Saturday 18 April 2009
- Bible Book:
- Mark
"Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.'" (v.14-15)
Background
Most of the oldest versions of Mark's Gospel end at verse 8 inchapter 16. That seems a very abrupt ending. It doesn't seem verymuch like the good news it claims to proclaim - ending with thewomen leaving the empty tomb in "terror and amazement", sayingnothing to anyone. What happened to the 12, the chief disciples whobecame the Apostles in the early Church?
Scholars are divided as to whether the verses we are looking attoday were added later to make up for the abrupt ending, or whetherthey were part of the original Gospel which had been lost for awhile. Whatever the reason, it is clearly part of the Gospel'smessage to include the command or desire of Jesus for his disciplesto continue his work and take the good news of God's love "into allthe world".
Doubt and uncertainty seem to be part and parcel of theResurrection stories. 'Doubting Thomas' (
Perhaps this was to help early Christians to understand that theroad to faith is not necessarily clear or simple. Perhaps it was toshow that the disciples were not gullible fools, but approached thenews of the risen Jesus with a similar scepticism to the critics ofthe early Church.
To Ponder
What does it mean to "proclaim the good news tothe whole creation" when creation is more than just the humanrace?
John Henry Newman (a 19th century Roman Catholicpriest and cardinal who converted to Roman Catholicism fromAnglicanism) wrote, "There is more faith, believe me, in honestdoubt than in half the creeds." How far is it possible for faithand doubt to be held together?