What does Mark 16:1 mean?
Jesus died and was buried on the Passover (Mark 14—15). The day after the Passover is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:5–7) which is a "high day" or holiday-Sabbath (John 19:31). Friday-evening to Saturday-evening is the regular Sabbath. Scholars debate as to which day Jesus was crucified, but we know it was right before some type of Sabbath (Mark 15:42).When Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus, they wrapped His body with seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloe (John 19:39). Jews traditionally lay their dead in a grave carved into rock for a year. Spices and ointments cover the smell of decaying flesh. After a year, when only bones remain, the bones are removed and put into a permanent resting place, often in a box called an ossuary. The women are here to add to the fragrances Nicodemus used.
The disciples and the women who support Jesus (Luke 8:1–3) followed Him from Galilee to the Mount of Olives for the Passover (Mark 15:41). They watched while He rode into the city on a donkey while fellow travelers, Jews from Galilee and Perea, proclaimed that He was bringing the return of the kingdom of David (Mark 11:7–10). They watched as He debated Jewish leaders in the temple courtyard, shaming them with their misunderstanding of Scripture (Mark 11:27—12:40). The disciples had Passover dinner with Jesus and watched Judas betray Him to the chief priests (Mark 14:12–50). John and the women watched the soldiers crucify Jesus (John 19:25–27), and some of the women stayed to watch Him die (Mark 15:40). Fewer still watched Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bury Jesus in a tomb (Mark 15:47). They then had to return to where they were staying because the Sabbath was upon them.
All that build-up and tension is the prelude to a day on which they are required to rest. Their experiences have swung from fear of dying (John 11:16) to hope of national triumph (Mark 11:1–10), from victory over national leaders to the total defeat of the death of their Lord—and then they have to sit and do nothing. They can't run back to Galilee. They can't go to the tomb. They can't even visit Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. All they can do is think and talk to each other. This would have been a good time to consider the Scriptures and Jesus' promises that He would rise from the dead. But their hearts are still closed to the truth.
