I’ll be be dealing with just one question in this week’s Readers’ Mailbag, since the response will require some explaining.  I has to do with the literary artistry of the Gospel of Mark – is it a fairly unsophisticated account of Jesus’ life and death? The question itself will require a bit of set-up and explanation.  In an earlier post I argued that Mark’s Gospel almost certainly ended in chapter sixteen at verse 8.   Jesus has been crucified, dead, and buried.  On the third day some women go to his tomb to anoint his body more appropriately for burial, but when they arrive the tomb is already opened, Jesus’ body is not in it, but a young man is, who asks them if they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth.  He then tells them that he has been raised and that they, the women, are to go tell the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee.  The women, though, flee the tomb and don’t say anything to anyone because they were afraid. In my [...]