Flashback Episode — Living with His Spirit: Mark 16:15-20

At the end of Jesus’ time on earth, He sends the disciples out with a commission to tell the world about Him. Last week, we focused in on one big commission we find in John’s gospel, and this week, while we could focus in on Matthew’s commission, which is the most famous one, let’s instead look at Mark’s version.

In my own mind, Mark’s version of this event might be a little more challenging than the commissions included in the other gospels.

Our passage for this episode can be found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 16, and we will be reading it from the New Century Version. Starting in verse 15:

¹⁵ Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone. ¹⁶ Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished. ¹⁷ And those who believe will be able to do these things as proof: They will use my name to force out demons. They will speak in new languages. ¹⁸ They will pick up snakes and drink poison without being hurt. They will touch the sick, and the sick will be healed.”

¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus said these things to his followers, he was carried up into heaven, and he sat at the right side of God. ²⁰ The followers went everywhere in the world and told the Good News to people, and the Lord helped them. The Lord proved that the Good News they told was true by giving them power to work miracles.

This passage ends the book of Mark. I will note that this conclusion is part of the longer conclusion to Mark’s gospel, and many Bibles will include the note that verses 9-20 are not in many of the early manuscripts. In my own mind, I can understand why. Mark’s longer conclusion includes many challenging ideas.

However, the big question is whether this conclusion at the end of Mark was added by others to enhance Mark’s gospel conclusion, or whether it was tried to be erased by many early writers because it was challenging.

I will be the first to say that I don’t know. A case could be made for adding Mark’s conclusion, or for removing it.

From a removing angle, I can understand why many in the early church might not want this commission around. This is primarily because if the miracles that Mark’s gospel included ever stopped, which they did shortly after the first generation of disciples and church leaders, Mark’s gospel record would then imply that God wasn’t as closely connected with His church. I doubt this would be the case, but the longer conclusion of Mark might make a historian wonder about that.

However, when we look at what Mark’s conclusion includes, almost everything it says is validated in the first century church and the first generation of believers. While this is great evidence that God was working powerfully in the first century Christian movement, it is also a prime opportunity for a well meaning scribe, when seeing that Mark’s gospel doesn’t end all that well, to craft his own ending with the details that he knows happened in the first century church.

The first century disciples used Jesus’ name to force out demons and to heal the sick. They spoke new languages. Paul is even recorded as being bit by a very poisonous or venomous snake and not being hurt. All these things are excellent proof that God was with the first century church, but with how everything is neatly consolidated at the end of Mark’s gospel, and when there is a little bit of discrepancy whether Mark included these details in his original version of his gospel record, a case can be made that these things were added later.

Whether a scribe added the longer version of Mark’s gospel at a later date to help give this gospel a stronger conclusion, or whether the early church wanted to remove Mark’s commission record because there weren’t as many clear miracles present after the first generation of believers, I don’t believe that either group or either case was being deceitful or acting against God. I believe both options actually desired to see God’s church glorified more.

However, what are we to do with Mark’s commission now that we live 2000+ years later?

Whether Mark included his commission or not, the rest of the New Testament confirms the challenge that Mark may have written. Regardless of whether he did include it or not, this longer ending to this gospel draws our attention onto how the Holy Spirit was moving in the first century church, and it includes a challenge that makes me think that the Holy Spirit’s presence was intended to be more permanent in the Christian movement moving forward.

I believe the Holy Spirit has been with God’s church from the moment He came and validated Jesus’ ministry while Jesus was here on earth, and also this would include when He visibly came at the beginning of the book of Acts to the early Christians in the upper room during the festival of Pentecost.

However, while I believe that the Holy Spirit has been active and moving in the church ever since the first century, I believe that the Holy Spirit ultimately had to switch to only working behind the scenes after the first few generations. While this isn’t bad when we look at it from one angle, I don’t believe the Holy Spirit intended to become less visible.

When reading Mark’s commission, I get the impression that those in the first century church didn’t expect the Holy Spirit to become any less visible, and this is the impression I get when reading the letters from Paul and Peter as well.

This commission in Mark’s gospel is both exciting and challenging for all of us. If those in the first century lived so close with God that they had the Holy Spirit move in their lives in visible, miraculous ways; and these early church leaders did not believe that they were somehow special or exclusively picked to receive the Holy Spirit; that means that each of us, living 2000+ years later is capable of living lives that are so close to God that the Holy Spirit cannot help but show up in powerful miraculous ways.

I cannot think of a better way to conclude our four, chronological years of moving through the gospels that with this conclusion. The best conclusion we can have is the challenge for a new beginning with God, and with the Holy Spirit, and with stepping out in faith into the life God created you to live.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode and prepare to wrap up another year, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Be sure to always intentionally seek God first and intentionally move towards Him each and every day. Make prayer and Bible study a regular habit, and be so committed towards moving towards God that the Holy Spirit cannot help but impact your life.

Also, as I always say, be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself because through the pages of the Bible, we can discover God’s plan, His character, and our future when we choose Him. Don’t let a pastor, author, podcaster, or anyone else get in the way of your personal relationship with God. While other people can give you great things to think about, your relationship with God must be your own.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!