Talk 7, The King’s Arrival
Pete Thompson
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3 Comments ↓
Jesus reclaims the temple from its unworthy inhabitants and through his authoritative teaching reveals himself to be God’s true king.
Posted in Bible Talk
Anyone else struggling with chapter 13? Can see it might be saying that these things already happened surrounding Jesus death and resurrection. All these things though? And don’t people always use this passage to predict Jesus’ return?
Hi Katja
The big question is, why is there a Rabbittohs logo on our website?! I’ll have to ask DK if its some sort of virus!
As for Mark 13, I think its a case of feeling the tension and exploring where it could lead. A few things to keep in mind are:
1. It’s got to make sense in its original context, so what did it mean to the disciples, Jesus’ original audience? In particular, how are we to understand the sense of urgency in Jesus’ words?
2. What does the rest of Mark lead us to understand about the coming kingdom (i.e. “coming” in the original context, e.g. Mark 1:15)?
3. Some of the language used here is “apocalyptic” in style (like Revelation) – a symbolic type of writing, about real things but not to be understood literally
Taking all those factors into account, I think that Mark 13 has so many links with the events described in the next 2 chapters that the very least we should say is that at the cross the kingdom of God is “inaugurated” and the “end times” or “last day/s” are begun. If I’d said more about chapter 13 on Sunday I would have called the point “the beginning of the end”.
Thanks Pete that does clarify. And happy to hear if anyone has a way to eradicate bunnies – I was pretty surprised when my post ended up with that avatar!