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Agape Bible Study
Mark 13 - 14
Chapter 13
Jesus Foretells the Destruction of the Temple and His Discourse on the Great Tribulation
The Jerusalem Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century BC and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587/6 BC. A modest Temple was rebuilt seventy years later by the returning Judean exiles in 517/16 BC. When Herod was appointed King of the Jews by the Romans, he began a rebuilding project to turn the modest Temple into one of the most beautiful buildings in antiquity in an attempt to win over the affections of the Jews. The project began in c. 20 BC and was completed only about seven years before it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.
Mark 13:1-4 ~ Introduction to Jesus' Discourse
After a day of teaching in the Temple, Jesus leaves the city of Jerusalem and crosses the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives. Sitting on the Mount of Olives across from the Temple Mount, Jesus responds to the His disciples' admiration of the Jerusalem Temple and shocks them by prophesying its total destruction. The key to understanding this discourse is in reading it in light of Jesus' allusions to the books of the prophets, especially the Book of Daniel in which the prophet writes about visions associated with the end of Temple worship and the death of God's anointed (Dan 9:26-27; 12:8-13). Jesus intertwines these images with the end of His life and the end of human history. It seems confusing to us when prophecy weaves the threads of time from past, present and future, but in heaven there is no time.
Mark 13:5-13 ~ The Coming Persecution
The primary source for the historical event of the destruction of Jerusalem in the late 1st century AD is the Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100), who was an eyewitness to the siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Roman legions in AD 70. The Jerusalem Temple was one of the most beautiful buildings in antiquity. Josephus wrote that whatever was not overlaid with gold was purest white (The Jewish Wars, 5.5.6).
Mark 13:14-23 ~ The Great Tribulation of Jerusalem
The "sign" is the presence of the "desolating abomination" (verse 14) that is the same sign that was prophesied in the Book of Daniel 9:27 when the Syrian Greeks set up a statue of Zeus within the Temple in 167-165 BC (1 Mac 1:11ff). This sign was repeated when Roman general Titus entered the Holy of Holies and the pagan insignias of the Roman legions were brought into the Temple: "And now, since Caesar was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the Holy Place of the Temple with his commanders" ... "And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the Temple and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifice to them" (Josephus, The Jewish Wars, 6.4.7; 6.61).
False Messiahs have continually come forward since the Ascension of the Christ. Some include Mohammed the founder of Islam in the 7th century AD, Joseph Smith who founded Mormonism in the early 19th century, and Mary Baker Eddy who founded the Christian Science religion in the early 20th century. All these claimed to be either God's supreme prophet with His authority over all other prophets including Jesus or to have the true interpretation of Scripture instead of the Church founded by Jesus Christ.
This period of tribulation is not the "last days" when Christ will return after His Ascension but it will take place within the lifetime of the disciples.
Therefore, this part of Jesus' discourse has to be a prophecy of the destruction of Judea and Jerusalem by the Romans to suppress the Jewish Revolt that began in AD 66. The death and destruction during that time was literally the end of the world they had known for the Jews.
Mark 13:24-27 ~ The Coming of the Son of Man
Now Jesus moves from the time of the future tribulation in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple to "after that tribulation" (verse 24) and another event in which time itself will be altered: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. In the traditional language of the prophets, Jesus uses the symbolism of cosmic events to describe the powerful intervention of God in mankind's history. The sun moon and stars were used to record the passing of the seasons and the reckoning of time. In this passage, Jesus may be referring to the event of His Second Coming when the Christ will return in glory to collect "his elect" in the Resurrection of the Just and to act as mankind's divine Judge in the Last/Final Judgment.
Mark 13:28-31 ~ The Lesson of the Fig Tree
Jesus uses the symbolism of the fig tree once again but in this case it is the sign of what is coming. In the same way that leaves on a fig tree appear in the spring as a sign that the summer season is coming, when these things He has mentioned begin to happen, they will know that the judgment He prophesied is near.
Mark 13:32-37 ~ Be Watchful and Alert.
In this passage Jesus appears to be referring to His return in glory. He tells a short parable in which He is the man who leaves and places his servants (the Apostles and disciples and those of future generations) in charge of His "house" the Church. The "gatekeeper" on the watch refers to the chief steward of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, St. Peter and his successors. The periods of time Jesus mentions are the names of the four night watches that were observed during the period of the Roman occupation: evening watch, midnight watch, cockcrow watch and morning/dawn watch.
