Readings:
- Acts 1.1-11
Psalm 47. 2-3, 6-7, 8-9. Response: “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumptes for the Lord.” - Ephesians 1. 17-23 or Ephesians 4. 1-13
- Mark 16. 15-20
[Note: The Ascension may be commemorated on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. If so, the above readings for Ascension Thursday are used.]
Reflections on the Gospel Reading
In this Sunday’s gospel reading we listen to the second half of an alternate ending to Mark’s Gospel. A careful reading of the entire alternate ending provides insight into how the ascension of Jesus was presented to Christians living about a century after his death and resurrection.
“Ascension” is one of the earliest concepts used to express God’s vindication or glorification or exaltation of the crucified Jesus. The early members of the Jesus movement took their cue from the first verse of the royal enthronement Psalm 110: “The Lord says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (NRSV) By virtue of his anointing the new King of Israel becomes a son of God with priestly privileges, and God invites him to ascend the steps of the celestial throne room to a seat at God’s right side. (See NRSV notes to Psalm 110.)
One of the earliest uses of this image is found in Paul’s Letter to the Romans written around the year 56. (NRSV, 208 NT) Paul refers to “Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand (Greek: en dexia) of God . . . .” (Romans 8.34) Note, however, that there is no explicit reference to Jesus’ being seated at God’s right hand.
The original version of Mark’s Gospel ending with 16.8 does not mention the ascension of Jesus. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus appears to the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee, but there is no explicit account of ascension.
Luke, however, has two accounts of the ascension. At the end of Luke’s Gospel, after appearing to the eleven and others with them on “day one of the week” and the following evening, Jesus leads the eleven (and possibly others) to Bethany, near Jerusalem, where he is “carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24.5) At the beginning of Luke’s Acts of the Apostles, after forty days of appearances, Jesus was “lifted up” or “taken up” into heaven from a place near Jerusalem. (Acts 1.9-11)
What is striking about these accounts is that even though Mark, Matthew, and Luke all used the imagery of Psalm 110 in other places of their writings, none of them applies it to an account of Jesus ascension. (See the controversy over how the Messiah can be the son of David in Mark 12.35-37, Matthew 22.41-46, Luke 20.41-44; Jesus’ statement to the Council that they would “see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power” in Mark 14.62, Matthew 26.64, Luke 22.69; and Peter’s Pentecost speech in Acts 2.32-35.)
A Potentially Lethal Misreading
The New American Bible translates verse 17 of today’s gospel reading as follows: “These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. The will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Some have understood this to mean that anybody who truly believes will be able to do things like handling poisonous snakes and curing sick people. Conversely, they believe that if they suffer harm from snakebite or if the sick person dies it is because believer’s faith was not strong enough.
Just recently there have been cases of parents’ refusing medical treatment for children suffering from diabetes and cancer and turning to prayer and so-called natural remedies instead. It is not clear from newspaper reports that the parents relied on the verse in today’s gospel reading, but they appear to have followed an interpretation of this and other New Testament passages.
All this is based on a tragic misunderstanding. Although the Greek text is difficult to translate into English, its meaning is quite clear. It is a characteristic of Greek grammar that when a neuter plural subject is paired with a verb in the singular the subject is to be understood in the collective sense.
It is similar to our use of “the United States of America.” Sometimes we speak of “these United States” in the plural, as in: These United States are diverse in many ways. Other times we speak of the United States collectively with a verb in the singular, as in: The United States is a bastion of freedom for the whole world. (It is interesting to note that Spell Check on my computer tries to correct United States “are” to United States “is.” It recognizes “United States” as a collective singular noun and adjective.)
The word for sign in Greek is neuter, and in verse 17 the neuter plural noun “signs” governs a third person singular verb. “[T]he plural subject . . . is seen and presented collectively. What is important is that extraordinary signs will accompany those . . . who believe, even if these signs are not seen all the time and all at once.” (LaVerdiere 1999.2, 351) In other words, there is no one-for-one correlation between belief and miraculous signs. Nor should one tempt God by deliberately putting oneself in harm’s way by handling rattlesnakes or drinking insecticide.
Similarly, although Christians pray for the sick and lay hands on them, especially in the sacrament of anointing of the sick, they should not expect instant healing every time or magical results from performing the ritual.
