I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 14-16.

    My first thought when reading this was that Judas went to the priests and agreed to betray Jesus immediately after the woman anointed Jesus with perfume. All of the Gospels agree that he did this shortly after that event, which suggests that it provided the impetus for him to do so. My next thought was that Judas must have been disconcerted by Jesus declaring that one of the Twelve would betray Him so shortly after he had agreed to do so. What must have gone through Judas’ mind at that moment?

“How does he know?”

“He can’t possibly know.”

“He must be guessing, but why would he say that?”

From there I wondered what the rest of the disciples thought when Jesus instituted Communion, when He said that the bread was His body and the wine His blood. Especially in light of the fact that shortly before that He had said that one of them would betray Him. When we read it we cannot help but think about it in the context of His crucifixion, but the disciples had not yet processed the idea that Jesus would die, let alone die on the Cross.

    Bible scholars tell us that the most reliable early copies of the Gospel of Mark end with Chapter 16 verse 8: “The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.” To us, that seems like an abrupt ending, but it is important to remember that Mark wrote this Gospel while Peter was still alive. He would have perceived that his audience knew the rest of the story. I think that Mark’s true ending was verses 6 and 7:

but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

Jesus was risen and they would not find Him among the dead. Perhaps Mark added verse 8 to explain why it took some time for people to start proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. Or, perhaps, he just felt like he needed some conclusion other than the quote to end his account.
    I want to make one final point. The verses which come after verse 8 have been part of the Gospel of Mark that I believe God intends for us to read them. I have faith that God is in control of history and that if they did not represent His words they would have faded from history, just as other writings which were viewed as Scripture for a time have.