Church Fathers Commentary Mark 16:14-18

"And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." — Mark 16:14-18 (ASV)

Glossa Ordinaria: Mark, when about to finish his Gospel, relates the last appearance of our Lord to His disciples after His Resurrection, saying, For the last time He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat.

St. Gregory the Great: We should observe that Luke says in the Acts, As He was eating with them, He commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem (Acts 1:4), and shortly afterward, while they beheld, He was taken up (Acts 1:9). For He ate and then ascended, so that by the act of eating, the truth of His flesh might be declared.

For this reason, it is also said here that He appeared to them for the last time as they sat at meat.

Pseudo-Jerome: But He appeared when all the eleven were together, so that all might be witnesses and relate to everyone what they had seen and heard in common.

The passage continues: And upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen Him after His Resurrection.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But how could this have been "the last time"? The last occasion on which the apostles saw the Lord on earth happened forty days after the Resurrection. Would He then have rebuked them for not believing those who had seen Him risen, when they themselves had so often seen Him after His Resurrection? Therefore, we should understand that Mark, wishing to be brief, said for the last time because it was the last time He showed Himself that day. For as night was coming on, the disciples returned from the country to Jerusalem and found, as Luke says, the eleven and those who were with them talking together about the Lord's Resurrection (Luke 24:33).

But some there did not believe. Then, while they were eating (as Mark says) and still speaking (as Luke relates), The Lord stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you, as Luke and John say (Luke 24:36; John 20:19). The rebuke that Mark mentions, therefore, must have been among the words that Luke and John report the Lord spoke to the disciples at that time.

But this raises another question. How can Mark say that He appeared when the eleven were eating, if this was on the evening of the Lord's day, when John plainly says that Thomas was not with them? We believe Thomas had gone out before the Lord came in to them, after the two disciples had returned from the village and spoken with the eleven, as we find in Luke's Gospel. While Luke's account leaves room to suppose that Thomas went out first and the Lord entered afterward, Mark's statement—He appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat—compels us to believe Thomas was there. The alternative is that Mark chose to call them "the eleven" even though one was absent, because the company of the apostles was known by this number before Matthias was chosen to take the place of Judas.

Or, if this is a difficult interpretation, let us understand it to mean that after many appearances, He showed Himself for the last time on the fortieth day to the apostles as they were eating. Since He was about to ascend from them, He chose on that day to rebuke them for not having believed those who had seen Him risen before they saw Him themselves. He did this because after His ascension, the Gentiles, through their preaching, were to believe a Gospel they had not seen.

And so the same Mark, immediately after that rebuke, says, And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. And further on, He that believeth not shall be condemned. Since they were to preach this, was it not right for them to be rebuked first, because before they saw the Lord, they had not believed those to whom He had first appeared?

St. Gregory the Great: Another reason our Lord rebuked His disciples as He was leaving them in His bodily presence was so that the words He spoke upon His departure would remain more deeply impressed on the hearts of His hearers.

Pseudo-Jerome: He rebukes their lack of faith, so that faith might take its place; He rebukes the hardness of their stony heart, so that a heart of flesh, full of love, might take its place.

St. Gregory the Great: After He rebuked the hardness of their hearts, let us hear the words of advice He speaks. For the passage continues: Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. The phrase "every creature" must be understood to mean every person, for humanity partakes of something from every part of creation. A person has existence, as stones do; life, as trees do; feeling, as animals do; and understanding, as angels do. The Gospel is preached to "every creature" because it is taught to humanity, for whose sake all things were created, whom all things resemble in some way, and to whom, therefore, nothing is alien.

The phrase "every creature" can also mean every nation of the Gentiles. For it had been said before, Go not into the way of the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5). But now it is said, Preach the Gospel to every creature, so that the preaching of the apostles, which was rejected by Judea, might be a help to us. For Judea haughtily rejected it, thus testifying to its own damnation.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Alternatively, "to every creature" means to everyone, whether believing or unbelieving.

The passage continues: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. For it is not enough to believe, because one who believes and is not baptized, but is a catechumen, has not yet attained complete salvation.

St. Gregory the Great: But perhaps someone might say to himself, "I have already believed; I will be saved." This person speaks the truth, if he supports his faith with works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in its deeds what it professes in its words.

It then says: But he that believeth not shall be damned.

The Venerable Bede: What shall we say here about infants, who because of their age cannot yet believe? For with adults, there is no question. In the Church of our Savior, then, children believe through others, just as they also drew from others the sins which are forgiven them in baptism.

The passage continues: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents.

Theophylact of Ohrid: That is, they will scatter serpents before them, whether spiritual or physical. As it is said, Ye shall tread upon serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19), which is understood spiritually. But it may also mean physical serpents, as when Paul was not harmed by the viper.

It continues: And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. We read of many such cases in history, for many people have drunk poison without being harmed by protecting themselves with the sign of Christ.

The passage continues: They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

St. Gregory the Great: Are we, then, without faith because we cannot do these signs? No, for these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church. The faith of believers had to be nourished by miracles so that it might increase. In the same way, when we plant groves, we water them until they are strong in the earth; but once they have firmly fixed their roots, we stop irrigating them.

These signs and miracles have other aspects that we should consider more closely. For Holy Church does every day in spirit what the apostles then did in body. When her priests, by the grace of exorcism, lay their hands on believers and forbid evil spirits to dwell in their minds, what are they doing but casting out devils?

And the faithful who have left behind worldly words and whose tongues now proclaim the Holy Mysteries, speak a new language. Those who, by their good warnings, remove evil from the hearts of others, take up serpents. When they hear words of poisonous persuasion without being drawn into evil deeds, they drink a deadly thing, but it will not hurt them. Whenever they see their neighbors growing weak in good works and strengthen their lives by a good example, they lay their hands on the sick, so that they may recover.

All these miracles are greater to the degree that they are spiritual, for through them, souls and not bodies are raised.