The Language of Hope by Peter L. DeGroote
Notes for Bible Talk: November 16, 2005 Please read: Mark 13: 24-27 Compare with: Luke 21: 25-36 and Matthew 24: 29-31
Bible Talk is an informal discussion of biblical passages, ideas, and related material. The discussions are on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm, following the Service of Word and Table. Occasionally, they will not be held due to special events. These Notes are intended to assist participants in thinking about the passages and some of their implications prior to the gathering. Usually, the Notes are prepared and the discussion is led by Rev. Peter L. DeGroote The sources for biblical quotations are labeled as follows: NRSV: The New Revised Standard Version, Copyright ©1989, The National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States. SV: The Scholar’s Version; i.e., The Five Gospels, The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus, Robert W. Funk and Roy W. Hoover, and The Jesus Seminar, Copyright © 1993 by Polebridge Press. TM: The Message, The New Testament in Contemporary Language, Copyright © Eugene H. Peterson 1993. navpress, Colorado Springs. M: My paraphrase.	1. When slaves in Egypt, the Israelites hoped that God would liberate them. Freed and in the wilderness, they hoped God would give them a land of their own. In their own land, they hoped that God would help defeat their enemies. Weary of war, they hoped God would provide a warrior/king to lead them to victory. Once David's kingdom was established, they hoped that God would prove his power to the entire world by raising them above all other nations.     When their kingdom was lost and they were in exile, they hoped God would return them to their land. For a while, they thought God was punishing them for their sins. Some began to believe they were suffering servants, that through their suffering others would come to see what God was doing in the world; i.e., through their suffering, God's kingdom would finally be established.     After returning to their land, the Israelites hoped God would send a Messiah to relieve them from the domination of emperors. Some believed that required a cataclysmic end to the world, and hoped for that. 2. This hope for the end of the world was adopted by many early Christians, some associating it with the return of Jesus. In the passage, Mark takes up the subject by quoting from the Book of Daniel about the end times. (7: 13-14) Mark adds carefully crafted instructions from Jesus that tone down the emphasis on end times. The passage has three elements. A. vs. 24-27 (the quote from Daniel): We will know it is the end when the sun and moon are dark, the stars fall from the sky, and the Son of Man appears on a cloud with angels to gather in the faithful. In other words, the only reliable sign of the end is that the universe ceases to function. Forget all of those other claims about the "signs of the times," it is only the sign of false prophets. Stop listening to those who do not know what they are talking about.  Note: Later Christian literature equated the term Son of Man with Jesus. However, there is no clear meaning for its use in the Old Testament. Mark seems to have adopted it with the rest of the quote from Daniel. B. vs. 28-31: Pointing out that just as we know summer is approaching when leaves appear on a tree, Jesus said to stop worrying because he has told us what to look for at the end. We'll know it when we see it.     He adds these things will happen before their generation passes, and then concludes: "The earth will pass into oblivion and so will the sky, but my words will never be obliterated." (SV) Note that Mark's emphasis is not on the return of Jesus or the coming of a Son of Man. Rather, he emphasized that even though the universe will end, Jesus' word will survive.  C. vs. 32-35: Jesus then draws our attention to our behavior. First, he reports that that only God knows when the end will occur, implying that we should stop speculating over what we cannot know.     Second, he tells a parable about a landowner who went on a trip. After putting his workers to their tasks, he alerted the doorkeeper to be watchful so that none are asleep on the job when the landlord returns. Understanding Jesus as the landowner, Mark sees himself as doorkeeper with the duty to keep the workers on task until Jesus' return. Without denying or making a big issue out of Jesus' return, Mark's emphasis is on doing the word, not worrying about end times. In doing, the rest takes care of itself. 4. We have a carefully crafted passage that separates out three sets of ideas: the end of time, the return of Jesus, and the duty of Jesus' followers. The conclusion is that our hope rests in living as Jesus taught us to live; concern about the end of the world is irrelevant.   5. We are left wondering about the hope of Jesus' return. If they expected his imminent return as a conquering king to rid the world of evil, it did not happen. If they expected Jesus' return before the death of that first generation of Christians, it did not happen. 6. Some understand that Jesus returned in his resurrection. Indeed, early generations of Christians often felt they lived with the Spirit of the Christ among them, and some thought of life in the Church as living in the kingdom of God on earth.    In that context, we might think of the words "Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ will come again" a present hope that is both alive and possible in every generation. Peter L. DeGroote