The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ
By Johann Peter Lange
Edited by Rev. Marcus Dods
VOLUME IV - THIRD BOOK
THE LIFE OF THE LORD JESUS UNFOLDED IN ITS FULNESS,
ACCORDING TO THE VARIOUS REPRESENTATIONS OF THE FOUR EVANGELISTS.
Part II
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK; OR, THE REPRESENTATION OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST SYMBOLIZED BY THE LION.
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SECTION XIX. THE RISEN LORD IN THE EVIDENCES OF HIS POWER. (Mark xvi.) The divine power, in the manifestation of which Christ had sojourned on earth, revealed itself not only in His resurrection itself, but also in the evidences of His resurrection within the circle of the disciples; it revealed itself in the supernatural power of healing and saving-, with which He sent forth the disciples into all the world; and in the unceasing operation of this His divine power from the throne of His glory, in connection with the word, it reveals itself evermore. The vigilance of the company of the disciples during the time that Jesus lay in the grave, showed itself especially by the three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, going out to buy ointments as soon as the Sabbath was past — thus, therefore, late in the evening of the Saturday after the crucifixion of Christ, — and by their rising very early on the following morning, the first day of the week, to anoint the Lord, and arriving at the sepulchre just as the sun arose. This tension of mind showed itself also in the circumstance, that it first occurred to them when already near the sepulchre, that a heavy stone had been rolled on the door of it; so that in perplexity they had to ask, 'Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? ' The stone lay also on their heart. But when they looked up — under the salutation of the morning sun — they saw that the stone was rolled away. Even from afar they could see it lying aside from the entrance; for it was very great. Thus they went into the open sepulchre. Here they beheld a youthful form sitting on the right side of the tomb, clothed in a white robe; and they were affrighted. But he said unto them, 'Be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen: He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you' (see Matt. xxvi. 32). And they went out in haste, and fled from the sepulchre; for fright and astonishment had taken hold of them: and they said to no one a word1 — in spite of the commission of the angel, until later they themselves had seen the Lord — for they were afraid. Thus the first joyful tidings of the resurrection of Christ did not break through: they remained, in the first place, buried in the ghostly terror and in the ecstasy of the three female disciples. Now, however — after a pause in which it was made manifest that angelic manifestations and angelic announcements alone could not have constituted an Easter festivity — the Lord Himself appeared. As the Risen One, He made Himself known, still early on that first day of the week, to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.2 She went and told it to them who had been His attendants, as they mourned and wept. But they, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After this He appeared unto two of them — from the company of the disciples themselves — in another (new, not-at-once-recognizable) form, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest; but these also they did not believe. Thus there followed on the tidings of the angel, the tidings of the woman — of the female disciple; on the tidings of the woman, the tidings of the two disciples: two witnesses; yet still, the company of the disciples could not be brought to believe. Then at length Christ Himself appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat. And as He had had so often to upbraid them with their unbelief — especially according to Mark — so He upbraided them once more for the last time: He reproved them for their hardness of heart, that they had not believed those who had seen Him after He was risen. And with His appearance in the midst of the disciples, and with the words which He spoke, the great revolution in their feelings took place. Now were they fully healed of their unbelief by the sense of His victorious divine power. Now, therefore, He could consecrate them as witnesses of His conquering might, with the words, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' And not only shall the signs of the power of Christ be transferred to the first disciples, but also to those that believe henceforward, accompanying them in the fulfilment of their calling as His disciples. These signs the Lord expresses in the words that follow: ' In My name they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues; they shall carry forth (sling forth) serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall (with healing power) lay their hands on the sick, and shall (themselves) be well.'3 They shall thus, with resistless power, banish the spirits of darkness, and, filled with the Holy Ghost, they shall speak with the tongues of blessed spirits, and so unfold the triumph of Christ in the department of spirit. They shall free the earth from poisonous reptiles, and themselves remain free from the influence of the poison in their