On Resurrection Sunday, three women went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body and found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. In Mark 16, a young man in a white robe tells them, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!” He sends them to tell the disciples, and Peter, that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. Mark’s Gospel ends with the women trembling and afraid, an abrupt ending that invites every reader to decide how they will respond to the risen Jesus.
Setting the Scene in Mark 16
After Pilate handed Jesus over (Mark 15:1-15), Roman soldiers mocked him, beat him, and led him to Golgotha, where they crucified him between two criminals. For three hours, darkness covered the land.
Mark 15:33-34 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
Jesus’ cry quoted the first line of Psalm 22, a psalm that begins in anguish and ends in triumph. On the cross, Jesus experienced the separation from the Father that our sin deserved.
Mark 15:37-39 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
The curtain in the temple separated the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence dwelled, from everyone else. It was torn from top to bottom, from God’s side, showing that the way into God’s presence was now open. And the first person in Mark’s Gospel to call Jesus “the Son of God” after his death was a Roman centurion, a Gentile soldier who watched him die.
Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council, asked Pilate for Jesus’ body and laid it in a tomb cut out of rock, rolling a stone across the entrance (Mark 15:42-46). Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph watched where he was laid (Mark 15:47). Then the Sabbath began at sundown on Friday, and everyone rested.
Early on the First Day
As soon as the Sabbath ended, the women made plans.
Mark 16:1-4 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
The Sabbath ended at sundown Saturday, so the women bought spices that evening. Anointing a body with fragrant oils and spices was an act of love and honor, and they hadn’t had time to do it properly before the Sabbath. Notice that these women were the faithful ones. The male disciples had fled, but the women watched the crucifixion (Mark 15:40-41), saw the burial, and came back to the tomb.
They came to anoint a dead body. They weren’t expecting a resurrection. Their biggest concern was practical: who would roll away the stone? Tombs of wealthy families in that area were often sealed with a large disc-shaped stone set in a groove, which could weigh hundreds of pounds or more. When they arrived, the problem was already solved. The stone had been rolled away, not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in.
He Has Risen!
Inside the tomb, the women got the shock of their lives.
Mark 16:5-7 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
The young man in a white robe was an angel. Matthew calls him “an angel of the Lord” (Matthew 28:2-5), and white robes are often associated with heavenly beings. His message is the heart of the Christian faith: “He has risen! He is not here.” The verb can be translated “He has been raised,” emphasizing that God the Father raised him. The angel invited them to see the empty place where Jesus had been laid. The resurrection wasn’t a vague spiritual idea. The body was gone.
Then came the instructions: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter.” Those two words, “and Peter,” are only in Mark. After Peter’s three denials (Mark 14:66-72), he may have wondered if he still had a place among the disciples. Jesus made sure he knew. And Jesus would meet them in Galilee, “just as he told you,” keeping the promise he made the night he was betrayed (Mark 14:28). Jesus was going ahead of his scattered sheep, like a shepherd.
The fact that the first witnesses were women is significant. In that culture, a woman’s testimony was often considered unreliable, and it wasn’t accepted in some courts. If someone were making up the resurrection story, they would never have chosen women as the first witnesses. This detail strongly suggests that the Gospel writers were reporting what actually happened.
Trembling and Bewildered
Mark’s account ends in a surprising way.
Mark 16:8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
The earliest and most reliable manuscripts of Mark end here, at verse 8. Most modern Bibles include verses 9-20 with a note explaining that they don’t appear in the oldest manuscripts. Early church writers like Eusebius and Jerome noted that most copies they knew ended at verse 8. Verses 9-20, often called the “longer ending,” summarize resurrection appearances recorded in the other Gospels and Acts: Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, to two disciples walking in the country, and to the Eleven, followed by the Great Commission and his ascension. They appear to have been added later to give the Gospel a fuller conclusion. They don’t teach anything that isn’t found elsewhere in Scripture.
So why would Mark end with fear and silence? Some scholars think the original ending was lost. But many believe Mark ended here on purpose. Throughout his Gospel, people were told to keep quiet and couldn’t stop talking. Now, the women are told to speak, and they’re silent out of fear. The ending is unresolved, and it leaves the reader with a question: What will you do with this news? Of course, we know the women didn’t stay silent forever. The fact that we have Mark’s Gospel at all proves the message got out.
The Resurrection Changes Everything
The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. Paul summed up the gospel as the things “of first importance.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-6 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
Paul pointed out that hundreds of eyewitnesses were still alive when he wrote, people who could be questioned. The resurrection proves that Jesus is who he claimed to be, the Son of God (Mark 14:61-62). It proves that his death paid for our sins. And it guarantees that everyone who trusts him will one day be raised too (Mark 12:18-27).
What This Means for Us
Mark’s Gospel began with “the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). It ends with an empty tomb and an open question. The women were afraid. Fear is a natural response to something this big. But the angel’s message still stands: Don’t be alarmed. He has risen.
Like Peter, you may feel like you’ve failed too badly to have a place with Jesus. The words “and Peter” are for you. The risen Jesus goes ahead of you and invites you to meet him. If you’ve never put your faith in him, today is the day to respond. Learn more at How can I become a Christian? And if you have, don’t stay silent. Go and tell.
The Takeaway
What happened on Resurrection Sunday? Three faithful women found Jesus’ tomb empty, and an angel announced, “He has risen!” He sent them to tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. Mark ends with the women afraid, inviting every reader to respond to the risen Jesus with faith and to tell the good news.
