ADAM KUBIŚ, Man or Angel? Identity of the Young Man in the Markan Narrative on Jesus’ Empty Tomb (16,5-7)

SUMMARY

The question of the identity of the νεανίσκος in Mark 16:5-7 is not so clear and straightforward as one might think at first glance. If the reader is not influenced by the other three canonical gospels, the Markan description of this figure is, at least, ambiguous. It might be an angel, but equally well it could be a human being. Further, when read in the context of the larger Markan narrative, this figure Both of these occurrences ought to be read not only on a realistic-historical level but also in a symbolic register. On a historical level, the young man sitting in the tomb of Jesus is an angel, even though the women visiting Jesus’ tomb regarded him purely as a human being. As a symbolic figure, however, the νεανίσκος sitting in the empty tomb of Jesus might represent, at one and the same time, Jesus, his disciple, a catechumen, a martyr, the Markan Church, or an implied reader. The two Markan νεανίσκοι, taken together, create an inclusion which brackets that Gospel’s entire passion and paschal narrative. This invites the discerning reader, Jesus’ disciple, to pose a question regarding his or her own status as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.