Considerable agreement exists among scholars that the original ending of Mark's gospel has been lost. All the earliest extant manuscripts available end the text abruptly at verse 8. In Greek this means the gospel ends with the term gar ("for"), a particle that usually comes second in a clause of many words. Whatever originally followed this gar disappeared.

It almost seems as if the details that are missing at the final verse of Mark seem to be stockpiled at the beginning of today's text. In 16:1-2, there are details about the names, dates, times, shopping lists and intentions of those involved. The women listed here in verse 1 differ slightly from those given in 15:40 and 15:47, but this is probably due to literary style more than multiple sources.

The list of women serves as a redactiona…