Father Philip Writes...

June 2022

St Mark’s Gospel has two endings: The original Gospel ends abruptly at chapter 16 v 8… “And the women came out and ran away from the tomb because they were frightened out of their wits; and they said nothing to a soul, for they were afraid.” The 12 verses which now finish the Gospel are considered by scholars to be a slightly later addition by another person than Mark. At Theological college we rather wrote off verses 15-20 because of that, but we actually have very important lessons to learn from them. They read as follows:

‘And he said to them, 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.'
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And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven; there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.’

​​Perhaps Mark’s original point was that we should all fill in the story of the Risen Christ in our lives, as quite clearly the women did say something to other people or nobody, including ourselves, ​would ever have heard about the Resurrection.

​​In the rest of his Gospel Mark had described what Jesus did in his public ministry as a prelude to what he continues to do now through the church. So what do we learn from the concluding section?

1. 1. The Church has the task of SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS. It is the duty of the Church – and that means every Christian- to tell the story of the Good News of Jesus to those who have never heard it. One recent Pope said there are 8 Sacraments of the Church: the 8th is the lives of Christians, which should be signs of God’s grace. One prayer we say at Morning Prayer is: ‘Help us to manifest your resurrection by our way of living.’

1. 2. The Church has the task of HEALING. Christianity is concerned with people’s bodies as well as their minds and spirits. Jesus came to bring health to the body, mind and spirit.

1. 3. The Church should be a CHURCH OF POWER. In the colourful language of venomous snakes and poisonous liquids is a conviction that the Christian is filled with a power to cope with life.

1. 4. The Church WILL NEVER BE LEFT ALONE. Always, Christ works with it, in it and through it in preaching, teaching and healing, particularly through the laying on of hands and anointing of the sick with oil. 

The Good News of Easter and Pentecost is that Jesus wants to work a miracle in us if we open our hearts to him. Please ask yourself: “What miracle do I want Jesus to work in me?” You have only to read the Acts of the Apostles to see a remarkable parallel between the life of the early Church and the life of Jesus. Jesus healed and so did the early Church. Jesus expelled evil spirits and so did the early Church. The Church is the extension of Jesus in space and time and at St Mary’s we are here to fulfil these words: “God sends no churches from the skies: out of our hearts they must arise.”

I pray these words may be fulfilled in our parish.



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