own life. This is the development of the triumph of Christ over nature. Finally, by the laying on of hands they shall restore the sick, whilst they themselves shall rejoice in the strength and bloom of health. This is the triumph of Christ in the mixed constitution of soul and body in human life, which comprehends the two previous departments in unity. (See above, vol. iii. p. 416.) After the Lord had thus spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere. And the Lord on His heavenly throne wrought with them, and confirmed the word with accompanying signs. Thus in the announcements of the Risen One, sounds forth in practical form the word: Behold! the. Lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed. This Gospel is the Gospel of His all-conquering divine power, which subdues the world, which delivers it from all evil, which forms it into a new paradise, where a blessed fulness of the Spirit's gifts, inviolability, and unadulterated happiness and well-being prevail. ───♦─── Notes 1. After the delineation given of the fundamental idea of the second Gospel, the living connection of the last chapter with the whole, its organic unity, and its peculiar characteristics, reflecting in every part the individuality of Mark, are so evident, that there is no need of any further refutation of the opinion, that the concluding part, from ver. 9 onwards, is spurious.4 One may assert with confidence, that the fundamental idea of the Gospel first perfectly unfolds itself at the close, as in a crown of blossoms, — that the Gospel nowhere betrays the hand of Mark so clearly as here. This conclusion, which describes the victorious power of the disciples of Jesus over all the hostile powers of the world, and whose symbolical elements cannot be questioned, corresponds at the same time in a striking manner with the beginning, which depicts the Lord as He sojourned in the wilderness, secure and unconcerned, amongst the wild beasts. As regards the details, one must here repeat almost every separate clause in order to note the peculiarities of Mark. The circumstance that the two women, still late on the Saturday, purchase the ointments; then that they were already on their way before sunrise; the rising sun; the great heavy stone in the depression at the door of the sepulchre, and the perplexity of the women; their extraordinary astonishment, excitement, and fear; the commission to brin^ a special Easter message to Peter; the unbelief of the disciples; the upbraiding of the disciples for their unbelief, as it occurs in Mark on several occasions; the instruction to preach the Gospel to every creature; the additional clause (which Mark alone has): He that believeth, and is baptized, &c.; the promise of miraculous powers; the haste of the Evangelist towards the close; the concluding word concerning the manifestations of Christ's power, which seal the preaching of the disciples: all these are features in which the fresh and vivid conception of this Evangelist discovers itself. 2. With reference to the points of divergence between Mark and the other Evangelists, see above, vol. iii. p. 372, &c. As regards the order of time, all the statements down to ver. 14 belong to the first Sunday of the resurrection period. The following part is arranged without any determination of time. Nevertheless the point of the ascension is to be distinguished from those which possess a more general character. What precedes the 19th verse is a picture of the forty days. The conclusion reaches beyond the feast of Pentecost, and indeed points far out into the Acts of the Apostles and the history of the Church.
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1) According to Gfrörer, this remark of the Evangelist is intended to explain why
the disciples did not, according to the word of the angel, proceed immediately
to Galilee.
2) See Luke viii. 2. In reference to the significance of the seven devils, comp.
vol. i. p. 441.
3) The parallelism of
the clauses seems imperatively to require that the expression, καλῶς ἕξουσι, be referred to the disciples themselves. The
promise consists of
six members, or more exactly three times two, of which the one clause has always
reference to the influence exerted by the disciples on the world, the other to their
own life. The first antithesis is: to cast out the spirits of darkness, and as
blessed spirits to be themselves animated and prompted by the Spirit; the second: to cleanse
the world from poisonous reptiles, and themselves be secured against the poison;
the third: to lay hands on the sick, and themselves enjoy constant soundness. If the
additional clause, καλῶς ἕξουσι, be referred to the sick, it conveys little meaning.
Interpreters would perhaps have more readily adopted the most natural sense of the
expression, had they observed the organic connection of the whole passage.
4) Whilst perhaps it may be regarded as a later addition from the hand of Mark himself. See vol. i. p. 147. Comp. De Wette's defence of the genuineness of this passage. See likewise Gfröfer, p. 206. According to the latter, Mark, in his attempt to reconcile the statements of the other Gospels, threw the pen from his hand in despair at the end of the 8th verse: years later, however, he took it up again and wrote the conclusion.
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