Reflections on Mark 12:1-16:20, James, Galatians #newthru30 Day 9

We are finishing up the second gospel. It is always good to have some of our Bible reading each day come from the gospels. Jesus never ceases to amaze me! Here are a few thoughts from today's reading:

• Give no matter how much you've got (Mark 12:44)
• What a pep talk (Mark 13:9)!
• Here's a quote from Scot McKnight regarding Mark 13: "the language of Jesus about the future, most especially that found in Mark 13/Matt 24/Luke 21, was to be understood in its Jewish context and not in light of how church people had been interpreting it for nearly a century. (a footnote: the dispensational mode of reading the Bible, its hermeneutic, is a trend that began at the end of the previous century and which took hold through Moody Bible Institute, the Scofield Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, and famous evangelists and preachers, like Harry Ironside and Billy Graham. End of footnote.)" Read his entire thoughts on eschatology (the study of end things or times) here.
• The reason Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:61-64)
• Jesus crucifixion. Grotesque and hard to read every time (Mark 15).
• There is a question about how and where the Gospel of Mark ends. In fact there are at least 4 different endings that in the ancient manuscripts (manuscripts is a fancy word for copies that we have of the books of the Bible). 

• The first ending is at Mark 16:8. Not a great ending with the women bewildered and fleeing the tomb without telling anyone. But this is where the gospel ends in the 2 oldest and most reliable manuscripts.
• The second ending is adding verses 16:9-20. This is called the long ending and is in most medieval Greek copies of Mark and in some ancient church documents from the 3rd century A.D. This is the ending included in the King James, New King James, and the NIV (though the NIV includes a comment saying this section is not in the oldest manuscripts).
• The third ending is from an old Latin manuscript and is included in the RSV margin. It is the so-called short ending and reads, "But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from the east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."
• The fourth ending is found in several Greek manuscripts that are judged to be not as reliable and these have the short ending followed by the long ending.
• So what are we to do with this? I believe the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of ending the gospel of Mark at Mark 16:8.

Ok. That was fun. Mark is done now on to James and Galatians! Keep reading!

Grace and peace,

Steve

Posted via email from steve wynkoop's posterous