TRUE STORY
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Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, you see me—all my sin and unbelief—and yet you love me. Thank you for giving yourself for me and continuing to advocate for me in heaven.
Read MARK 16:1—20
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Mark
Mark 16
Jesus Has Risen
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
9 [The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Reflect
Try to put yourself in the shoes of the women visiting the tomb, expecting to find Jesus’ body. What are they hearing and seeing, thinking and feeling?Happy Easter—he is risen! This is surely the most joyous day of the Christian year.
In CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, the Christ figure, Aslan the lion, risen from a grisly death on the stone table, romps and roars with the exuberance of new life, allowing two young girls to grasp his mane and stroke his paws. It is a beautiful picture.
Mark’s account is somewhat different from CS Lewis’ novel, and not just because Jesus is not a giant wildcat killed by a witch and the women are adults, not children. The main difference is in the emotions captured. There’s no joy in Mark’s story. The women are alarmed (v 5), trembling, bewildered, and afraid (v. 8).
As we celebrate the resurrection today, we do so with deep familiarity with the idea. We will likely gather with others in a public place to declare in spoken word and song that ‘he is risen!’ and in doing so, we won’t be risking our lives. These faithful women, coming to anoint a body and finding it gone, were unsurprisingly thrown. This account rings true.
Mark’s gospel sets out to tell ‘the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God’ (1:1). In his blunt, unvarnished way, he has brought us to the climax, the closing argument, the lynchpin of the whole thing.
Apply
Although you may feel some fear, to whom do you need to tell about the resurrection?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, that I have been told about the gospel’s good news—that Mark’s account was kept, copied, translated, and survived for me to read it in 2026!
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