The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark (2021-01-04) ​

0:00:02 in this episode i want to look at
0:00:04 a rather startling fact that our
0:00:06 earliest gospel the gospel of mark
0:00:09 does not contain the resurrection of
0:00:12 jesus story
0:00:13 uh it's simply not there and this is odd
0:00:16 because
0:00:17 if you look in most modern bibles you
0:00:20 will see
0:00:20 in chapter 16 um the story of
0:00:24 jesus's resurrection so how can this be
0:00:27 why am i saying this
0:00:29 well we want to look at the last 12
0:00:31 verses
0:00:32 of mark the gospel of mark is unique
0:00:35 amongst the gospels
0:00:37 in ending very abruptly after his
0:00:39 resurrection
0:00:40 jesus is never said to appear to his
0:00:43 disciples
0:00:44 or to anyone else instead when the women
0:00:47 who visit the tomb on the third day
0:00:49 find it empty empty and told to inform
0:00:52 the disciples
0:00:53 that jesus has been raised they it says
0:00:56 here in verse 8
0:00:58 they said nothing to anyone for they
0:01:01 were afraid that's mark chapter 16 verse
0:01:05 8.
0:01:06 now this ending comes as a real surprise
0:01:08 to many readers who think that the women
0:01:10 surely must have told somebody
0:01:12 after all the word of the resurrection
0:01:14 did get out and the other three gospels
0:01:16 do go on to tell
0:01:18 the story of jesus appearance to the
0:01:20 disciples after the resurrection
0:01:22 so how could mark the earliest gospel
0:01:24 know that jesus was raised
0:01:26 if the women never told anyone right
0:01:30 the answer is this the ancient christian
0:01:32 scribes
0:01:33 who were making copies of the gospel of
0:01:35 mark were also surprised
0:01:37 by this startling end so they did what
0:01:41 scribes sometimes do
0:01:42 they changed the ending by adding some
0:01:45 verses of their own
0:01:46 that made this gospel more in line with
0:01:48 their own beliefs
0:01:50 and with the endings of the other
0:01:51 gospels of matthew luke
0:01:53 and john so the 12 new verses
0:01:57 that were added describe what in their
0:02:00 opinion
0:02:00 must have happened next the women tell
0:02:03 the disciples
0:02:04 what they had seen and heard then the
0:02:05 disciples traveled to galilee
0:02:07 they meet jesus who gives them their
0:02:08 final instructions and then he
0:02:10 ascends into heaven the ascension but
0:02:14 this new ending does not give it does
0:02:16 give a kind of closure to
0:02:18 uh the story but it's not the original
0:02:22 it cannot be found in any of the oldest
0:02:25 and best manuscripts of mark uh if you
0:02:28 look at the codex sinaiticus for example
0:02:30 there's a website codex seatticus
0:02:32 uh online uh which is just a couple of
0:02:35 miles from here in the british
0:02:36 library it does not contain the
0:02:37 resurrection appearances in mark's
0:02:39 gospel
0:02:40 neither does the codex vaticanus the
0:02:42 next oldest and these are
0:02:43 the most ancient manuscripts
0:02:46 also the writing style and the
0:02:49 vocabulary
0:02:50 in these 12 verses are not consistent
0:02:55 with the rest of the gospel they have a
0:02:58 different style they have a different
0:02:59 vocabulary
0:03:00 they they feel like they've been written
0:03:02 by other people
0:03:03 that's because they were added by
0:03:05 scribes later christians
0:03:07 who didn't want mark's gospel to end
0:03:09 where it did end
0:03:12 and that's why most modern translations
0:03:14 include
0:03:15 although they do include the verses they
0:03:18 tell
0:03:18 that their readers that they are a later
0:03:22 edition
0:03:23 so it says here a little note
0:03:26 uh the most ancient uh authorities bring
0:03:28 the book to a close
0:03:30 at the end of verse eight um
0:03:34 there we go so it's simply not there in
0:03:36 the original bible
0:03:37 but it's odd that they do
0:03:40 carry on including it and there are
0:03:42 other stories in the new testament which
0:03:44 we know now are not part of the original
0:03:47 uh
0:03:48 stories but were added later like the
0:03:50 woman caught on adultery in john's
0:03:52 gospel
0:03:52 uh chapter eight and there are verses
0:03:54 here and there throughout the bible
0:03:56 which have been added or deleted the
0:03:59 famous trinity verse in one
0:04:00 one john's probably the most notorious
0:04:03 uh these are added later
0:04:04 by over enthusiastic christian writers
0:04:08 so um what does this tell us well the
0:04:10 the bible is imperfect
0:04:12 um you know it's it's a human product uh
0:04:15 it ends abruptly in mark uh 16 verse 8.
0:04:19 later christians add uh their version
0:04:21 that there are several versions that
0:04:23 were added later on
0:04:24 and we see this happening frequently in
0:04:26 other parts of the bible
0:04:28 too um so this is a very uh
0:04:31 brief uh video i just want to talk about
0:04:33 the last
0:04:34 uh verses of mark chapter 16
0:04:37 uh in case you didn't know um till next
0:04:40 time