a woman!­

Saturday in Easter Week

April 18th

READING: Mark 16: 9-15

Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.  And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

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.

REFLECTION

There is little doubt that these verses of Mark’s gospel-account were added to the author’s original ending. Later even more were added. When I first encountered that observation a few decades back I wasn’t particularly surprised: as someone with a bit of a “lit crit” bent they felt different for a dozen reasons. But I assumed at the time Mark had been dragged off mid chapter, probably to face a martyr’s death. Later, much later, I was made aware of the profundity of the original ending. That was probably when I encountered the writings of Ernest Best and so-called reader-response criticism from the early 1980s onwards. If Mark’s gospel-account ended at Mark 16:8, as most scholars agree, then we are left knowing that the women were afraid, unable to say anything, yet that they did say something, and so we heard it. As a gospel-stutterer I find that deeply profound and deeply encouraging.

But by the middle of the 2^nd century c.e. someone wanted to flesh out the subtleties, and so we have two longer endings. Here we get some interesting insights. For example, by now 150 years after the event, the later author notes that the disciples would not believe “inadequate” witnesses. The word of a woman had no legal weight, unless corroborated by a male. Mary Magdalene’s word (almost) sank. Then two more tell a bizarre tale of an empty tomb. No explanation is given (no gender) but their word too (almost) sank. Finally Jesus turns up, gives the eleven a good bollocking, and they get their “aha” moment. And so do we. Eventually.

The second century writer – I suspect a woman’s hand – was no fool. The gospel message that had begun with an empty tomb, death conquered, was first entrusted to the vulnerable and powerless. Hadn’t Jesus generally shown a bias towards the powerless and broken? A centurion wants a miracle for his daughter, and fair enough too, but a socially rejected woman – a woman!­ ­gets first dibs (Mk. 5: 21-43) Yes the girl was a future woman too, but it’s her dad who tries to pull rank. The vulnerable are the authentic Christ-bearers in Mark’s gospel (Luke speaks of rich being cast down, too …) but all too often we have cast the gospel in terms favourable to the slick and the powerful and the ornate and the neon-lit.

Covid-19 has stripped the world of much pretentiousness. We, the Church (alongside all humankind – no favouritism when viruses are involved), are being stripped of so much that protected us from harsh realities of a decaying society and planet. Much that we have taken for granted is being pared away to bedrock. Perhaps it’s only a temporary state but, as we are renewed in resurrection hope we might let ourselves be reminded that the resurrection was not a glamour show, but a whisper that transformed the hearts of a handful of frightened, powerless, but deeply authentic women.

And even so we heard of it.