If you have been with us for this series of study, you know our title was “Jesus, the Suffering Servant.” From our perspective, suffering doesn’t appear to be the pathway to victory. In Mark, we can see from Jesus’ teaching and actions how His suffering culminated in His ultimate triumph. Today is our final episode in this series, titled “The Triumph of the Servant.” In this episode studying Mark 16:9-20, we explore the end of Jesus’ journey, where his suffering ends in victory. J. Mark highlights three key facts that point to Jesus’ triumph: his appearances, his commission, and his ascension into heaven.
Transcript
The late Vernon Grounds told of an incident that happened while he was in seminary. Their school had no gymnasium, so he and his friends played basketball in a nearby public school.
At the school, an elderly janitor waited patiently until the seminary students finished playing. Invariably, he read his Bible as he waited. One day, my friend asked him what he was reading. The man answered, ‘The book of Revelation.’ Surprised, my friend asked if he understood it. ‘Oh, yes,’ the man assured him. `I understand it.’ ‘What does it mean?’ Quietly, the janitor answered, `It means that Jesus is going to win.'”
Grounds concluded, “That’s the best commentary I have ever heard on that book. Jesus is going to win. That’s the Biblical mindset.” And that is the mindset we encounter in our study of the closing verses of Mark’s Gospel.
If you have been with us for this series of study, you know our title was “Jesus, the Suffering Servant.” From our perspective, suffering doesn’t appear to be the pathway to victory. Still, as we have worked our way through Mark’s account, we can see from Jesus’ teaching and actions how His suffering culminated in His ultimate triumph. Today is our final episode in this series and is appropriately titled, “The Triumph of the Servant.”
I noted in the previous episode that there is some controversy surrounding the final verses in this chapter of Mark’s Gospel. Many scholars, including conservative ones, point out that verses 9-20 are not in the earliest manuscripts and were likely added by scribes to remedy what they saw as an abrupt ending.
Is it possible that Mark wanted to end this way? Look at the opening verse of the Gospel. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Did Mark intentionally end abruptly to suggest that the Gospel story is still being written? If this is truly where the Gospel of Mark ends, we do not lack assurance of Jesus’ resurrection, brief time on earth, and His ascension. Each of the other Gospels provides us with ample evidence of these things.
I turn now to Mark 16:9-20. Follow closely as I read, and note the FACTS that establish the triumph of the Servant.
This text reveals the FACTS that establish the triumph of the Servant.
The First FACT (that establishes the triumph of the servant) is,
His Appearances
Our text opens by informing us that, among all His followers, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene. Mark’s identification of Mary via her deliverance from demons seems a bit strange at this point. It is one of the reasons that call into question these ending verses. However, the fact is confirmed by Luke 8:2.
John tells us that during her encounter with the angels, Mary was weeping outside the empty tomb. After she spoke to them, “…she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
After her encounter with Jesus, ”She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.” Luke confirms this by adding, “And their words seemed to them like idle tales (or nonsense), and they did not believe them.” This theme of unbelief continues right up to the time of Jesus’ ascension.
The next disciples to witness the risen Christ were the two on the road to Emmaus. “After that, He appeared in [a different] form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.”
His appearance was in “a different form.” He had appeared to Mary Magdalene as a gardener. Here, He appeared as a fellow traveler. Luke 24:13-32 gives us a complete account of what transpired between them as they walked and talked together. While Luke doesn’t specifically mention their unbelief, their astonishment at Jesus’ sudden appearance among them in Jerusalem implies it.
Notice how the circle of witnesses is expanding in verse 14. “Later, He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”
Luke gives us additional details. “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So, they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.”
All these, and many more, were witnesses to the fact of Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection. Though His enemies thought they could silence Him by putting Him to death, His triumph over it began a worldwide movement that is still growing today!
