What did Jesus really mean when he said,
“Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”
Bible commentators don’t seem to agree, neither do they come up with a satisfactory answer. Is it all that difficult? This verse 1 of chapter 9 in Mark’s gospel is a continuation of verses 34-38 of chapter 8. In verse 34 Jesus calls to him the people and disciples, and says to them,
“Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
It is obvious that when Jesus refers to life and soul in v.35 & 36 that he is referring to life everlasting – the great gift of God to the righteous, and not to man’s earthly life. Though a man owned the whole world, he would still die. The key to the whole discourse is in v.38:
“WHOSOEVER THEREFORE SHALL BE ASHAMED OF ME AND OF MY WORDS IN THIS ADULTEROUS AND SINFUL GENERATION; OF HIM ALSO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE ASHAMED, WHEN HE COMETH IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH THE HOLY ANGELS.”
Then in Ch.9:1 he proceeds to tell them that among the people there with him are some who will later be ASHAMED of him and his words, and that they will not taste death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power:
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdoms (i.e. when he comes to judge the world)” (Matt.16:27).
All those to whom Jesus was speaking now sleep in the dust, and the death that Jesus refers to in Luke 9:1 is the everlasting death which will be the lot of the wicked, when he comes to judge with power and great glory.
Who were the ones who were not to taste of death until he came with power? Jesus himself tells us quite clearly in John 6:51-53:
“The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no LIFE in you.”
Several times Jesus, in this chapter, emphasises that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is doubtful if any one of them understood his words:
“The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (v.52) “Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (v.60) “Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him” (v.64) “FROM THAT TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT BACK, AND WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM” (v.66).
They are the ones who were ashamed of him and his words. These one-time followers of his went back to their old way of life.
We can well imagine the reception these ex-disciples got when they returned to their former associates, men who had probably spurned Jesus from the beginning. They would be mocked, ridiculed, jeered at: “So you’ve come to your senses at last, huh! So this fellow, who says he’s the Son of God, wanted you to eat his flesh and drink his blood, to turn cannibal! You poor fools!”
All this would cause a feeling of hate and resentment towards Jesus to well up inside them. It is quite possible that some of them were among the multitude that cried “Crucify him!”, and at the foot of the cross,
“If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
Many are called, but few are chosen.
The Solution