The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I don’t know if he knew it or not, but Mark was actually inventing a whole new literary category with this opening sentence. Actually, it’s not even a sentence – no verb – but more of a phrase, almost a title. But with it...

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We noticed earlier that the closing scene of Mark’s Gospel brings us back to the beginning: the young man in white instructs the women to tell the disciples that he is going ahead of them to Galilee, just as he told them....

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. So let’s assume this is really where Mark wanted to end his account. The obvious question is why? Well, consider: the failure of these women is nothing...

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. We mentioned yesterday how unsatisfying Mark’s ending is. After all, the women at the tomb received a) a clear “good news signal” and b) were given...

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid. We began our devotions on the Passion of our Lord by noticing the dramatic note on which Mark begins his story, comparing it to the classic scary-story opening: “It was a dark and stormy night….” On this end of the...