Mark 13
Today I happen to be reading from the New Revised Stardard Version published by the American Bible Society. The sub-heads in chapter 13 convey the message: destruction (of the Temple), persecution (of the disciples). The Desolating Sacrilege. So, it's an upbeat kind of text.
This chapter suggests, even more strongly than some of the material we've already discussed, that Jesus did indeed think that he was living in an end time. The emphasis on watchfulness has an urgency to it that goes beyond the sort of "live a good life so you are ready to meet your maker" sermonizing that this chapter sometimes inspires. And if Jesus did think he was living in an end time, it opens up an avenue for some interesting speculation about what Jesus knew and didn't know, about the interplay between his human and divine natures in shaping his awareness of the world. To what extent, in his moment to moment mental processes was he the omniscient God, and to what extent was he confined the limitations of time and place?
There is something about this chapter that I find perversely appealing. It undercuts the sort of "Jesus is my buddy, and if I hang with him, things will work out all right for me," sort of spirituality that is flourishing in the United States right now, especially among the disciples of prosperity theologians. What is on offer here is neither comfort, nor reassurance, but rescue from the brink of catastrophe.
As someone who thinks that the phrase "personal savior" sounds a bit too much like "personal trainer"--and therefore seems to relegate the salvation of the world to a sector of the service economy)--I take an odd pleasure when God becomes too frightening for us to cuddle up with him.
This perhaps says more about me than about the deeper meanings of this passage, but there it is.
In reference to the question about what Jesus knew and didn’t know: I think when Jesus said He did not know the time the end would come, this affirmed His humanity. God the Father knows the time, and Jesus and the Father are one, but when Jesus assumed human form He gave up unlimited use of His divine attributes, while on earth Jesus’ powers came from the Father. At least this is the explanation as I understand it. The emphasis in v.32 is not that Jesus didn’t know, but that no one knows.
Jesus warned his followers about the future so they could learn to live in the present. Many of the predictions He made have not yet come to pass, but He did not make them so we could try to guess when they might be fulfilled and He might be returning, but rather to serve as a reminder to be vigilant in our faith and spiritually prepared at all times as we wait for His return.
Some of the disciples lived to see the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in AD 70 and this event serves to assure us that everything else Jesus predicted will come to pass. Jesus cautioned us to be wary of false teachers claiming to have revelations from God. Christ will return according to God’s timetable, not ours. Jesus teaches that preparation is needed, not calculation. There has been a steady stream of people since the resurrection claiming to know, or predicting, when Jesus would return, but none have been right yet.(v.21-23)
A study Bible I have has a list of things to watch for in false teachers;
1. Do their predictions come true, or do they have to revise them to fit what happens. Are they so vague that they can be claimed to have come true no matter what happens?
2. Does their teaching utilize a small part of the Bible to the neglect of the whole?
3. Does their teaching contradict what the Bible says about God?
4. Are their practices meant to glorify the teacher or God?
5. Do the teachings promote hostility toward other Christians?
Sound like anyone you know? (no naming names, please)
Jesus did not come to us just to save us from ourselves (our sins), He came to save us from lives of meaninglessness, to give our lives purpose thru following His will, and while our salvation is not based on works, we are expected to perform Christian works in accordance with Jesus’ example.
There is a song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra that begins with the lyrics:
An angel came down
One night to the earth
On a mission from God
To find out the worth
Of everything that
His children had done
Since that winter night
The birth of His son
If an angel came down to find the worth of what you (or I) have done with our time on earth, would you be OK with what he found?
Posted by Daniel | April 7, 2006 1:15 PM