Did Jesus Predict the End? Understanding Mark’s Little Apocalypse

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Mark 13 is Mark’s “Little Apocalypse,” the first apocalypse in the New Testament chronologically (followed Matthew 24, and of course Revelation). Here are a few interesting features of Mark 13.

It starts with a short exchange between Jesus and an unnamed disciple. The disciple admires the temple building, to which Jesus replies, in a characteristic reversal, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (v. 2). That blunt pronouncement sounds like something the historical Jesus would say, although had the temple not been destroyed in 70 CE (or ever) it might not have been preserved.

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By contrast, the following long discourse (vv. 3-37) is rather uncharacteristic of Mark, where Jesus gives witty replies and insightful aphorisms rather than long discourses like one sees in Matthew and John. In this long discourse in Mark, Jesus warns against coming persecution, false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, a “desolating sacrilege” (referring to some sort of defilement of the Jewish temple), and finally the Son of Man “coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

The first question is about dating Mark. Conservative scholars want an early date, say the late 50s CE, to tie the author of Mark to the apostles, Peter in particular, to give the text more credibility. Critical scholars place Mark around the year 70 CE, with the statement about the destruction of the temple as well as some of the traumatic events described in Mark 13 being contemporary with the writing of Mark (and the horrors of the Jewish War) rather than a prophecy of a future event. Myself, I now lean toward the later date of around 70 CE.

The second question — particularly for the genre of apocalypse — is the whole question of predictive prophecy. A supporter of predictive prophecy has no problem putting the temple destruction prophecy in the mouth of Jesus in the early 30s or writing it in the early 60s. Others, even some believers, prefer to see prophets as “forthtellers” rather than “foretellers”, and don’t rely on prophecies — or at least don’t highlight them. Myself, I don’t place much confidence in predictive prophecy, biblical or otherwise. As I see it, the track record is not good. For example, both Jesus and Paul expected a climactic end to the present age (the Son of Man coming in the clouds) within a few years or decades. With prophecies all over the Bible, one needs to give serious consideration to the issue of prophecy.