The True Temple in Mark: Podcast and Post on Mark 13 (Sunday's Gospel)

This Sunday Advent begins. Here is our podcast on the Sunday readings (see below).



Podcast: First Sunday of Advent 2011

My friend, New Testament scholar, Leroy Huizenga has some great reflections here. He points out that Jesus' coming in Mark 13 is linked with the destruction of the temple.

Here I thought I'd highlight another aspect of the chapter. It seems clear Mark describes the destruction of the temple and the end of the cosmos with language also evocative of Jesus' passion narrative.

That Mark sees a connection between the two events--Jesus' death and the destruction of the temple--is clear from the account of the tearing of the temple veil at the moment of Jesus’ death. As Donald Juel writes, “The result of Jesus’ death is the end of the Jewish temple, foreshadowed in the tearing of the veil.”[1]

The Apocalyptic Discourse and the Passion Narrative

The Gospel reading this Sunday comes from Mark 13. Scholars have noted numerous connections between the apocalyptic discourse, which, as Leroy shows, relates to the destruction of the temple and the passion narrative.

1. The apocalyptic discourse begins with a prediction of the destruction of the temple in 13:2, which is mirrored in the passion narrative, specifically, in the charges regarding the destruction of the temple (14:58; 15:29) and the temple veil being torn, likely symbolizing its coming ruin (15:38).

2. In the sermon Jesus describes how the disciples will be handed over to Jewish and Roman authorities (13:9-13), which is reflected in the fact that Jesus is handed over to Jewish and Roman authorities (14:10-11, 18, 21, 41-42; 15:1, 10, 15).

3. In chapter 13 Jesus makes the case that the disciples will be betrayed by kin (13:12-13), which of course has a parallel in the fact that Jesus is betrayed by one of the disciples (14:10, 20, 43).

4. In the apocalyptic discourse Jesus explains that people will see “the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (13:26), which parallels the passion narrative, in which he tells the high priest that he will see “the son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (14:62).

5. In Mark 13, Jesus states that, “No one knows the when the hour of the judgment will come” (13:32), which points forward to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus explains that "the hour” is at hand (14:41).

6. In chapter 13 that the disciples are told to “watch” (13:5, 23, 33, 35, 37), just as they are told to “watch” in the garden (14:34, 37-38).

7. In Mark 13, Jesus states: “Watch, therefore—for you do not know when the master of the house will come: in the evening, at midnight, cockcrow, or in the morning” (13:35). Mark then links important events with the evening (14:17, 15:42); night (14:30); the cockcrow (14:30, 68, 72); morning (15:1, 25).

8. In the apocalyptic discourse Jesus states, “Do not let the master find you sleeping” (13:36). Later, in the garden Jesus finds the disciples sleeping (14:37-38). [2]

All of this underscores the link perfectly summed up in the rending of the temple veil at Jesus’ death. Jesus' death points forward to the destruction of the temple. Why? Because Jesus is the True Temple.

A Temple Not Made By Hands

Mark 14:58 relates key element of Jesus’ trial:

“Some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, ‘We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’”

Although Mark describes the testimony as false, in his ironic style, it seems as though he presents the accusers as stumbling in to a profound truth.

The charge is later repeated at the foot of the cross with others who mock Jesus as “the Christ, the King of Israel” (Mark 15:32), a claim which clearly Mark would have affirmed as true. In fact, Matthew, John and Acts contain similar reports of this teaching of Jesus (Matt 26:61; 27:39; John 2:19; Acts 6:14). As numerous scholars have explained, the falsity of the testimony probably has something to do with the charge that Jesus claimed he himself would destroy the temple himself.[3]

The phrase “after three days” (διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν) seems too similar to the language Jesus used to describe his resurrection to simply be accidental or a mere expression of a brief period (cf. Mark 9:31; 10:34; μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας).[4] Indeed, apart from the parallel passage in John 2:19, the only other references to a “three-day” prediction in the gospel records are statements relating to Jesus’ resurrection.[5]

It is almost impossible to think that Mark’s readers would not have made the association. Attempts therefore to explain this passage as unrelated to the resurrection appear as special pleading. Thus, “a temple not made by hands” (Mark 14:58), probably refers in some way to the resurrected Jesus.[6]

The Cornerstone of the New Temple

The idea also seems to be suggested in the saying at the end of the Parable of the Wicked tenants, in which Jesus identifies himself with “the very stone rejected by the builders” which has become the “cornerstone” in Psalm 118:22 (cf. Mark 12:10). As most commentators agree, the stone here is likely related to the temple. In fact, “stone” language is closely linked with the temple in the near context (cf. Mark 13:1-2). The temple imagery is further heightened by the fact that, as mentioned above, the Parable of the Tenants which the saying is connected to draws on Isaiah’s prophecy of the “vineyard”―a passage which had temple associations in first-century Judaism.

Furthermore, that temple imagery is in view here is also suggested by the fact that the same passage is highlighted in 1 Peter 2:4-8, which seems to describe the Church as a living temple, with Christ as its cornerstone (citing Ps 118:22). That the saying in Mark was understood as relating such ideas may further be supported by the observation that Matthew and Luke (Matt 21:33-44; Luke 20:18)[7] go on to report a saying from Jesus in which he appears to draw on “stone” passages in Isaiah 8:14-15 and Daniel 2―both passages which appear to have cultic associations.

