Judge Judged and Judging

Marcus shows that Daniel 7, cited in Mark 14:62, is lurking behind the trial narrative as a whole. Daniel 7 tells about judgment being passed against the bestial empires in favor of the people of the saints of the most high, with the result that all dominion and power is given to the latter. Mark characteristically inverts this by alluding to this passage in the midst of a scene where Jesus is on trial, and where the bestial empires look healthy as can be. Yet, “Mark’s use of Daniel implies that in the long run it is Jesus’ judges who will be judged; they, who today are scandalized by him and his words, will be condemned by him when they see him coming with the clouds at the eschaton.” As John reported Jesus saying, the trial and cross of Jesus are ultimately the “judgment of this world” – not the judgment of Jesus the Judge who is judged before judging.