‘They Said Nothing to Anyone’: The Fear and Silence of the Women at the Empty Tomb (Mk 16.1-8)

In Mark’s gospel a group of women is mentioned for the first time at the crucifixion of Jesus. These women are the last remaining followers of Jesus who are faithful to him after the twelve male disciples have fled at his arrest. At the end of the gospel, however, they run away from the tomb, terrified to pass on the news of the resurrection. In Mark’s apocalyptic world-view the women’s struggle between faith and fear reflects the eschatological conflict between the old and the new age. The gospel ends bleakly with the silence of the women, but earlier accounts, such as that of the woman with the flow of blood who overcomes her fear to confess her faith, act as an encouragement to Mark’s audience to speak in the context of persecution. Mark’s gospel itself is testimony that the women’s silence does not hinder the announcement of the new creation.