Mark 16:1-20 (NLT)
1 Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body.
2 Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
3 On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
4 But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked,
6 but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.
7 Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
8 The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.
[Shorter Ending of Mark]
Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen.
9 [Longer Ending of Mark]
After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.
11 But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.
12 Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country.
13 They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.
14 Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.
16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.
18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”
19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
Even though Jesus, Himself, had told them this would happen, and even though they knew very well the friends who were confirming that it indeed had occurred, Mark doesn’t indicate that there was any of them who believed the report of His rising. The fixation on His passing and its devastating removal of hope in their own lives prohibited the acceptance of the best news they should have already been expecting. It wasn’t until they each had a personal encounter with Jesus was there belief He had risen. It’s interesting, though, that after being with Him personally they were able to respond to His command to go and share the same truth they themselves had just failed to receive by word of mouth. Something more than just His physical presence impacted not just them personally, but the testimony they would share and its accompanying power. In His presence was the reception of power to demonstrate His goodness through healing, but also through a testimony that carried a Holy Spirit anointing. The same encounter with Jesus that transformed them from doubters to amazing believers, doing His same works and greater, was experienced through them as they were full of His Spirit.
There is an anointing to remove the scales of deception and doubt, that come from a fixation on hopeless loss and despair for all who will come to know more than something about Jesus, but His actual presence in the filling of His Spirit. The most incredible things will be received and effectively shared, opening hearts the reception of salvation, in those who have moved past physical requirements to spiritual empowerments. The believing necessary to activate the following of signs and wonders will only come from time spent in the encounter of His presence by the Spirit.