Day 38 : Mark 13:1-27 & 32
All will hate you because of me
Do you know a song called The Scientist by Coldplay? At the end of the chorus, Chris Martin sings,
‘Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard’
It’s a song about a relationship but the sentiment may be one reflected in other aspects of our lives. Ever found yourself in a place of struggle? Ever wanted something to end because you are finding it hard and painful to continue? That’s not a bad way of thinking ourselves into chapter 13, perhaps the most difficult and strange chapter we have encountered so far in Mark. It is full of warnings both about the end of time and present suffering and persecution – indeed part of the background to the text is the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, many years after the prophecy of Jesus in verse 2. But before you start parading around the local shopping centre with a placard saying, ‘The End is Nigh’, remember this: no one, even Jesus, knows when that will be (v.32), so don’t waste your time trying to predict it as many people have – all wrong! – and take yourself into the core of this difficult chapter.
It is on the one hand a cosmic reminder: one day God will intervene in history to break up the present order and create a new heaven and a new earth. The corrupting powers of the earth have been served notice. At the same time another theme is interwoven with this cosmic perspective.
Whilst we wait and build for the day when God will be all in all, we are reminded of our present reality: we may endure persecution, hardship, struggle in life, both personally and as communities. That sounds real to me: faith is not a candy floss reality. Faith, as Mark interprets it, is something that is most clearly seen on the road to the cross – in other words, the disciple walks in the same footsteps as Jesus.
