If I were not preaching through the Gospel of Mark these days, I would have probably chosen another Gospel from which to read the Easter story. All the other Gospels tell a fuller and more complete, even more dramatic, story of the Resurrection. Mark’s announcement of Easter is really understated. In Mark’s Gospel, the big day is Good Friday He builds up to that day for five chapters, beginning with Palm Sunday. I don’t know whether you’ve ever noted it or not, but the events of Holy Week take up one-third of the Gospel of Mark. He uses only 8 verses to describe the Resurrection — 8 verses compared with 5 chapters That’s an understatement, isn’t it?

It was such an understatement that somebody felt they needed to add to it - so there is a second ending to the Gospel of Mark, The original G…