Mark’s ending calls us to discipleship. I contend that he intends to use the failure of the male disciples in Mark 14–15 and the female disciples in Mark 16 to remind us both that Jesus graciously uses even imperfect sinners to build his perfect kingdom and that their failures serve to call us to be faithful to Jesus’s mission. These final verses, especially Mark 16:8, offer a “positive challenge” and an “implicit call to discipleship.”5 God is calling us, even those disciples who are “confused and uncertain,”6 to move past the confusion and uncertainty, along with the doubt and fear, and to join the victory march by raising high the banner of God’s victory over death.

After the Crucifixion

The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus’s appearance before “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,” who had gone on Sunday morning to “see the tomb” (Matt. 28:1). We are told not only that they hear directly from Jesus (“Greetings!”) but that they actually touch his resurrected body (“And they came up and took hold of his feet,” Matt. 28:9). Later, Jesus appears to the eleven disciples in Galilee, where he announces to them—in the Great Commission—their future mission (Matt. 28:16–20). The Gospels of Luke and John offer even more extensive coverage—a total of over a hundred verses—of Jesus’s resurrection and post-resurrection appearances and activities. In Luke 24 and John 20–21 we read of Jesus’s appearances to Mary Magdalene, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the eleven (including inviting them to touch his body, John 20:17; cf. John 20:20, 27; Luke 24:39–40); the gift of the Holy Spirit; and Jesus’s ascension into heaven.

In contrast, Mark provides only eight verses to narrate the events after Jesus’s crucifixion, including the women’s angelic encounter at the tomb and the angel’s announcement (“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here,” Mark 16:6), with no actual resurrection appearances.1 Moreover, the final line might strike us, at first glance, as anti-climactic, as it pictures the three women running scared from the tomb: “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8). The end! What are we to make of this abrupt and unexpected, as well as apparently incomplete, ending? I surmise that Mark has three reasons for ending the way that he did.

Trust in Jesus’s Authoritative Word

First, Mark’s ending forces us to trust in Jesus’s authoritative word. If Jesus repeatedly said that he would rise from the dead (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34), then that authoritative word should suffice. If Jesus promised that he would rise, and if he guarantees resurrection life to all who lose their lives for his sake (see Mark 8:34–9:1), then we can take him at his word. Unlike Thomas, we are not to doubt the testimony of Jesus even if we ourselves have not seen his resurrected body. If we can trust anything, we can trust the sure foundation of our Lord’s word (see Matt. 7:24–27).

The Importance of the Cross

Second, Mark’s ending reemphasizes the importance of the cross. That is, even in his resurrection account the evangelist takes us back to the cross!

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