Mark 16:12-13--Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

Mark 16:12-13
English Standard Version
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Jesus Appears to Two Disciples
12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

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As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, this is part of the book of Mark that does not appear in some of the earliest texts they've found, but this passage at a minimum refers to a passage that is in the book of Luke (Luke 24:13-35).  In typical fashion for the book of Mark, the story is short on details, other than to let us know that there are other witnesses to the Resurrection.  Luke actually gives us the name of one of them to make it even easier for others to track them down and get their story.

Mark also included the detail that the apostles who were gathered there did not believe the testimony of these two witnesses.  They would not believe until Jesus appeared to them after this and they saw Him for themselves, and even after this, they had trouble believing what they had seen, and He would have to appear to them again.  Jesus was patient with them as they came around to understanding what had happened and would breathe on them to give them some of His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) to help them understand and to empower them for the mission He was about to give them.  That's what we'll talk about next time and it will be the passage that contains the verses that we will have to ask who the promise was made to.  Was it only made to the Eleven, or maybe only to those who were called Apostles, or was the promise made to the Church at large and does it apply to all that we would call Christians in all places at all times?  I think we run into some problems if we go for the last hermeneutic and don't see this as a specific promise for a specific people sent on a specific mission.  We'll get there tomorrow though.