Apocalypse (Mark 13:1-8)
Apocalypse (Mark 13:1-8)
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| So also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the door. Mark 13:29 |
God spoke to the President of the United States in a dream and told him the world was going to end in 2 weeks. Biden called a press conference immediately and said: “I have two pieces of news, and both are good! First, God exists! And second, I get to be president until the end of the world!”
I got spit on by a farm animal once. I threw such a fit, you’d think it was the end of the world, but it was just the alpaca lips.
When we hear the word apocalypse, we automatically think the end of the world. But apocalypse doesn’t mean the end of the world. It means revealing, to lay bare, to open our eyes to the naked truth. Apocalypse means to uncover that which was hidden, or misunderstood. The Greek word apo-cah’-loop-sees appears 18 times in the New Testament. It is sometimes translated as appearance, like the promised return of Christ.
Mark 13 is part of what is known as the Olivet Discourse. Matthew Mark and Luke all have some version of this event in Jesus’ life. The disciples and Jesus are visiting the temple and the disciples comment on its beauty.
We do that when we see amazing architecture, don’t we? We are awe-struck by what humans can do when they work together. My father used to embarrass my mother when they went to Evansville from their small town of Buckskin. He’d look up at high rise buildings and jokingly say, “Whoo! You sure can store a lot of hay up there!”
The disciples were impressed by King Herod’s temple complex, but Jesus was quick to tell them that the temple was doomed to destruction. Traditionally speaking this conversation occurred when Jesus was 33 years old. 37 years later, the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple.
Jesus understood where things were headed for Jerusalem, but from the view of the gospel of Mark, their destruction was yet another divine intervention in the story of Israel. John wrote that Jesus came to his own and his own did not recognize or receive him. (John 1:10-11)
To really understand this divine intervention, we need to look at what happened before this conversation on the Mount of Olives. Jesus rode into Jerusalem, hailed as the messiah, King of the Jews. Jesus visited the temple. On his way there he saw a fig tree in leaf. He was hungry, but was disappointed to find no figs to eat. So Jesus cursed the fig tree, which shriveled up an died within 24 hours.
Mark tells us that it wasn’t the season for figs. Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, which occurs some time between March 20th and April 22nd. Figs don’t produce fruit until late May at the earliest. The main harvest period of fig trees falls in late July and August. So why does Jesus curse the fig tree? Surely, he was aware that it wasn’t the season for figs.
The whole thing is a prophetic metaphor. Old Testament prophets were known for bizarre actions that drew attention to the message God had for Israel. God told the prophet Ezekiel to lay on his side for 390 days, representing 390 years of Israel’s stiff-necked disobedience and idolatry. Jesus cursing the fig tree is symbolic of God’s judgment of Jerusalem and their lack of godly fruit.
Jesus said that the Son of Man will appear like a thief in the night, coming at an hour no one will expect. That is exactly what is happening in Jesus’ first appearance. Many Jews did not recognize Jesus as messiah. The master had come to settle accounts. They were totally unprepared to receive God’s visitation. The point is that Israel should be bearing godly fruit all the time. And Jesus finds them barren. His cursing of the fig tree is divine judgement upon a fruitless temple system. It had become an institution that exists for itself and the powerful. The poor are neglected. Corruption is apparent. The time of God’s judgment had come. The temple will be destroyed.
Jesus told the parable of the Tenants which implicates the fruitless religious system in Jerusalem. The owner of a vineyard went away to a far country and put servants in charge. The owner sent others to collect the profits from the vineyard’s produce. But the servants wanted to keep the money for themselves so they abused the ones sent by the owner. So the owner sent his own son, expecting his servants to respect him. Instead they killed his son. While this parable foretells Jesus’ crucifixion, it also reveals the selfish motivations of those in charge of the temple, and their doom to follow.
Mark 13 is meant to prepare the church for what is to come. The temple will fall and the people will be scattered. The Church will suffer persecution. The disciples want to know when this will happen and what are the signs. Jesus tells them that only God the Father knows. Not even Jesus knows when the end will come. Instead, he counsels his church to be ready and stay alert by doing the very things Jesus modeled for them. Teach hope in God’s kingdom. Care for the sick and infirm. Liberate lives through the grace of Almighty God.
As for the signs that point to the end, Jesus tells them that there will be wars and rumors of wars, famine and earthquakes. All this is merely birth pangs of the new creation God is bringing. The good news of Jesus Christ must be preached to all nations first, before the end comes. Evangelists and missionaries throughout Church history have dutifully preached the gospel and shared Jesus with nearly every people and tongue.
When interpreting Mark 13 one must hear it first in light of the destruction of the temple by the Romans, and secondly as a revealing of ultimate events. I read it, not as a literal road map to the future, but as speech filled with connections to Old Testament prophets and prophetic hyperbole.
Rather than embrace this conversation as where history is going, I lift from it ultimate concerns God would have me heed, namely to continue to be His witness by living faithfully according to the way of Jesus Christ. Mark 13 gives us a picture of the cataclysmic shift that the destruction of the temple did to the Jewish people. We have experienced cataclysmic shifts in our history as Americans. The covid pandemic, wars, and social upheaval are examples. But just as every prophet confronts sinfulness, they also give us hope in restoration.
Jesus encourages his disciples after warning them of the perils coming for the church and for Israel.
“Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, right at the door. (Mk 13:28-29)
We all live in expectancy of the second coming of Jesus, when the kingdom of God will come in all its fullness. We long for the day when all wars cease, violence ends, hate is forgotten, and our God wipes away every tear. We look forward to the promise of life lived in the presence of God unfiltered and unfettered by the stuff of this fallen world. We look to heaven for the coming of Jesus when all the saints of God shall gather in a countless multitude to worship in glorious thanksgiving.
Natalie Sleeth composed a choral anthem called Joy in The Morning.
I’d like to leave you with her words of hope.
will bring the truth divine
will bring the truth divine
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