The Four Night Watches:
#1: Evening Watch from sundown (c. 6 PM) to 9 PM
#2: Midnight Watch from 9 PM to midnight
#3: Cockcrow Watch from midnight to 3 AM (the trumpet that signaled the end of the watch at 3 AM was called the "cockcrow")
#4: Dawn Watch from 3 AM to dawn (c. 6 AM)
Chapter 14
Mark 14:1-2 ~ The Conspiracy to Against Jesus
The religious leadership has decided that Jesus must die (Jn 11:47-50), but they know they cannot arrest him when the crowds of pilgrims are present without causing a riot. Mark sets the countdown to the day of the Passover sacrifice. It is two days away (also see agreement in Mt 226:1-5). The Gospel of John identifies the day of Jesus' crucifixion as the day before the Sabbath (Jn 19:31), and the Passover sacrifice was the day before His arrest.
Mark 14:3-9 ~ Dinner at Bethany and Jesus' Third Anointing
The dinner on Saturday was at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. The dinner on Wednesday, Jesus' last day teaching in Jerusalem, is at the home of a man named Simon, a former leper. Simon was probably a man Jesus had healed of leprosy. Lepers could not keep company with healthy people and had to remain isolated from the population (Lev 13:45-46). The guests "reclined" at table, indicating that this was a formal banquet. Reclining at a banquet table was a sign of the privilege of free men. Slaves stood to eat. At this banquet honoring Jesus, He is anointed for a third time by an unnamed woman.
Mark 14:10-11 ~ Jesus is Betrayed
Judas has walked away from the "Light" that is Christ into the darkness of sin. He loved money more than he loved Jesus. He followed Jesus but he did not believe in Him. There is no way to defend his actions. He stands in contrast to the faith and purity of soul of the other Apostles and serves as a reminder that in the Church there will be wolves among the sheep.
Question: What do we know about Judas? See Jn 8:44; 12:6
Answer: Judas is described as a thief and a murderer; we are told that he was the treasurer of the group but that he stole from the money collected for the poor.
Mark 14:12-16 ~ The Preparations for the Sacred Meal of the Passover Sacrifice
St. Mark identifies the day: On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when they kill the Passover, his disciples said to him, "Where do you desire that going we may prepare that you may eat the Passover?" (Mk 14:12; literal translation IBGE, vol. IV, page 140). The Passover and the week-long celebration of Unleavened Bread are listed as two separate feasts in the Old Testament (i.e. Ex 12 -13; Lev 23:4-8; Num 28:16-25) and only Unleavened Bread is listed as the pilgrim feast (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Dt 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13). However, in Jesus time (30 AD) the names of the two feasts were used interchangeably to refer to the entire 8 holy days. Josephus (37-100 AD) records that in his time the term "Passover" came to mean the celebration of both feasts as one festival event.
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CHALLENGE: “Scripture indicates that God has predestined certain people to go to heaven (Rom. 8:28–30), so I’m either one of them or I’m not. Either way, I don’t need to do anything with respect to my salvation. I can simply await my fate.”
DEFENSE: This misunderstands the nature of predestination and the role of free will.
First, predestination involves both the end and the means by which the end is accomplished. Heaven may be the end—the destination—but the means of getting there is accepting God’s offer of salvation. God doesn’t predestine people to go to heaven regardless of what they do. Heaven may be where they are going, but God has also ordained that they arrive there because they respond to his grace.
Therefore, if you are predestined to go to heaven, you will respond to God’s grace. At some point before death, you will accept his offer of salvation, and so you cannot just await your fate. Whether you go to heaven or hell is dependent on your response to God’s initiative of grace. Your actions do count.
Second, predestination includes free will. From his vantage point in eternity, outside of time, God is aware of all the free-will decisions that are made by creatures in time. Consequently, he is aware whether you will freely choose to accept or reject his offer of salvation, and he includes this in establishing predestination.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of ‘predestination,’ he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace” (CCC 600).
Because your free choice determines whether you go to heaven or hell, we can therefore say: “God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end” (CCC 1037).
Predestination thus does not involve a denial of free will. Neither does it provide an excuse to sit back and neglect our salvation. On the contrary, man’s freedom is included within the scope of God’s plan of predestination, and if we wish to be with him in eternity, we must respond to his initiative of grace and accept his offer of salvation.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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