Very early on the first day of the week the women come to the tomb. The stone is rolled away. A young man in white announces that Jesus has risen and goes before them into Galilee. He appears to Mary Magdalene, to two on the road, and to the eleven. He commissions them to preach the Good News to the whole creation. He is received up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. They go out and preach everywhere, the Lord working with them.
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back. 5 Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed. 6 He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him! 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’” 8 They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.
9 Now when he had risen 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 told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved. 12 After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. 13 They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.
14 Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19 So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
Source: ebible.org
The women come to anoint a body. The stone is rolled back. A young man in white says: you seek Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified; he has risen; he is not here. Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he said to you. The third-day prediction is fulfilled. The word spoken in 14:28 is kept. Peter is named after the denial; restoration is already announced before the first appearance. The Gospel that began with “the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ” ends with the empty tomb and the risen Lord. The women flee trembling. The disciples at first disbelieve. The hardness of heart that marked them through the passion is rebuked when he is revealed to the eleven. Unbelief is not the final word. The risen Lord is.
He appears first to Mary Magdalene. The disciples disbelieve. He is revealed to two on the way; they are not believed. He is revealed to the eleven and rebukes their unbelief. Then he commissions them: go into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who disbelieves will be condemned. Signs will accompany those who believe. The scope is not limited to Judea. The whole creation is the field. The Good News that began in Galilee and reached its climax in Jerusalem is now for the nations. The commission is given in the interval between resurrection and ascension — the same interval in which the apostolic foundation is secured for the transition generation that will preach while the temple still stands and will see the end of that order.
The Lord is received up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. The confession before the high priest is completed: you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven. The session is the position of authority. From that throne he will come in the clouds in the sense of Daniel 7 — receiving dominion and executing the judgment announced against the unfaithful tenants. The disciples go out and preach everywhere. The Lord works with them and confirms the word by the signs that follow. The Gospel does not end with absence. It ends with presence: the risen Lord at the right hand of God, working with his people as they preach.
Mark opened with the beginning of the Good News and the announcement that the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom is at hand. It closes with the empty tomb, the commission to the whole creation, and the session at the right hand of God. The generation that heard “this generation will not pass away until all these things happen” lived to see the risen Lord, the outpouring of the Spirit, the preaching to the nations, and the judgment that left not one stone of the temple upon another. The beginning and the end of the Gospel form one arc: the time was fulfilled; the Kingdom was at hand; the Son of Man suffered, died, rose, and was received up; he sits at the right hand of Power; he came in the clouds in the judgment of the old order; the Good News goes into all the world. Nothing in that arc is deferred beyond the horizon of the first-century covenant transition.
He has risen. He is at the right hand of God. The Good News is for the whole creation. We live as those who believe and are baptized, under the Lord who works with his people and confirms his word, in the age that followed the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. The tomb is empty. The session is permanent. The commission continues. The Kingdom that was at hand has come. The New Creation is not a future hope only; it is the present order in which the risen Lord reigns and his people preach.
He has risen. He is at the right hand of God. The Good News is for the whole creation. We live as those who believe and are baptized, under the Lord who works with his people and confirms his word, in the age that followed the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. The empty tomb and the session complete the arc that began with “the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom is at hand.”
How does the empty tomb and the session at the right hand of God complete the arc that began with “the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom is at hand”?