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.
Read Mark 16:15-20 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
When we read the closing statements in many of the gospels, too often we play favorites, and focus on one or perhaps two that we like the best. Unfortunately, this tendency to ignore or minimize the other gospel writers causes us to miss out on some amazing details – especially in this event.
When we think of the Great Commission, we think of Matthew’s version of Jesus’ famous, concise challenge to His disciples minutes before He ascended into heaven. There is a lot to like about Matthew’s version of the Great Commission challenge.
But Mark also includes a version of the Great Commission, but it is less popular, perhaps because it contains some challenging statements. Mark describes Jesus’ Great Commission to the disciples in a different way. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus turns to His followers and says, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished. 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. They will pick up snakes and drink poison without being hurt. They will touch the sick, and the sick will be healed.” (v. 15-18)
While Matthew focuses on baptizing, teaching, and making disciples, Mark focuses on sharing, baptism, belief, and proof that Jesus’ disciples have God by their side. Mark draws our attention to belief in Jesus being the source of these Holy-Spirit-powered signs.
However, perhaps Mark’s commission has fallen out of favor among people because we don’t see the miracles today like we read about in the book of Acts. The first followers of Jesus and those in the early church, had the Holy Spirit come into their lives in such a way that they were able to perform all that Mark describes, but in two or three generations after the first followers, these Holy-Spirit-powered signs had all but vanished.
Mark’s Great Commission is powerful. Mark tells us that belief in Jesus is the key to being rewarded by God. Mark emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is our reward in this life for believing, and implied is eternal life in the next life.
But Mark’s Great Commission has a flaw. If the list of actions that Mark gives as proof are the only foundation people use to have faith in Jesus, then there is little reason to have faith today if I don’t see those signs being performed (either by me or someone else). It also means that if Satan chooses to fake Jesus’ second coming as a way to draw the world to his side, then some miracles is all he needs to do.
This leads me to believe that while miracles are given to help people take notice, we must judge the teaching, the lives, and the actions of those performing the miracles to see if they are truly Christ-like.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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