An Alternate Ending
There is little question that “the earliest ascertainable form of the Gospel of Mark” ended in Mark 16.8 with the women fleeing from the tomb in fear and silence. (Metzger 1994, 105) To modern readers this seems very unsatisfactory. There are no appearances of the risen Lord; there is no commissioning of the disciples to proclaim the gospel message to the whole world; and there is no mention of Jesus’ ascension.
Scholars are divided as to the reason Mark’s Gospel ends so abruptly. Today it seems that the majority of scholars believe that Mark intended to end his Gospel that way. (LaVerdiere 1999.2, 329) However, some scholars think that Mark never finished his Gospel or that the last page of his manuscript was accidentally lost before copyists began to do their work. (Metzger 1994, 105, n. 7)
Matthew and Luke had copies of a version of Mark’s Gospel before them as they wrote. Both gospel-writers added appearances of the risen Lord and a commissioning account (Mt 28. 18-20 and Lk 24. 46-49 [See also Acts 1.8.]) Luke added two accounts of Jesus’ ascension. (Lk 24. 50-51 and Acts 1.9-11) John, who probably was unacquainted with the Gospel of Mark in its written form (Brown 1997, 365), also narrates appearances of the risen Lord. For John, however, the “ascension” of Jesus is part of the upward movement of Jesus’ glorification on the cross and not a separate event later on.
It appears that sometime in the first half of the second century an unknown author composed an alternate ending for Mark’s Gospel, replacing Mark 15.47-16.8 with twelve verses (now numbered Mark 16.2-20) that are commonly called the longer ending of Mark. It is important to note that originally these verses were not an addition to Mark’s Gospel, but a replacement of at least the last nine verses. Mark 16.9-20 seems to be unaware of anything in Mark’s original Gospel after Mark 15.46.
It is also important to note that Mark 16.9-20 is a close-knit literary unit, only half of which is presented in today’s gospel reading. As a result, I will comment on all twelve verses instead of just the last six.
The Structure of the Alternate Ending
The alternate ending contains four episodes:
- An appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (Mk 9-11)
- An appearance to two disciples (Mk 12-13)
- The commissioning of “The Eleven” (Mk 14-18)
- The ascension of Jesus (Mk 19-20)
Each episode harkens back to one of the other canonical Gospels, but each time with a different twist. (See LaVerdiere 1999-2, 334-335.) The appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene is similar to that in John 20.11-18 but also reflects Luke 8.1-3 that identifies Mary Magdalen.
In preparing these reflections, in addition to the biblical texts, I consulted the following works:
Borg & Crossan 2006 – Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Acccount of Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006)
Brown 1997 – Raymond E. Brown, S.S., An Introduction to the New Testament. The Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York: Doubleday, 1997)
Crossan 1991 – John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991)
Donahue & Harrington 2002 – John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Mark (Collegeville [MN]: Liturgical Press, 2002)
Fuller 1984 – Reginald H. Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today, Revised Edition (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1984)
Harrington 1990 – Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., “The Gospel According to Mark” in Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., and Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm. Eds., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990), [Chapter 41].
LaVerdiere 1999.2 – Eugene LaVerdiere, The Beginning of the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel According to Mark, Vol. 2 (Collegeville [MN]: Liturgical Press, 1999)
Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003 – Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Second Edition (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003)
Meier 1991 – John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume One: the Roots of the Problem and the Person, The Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York: Doubleday, 1991)
Metzger 1994 – Bruce M. Metzger, A textual Commentary on the Greek New Testiment, Second Edition (Stuttgart: German Bible Society, 1994), pp. 101-107.
NRSV = NRSV 1994 – New Revised Standard Version – Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy, Editors, The New Oxford Annotated Bible containing the Old and New Testaments. New Revised Standard Version. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)
Rahlfs 1961- Alfred Rahlfs, Ed., SEPTUAGINTA, Id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes, Vol. I, Leges et historiae (Stuttgart: Wurttembergische Bibelanstalt, 1962)
Schneemelcher 1991 – Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Ed., New Testament Apocrypha, Revised Edition, English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson, Volume I, Gospels and Related Writings (Louisville [KY]: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991)
Taylor 1959 – Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to St. Mark: The Greek Text with Introduction, Notes, and Indexes (London: Macmillan & Co. LTD, 1959)