Why do some scholars feel that verses 9 through 20 of Mark 16 were not in the original manuscripts?

Also – why did Mark say the women left the tomb frightened and told no one anything, when all the other Gospels say the women DID talk to others about why they saw at the Tomb?

Here is the link to todays video Podcast:

Mark 16… He is Risen!

The audio links for spotify and iTunes are to the right.

Here is the transcript used for  today’s podcast:

Mark 16

Jesus Has Risen

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 

Compared to the events attending Jesus’ death, the discovery of the empty tomb is remarkably devoid of spectacle. What is extraordinary, given male dominance in both Jewish and Roman societies, is that with the “strong” males having fled, the only eyewitnesses who can testify to Jesus’ death, burial, and empty tomb are these “least,” the women disciples.

Edited by Carson, D. A. (2018). NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible. Zondervan

2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

Even more disturbing than finding the stone rolled away is finding in the tomb someone sitting, the posture of authoritative teaching, and clothed in white, normally associated with formal occasions and festivity and suggestive of a heavenly visitation

Edited by Carson, D. A. (2018). NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible. Zondervan

6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

The women can testify only to the empty tomb apparently because Jesus, as promised, is already going ahead of his disciples to Galilee (14:28). It is perhaps the failed disciples (14:50) and especially Peter (14:66–72) who most need the assurance of a resurrection appearance, with its hope of forgiveness and restoration.

Edited by Carson, D. A. (2018). NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible. Zondervan

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.[a]

What about verses 9-20?

This is where Mark leaves the narrative. Jesus, gone from the Tomb, on His way to Galilee. The other Gospels fill out the rest of this story. Why Mark let his story end here, I do not know. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible by Zondervan tells us this about verses 9-20:

Scholars almost universally agree that this section is a later attempt, perhaps by a second-century scribe, to rectify the perceived problem of v. 8. The earliest and best manuscripts do not have these verses; they are unknown to a number of early church fathers; and the vocabulary and style differ from the rest of Mark.

The fact that Mark ends his Gospel this way does not mean he is in error or the other gospels are in error, because their accounts differ. Of all the Gospels, John’s account is the most complete. In all the other accounts, everything Mark mentions here is included in their telling.

I get all that – but still the last sentence bothered me…

the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Mark says they said nothing, yet the other Gospels say different – that the women reported the empty tomb. How is THAT apparent discrepancy to be dealt with?

An article found on https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com  titled 

“Reconciling the action of the women in Matt 28:8, John 20:2, and Luke 24:9 with their inaction in Mark 16:8”

states that 

As a further observation, it is perhaps worth noting that the Greek underlying “neither said [they any thing] to any [man]” (Mark 16:8) has “said” in the aorist aspect (οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπον), which does not qualify the duration or completion of the action. We might translate Mark 16:8b as “Neither did they say anything to anyone (at that moment)”.

What this author is saying is that the women didn’t say anything at that moment – not to that angel who spoke to them or to anybody else that was there. And who was there? The Roman guards who had been knocked down by the angelic appearance of the angels who released Jesus from the tomb. It doesn’t take much imagination to imagine the scene… the women approach, intending to anoint Jesus’ body, see that not only was the stone rolled away, but perhaps also seeing the guards fallen to the ground, unconscious, or nearly so. The look inside, the angel speaks to them, and perhaps the guards are starting to stir from their unconscious or nearly unconscious state. The women would flee – not staying to talk to these guards who would have undoubtedly taken them captive, having woken to seeing an empty tomb and these women (had they remained instead of fleeing). So the women said nothing … and ran. John’s Gospel gives the remaining details.

Why didn’t Peter recount his running to the Tomb to see for himself as we read in John’s gospel? Again – I don’t know. If Mark’s gospel is the earliest written testimony of the life of Jesus, and it is comprised of the meat of Peter’s preaching, we might find our clue there. I do not find it hard to believe that Peter would find it difficult to to tell much detail about this part of the story. He had denied Jesus with curses… THREE times! Rather than stand with Jesus (as he had bragged he would) he took the coward’s road. Yes, Jesus DID forgive Peter personally, restoring him, but being forgiven does not necessarily release you from the shame of what you have been forgiven for. Next to the betrayal by Judas, Peter’s actions were (I imagine to his eyes) just as dastardly and cowardly. 

We will see Peter as a changed man in the book of Acts, but that does not mean the sting of the events preceding the crucifixion was gone. As a result, I can understand Peter (and Mark) stopping the story here.

There are things in my past that I am singularly ashamed of. They have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus. But any time my mind drifts back to those memories, there is enough sting left to act as a guardrail, steering me back to Jesus. If you were to follow me around throughout the day, you would hear me muttering something like “Lord have mercy! ”. I find myself saying this every time a memory pops up of some of my past acts or activities.

According to all I have read about Peter, he never again denied Jesus to the point of dying a martyr’s death on a cross.

Thus ends Mark/Peter’s telling of the Gospel story….

He is risen!

In His Grip,

Paige