Questions and Answers

First Monday of Easter

     I want to answer questions that were posed in the Comments section of the blog last week. Stuart asked how I reconciled Mark 13:26, "that they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory," with the fact that there was no coming of the Son of Man in that generation (Mark 13:30). The Son of Man was, of course, Jesus. Son of Man is the title that Jesus uses for himself in all four gospels.

     Actually, there are two ways of reconciling Mark 13:26 with Mark 13:30. I'll do the easier one first. Jesus is saying that persecuted Christians in his generation will see the vision he is alluding to, the vision in Daniel 7:13, "I saw one like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven...to him was given dominion, glory, and kingship." Just as Daniel saw this vision, so would persecuted Christians of the first generation of Christians see this vision. Once again, Jesus was dead right on this one. The very first Christian martyr, Stephen, has this very same vision as he is about to be stoned to death. He says, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." When Jesus says in Mark 13:26, "Then they will see the Son of Man..." Jesus means they will see a vision of the Son of Man, just like Daniel did and just like Stephen would do.

 

      Now for the second way of reconciling Mark 13:26 with Mark 13:30. It has to do with the Greek word erchomenos which is translated "coming" in the NRSV and other versions in Daniel 7:13 and Mark 13:26. The word can mean "coming," but can also mean "going." If we look at Daniel 7:13 with going as the translation,  we have, "I saw one like a Son of Man going with the clouds of heaven. And he went to the Ancient One and was presented before him..." The Ancient One is another term for God. In the OT God lives in heaven. The Son of Man would be going to heaven to be presented before God.

      Now put that translation of erchomenos into Mark 13:26, "they will see the Son of Man going in clouds with great power and glory." Did any of the apostles, any of the first generation of Christians see Jesus, the Son Man going in clouds with power and glory. You bet they did. It's called the Ascension. It's in Acts 1:9-10, "When [Jesus] had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them." The italics with the word going are mine.

     Right now, I'm more inclined to go with the first way of reconciling Mark 13:26 and 13:30, although the second way is really intriguing to me. As is so often the case, I have N.T. Wright to thank for that second way of reconciling the two.

    Tomorrow I will deal with Eston's and Jennifer's questions in the Comments from last week.

Faithfully,

Christian