Thursday, December 17, 2020

Jey J. Kanagaraj on whether the Kingdom of God (Mark 9:1) is Imminent or a Future Hope

 

 

Cranfield argues that Jesus’ promise in Mark 9:1 is in some sense fulfilled by his transfiguration when he powerfully manifested his glory after six days, and that the τινες may indicate the three disciples who saw Jesus transfigured. He sees the transfiguration being carried forward to the time of Jesus’ resurrection and finally to that of the parousia (Cranfield, Mark, 287-88). This does not seem to be fully correct, for it is quite implausible to say that Jesus expected many of his bystanders to die within six days of time. Donald Hagner suggests that Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem that would happen with that generation – an event which is closely linked with end-time scenarios and the parousia of the Son of Man (Matthew 14-28; Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1995], 486-487). But this interpretation does not suit the Markan context, and both the interpretations do not do justice to the phrase εν δυναμει.

 

The sayings of Jesus such as Mark 9:1, 13:30, Luke 9:27, and Matthew 10:23 seem to suggest that Jesus expected his return within the lifetime of his own generation. Does this mean that Jesus expected the full coming of the kingdom of God in his own life-time on earth, as Schweitzer suggests? (The Quest of the Historical Jesus [London: A & C Black, 1922], esp. 357)? This does not appear to be the case. Jesus restricted the experience of seeing the kingdom of God in the future to only some of the bystanders, and this shows that Jesus could not have expected the kingdom to come with power within a very short period. However, that some would not die before they saw the kingdom does not mean that others would die before that time. The others may also be alive when it happens, but they will not have the privilege of seeing or experiencing the powerful manifestations of the kingdom (in this case εως αν grammatically should be read with the subjunctive ιδωσιν). The statement of Jesus certainly looks to the coming of God’s kingdom in the distant future, but not too distant, because there are some who will be alive to see it come. Therefore, Mark 9:1 probably refers to the imminence of the kingdom; that is, the powerful manifestation of the kingdom of God lies in the future, but not as distant a future as the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds. Within the implied amount of time it is difficult for us to interpret Jesus’ saying as denoting the parousia because the promise remains yet unfulfilled.

 

What even, then, did Jesus intend by his saying in Mark 9:1? The plausible interpretation is that, for Jesus, the kingdom of God will be powerfully manifested here on earth within a reasonably short time via the life and witness of the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. In both Mark 9:1 and the parallel in Luke 9:27, the context agrees with this interpretation, for in both Gospels this saying of Jesus appears in the context of self-denial and confession (Mk. 8:34-9:1; Lk. 9:23-27). Although there is in the previous verse a reference to the parousia (Mk. 8:38; cf. Lk 9:26), the emphasis actually rests on discipleship and boldness publicly to confess Jesus and his words. The self-denial and witness of his disciples is, for Jesus, the evidence of the presence of God’s kingdom with power. For Mark, Jesus’ act of casting out demons is the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit (Mk. 3:20-30); and Matthew, as we have seen, identifies this act as denoting the presence of the kingdom of God (Matt. 12:28). This is likewise the same thing Luke calls the witness of the church (the community of Jesus’ disciples), which happens as a result of the Spirit’s power. Indeed, for Luke, the restoration of the kingdom of God is inevitably linked with the δυναμις of the Holy Spirit (Act. 1:6, 8; cf. Lk. 24:49 and also see above). Definitely it is the parousia that the fullness of the rule of God is to be manifested, but the power of God’s rule is to be seen in the manifestation of the Spirit’s power in the life of the church as exemplified by self-sacrifice and outward confession of Jesus. Thus, the enigmatic saying in Mark 9:1 seems to indicate that Jesus expected the coming of the kingdom of God with power in the future, but not in the distant future, and such a manifestation is to be seen in the life and witness of the church born in the power of the Holy Spirit. Due to the prominence of this theme in Luke-Acts, Luke 9:27 would also seem to agree with this meaning even though εν δυναμει is missing from the verse. In this sense the kingdom if imminent, within human reach now more than ever. At the same time, the kingly rule of God in its fully glory will arrive in the future at the coming of the Son of Man with his angels. The coming of the kingdom of God with power is not the same as the coming of the kingdom of God in its full glory. (Jey J. Kanagaraj, “Jesus’ Message of the Kingdom of God: Present and Future Tensions Revisited,” in B.J. Oropeza, C.K. Robertson and Douglas C. Mohrmann, Jesus and Paul: Global Perspectives in Honor of James D.G. Dunn. A Festschrift for his 70th Birthday [Library of New Testament Studies 414; London: T&T Clark, 2009, 2019], 24-34, here, pp. 32-34, italics in original)