“A Vision for the End of Days”: Deferral of Revelation in Daniel and at the End of Mark

Abstract

An important clue to the meaning of Mark 16,8 has not received adequate attention. The verse is an intertextual allusion to Dan 10,7. Daniel 10–12 establishes a pattern of revelation, concealment, and future revelation, in which the resurrection of the dead is apocalyptically deferred – its truth not confirmable until it happens at the end of days. A similar pattern of concealment and revelation characterizes Mark’s gospel. At the end of the gospel, the resurrection of Jesus is announced (and so revealed) in story time, but further concealed in discourse time. In the act of narrating, the message is once again revealed. With the omission of a resurrection appearance, however, the vision of the risen Lord remains concealed until the revelation of the Son of Man at the parousia.