Mark 13 - Introduction

CHAPTER 13.

THE APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE.

This is the solitary instance in which the second evangelist has given at length a discourse of Jesus. The fulness with which the apocalyptic discourse is recorded is all the more striking, when contrasted with the very meagre reproduction of the anti-pharisaic discourse (Mark 12:38-40). The exception made in its favour was doubtless due to Mk.'s estimate of its interest and value for his first readers. Perhaps he was influenced in part by the fascinations of prediction. The real interest of the discourse and the key to its interpretation are to be found, as pointed out in the notes on the corresponding chapter in Mt., in its ethical aim “to forewarn and forearm the representatives of a new faith, so that they might not lose their heads or their hearts in an evil perplexing time”: notes on Mt. For a full exposition of the discourse in the light of this aim readers are referred to these notes.