the different endings in order to shed the end in different light. It appeared to me that Mark wasn't exactly sure how to explain how the miracle of the Resurrection in a way which would touch each individual. By having the four different endings, perhaps Mark was trying to touch four times the amount of people one ending could.
ReplyDelete~Caitlin Gorecki
First, one must understand that the book of Mark was a collaboration of works pulled together by Mark, and individual who did not live during the lifetime of Jesus. Because he did not witness the final days of Jesus, he had to find the most accurate depiction of Jesus's story for his work to be truthful. To me, it seems that he could not find one complete story, so he compiled for different endings to cover the majority of Jesus's resurrection with as broad of a scope as possible. By doing this, the reader can get a complete account with four different perspectives that work together to emphasize that Jesus is the true messiah.
ReplyDeleteJay Garrick
Mark probably wrote four different endings because first of all, Mark put everything in the most logical chronological order as possible for easier reading in my opinion and secondly, like many other people have said, Mark was not alive at the time when Jesus was among the Jewish nation and was told these stories from first hand accounts and second hand accounts. Mark may not have known which story was the complete truth so he put in all of the endings he was told in order to avoid error. This is just a theory though. This is not stating that the bible is false, just that different perspectives give different stories. All the stories point to the common theme that Jesus died for us and then resurrected and ascended into heaven. In knowing this, the other details were from different people at different time sand are not crucial to what is the actual story because these little details do not change what happened.
ReplyDeleteEmma Leary
Mark most likely wrote four different endings to put together all of the pieces so that readers would have different perspectives of what they were interpreting. Mark did not live during the time period of Jesus. He went to great lengths to find the truth present in Jesus' lifetime. He probably had different stories that he could not completely agree with one. That is why he wrote four different endings. Each contribute to Jesus' life and help readers completely understand his life through different perspectives. They reveal that Jesus is the true Messiah which was Mark's goal by having four different endings.
ReplyDelete-Katelyn Bockin
The four different ending in the gospel of Mark are probably 4 different perspectives on the death of Jesus, and were probably written at different times. The Gospel of Mark helps to understand Jesus better, and to help answer any questions we might have had about Him.
ReplyDelete-Kate Shannon
I think that the four different endings are all interesting and necessary as well. They all tell the story with a different twist and they all are helpful in understanding the story.This may not have been done intentionally though. This was written after the time of Jesus so the stories could have been passed on through oral tradition so they might have been butchered changed or duplicated with slight variations. The writer may have thought it important and interesting to include all of the different options.
ReplyDelete--Nicholas Darin
I think that there are four different endings in the Gospel of Mark because he was not physically present during the last years of Jesus's life. He had to piece together the information that he had to try to accurately portray the end of Christ's life.
ReplyDeleteAs others have mentioned, I think there are various different reasons that Mark includes four different endings to his gospel. Perhaps he wanted to ensure that he included everyone that was involved with Jesus's life and all the iportant events that happened after his death. It is possible that Mark himself had been passed down the different endings through oral tradition, and seeing that they held true to the legacy of Jesus, decided to incorperate each version into his own divinely inspired revelation. A third probable explaination is that each ending was added by people throughout the early history of the Church as the gospel was revised and edited. Regardless of how and why four different endings of Mark came to be, however, they each contribute unique aspects to the story of Christ and the start of his everlasting ministry.
ReplyDeleteI think there are four different endings to Mark for a few different reasons. First and foremost, as people have already stated, Mark was not present at the time that he is writing about in these last chapters. He is basing his writings off of second hand knowledge and is trying to portray what he believes is the most accurate account, which seems to mean (for Mark at least) attempting to cover all accounts. While perspective is in fact important to the four different endings, I believe Mark simply did not want to leave any stone unturned. By giving us all four accounts, he gave us the most knowledge about this time in Christ’s life as he possibly could.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mark's gospel has different endings because they are each an ending to different things. I almost would say there is four different stories in one that all need different endings to make the story make sense. I think because there are so many different stories it makes you wonder if they are all true but then I guess that what faith is for you have to have faith to believe all the stories.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Geary