Rev Gav

How is Mark 13 a message to humanity?

Mark 13

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kinda person? Me, I am an optimist and, to be honest, I really struggle with negativity, however, I am also prone to seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. I oft do not see the world as it really is, wearing self-imposed blinkers to pain and suffering however, one thing about the gospels, and ‘the gospel’ itself, is that it never shies away from telling it how it really is. Jesus confronts pain and suffering head on.

I remember once, when my daughter, Gemma, was just two years old. We would walk with her little friend around the cricket green where we lived. The two would toddle, poking long stems of grass into the pond and climbing on a wooden tractor. One night, her little friend was tucked up in bed and died in his sleep due to an undiagnosed brain virus. I think it was the first time I had come face-to-face with a death that was unexpected and so, so ‘wrong’. The next day I knelt at the foot of a cross and cried and cried, shouting and yelling at God at the injustice of it all. I gave God ‘both barrels’ and did not hold back. This ‘event’ was so incompatible with the idea of a loving God, and so incongruous with the gospel message of hope and love.

Since that day, I have encountered many, many such events. Being a priest regularly puts me on the front line, interacting with those who have lost loved ones: parents who have lost babies and children, children who have lost parents, siblings, partners, wives, husbands, grandparents, and so on, and you know what? The pain does not get any easier. No matter how we wrap it up or couch it in comforting language, every death feels like a blow to life, and is deeply felt by those left behind.

There is a Chapter in Mark’s gospel that is unlike any other, and that chapter is No. 13. “Dun, dun, duuuuun!” It is in the form of a long farewell speech, the kind that someone in power or authority, such as a king or queen, might give at the end of their lives, and it is very similar to a stylised way of writing called ‘apocalyptic’ which is a kind of visionary way of revealing future events using fancy imagery imbued with deeper meanings. Apocalyptic writings tend to be quite doomy and gloomy in nature, but contain some kind of spectacular divine intervention in the midst of all the turbulent chaos.

The whole text of Mark 13 is made up of smaller pieces of writing that have been edited and glued together and it was no doubt written after the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed in 70AD, but why include this Chapter, what is its purpose, and more importantly, what does it mean for us?

At the time the Gospel of Mark was written, the Jewish community, including Christians, were being persecuted and there was great suffering. A false hope had formed that Jesus was going to return at any moment and put an end to it all, and that people should take immediate action to prepare for God’s imminent and dramatic arrival. If you think about it, this makes perfect sense, for if you are in the midst of great suffering, you very much look forward to it ending, and soon! Suffering was very much in the minds of Mark’s readers and people needed to take action, but in this chapter, Mark is pressing on the brake pedal and writing to slow people down. He affirmed that, yes, although the temple would be destroyed within their lifetime (and they had since witnessed it), and yes, although one day all things would come to fruition and Jesus would fully come, the people should to do one thing, and that was to stand firm in their trust in Jesus.

Coming from a different time and culture, the language of Mark 13 is pretty difficult to unpack and understand but the message is simple and clear. If I could sum up the whole of Chapter 13 it would be this:

“You are going to suffer and it’s going to be horrible, but God is in the process of coming and you can be filled with the Holy Spirit in the here and now, and although it’s grim, together we’re gonna get through this, and one day (we don’t know when), God will fully come and everything will be okay.”

And what could be more relevant to us today? We Christians are in the world. We know the world is not as it should be, that there is pain and suffering, and we are working with God towards a time when there will be no more pain and suffering. As individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, we are called to work out our salvation for the good of the world and its inhabitants. To aid us in this mission, if we can call it that, we are filled with the Holy Spirit — Jesus has made that possible — and so we seek to be led by the Spirit of God in all we do and all we are.

If God could give us a message today, what would it be? It would be to hang in there, do not give up, and stand firm in the hope set before us — a hope that God’s plan is bigger and better than we can imagine. None of us are bystanders or spectators, but active participants in the ongoing mission of God in the world.

All of us go through pain and suffering. All of us. And the message of Mark 13 is a way of saying God understands, is with us, and everything will be okay. Today, if you are struggling or suffering, then read Mark 13, because it is for you.

Amen.