Church Fathers Commentary Mark 16:19-20

"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen." — Mark 16:19-20 (ASV)

Pseudo-Jerome: The Lord Jesus, who had descended from heaven to give liberty to our weak nature, Himself also ascended above the heavens; for this reason it is said, So then after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven.

St. Augustine of Hippo: By these words, He seems to show clearly enough that the preceding discourse was the last that He spoke to them on earth, though this does not appear to bind us completely to this opinion. For He does not say, "After He had thus spoken to them," and therefore it can be understood not as the last discourse. The phrase used here, After the Lord had spoken to them, He was received into heaven, could potentially refer to all His other discourses as well.

But since the arguments we have used above lead us to suppose that this was indeed the last time, we ought to believe that after these words, together with those recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, our Lord ascended into heaven.

St. Gregory the Great: We have seen in the Old Testament that Elias was taken up into heaven. But the ethereal heaven is one thing and the aerial heaven is another. The aerial heaven is nearer the earth; Elias, then, was raised into the aerial heaven so that he might be carried away suddenly to some secret region of the earth. There he is to live in great calmness of body and spirit until he returns at the end of the world to pay the debt of death.

We may also observe that Elias ascended in a chariot, so that by this it might be understood that a mere man requires external help. But our Redeemer, as we read, was not carried up by a chariot or by angels, because He who made all things was carried above all by His own power.

We must also consider what Mark adds, And sat at the right hand of God, since Stephen says, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Now, sitting is the posture of a judge, while standing is the posture of one who is fighting or helping.

Therefore Stephen, while struggling in the conflict, saw Him standing, whom he had as his helper. But Mark describes Him as sitting after His ascension into heaven, because after the glory of His ascension, He will at the end be seen as a judge.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Let us not, therefore, understand this "sitting" as if He were placed there with a human body, as though the Father sat on the left and the Son on the right. Instead, by "the right hand" we should understand the power that He, as man, received from God—that He should come to judge, who first had come to be judged.

For by "sitting" we express habitation, as we say of a person, "he settled in that country for many years." In this way, then, believe that Christ dwells at the right hand of God the Father. For He is blessed and dwells in blessedness, which is called the right hand of the Father, because all is "right hand" there, since there is no misery.¹

It goes on: And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs and wonders.

The Venerable Bede: Observe that just as Mark began his history later, he also extends his written account to more distant times. For he began with the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel by John, and he extends his narrative to the times in which the Apostles sowed that same word of the Gospel throughout the world.

St. Gregory the Great: What should we consider in these words, except that obedience follows the precept, and signs follow the obedience? For the Lord had commanded them, Go into all the world preaching the Gospel, and, You shall be witnesses even to the ends of the earth.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But how was this preaching fulfilled by the Apostles (Acts 1:8), since there are many nations where it has only just begun, and others where it has not yet begun to be fulfilled? Truly, then, this command was not laid upon the Apostles by our Lord as if they alone, to whom He then spoke, were to fulfill so great a charge.

In the same way, He says, Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, speaking apparently to them alone. But who does not understand that this promise is made to the universal Church, which, though some of its members die and others are born, will be here until the end of the world?²

Theophylact of Ohrid: From this we must also know that words are confirmed by deeds, just as then, in the Apostles' case, works confirmed their words, for signs followed. Grant, then, O Christ, that the good words we speak may be confirmed by works and deeds, so that at the last, with You working with us in word and in deed, we may be perfect. For Yours, as is fitting, is the glory of both word and deed.

Amen.

1. de Symbolic, 7
2. Epist., CXCIX [199], 12