GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 13-3
Private Conversations
In a newscast, a reporter sat with a famous author and asked about what inspired him to begin writing, whether any of his stories were based on actual incidents, whether he had a goal in his books, and so forth. The piece conveyed the feel of an intimate conversation between two people. On screen, there was only the author sitting opposite the reporter; in the background, however, were the director, audio technician, cameraman, and perhaps others.
Mark wrote about a private conversation between Jesus and four of his disciples on the Mount of Olives. “And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew asked him privately.” (Mark 13:3) Only Mark mentioned the four disciples; Matthew and Luke describe the incident in general terms. Many scholars believe Peter was Mark’s main source, and as a participant, he would likely have remembered the incident vividly. The group was on the way to Bethany, about a two-mile walk. Jesus had had a busy day in the temple court—confronted by opponents, tested by antagonists, and questioned by an honest inquirer—so he was likely resting before the walk.
The Jewish historian Josephus writes about what Jesus and the disciples would have seen: “Now the outward face of the Temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays.”
Jesus told one of his disciples who had marveled at the scene that a day would come when not one stone of the building would be left on another. With this in mind, these four disciples approached Jesus in private. Talk of the temple’s destruction would have aroused even greater fury from the Pharisees and others than had Jesus’ command to love one another.
There are times for private conversations—as with the reporter’s interview and the disciples’ exchange on the Mount of Olives. The Father and I have our own private conversations—times when I lay before him issues that are just not for public consumption. Yeah, sometimes my private conversations with the Father become emotional—ahem… sometimes even angry. But he is always there, and he will be there for your private conversations—just you and the Father.
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