Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 85
Chapter Seven—Did Jesus Ascend to Heaven? 85 Mark asserts that Jesus sent a message to his disciples telling them to meet him in Galilee, and then without any connection with what he has mentioned before and without giving details as to place he makes this statement: So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. 1 The last sentence, ‘and sat at the right hand of God’, weakens the whole statement as it is not conceivable that the writer also went up to heaven and saw Jesus sitting on the right hand of God. The truth concerning the last twelve verses of Mark is that ‘they were added (to the original account) later still, probably early in the second century, probably to take the place of the ending which had been lost, or which was regarded as defective’. 2 Mark’s account therefore, cannot be taken as a basis for this dogma. St. Luke’s account is: He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass that while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 3 Thus, according to St. Luke, he became separated from his 1. Mark 16:19 2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, ed. II, vol. 17, p. 730 3. Luke 24:50–51