Mark 16:1-13 Weaker Witnesses

Mark 16:1-13 Weaker Witnesses

Many have noted that God could have begun the proclamation of the resurrection with much stronger witnesses. Men of education; men of power and position. But He didn’t. For this first witness of the resurrection of Jesus, God chose women.

The women were mentioned in the last post at the end of Mark 15. They watched Joseph from a distance, noting where the body of Jesus was laid. Their job was to prepare the body for burial, which now they were going to attempt to do post-burial, since they could not do it on the Sabbath. We can be quite sure that as the women evaluated their own role in this drama, they had no intention that they were to be “first witnesses” to the resurrection. 

There has been much written on the role of women in Jesus’ ministry, and about Jesus’ attitude toward women. They were often the recipients of His attention and mercy. Just to give one illustration: Jesus speaks with the religious leader, Nicodemus, in John 3; and then the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Each gets equal attention. The difference might be that we have no indication in John 3 of Nicodemus’ response, while we find a response of faith on the part of the woman in John 4, a response that is then shared by many of her villagers. She certainly outshines Nicodemus.

There were no women named among the Twelve disciples, but we know that there were many women who were  disciples. This probably fits with cultural patterns of the day. It also fits with the consistent theme of Scriptures, which spans many cultures, and more importantly, is the Word of God. That theme is one of male leadership in the home and the church. But that is not to disregard or to minimize the role and importance of women, titled here as “weaker witnesses.”

You might know why I have chosen this title. It is an allusion to the passage in 1 Peter 3, where we have these words: 1Pet. 3:7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman.” KVJ says “weaker vessel.” The “first witness” regarding the resurrection was entrusted to particular people, messengers, vessels. And it so happens that God chose to make use of “weaker vessels.” God, in His wisdom, chose this route. It did not change the message. It may have made the message easier to disregard, or harder to believe. Note verse 11: “When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

With regard to true faith, it is not the impressiveness of the messenger that wins the day. It is the fact that the message penetrates the defenses of what we expect to see or hear, or what we want to see or hear. With regard to true faith, it is the power of the truth entering into our minds and hearts and changing our patterns of thinking. And then, in light of that truth, every thought and behavior needs to be re-evaluated.

The fact that God chose to have “weaker vessels” deliver this message only highlights the fact that God desires that His message be a penetrating truth that needs no aid from humans, great or small. It is sufficient in and of itself. And so we rejoice in God’s ways, and we are thankful for these women, who met to do an ordinary thing, and were then employed in the highest of privileges of being “first witnesses.”