How to Preach the Gospel of Mark's 'Long Ending'

While preparing to preach on Christ's resurrection from Mark 16, pastors will encounter a note in most modern Bible translations something like this: "Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include verses 9-20."

That note should not confuse pastors or cause them to question the reliability of the Bible, five veteran preachers from across the U.S. told Baptist Press. The preachers advocated a variety of approaches to Mark 16 but agreed that the chapter affirms Christ's bodily resurrection regardless of where it ends.

"At the end of the day, the most important truth coming out of Mark 16 is the bodily resurrection of Jesus," said Corey Abney, pastor of the Cincinnati-area Florence Baptist Church of Mt. Zion in Florence, Ky. "Therefore, we should never teach Mark 16 in such a way that people grasp a longer or shorter ending but miss the Gospel." Keep reading