The Resurrection Appearances!
9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. 12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. 14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Reflection:
Many believe these last eight verses were added to Mark's gospel because of the awkward transition from verse 8 to verse 9, in chapter 16. Regardless, I am glad they are included. And because we know all of God's word is inspired and useful for teaching, these verses give us much to learn. We see in this story the appearance of Jesus to Mary, and to the two men walking from Emmaus (this story is recorded in Luke), that the eleven disciples (twelve minus Judas) were stubborn and slow to believe. This is consistent with their lack of belief and failure to see the cross as the way Jesus had told them salvation would be accomplished.
But in spite of this, he commissions them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all of Creation. And then he says simply, "whoever believes and baptized will be saved". Notice the combination of belief and baptism. We see this also in the Great Commission where Jesus tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all He has commanded. So the question would naturally be does baptism save us? And the answer would be faith in Jesus is what saves us, but baptism is the visible sign of that faith. As Martin Luther said in the Catechism, "it is not water or the amount of water that saves us, but water connected with the Word." And the Word is Jesus Christ, who brings us the Good News, which we believe in by faith.
Finally, we see that those who believe in Jesus, not only are saved by that belief, but will produce signs. These signs done in Jesus' name show that if we believe in a Jesus, we will do many of the same works as He did. Some might say these signs were only relegated to those first generation of believers to kick start the Church. I find that argument pretty hard to buy into. Would that mean only the believers of a certain time get to do the things that Jesus did? I think not. After all does the world today need any less evidence of the power and authority of Jesus' name? I think not!
How about you? Do you see yourself doing the things Jesus did? Why or why not? If we have the power of the Holy Spirit given to us as we believe and are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; how could we expect any less? Something to think about for sure!!
Reflection:
Many believe these last eight verses were added to Mark's gospel because of the awkward transition from verse 8 to verse 9, in chapter 16. Regardless, I am glad they are included. And because we know all of God's word is inspired and useful for teaching, these verses give us much to learn. We see in this story the appearance of Jesus to Mary, and to the two men walking from Emmaus (this story is recorded in Luke), that the eleven disciples (twelve minus Judas) were stubborn and slow to believe. This is consistent with their lack of belief and failure to see the cross as the way Jesus had told them salvation would be accomplished.
But in spite of this, he commissions them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all of Creation. And then he says simply, "whoever believes and baptized will be saved". Notice the combination of belief and baptism. We see this also in the Great Commission where Jesus tells the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all He has commanded. So the question would naturally be does baptism save us? And the answer would be faith in Jesus is what saves us, but baptism is the visible sign of that faith. As Martin Luther said in the Catechism, "it is not water or the amount of water that saves us, but water connected with the Word." And the Word is Jesus Christ, who brings us the Good News, which we believe in by faith.
Finally, we see that those who believe in Jesus, not only are saved by that belief, but will produce signs. These signs done in Jesus' name show that if we believe in a Jesus, we will do many of the same works as He did. Some might say these signs were only relegated to those first generation of believers to kick start the Church. I find that argument pretty hard to buy into. Would that mean only the believers of a certain time get to do the things that Jesus did? I think not. After all does the world today need any less evidence of the power and authority of Jesus' name? I think not!
How about you? Do you see yourself doing the things Jesus did? Why or why not? If we have the power of the Holy Spirit given to us as we believe and are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; how could we expect any less? Something to think about for sure!!
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