The Next FACT (that establishes the triumph of the servant) is,
His Commission
Jesus instructed His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
The omission of baptism with “he who does not believe” shows that Jesus does not make baptism essential to salvation. Condemnation rests on disbelief, not on baptism. So salvation rests on belief. Baptism is merely the picture of the new life, not the means of securing it. This doesn’t minimize the value of baptism as a matter of obedience. It is part of the process of sanctification.
Matthew records the more detailed account of what we usually call The Great Commission. “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”
Jesus did not give us the mandate to preach entertainment or the latest psychological theories. The gospel has a definite content. It has to do with the announcement of the person and ministry of Jesus and how the benefits of His life and death can be appropriated to us by faith. It is not that God loves you and has an excellent plan for your life. The gospel is not that if you come to Christ, you will have purpose for your life. Those things may be true and may be interesting and inviting to certain people, but that is not the gospel.
The gospel has to do with the life of Jesus, His work, His atonement, His resurrection, His ascension, and the salvation that is wrought by Jesus, which is appropriated by faith and by faith alone. That is the gospel. The gospel is not my testimony. My testimony may relate to your circumstances, or it may not. But the gospel relates to everybody’s circumstances.
Mark’s version of the commission continues in verses 17-18. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; theywill take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
There’s nothing controversial about casting out demons and speaking in other languages. Both of those activities occurred frequently during the apostolic era, and, in some cases, continue even today. The handling of snakes and drinking deadly poison seems to introduce us into the twilight of the apocryphal stories. The intentional handling of snakes is not mentioned in any other place in Scripture as a sign of apostolic authority.
In Acts 28, we do have the record of Paul being shipwrecked on the island of Malta. After the survivors made it to shore, the inhabitants of the island “…kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. So, when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.”
Regarding these verses, here’s a quote from Dr. Robertson. “The great doubt concerning the genuineness of these verses (fairly conclusive proof against them in my opinion) renders it unwise to take these verses as the foundation for doctrine or practice unless supported by other and genuine portions of the New Testament.”
Unfortunately, some people have a penchant for taking what is descriptive and making it prescriptive. What I mean by that is, the biblical narrative describes something that happened but doesn’t command us to follow it. For example, the early church practiced communal living, but nowhere is the church commanded to follow that practice.
Or this one, because Jesus commanded the rich young ruler to sell everything he had, does that mean every follower of Christ must practice that? What about the stipulations Jesus gave the Twelve and the Seventy when He sent them out to preach the Gospel? Are we commanded to follow those same restrictions? The obvious answer is no. However, in each of these examples, there are principles we can follow and benefit from in our walk of faith.
This commission Jesus gave to us as His disciples is still being fulfilled today. It is a fact that inarguably demonstrates the triumph of the servant.
The Final FACT (that establishes the triumph of the servant) is,
His Ascension
Here, the author compresses a critical component of our faith into a single verse! “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
This last phrase, sat down at the right hand of God, was an early and cherished belief mentioned many times by the writers of the New Testament epistles. A few examples will suffice. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God,” Colossians 3:1. “…looking unto Jesus, the originator and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:2.
Luke’s Gospel tells us, “And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.” Luke 24:50-53.
In Acts 1:9-11, we read, “Now when He had spoken these things (the commission to be witnesses), while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Oh, what a glorious promise! Just as He ascended into heaven, so He will descend similarly as He went. Furthermore, we have a sure hope, a “hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave. The plan of salvation is completed, and we are the blessed recipients of that Good News.
And one day, the heavens will open, and Jesus will come again in the clouds of heaven; first, to receive His bride, the Church, to celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Then, later, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He will plant His feet on the Mount of Olives and reign in Jerusalem. “And in that day, it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter, it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be— “The Lord is one,” And His name one,” Zechariah 14:8-9.
I close with Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.But each one in his order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says, “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now, when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
Hallelujah! When that day comes, the Triumph of the Servant will be fully completed. Until then, we have work to do, just like the disciples did. “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”
