We have come to the conclusion of Mark's gospel. Yes, that is right – “the conclusion.”
There are a couple of alternate endings that are found in later manuscripts, but they appear to have been crafted by those who couldn't believe that Mark would have ended his gospel this way!
What makes the “long ending” (verses 9-20) suspect (besides the fact that it doesn't appear in the earliest manuscripts) is that it reads like a summary of material from Matthew, Luke, and Acts. In other words, it doesn't really flow from Mark's narrative.
The alternative “short ending” (likely found in your footnotes) sounds very much like an attempt to tidy up Mark's hanging ending.
And I'll admit – v8 is a very strange ending: but we're not there yet!
If you would understand the strange ending, you must first pay attention to the gospel.
Mark 1:15 is the title for this sermon, because Mark himself refers to his book as “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
And truly Jesus' first words in Mark's gospel form a fitting theme statement for the whole of the book: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'
When Jesus first said that, his hearers may not have understood. But now, at the end of Mark's gospel, we understand.
'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'
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