The Easter Story Continues

Just for fun, here's a link to the whole Chicken Lickin' Dog story. The storyteller in this video is not the friend of my parents that I referenced, but she does a pretty good crying dog!

Now to some more serious stuff. Below, from the Common English Bible, is the shorter and then longer endings of Mark.

[⁹ They promptly reported all of the young man’s instructions to those who were with Peter. Afterward, through the work of his disciples, Jesus sent out, from the east to the west, the sacred and undying message of eternal salvation. Amen. ]

You can hear in this passage echoes of the Great Commission from Matthew 28. It's a post-resurrection explanation of how Christianity spread throughout the known world.


[[⁹ After Jesus rose up early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to the ones who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ But even after they heard the news, they didn’t believe that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him.
¹² After that he appeared in a different form to two of them who were walking along in the countryside. ¹³ When they returned, they reported it to the others, but they didn’t believe them. ¹⁴ Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up. ¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will be associated with those who believe: they will throw out demons in my name. They will speak in new languages. ¹⁸ They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus spoke to them, he was lifted up into heaven and sat down on the right side of God. ²⁰ But they went out and proclaimed the message everywhere. The Lord worked with them, confirming the word by the signs associated with them.]]

Here in the longer ending we see allusions to other stories from Matthew, Luke, and John. The doubt in verse 11 parallels the doubt in Luke 24:11. Mark 16:12 parallels Luke 24:13-34, the story of the journey to Emmaus. Verse 14 parallels John's story of the disciples gathered together in the Upper Room. 15-1 again parallels the Great Commission. 17-18 could be a  reference to Acts 28:4-5, which was written by the same author as Luke's Gospel. Finally Mark 16:19-20 parallels Jesus' ascension, which is told briefly at the end of Matthew and more fully in Acts 1.