Eschatalogical Question about next Sunday's Gospel

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FightingFat

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Next Sunday we hear from Mark 13:24-32. Verse 30 is particularly puzzling:

“Amen, I say to you that, in no way, this generation will not pass (on)” Mark introduced another very emphatic statement. “Amen, I say to you” was re-enforced with a double negative (“in no way” and “not”).

Did Mark truly believe the second coming would occur in the apostolic generation? If so, does this not somewhat contradict Dei Verbum’s assertion that “everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings” Dei Verbum 11

Would appreciate some help with understanding this passage please all you experts out there! 👍
 
The Early Church Fathers understood it to mean that this generation to not be concerning the present generation living at the time, but the generation in the sense of the age of Christianity, the “generation” of the Body of Christ, the Church. I imagine they are taking it in a context that would consider an Old Testament “generation” and a New Testament “generation”.
 
I wonder which translation your passage is quoted from. The Douay-Rheims has a more grammatical Mark 13:30: “Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, until all these things be done.”

COPLAND 3 has it right I think. Christ is the great dividing line. We are of the generation born since the salvation of the world was made manifest. So far it is a much shorter generation than the first.

This chapter of Mark has a couple of other interesting points however. Speaking of the end times, Jesus says in verse 10: “And unto all nations the gospel must first be preached.” This seems unlikely to have occurred in the lifetime of the apostles. And the mystery in verses 31–32: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.”

When He founded a church on Peter, I feel certain that Jesus had more in mind than the earthly progress the church had made by the time of the apostles’ passing.
 
Let me quote the personal commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas on Matthew

“For someone might suppose that this was said concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, because many had remained until that time: hence, this generation shall not pass, meaning the men now living, till all these things be done. But it would be an exaggeration to maintain that everything said refers to the destruction of Jerusalem: for that reason, it ought to be affirmed otherwise, namely, that all the faithful are one generation; “This is the generation of them that seek the Lord” (Ps. 23, 6); and He had previously said, “The earth is the Lord’s” (verse 1). Hence, He wants to say: This generation shall not pass, meaning the faith of the Church will not cease until the end of the world, against those who were saying that it would last until a certain time: because the Lord refuted this assertion, saying, “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (below 28, 20).”
 
The words of Mk 13:30 are also found in Mt 16:28, Mt 24:34, Mk 9:1, and Lk 21:32. Some in this generation will not pass away until all these things take place, until they see the Son of Man come into his kingdom.

Curiously, my (Protestant) NIV Study Bible only makes a weak attempt to comment on these verses. I say “curiously,” because revealing insights into Protestant theology can made by noticing what they avoid discussing as well as by noticing what they focus on discussing. The NIV footnotes say that Jesus is referring to the Transfiguration (which is a myopic idea, because nothing ends at the Transfiguration), or to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Another alternative offered by the NIV (which is a real stretch) is that Jesus is referring to the Jews generally as a race of people and to some future generation which will see the second coming. What is avoided here is recognizing the institution of a unified universal church, and in its place we get some confusing end-times speculations.

The Catholic position makes much more sense. The institution of the Kingdom begins with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into Heaven. We have an overlapping period of transition which lasts until Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans and the Old Covenant period is brought to a definitive close. Some who are walking the earth with Jesus will live to live until 70 AD and see this come to pass. The New Covenant and the Kingdom will continue through the end of time.

Footnotes from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:
– In interpreting the words “this generation,” the phrase “these contemporaries of mine” fits the context much better than “this race of people.”
– Jesus promises to inagurate His kingdom within the lifetime of the apostles. This begins with His enthronement and the birth of the Church. Its authority is manifest with the termination of the Old Covenant when Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed with fire (in 70 AD). The Kingdom, while present in mystery in the Church, will be fully manifest at the consummation of history (at the Second Coming).
– God’s judgment will fall upon Jerusalem within the lifetime of his contemporaries. These words of Jesus were fulfilled with Jerusalem’s demise in 70 AD. Jesus’ words are more reliable than the stable universe itself.
 
I would suggest that the word usually translated as ‘generation’ (this generation will not pass away until) is more accurately translated as ‘lineage’. Jesus was not referring to the persons alive at that time, but to the entire human race as a lineage.

During the end times, the sufferings will be so severe that many people will claim that the human race will not survive, that we will all surely pass away, from so many combined afflictions. But Jesus says that this is not so. The human race will not pass away, but will remain until His return. The afflictions of the end times do not destroy the human race.
 
FightingFat said:
Next Sunday we hear from Mark 13:24-32. Verse 30 is particularly puzzling:

“Amen, I say to you that, in no way, this generation will not pass (on)” Mark introduced another very emphatic statement. “Amen, I say to you” was re-enforced with a double negative (“in no way” and “not”).

Did Mark truly believe the second coming would occur in the apostolic generation? If so, does this not somewhat contradict Dei Verbum’s assertion that “everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings” Dei Verbum 11

Would appreciate some help with understanding this passage please all you experts out there! 👍
Click to expand...
While many did think that the Second Comming was emement; this seems not to be the Lesson being taught here. Culling passages and taking them out of there context-lesson is the sureest way to gain a wrong understanding.

Mark 13:28-35
"Now of the fig tree learn ye a parable. When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves are come forth, you know that summer is very near. [29]*** So you also when you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is very nigh, even at the doors***. [30] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, until all these things be done. … "But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son [Jeuse as God knew the date [BUT it was not part of His Plan to reveal it; as the challange for all of humanity is TO ALWAY’S BE PREPARED; PRECISELY BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW THE TIME OF THE SECOND COMMING] but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is. … Watch ye therefore, (for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning,)

Inserted back into the Message total; Mark seems to being issuing a warning to BE READY for a future event of unknown time.

**Alway’s put the passage back into it’s original form to seem if the message becomes more clear; as it clearly and certainly does in this case.:**thumbsup:

God Bless,
pat /PJM
 
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