And they went out and preached everywhere

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

- Mark 16:14-20

This is the end of Mark's gospel. We recall from the passages of yesterday and the day before that the women at the empty tomb were first told that Jesus was risen. Then, the first day of the week, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, and later to two disciples as they walked. But the disciples, who were mourning and weeping, did not believe the reports they heard from Mary Magdalene and the two disciples to whom Christ appeared. Today, we read Mark's report of Jesus' appearance to the Eleven (the Twelve minus Judas Iscariot) as they sat at table.

My study bible has many helpful notes on this section. We begin first with the rebuke: Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Jesus had attempted to teach his disciples many times that he would rise again after being killed, but they could not understand him. My study bible notes: "Failure to believe the report of the Resurrection is worthy of blame. Jesus rebuked the disciples for unbelief and hardness of heart even as they experience the joy of intimacy with the risen Lord in meals alluding to the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit comes to lead them to a full understanding of the mystery of Christ and his mission." I think the understanding of the necessity of the Spirit and Its action in the world is very important here. Our gospels are really not complete without this understanding of where we stand today, and how the Church has evolved. Most especially, we must not forget the necessity of the Third Person for our own awareness and comprehension. Even the disciples themselves failed to understand the reality of that kingdom and its messages and meanings before the day of Pentecost, when everything would change.

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." My study bible notes again, "The Resurrection launches the Church toward her world mission. ... All nations are to be His disciples and to bear witness to His Resurrection. Further, every creature, the entire cosmos, is affected by it." How profound this is! The transforming power of Spirit, of the Resurrection and its Light, is meant for the whole world. As Jesus has said, he has given himself - and this Eucharistic supper is the perfect setting for that understanding - "for the life of the world." There is nothing that escapes that "life" and the power of renewal and transformation. Everyone, everything, every creature, is included.

"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." Another note in my study bible reads: "Jesus commends the task of baptism not to the public but to his apostles. Salvation includes faith and baptism." I think the response to testimony is important, but personally I think this statement reads very harshly on its own. By itself, it lacks the entire tone of Christ's loving nature and forgiving power in the Father, who will go to the ends of the earth for one lost sheep. We must never forget that God's infinite mercy is something we are incapable of grasping in ourselves as limited human beings, and also that it is not we who are to judge. For myself, that Judgment remains an important mystery, and we must always keep this in mind. However, being a witness - and hearing from a witness - conveys a certain responsibility, willing or unwilling. Christ's power in our own lives and our testimony to that may be something that casts a powerful effect; but each of us must find our own duties within the understanding and prayer life of our relationship to Christ.

"And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Again, an important, helpful note that I will quote here: "To invoke the name of the incarnate Son of God is also to call upon the Father and the Holy Spirit: three Persons, one in divine nature and divine power. The power to cast out demons had already been given to the disciples ... Now future believers are also promised the gift of exorcism. Speaking with new tongues was a gift highly valued by the Corinthian Christians (1 Cor. 13:1, 14:2-28). For the Church Fathers this was a miraculous ability to speak foreign tongues in order to spread the gospel, as at Pentecost. (Acts 2:6-11)." Further, there is this note: "Paul took up a serpent and was not harmed by its bite (Acts 28:3-6). According to a tradition preserved by the Church historian Eusebius, Barsabas Justus (Acts 1:23) in his later life, while tested by unbelievers, drank poison and survived. The Church Fathers strictly prohibited deliberate, harmful acts against oneself as demonstrations of Christian faith." These powerful words are perplexing and strange. But there is one more way to read them (in addition to the important notes of my study bible). I personally understand the images of serpents as something metaphorical to demons. Poison, we must understand as well, comes in many forms metaphorically, of evil at work in any situation. We can understand these words literally -- and the notes from my study bible give examples of literal experience -- and we can also understand them metaphorically as the kind of power we can count on in this Name, in which we seek to dwell and live and have our being and do our work in the world as His followers. We also understand that there are many ways to be sick, many things that can be sick (including situations, groups of people and all ways one can think of in which prayer and healing is necessary, and more). I think all of it is important, on every level to which it can apply. Just as we must never underestimate the infinite love and mercy of God, so we must never underestimate God's power, and how it may work in any and all situations, and how it is at work in our lives in every possible way. I don't think it's possible for us to grasp the entirety of God, nor God's love nor God's power in our lives and in our world. We cannot take that in, we cannot estimate every possibility. This requires the perspective of God.

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. Thus ends our gospel, and I will again reprint the final note here: "Note the sequence: Ascension, sitting down at the right hand of God, mission. This sitting down refers to (1) Christ's enthronement in glory and (2) the immovable stability of His royal state, His eternal sharing in the divine power and lordship of the Father. He will cooperate with the apostles, working with them and confirming the gospel they will preach, in part through accompanying signs. The book of Acts provides ample evidence of this ongoing synergy between man and God." Ascension means that Christ is seated on his heavenly throne. All of this invocation at the end of this gospel teaches us about power that is shared with us, his followers. He is teaching his disciples what they are to do now; they have been prepared, they have shared his life, and others will come to share as well. This great family of believers, of those who will also become related through healing and through that power, will grow as far and wide as it can. Every creature is included. There is no limit to the levels and extension of preaching, teaching, baptism, healing in every single form that their ministry can take, and continues to take. The Ascension is the security, if you will, that this great mission is undertaken in faith to a divine power, seated in Him who sits at the right hand of the Father and works together with the Holy Spirit. In this we can take faith as we go out and do the same.

What does it mean to you to be anchored in such faith and power? Is that power at work in your life? Have you experienced it? What is your testimony? Yesterday, I wrote that our story really begins at the Resurrection. We are those who have heard and been baptized and understood long after the events of Jesus' life. We are those who continue to be taught, to cultivate our faith, and to move forward in this life in which the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is also present to us, long beyond the documented experience of the apostles in the book of Acts. This power is at work still, in your lives and in mine. How do we go forward in it? What is your testimony? We recall that St. Paul will teach that in the Body of Christ we each have our own role to play, each unique part makes up the whole. We know, also, that the Spirit is infinitely creative; new forms of holiness are always possible and continue to be revealed. How is that Spirit - and the Trinity whose Presence is always invoked in the Name - at work in you and in your life? How does it touch others through you?