The Gospel of Mark – Part 54

The Bible and its Message – Mark 16:9-20

Mosaic Rockford – Dave Spooner – Oct. 4th, 2020

Intro:

Today’s sermon is going to be different because of a note we see in our bibles. At this point, we have been happily following along in the book of Mark, going through it one passage at a time.  We have gone through Jesus’s life, ministry, miracles, teaching, trial, death, burial, and resurrection. And then right after verse 8, we run into a statement like this: [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]. I remember running into this statement for the first time, and I was like, “What is this about?” Perhaps you have the same type of question. So, in order to answer that question, you need to know how we got the Bible in the first place and then how this passage fits or does not fit into the rest of the Bible. Then we are going to look at the passage itself. This message is centered around three questions: Can we trust the Bible? Why are there questions about this passage? What does the passage say? 

Can we trust the Bible? 

This video is produced by the Canadian Bible Society and gives us helpful information about trusting the Bible.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPaeo19sQXw (8:30) What the Bible says about itself 

2 Tim 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2 Peter 1:21 ESV

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Accurate – The earliest copies (25 years for the New Testament), the number of copies (24,000 copies) and the accuracy of the copies (99.5%). The Bible is the most accurately preserved and verified document of the ancient world. Reliable – Trusted and true (history and archaeology). Jesus referred to the OT books as scripture and quoted from most of them. Relevant – Answers timeless questions: Where did everything come from? Why are we here? What happens when we die?  True – 40 authors, 13 centuries, 3 continents, 1 message – video is oversimplistic in the message of the Bible. Perhaps the best one verse for the purpose of the Bible is summed up by the apostle John when he wrote the purpose of his gospel

John 20:31 ESV

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

How we came to the “canon” of the Bible – Composed/Circulated/Consistent/Collected/Confirmed (early 300) 

Heb 4:12-13 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We don’t read it, it reads us. 

Why are there questions about this passage? 

Why is there a question about this passage? The following information is from the Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1984):External Evidence – The earliest church “fathers” do not give any evidence that they had this longer ending (Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome). The oldest and most reliable manuscripts don’t have these verses. However, the longer ending (9-20) is contained in the great majority of the newer manuscripts (after 150 AD). Therefore, we have the heading [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.].Internal EvidenceVocabulary – slightly over 1/3 of the words used in this section (9-20) are not used anywhere else in the book of Mark, making it difficult to believe this section came from the same author. Style – weird transition from verse 8 to verse 9. It is almost as if Mary Magdalene had not been mentioned before, the other women were not mentioned at all. Mary was described as having seven demons “cast out” and this is not mentioned in Mark before this. The angel at the tomb said Jesus would meet the disciples in Galilee, but in this section, He me