February 8, 2014: Mark Chapter 13

The Gospel According to Mark Chapter 13

Originally posted Monday, February 25, 2008  

General Comment: Chapter 13 in Mark has been named the Little Apocalypse. With the exception of a few passages in Paul's epistles, this is the oldest example of New Testament Apocalyptic writing. The only other, and much larger, such writing is the Book of Revelation which is entirely Apocalyptic in nature. Such writings seek to describe the signs which foretell the end of the old age and the beginning of the new. In Jewish Apocalyptic writings the new age is ushered in by the Davidic Messiah or Son of Man. In Christian writings - and there are many, it is the Parousia, the return of Christ, variously as one of peace, judge or a mighty warrior who wreaks havoc on the earth (Revelation). Such books appear throughout history at regular intervals and are the stuff of more fictional accounts than one can wish to count. They all have in common a perception that God will save the particular religious group in peril (Judaism, Islam or Christianity) from devastating persecution or destruction by its enemies - in Christianity, the Antichrist. One interesting example, and typical of the genre, is the Apocalypse of Pseudo Methodius written toward the end of the seventh century in response to the threat of Islam - the advances of the sons if Ishmael into the Byzantine world.

See the notes for Matthew Chapter 24 for additional information on Apocalyptic literature.

Mark Chapter 13:1-13 The Prediction and Signs of the Destruction of the Temple [see MT 24:1-14]

Matthew closely follows Mark in the entire chapter. When the disciples marvel at the buildings and stones of the Temple structures, they are not exaggerating. Descriptions from Josephus who was a General in the Jewish-Roman war, wrote about the beauty and enormity of the Temple. Excavations during the last forty years have verified much of what he wrote. In the wall, building stones with dimensions of eighteen feet long by five feet wide by six feet high, weighing 400 tons, have been unearthed, and these are the small ones. Josephus reports that not even the Roman battering rams could penetrate the outer western wall. The finishing stones on buildings were polished and gleamed in the sunlight.

The opening passage follows the collective direction of the events beginning with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. In Particular Mark's portrayal of the two fig tree scenes bracketing the long Temple sequence prepare us for what follows.

As the disciples stand in awe of the sights, Jesus quickly changes the mood. As a word of judgment Jesus tells the disciples that the time is coming when all this magnificence will be thrown down. As Mark writes the last portions of his version of the Gospel the Romans are methodically moving through Palestine overcoming scattered armed groups of Zealots in Galilee, the Essenes in their desert community of Qumran and the decreasing remnants of the Jewish forces led by Josephus. Their target is Jerusalem and they will make a lesson of it that is mourned even to this day. Josephus will enter Jerusalem and attempt to convince the leaders of the Zealots who have taken control of the city to surrender and save the city and the Temple. They will refuse, waiting expectantly on the ramparts for the Messiah to appear on the Mount of Olives with his angelic forces streaming across the Kidron valley to intervene on behalf of God's people. But it will not happen. Jesus, with the memory of Jeremiah before him, sees the outcome as inevitable as it was six centuries before when the Prophet lamented over the impending destruction of the city by the Babylonians.

But when will this happen? What will the signs be, the disciples ask Jesus as they look down from the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple. What follows is from the well known, generic language of apocalyptic vision, used in writings (Enoch, Esdras, Baruch, Revelation) before and after the time of Jesus. He would have known such language and its use, not as history but as vision. False Messiahs and Prophets, wars, famines and natural disasters, all will happen, but don't be led astray. This is only the beginning.

There will be persecution, your persecution, he says to them. You will stand before Synagogues, councils and kings as a testimony to me. Give voice to the Good News without fear. Families will fracture in acts of betrayal. Many will die, but many will remain faithful no matter the trials.

Mark Chapter 13:14-23 The Desolating Sacrilege  [see MT 24:15-28]

It is difficult to identify the Desolating Sacrilege with any particular object or person in Mark's time. Caligula attempted to have a statue of himself placed in the Temple Sanctuary, but died before that could happen. There was no attempt by Claudius or Nero to disrupt the Temple or impose any such pagan representation upon the Jews. Since Mark may be writing just before the end of the Jewish war, it would be most logical to look at the events of the period 67-70 CE. There were false Messiahs in the period preceding the Jerusalem destruction, such as Theudas with 400 followers and The Egyptian with some 30,000. Both were destroyed by the Romans. The strongest possibility may be the Galilean Menahem ben Judah who was the leader of the Zealots- basically a collection of terrorists who despised the Roman rule of Palestine and who refused to pay the Roman head tax, shouting, "No king but God!" He had a number of early successes against the Romans and their Herodian allies. He captured Masada and then routed the garrison in the Antonia Tower adjacent to the Temple. He (and the Zealots) took control of the city and Temple, acting as its king. He was eventually murdered by another Zealot, Eleazar and his men.

