| Church School Lesson: Life Beyond Death |
"Life Beyond Death"
March 31, 2024
Background: Mark 16; Print: Mark 16:1-8;
Key Verse: Mark 16:6; Devotional: Exodus 14:10-14, 21-23, 26-31
Mark 16:1-8 (ESV)
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”
4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.
5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mark Chapter 16 (Commentary)
16:1-4 On the first of the week—Sunday—the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body (16:1-2). They were discussing the fact that they needed someone to roll away the stone that covered the entrance to the tomb (16:3). But when they arrived, they saw that the large stone had already been moved (16:4). What had happened? Who rolled the stone away?
16:5-6 As the women stepped into the tomb, they expected to see a dead body—not a live one. A young man dressed in a white robe was sitting inside. Entering a dark tomb to find someone speaking to you is enough to alarm anyone, but this man immediately told them, Don’t be alarmed. We know from Matthew’s Gospel that the man was actually an angel (Matt 28:5), so his words come with divine authority: You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! (Mark 16:6). Jesus had told his disciples in advance, again and again, that it would happen (8:31; 9:31; 10:34). Now it had come to pass. Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.
16:7-8 The divine messenger told the women that they themselves were to be messengers, informing the disciples and Peter that he would meet them in Galilee (16:7). Peter, the one who had denied Jesus, was perhaps singled out to reassure him of the Lord’s forgiveness. The women were so initially overwhelmed at what they had seen that they ran in fear and delayed carrying out the instructions (16:8), but they soon obeyed the angel and told the disciples the good news (see Matt 28:8; Luke 24:9-10).