The End of Time

13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

² “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

⁵ Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. ¹¹ Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. ¹⁶ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁷ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ¹⁸ Pray that this will not take place in winter, ¹⁹ because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.

²⁰ “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. ²¹ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. ²² For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²³ So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

²⁴ “But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky,
    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

²⁶ “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

²⁸ “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³² “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴ It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

³⁵ “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶ If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. ³⁷ What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

It is hard to miss Mark 13.  It sticks out like a dandelion in a welll tended yard.  And because it is so odd, rarely is it the focus of attention in the church.  It is simply too dense, too layered, too metaphorical, too different compared to the rest of the gospel.  Scholars refer to the chapter as the "little apocalypse", but they too struggle to understand its place.

It is a long speech, continuing longer than any other of Jesus' teachings in the gospel.  It seems to string together a variety of topics together, with an emphasis on the struggle the disciples will face in Jesus' absence and the coming end of the world.  So far in Mark, Jesus has very much been about the present and the few times he has looked forward it has been only to the cross.  Now Jesus' focus is beyond the cross and to the effect that following will have on the apostles.

This longer look begins when Jesus leaves the temple.  On their way out, the disciples are overwhelmed by the majesty of the complex.  While the chapter may depict a significant shift in Jesus, the disciples are still dull witted and slow.  Jesus has just shown that the temple has become a fraud where God is no longer the focus.  But the disciples are bewitched by the soaring structure. So, Jesus once again has to burst their bubble--the stones will not stand one upon the other.  Buildings aren't eternal and to be worshipped, only God is.

Now Jesus sits opposite the temple, a physical placement that reflects the conflict between the Christ and the establishment.  He is with Peter, James, John and Andrew.  They are an important group because they are the first four disciples named in the gospel.  Oddly, Andrew has begun to sink to the background as he is listed as the second one to be called and now is the fourth to be named.

When will the stones be torn down, Jesus?  The disciples are still focused on the building and not on the Messiah or their own needs.  Like many people they revel in the judgment of others blind to their own needs.

First Jesus warns them that there have always been, will always be, folks who will declare that the sky is falling.  There will be lots of events that can be made into portents of the end, but Jesus warns against reckless calls of the apocalypse.  These things are not signs of the end, but signs of the beginning.  What Jesus wants the focus to be on is not the destruction of the old way, but the birthing of a new way.

But this coming Kingdom of God that will replace the old order is not primarily a struggle of the cosmos or the nations, it is a change that will effect those who follow Jesus.  During this time, believers will be under persecution and hardship.  They will be placed on trial and will witness to their faith.  They are to rely on the Holy Spirit to give them the words when they are asked.

The time of testing will result in the tearing apart of family.  The strongest of human bonds are not enough to protect those who believe and speak the truth to the powerful.  At the end/birth of the new age, everyone will hate those who have the power of belief.

Jesus tells them that the sign of the end will be the presence of the abomination of desolation where it does not belong.  This is a reference to a passage in Daniel that is believed to refer to the erection of a statue of Zeus in the temple during the 2nd century B.C.E.  Jesus reminds the disciples of the incursion of the political sphere into the religious world.  Does Jesus have in mind the presence of the money changers and the infiltration of the Roman empire in the life of the Jewish people?

Truly odd is the appeal to the "reader" which must be an inclusion by Mark, trying to keep the warning of Jesus from being seen as a particular word to the current disciples and instead as a universal appeal.  Following Jesus will not be easy.  This warning to hope that it doesn't happen in winter and the reminders of human suffering sound little like the call to discipleship offered by the modern church.

But, these terrors will be shortened by the return of the Son of Man.  Not shown through small marvels and wonders, but by His coming in clouds with angels. There will be no ambiguity about Christ's identity or return.

Jesus again invokes a fig tree, this time not as a thing to curse but as a sign of hope.  When Jesus finds no figs, it points to the lack of fruit in the temple.  The leaves are false signs.  But now, the disciples are told to look to the fig trees and their leaves as signs that the new kingdom is near.

Some scholars have suggested that Jesus prediction about this generation not passing away is a sign that he was mistaken about when the end would come.  But the generic "this generation" may refer to the family of faith that will continue through time until the end.

The exact day will be a mystery, so believers must always be alert.  When someone leaves you in charge of a house you stay vigilant until their return.  So the disciples need to always be alert, because no matter how bad things may be, at some point, God will make things right.

All sorts of frightening and twisted theological speculation has taken place over the analysis and over-reading of this text.  Put simply and perhaps most profitably, Jesus is saying that being a Christian is never easy, but that God is always working towards delivering believers.