THE ENDING YOU WRITE

You know those endings of a movie where you think, “What? Wait. No!”? It seems too abrupt; too unfinished. You might even wait through the credits to see if there is another ending. The Gospel according to Mark ends like that.

The original ending of the gospel is so abrupt, that several scribes tried their hand at a better one. You can see the most popular few noted in your Bible. The original, as far as we can tell from the earliest known manuscripts, ended at verse eight.  The women run away afraid and tell no one that that Jesus has risen from the dead.

It ends feeling like, “Come on, tell somebody! This is good news!!”

I think that is precisely the point. Instead of summing up what happened next or adding on something Jesus may have said, we can let the abrupt and unsatisfying ending move us to action. If we have good news, we need to share it! People are depending on knowing that Jesus is the Royal Son of God who died and rose from the dead. It changes everything. Tell somebody!

Who have you told lately?