Sun Nov 15th, thoughts going in

It was very eye opening for me to read all of Mark chapter 13 in the light of our recent study in the book of James. Verses 1-23 could almost have come from Josephus, as they sound like a cross between ominous prophecy of things to come and on-the-scene reporting. It's also interesting to see what the modern "RAPTURE!" preachers do with this text. They rightly discern that from vs 24 onward Jesus is talking about his "second coming" (commonly known as the Parousia), but whether because they don't really know their history or just plain poor exegetical methodology, they attempt to see the previous 23 verses as also having something to do with the "end times."
This is hardly the case. We need to remember that in the narrative the thing that motivates Jesus to speak is the disciples' question in verse 4 "tell us when all these things will happen." In vs 6 when Jesus says that "many will come in my name claiming 'I am he' and will deceive many..." it needs to be understood that Jesus is NOT saying that many will show up on the scene and claim to be JESUS OF NAZARETH--either then in history or at some future point. The claim 'I am he' is "messianic." Jesus is predicting a plethora of "false messiahs." Again, one need only read Josephus or some of the great books on the period to realize that from Jesus time to Bar Kochba (135 Ad) this happened time and time again. The "wars & rumors of wars......and nation rising up against nation" fits very well into the time frame leading up to 70AD. The destruction of the Temple did not happen in a vacuum, nor did it happen overnight. There was actually a prolonged campaign, of nation rising against nation (including at the very least the nations of Judea, Samaria, Syria, and Rome). Verses 9-11 which talk of being flogged in the synagogues for one's witness of Christ have absolutely NO belonging in "end times" thought. This is a [sad] reality that harks from the earliest days of the Church when it was primarily still Jewish a institution, but more and more being rejected by the Jewish leadership and developing rabbinic teaching. The remaining verses, having to do with an "abomination" in the Temple, and the troubled flight from *Judea* at the last minute ONLY make sense if viewed in the buildup to the final conflict between Rome & Jerusalem in 70AD. Attempts to place these verses in an "end times" context make no sense. What could a possible "flight from Judea" mean to a believer living in Thailand or Europe etc. etc.?
In the end, vss 1-23 are Jesus' response to a specific set of circumstances SOON to take place. Mark 13:23b--24 presents a SEGUAY from those events to the end times events.
A pertinent question, then, is what can we learn from the 1st part of the discussion--primarily the verses of the pericope for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost (vss 1-8, to which I've added 9 & 10)?
To my thinking, the topic is....how to hang on when your world collapses.
We in America often have such high opinions of ourselves as a nation--and a quasi christian belief that God owes us our existence cuz we sing "God bless America" at ball games--that we literally cannot begin to imagine a set of circumstances that would entail our DEMISE. The closest we get are the "RAPTURE" preachers who see the end of America as being part/parcel with the end of the world. How egotistical! And yet, how human. No doubt those hearing Jesus' words in Mark 13 would also equate the end of the Temple as the end of the world. Certainly it was the end of THEIR WORLD, and the world as THEY KNEW IT. In some strange way it seems almost..........er.........*soothing*....in a sense....that if MY world has to end, then at least it's the end of EVERYTHING.
But what if it doesn't work out that way?
It didn't in 70AD.
The world surrounding the Temple ended, but everything else just kept plugging along and here we are, 2000 years downstream.
Clearly, the message is one of faith not in the external structures we see around us, but in the God who is in control of human history and who ONE DAY will inaugurate the true end of this age & beginning of the next. Until then, our call is to do the same things Jesus told his disciples to do in Mark 13: don't be mislead, don't be frightened, be prepared, and take our stand for Christ.

Cheers,

TM