For example, there are good reasons to see cultic allusions in the imagery of the stone which grew into a “great mountain”. Consider the following.
1. In Daniel’s vision the stone becomes a “great mountain” which grows. This would most certainly would have evoked traditions regarding the house of the Lord at Zion in the latter days (cf. Isa 2:2; Mic 4:1)
2. Stone imagery was frequently linked with temples and sacred sites in the Old Testament (e.g., Gen 28:10-22; Isa 8:14-15; 28:16; Zech 4:7-9; b. Yoma 54a; Lev. Rab. 20.4; Bet ha-Midr. 5.63; Num. Rab. 12.4; b. Suk. 49a; 53ab; b. Mak. 11a; b. Sanh. 29a).[8]
3. The imagery of a mountain growing from a stone is used in connection with descriptions of temples in other ancient Near Eastern texts, such as the Sumerian Cylinders of Gudea (cf. Cyl. A 12.1-9; 18:24-25; 19:13-14, 17-20; 21:19-23; B. 23.25; 1.1-10)[9]
4. 4 Ezra 13:36 explicitly links Daniel’s vision of the stone with the eschatological Zion.
5. Rabbinic tradition explicitly linked the stone in Daniel 2 with the Temple.[10]

Given these observations, the cultic associations of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 and Psalm 118, as well as the larger narrative framework of the Synoptics―which not only place this teaching in the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ temple protest but also locates this particular saying within the temple―the probability that temple imagery is here in view is hard to deny.

Much, much more could be said here but for now let this all suffice to show how Mark describes Jesus as the New Temple.

For an especially illuminating study on the Temple in Mark, see Timothy C. Gray, The Temple in the Gospel of Mark (WUNT 2/242; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2008).

NOTES
[1] Donald Juel, Messiah and Temple: The Trial of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark (SBLDS 31: Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977), 142. See also the helpful discussion in P.W. L. Walker, Jesus and the Holy City: New Testament Perspectives on Jerusalem (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1996), 9-12.
[2] This discussion is especially indebted to Colin Brown, “The Interpretation of Mark 13: Jesus’ Oracle Concerning the Destruction of the Temple and its Implications Following the Rejection of Jesus” (Doctoral Seminar Handout, 2002). In a side-by-side chart, Brown pulls together and synthesizes the analysis of these connections found in R. H. Lightfoot, The Gospel Message of St. Mark (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950), 48-59; Dale Allison, The End of the Ages Has Come (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 36-38; John T. Carrol with Robert Van Voorst, Joel Marcus, and Donald Senior, The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 36-37.
[3] See, e.g., Craig Evans, Mark 8:27-16:20 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), 445-6; Walker, Jesus and the Holy City, 9-10; N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (vol. 2 of Christian Origins and the Question of God; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 523; Donald Juel, Messiah and Temple: The Trial of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, 57, 169, 206; Timothy Geddert, Watchwords in Mark (Scottdale: Herald Press, 2001), 357-8. William Lane, The Gospel According to Mark (NIC: Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1974), 533-4.
[4] See, e.g., Walker, Jesus and the Holy City, 10; Paula Fredricksen, From Jesus to Christ (New Haven: Yale Nota Bene, 2000), 112; Geddert, Watchwords, 132.
[5] See, e.g., Wright, Jesus and the Victory, 523.
[6] Though it may also refer to the Christian community, reborn through the resurrection. See Timothy J. Geddert, Watchwords: Mark 13 in Markan Eschatology (Sheffield: JSOT, 1989), 132-133; Lamar Williamson, Mark (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983), 265; Hugh Andersen, The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1976), 330; Dale Allison, The End of the Ages Has Come (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 153.
[7] It is true that the saying does not appear in some of the most ancient manuscripts. However, because Matthew’s version of the saying diverges from Luke’s and because its placement in the narrative appears odd many argue for its inclusion. See Robert Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church Under Persecution (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 430 whose explanation is especially helpful: “Interpolation from Luke would probably have resulted in a text identical with Luke’s. Furthermore, special agreements between Matthew and Luke in Markan materials crop up repeatedly; and allusion to the OT, such as v. 44 contains, typifies Matthew’s style. Verse 44 would have fit better right after v 42 because of the common reference to a stone in the two verses. But the awkwardness of v 44 after v 43 does not argue for clumsy interpolation of v 44. Rather, it confirms the composition of v 43 by Matthew in that his eagerness to write about transfer of the kingdom as the ‘marvelous’ interpretation of v 42 resulted in an awkward delay of v 44. And the allusion to Dan 2:44 in v 43 leads to a further allusion to Dan 2:44 in v 44. The awkwardness in the delay of v 44 probably caused omission in the Western text…” See also, e.g., Klyne Snodgrass, Parable of the Wicked Servants: An Inquiry into Parable Interpretation (WUNT 27; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1983), 66-68; idem., Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 286; Ivor Harold Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 387-88; Blaine Charette, The Theme of Recompense in Matthew’s Gospel (JSNTSup 79: Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), 138-9; Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (2d ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), 47.
[8] See, e.g., Isaiah 30:29: “You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock (צוּר) of Israel.”
[9] See discussion in Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (NSBT 17; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 149-51.
[10] See chapter 2 n. 247 where we explain that immediately prior to alluding to this passage Midr. Tanh. Gen. 6:20 speaks of Daniel 7, linking the “son of man” as the “messiah-king” to the temple-building prophecy of Zechariah 4:10. The eschatological focus of this passage was also clear to Josephus (cf. Ant. 10.210). For further discussion see, Snodgrass, The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, 98-99; G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission, 186.