Friday, September 28, 2018

Did Jesus think the end of the world was imminent?


Okay, let's talk about biblical interpretation.  As many of y'all know, I am adamantly against private interpretation, though this does not mean that you can’t have a bible verse mean something to you a certain way. 
I was reading the Bible this morning, (Douay-Rheims version), and was reading the Gospel of Mark.  I came across a verse that was familiar, but out of place.  Not because of what it said, but because I usually read the Revised Standard Version Catholic edition of the Bible (Though, not solely so).  It says (in Mark 8:39 in the DR, I’m not sure other versions of the Bible have it) “Amen I say to you, that there are some here, who shall not taste death, till they see the power of God coming in”.
Now, this could be chopped up to a marginal gloss, and it parallels Matthew 16:28 and Luke 9:27.  Now, the thing is, that pretty much all Bibles have Mt 16:28 and Lk 9:27, so we can infer that Jesus did say something to this effect.  Now, did Jesus incorrectly predict the end of the world?  Nope.  Let’s talk about this.  In Lk 9:27, in the RSVCE, the word used is “power” (just as in Mark 8:39 DR), The word used in Mt 16:28 in the RSVCE says “there are some here who will not taste death before the see the Son of man coming into his kingdom”.  (DR says something similar).
Now, what are we to make of this?  Did Jesus think the end was near?  In a way, yes.  But, not in the way modern film would think.  Jesus was predicting the coming of the glory of the Kingdom of God with the establishment of the Church age and the power of God with the destruction of the temple in 70 ad.  Thus, contrary to what some skeptical biblical scholars believe, Jesus did not fail his own prediction.  Jesus’s earthly ministry was about three years, so it’s very reasonable that some of the younger people he was addressing would have lived to see that. 
            Jesus told people the truth (for he is the truth, John 14:6), and, just as today, people misunderstood him.  In Jesus’s time, the Pharisees would often twist scripture (especially the Books of Moses), to support their claims.  When a skeptic argues that Jesus’s prediction failed, they’re doing one of two things: Dismissing all evidence to the contrary, or nihilistically denying the evidence existed to begin with.  I don’t expect everyone to accept the gospel as truth (although it is true), but I at least expect people to be honest, and when skeptical scholars act like spoiled brats, they do no one favours.