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Holy Week · Easter Vigil Third Reading · Year B

Mark 16:1-7

The Resurrection

The Holy Women at the Tomb, William-Adolphe Bouguereau
The Holy Women at the Tomb, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1890Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
The women arriving at the mouth of the tomb in the grey first light, one already on her knees, the spices still in her hands.Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.William-Adolphe BouguereauBouguereau, who painted the moment before anyone has understood anything.Royal Museum of Fine Arts, AntwerpThe Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Overview & Insights

“He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16:6)

In God’s sovereign plan, suffering also leads to victory, and persecution to vindication. The resurrection of Jesus concludes not just the passion events but the whole Gospel of Mark, and it promises for God’s people that all of our failures will be overturned in Jesus. Structure Mark centers on the women and structures his narrative in a series of collages moving in three successive scenes: (1) Verses 1–4 contrast the women’s desire with the practical barriers, thereby continuing the misunderstanding motif. (2) Verses 5–7 contrast the women’s amazement with the angelic message. Here the angel first rebukes, then corrects, and then commissions the women; the stress is upon the solution to the messianic dilemma (the seeming failure of God’s plan in Jesus): the presence of the risen Lord.

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How does Mark tell the Resurrection?

At dawn the women bring spices and find the stone rolled back and a young man in white announcing that the crucified Jesus is risen and goes before them to Galilee.

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