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Friday, Dec. 6
Mark 12:18 – Chapter 13 Click here to read
If Chapter 13 sounds to you like it goes off in a direction that doesn’t fit the rest of the book, you aren’t alone. Many, perhaps most, scholars think this segment (13:3-37) was either inserted later or was inserted by the original writer from an earlier source.
The first two verses of the chapter fit in better with the rest of the book. In them, Jesus equates himself with the Temple. He, not a literal building, is where all nations will meet God.
Apocalyptic writing, as in most of Chapter 13, is a specialized and often confusing style that we will look at in more depth when we read the books that are most heavily in that style: Daniel and Revelation. It also shows up in sections of the other gospels (in passages parallel to this one in Matthew and Luke), and in Joel, Zechariah and Isaiah.
I would like to highlight it here because of the time of year.
Apocalyptic writing is literally literature of “unveiling,” or the revelation of hidden knowledge, often about events in the future. In the Bible it is associated with the end times.
Before the birth of Jesus many anticipated that the birth of the Messiah would take place immediately before God intervened in history to crush his enemies and the enemies of his people and restore an Eden-like rule in which he reigned directly over human affairs.
When that didn’t happen in the days or even years right after Jesus’s death and resurrection, the church developed an understanding of the “second coming” of Jesus. In this understanding, we are now in a period of divine forbearance, where God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus but is allowing an extended period before the final judgment in which people can repent. (See Romans Chapters 2 and 9).
Historically Advent was a time of anticipation of the second coming, and only later became associated with Christmas. While some Christians still make an effort to widen the understanding of Advent to include both the first revelation of God in the person of Jesus and the anticipated final revelation of God in the final judgment, the relationship of Advent to the return of Christ is all but lost in modern Christianity.
As the annual reminder that there is a promised sequel to the gospel story has faded we have increasingly associated the second coming strictly with times of great uncertainty. The current world situation of political instability in long-stable countries, unusually frequent natural disasters and wars across the world, particularly in the Middle East, have brought a new wave of interest. It is likely to continue and increase.
At times like this, it’s important to remind ourselves again of the continuity of the Bible message.
The same Jesus who saves us from the grip of death, who saves us from slavery to sin and who saves us from our own guilt, is equally capable of ushering his people through the trauma of the apocalypse, whether it comes in our lifetime or many generations down the road.
As is so often the case, Jesus had the right words to remember: “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”