It was during this period of Zealot control that we can reasonably suggest the desecration of the Temple, not by Romans, but by the bloodshed in the city and Temple as groups fought for control and High Priests were murdered. The Temple certainly had become a literal den of brigands.

We might ask why Mark would use these events in writing for his community of mostly Gentiles. Perhaps it was to demonstrate a sense solidarity between those Gentiles who had undergone the terrible persecutions of Nero for the last four  years since the great fire of 64 CE in Rome. It was out of this persecution that the apocalyptic vision of Mark was born.

Mark Chapter 13:24-27 The Coming of the son of Man  [see MT 24:29-31]

Mark draws upon the cosmic imagery of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel. The signs are representative of the appearance of a divine figure. In Mark it is the Son of Man, the final Judge. The sign the disciples ask for is not found in these atmospheric events but in the appearance of the "Son of Man coming in the clouds," an image drawn from Daniel 7:13.

This is the defining event for the earliest Church. It is more pronounced than the "Second coming of Christ" which is later terminology when the 'Son of Man" and "Messiah" titles eventually fade as major titles applied to Jesus. The idea of the final judgment, a Jewish apocalyptic concept that pre-dates the church, became an important part of Christian thinking as they considered the fate of all of those who rejected the Gospel or who lapsed in their faith.

Mark Chapter 13:28-31 The Lesson of the Fig Tree  [see MT 24:32-35]

The fig tree of this passage is not the one representing the condemned Temple. This is a brief proverb about the changing of seasons.  Mark uses it as a comparison to reading the signs previously mentioned. "These things" are those events presented in Mark 13:1-23.

vss. 30-31 present significant difficulties for interpreters. Are "all these things" the same as in vs. 29 or is this an independent parabolic saying from an early Christian prophet? Is it the hope of the Church that they will see the Son of Man, to whom all these things point, appear in their own lifetime? We can say with assurance that the son of Man did not come to usher in the final judgment, at least not in the way Mark understood such an event. That the early church did look forward to an swift return of Jesus is evident in one of Paul's epistles twenty years before Mark's Gospel was finished. We must look elsewhere for an understanding.

We have mentioned the understanding that the Kingdom of God had already begun to dawn in the presence and ministry of Jesus, the one in and through whom God works in the world. For Mark that beginning will come to its fulfillment in the death of Jesus, for it is in Jesus' death and exaltation that Mark sees the coming of the Son of Man, in great glory and power (vs. 26). In effect and paradoxically, it is in this shame of the cross that the glory and power of the Son of God are exhibited and released into the world, specifically within the community of faith, the new Israel, the Church. The generation of the cross had not passed away before it saw these things transpire, before they had experienced the New Age of the risen Christ. The generation of Mark also saw these things through the preaching, teaching and the sacraments of the Church. Yet even then, Mark writes, there is more to do. The Gospel must be preached to the ends of the Earth before all the world will "see" what the Church has already experienced.

Mark Chapter 13:32-36 Watchfulness  [see MT 24:36, 44]

This passage is something of a corrective or caution to the obsession ("irrational exuberance," to borrow a bit of Alan Greenspan-speak) of those who traffic in End Time predictions and who are able to convince audiences decade after decade to contribute to their cause or buy their latest books based on the latest predictions, no matter how strange they seem. In the 19th century the Millerites, as many as 100,000 people including some Methodists, were convinced that Jesus' return (his second advent) would come on October 22, 1844 (a final date after previous predictions had not worked out). Apparently the careful calculations of William Miller were incorrect. Unfortunately many had sold farms, homes and businesses in the belief that Miller was correct. Out of that movement came a number of Adventist groups, including the largest, the Seventh Day Adventists, which formed in 1863, which might be proof enough that Paul was right: God can work for good in all things.

In the first century the Pharisees believed they could hurry the advent of God's Kingdom by teaching enough Jews to practice the traditions of holiness. However, For Mark that final day of the universal presence of the Kingdom cannot be hurried, forced or predicted. Therefore, watchfulness is necessary, not calculations. As in the days of Noah when all things were occurring as usual, the flood struck and no one knew it was coming until it came. So it is with the Son of Man. Only God knows the day and the hour.