The earliest versions of the Gospel of Mark end with the women who had gone to the tomb on Easter morning fleeing and saying nothing "for they were afraid."
Over time (we are talking centuries) there emerged additional verses, added to the end of the Gospel of Mark. Some bibles include these, some place them in the footnotes, some merely refer to them.
These alternate endings seemed to be added in order to confirm, in writing, what the Church had come to believe about the empty tomb.
Perhaps this was done so that those who had not heard the story would know what the eventual outcome was. Perhaps these verses were included in order to testify to what Jesus' followers experienced, once their fear gave way to faith. And, if Mark was the only account we had, we would certainly appreciate the stories which Luke is able to tell in his second book. (We are reasonably sure that the Book of Acts is a second book by the same author as Luke.)
In defense of the original ending to Mark, it leaves each of us to decide what we will make of these events. It allows us to ponder on how fearful we are, and whether we will come to trust in the promises confirmed by the empty tomb. If we remain dependent upon someone else to tell us what these things mean then the faith within us is surely a borrowed faith and not a faith of our own.
The women fled the tomb and said nothing. What is our response?
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