Then Mark’s story abruptly ends: “So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (16:8). The ending is not only abrupt, but puzzling. According to Mark, the women don’t tell anybody. End of gospel. Full stop. The ending was deemed unsatisfactory as early as the second century, when a longer ending was added to Mark (16:9–20).20
