Saying 1

English

And he said, ‘Whoever finds the interpretation of these words will not taste death.’

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Interpretation

The idiom of ‘tasting death’ is found in an apocalyptic context in Mark. The overall eschatology of Mark strongly suggests its author expected this fulfillment to happen not long after 70 CE, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. For Mark, ‘tasting death’ is essentially literal: the generation of Jesus’ contemporaries had nearly passed away when the author wrote, so expected the end to arrive before they had all ‘tasted death’. John (whose author seems to have loosely adapted material from Mark) reinterprets ‘death’ spiritually: people may physically die, but their true life is secure if they obey the teachings of Jesus. John was written around the end of the first century CE. Saying 1, which shares a similar perspective, may have come from the same era.

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Parallels

Sira

39.1–3 He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients, and is concerned with prophecies. He preserves the sayings of the famous and penetrates the subtleties of parables. He seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs and is at home with the obscurities of parables.

Mark

8.38–9.1 ‘Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’

Matthew

16.27–28 ‘For the son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.’

Luke

9.26–27 ‘Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’

John

8.51–52 ‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The Judeans said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” ’