Mark provides us with the first story, the first narrative, of Easter. For more than one reason, his story should surprise us: It is very brief, only eight verses. To compare the other gospels, Matthew’s Easter narrative has twenty verses; Luke’s, fifty-three verses; and John’s, fifty-six verses divided into two chapters. Mark does not report an appearance of the risen Jesus. Appearance stories are found only in the other gospels. Mark’s Easter story ends very abruptly.
