NOTES for Mar 13:1-37

Today we read a passage in which Jesus speaks to the disciples about what is coming, about what awaits them and their descendants. This speech of Jesus is the longest one in Mark. Let us listen to it more attentively: what prompted the conversation? what can be said about the disciples' attitude toward Jerusalem and its temple?

Jesus' own words can be divided into three parts: about the destruction of Jerusalem, about His return and the end of this world, and two parables. The intersection of these themes can seem unexpected, but prophecy is not a chronological account of the future. It is, rather, various images of it, so that in the destruction of Jerusalem one can also see the end of this world.

It is interesting to trace whether the disciples' initial curiosity receives an answer. It appears that a direct answer sounds only at the very end of the chapter: in the parable of the fig tree He speaks about signs. But about the exact time it is said that it is hidden from everyone except the Father. And if He himself is what matters to us, then we must keep watch, like the doorkeeper in the second parable. This final summons will help us hear all the other words of Jesus as well, which seem to stand apart from the disciples' question: He is addressing each of us personally.

If Jesus does not answer the disciples' question before verse 28, then what is He speaking about in verses 5-27? What stands out is how often Jesus addresses them directly. Jesus is concerned not so much with the future itself as with people, His disciples, in that future. Jesus makes them understand that what they need most in this life is God and His guidance, something that is especially visible "against the background" of the end.

When reading this chapter, a natural feeling often arises: although one would very much not want to take part in the events described, there is one thing to be glad about. If all this does happen, then (vv. 19-20 and vv. 24-27) Jesus will return and save His chosen ones. He is God and Savior.

When Jesus speaks about the imminent destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and about the end of time, He undoubtedly has in mind not a distant future but a near and even immediate one: the Temple was destroyed by the Romans after the anti-Roman uprising raised by the Zealots in A.D. 70, only a few decades after the conversation reported by the evangelist.

Jesus mentions "pains" (the corresponding Greek word literally means "birth pangs" or the pain experienced in childbirth), pointing to famine, epidemics, natural disasters, and wars as their source and root (such is the meaning of the corresponding Greek word, which literally means "beginning," "cause," "source"). The "pains" mentioned by the Savior are clearly connected with the birth of something new: in this case the Kingdom, which, as He repeatedly said, must sprout in the world like a seed thrown into the ground.

By "pains" here He clearly means what in Jewish tradition is usually called "messianic woes": persecutions and cataclysms that fall upon the people of God just before the coming of the Messiah, marking the imminent arrival of the messianic age and the establishment of the messianic Kingdom. As one can see, Jesus is speaking precisely of these woes: to famine, epidemics, earthquakes, and wars there are added here persecutions of His disciples. All that is listed takes place against the background of the appearance of many false messiahs, who spring up like mushrooms after rain, leading after themselves the gullible, whom they then abandon to their fate.

There really were many such false messiahs in those days. All of them called for uprising and war, and all such uprisings ended in punitive expeditions; moreover, the leaders often managed to slip away, while punishment fell on the heads of those who did not want to flee or did not have time to do so. Thus it turns out that history, according to the Savior's words, ends with the end of the Second Temple, built by the repatriates who had once returned to Judea from Babylon. Everything further is no longer the former history proceeding on its usual course, but something new, taking place according to different, new laws.

The destruction of a temple was a real tragedy for pagans, for they thought that the god perished together with the temple. This is the main content of idolatry. The destruction of the Temple built by Solomon, on the contrary, becomes an enormous spiritual event. But the paradox is that in its outward appearance the Temple differed little from some pagan temples. As excavations have shown, in its architecture Solomon's Temple was a "typical Phoenician temple" (G. Wright, quoted in A. Men, Isagogics). That is precisely why, when the disciples draw the Teacher's attention to the outward appearance of the Temple, Christ does not share their enthusiasm, but prophesies its destruction. But perhaps the most important thing to remember when reflecting on today's reading is Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman. And the words Jesus said to her: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24). This allows the Temple, broken into shards scattered throughout the whole world, shards that have the form of temples of different confessions, spiritually to raise itself to the one Temple once destroyed, just as had been foretold.

As a rule, in the Christian environment each new war gives rise to rumors and talk about the "last times," about the near end, and about everything else that modern Christians associate with the end of times and the day of Judgment. And today's passage, it would seem, gives these interpretations and rumors quite sufficient grounds, although in the most immediate sense Jesus' prophecy refers to the events of A.D. 70, when shortly before the anti-Roman revolt that began that year, Palestine was indeed full of rumors about the imminent end of history, about the Messiah and the coming messianic war, about the imminent triumph of the Kingdom. And various kinds of "messiahs" were also growing in those days like mushrooms after rain, so that Jesus' warnings proved by no means unnecessary. But He does not speak of wars and alarming rumors as what begins the calamities preceding His return, called "pains" in the Synodal translation; He speaks of them as the source of such calamities, for the corresponding Greek word means beginning precisely in this sense. The source of all humanity's troubles, as can be seen, is the same in every age: mutual aggression producing wars, aggressive religiosity feeding them, and human gullibility making people believe "messiahs" and "prophets" who propagate such religiosity. It would be no surprise if some new paroxysm of such madness became for humanity the last historical cataclysm after which Jesus truly returns in order to intervene in events personally. But there is no point guessing about times and dates here: even Jesus Himself did not try to determine them in advance.

The word that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to the disciples on the Mount of Olives is very difficult to fulfill. The Lord speaks about the end times, about catastrophes and horrors: nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom... All this presents real dangers for us, and it is completely natural that we think and speak about such events. In essence, instinctively, in every catastrophe we see symptoms of the approaching end. In conveying this same conversation of the Lord with the disciples, the evangelist Luke gives us a strikingly exact formulation: "people will faint from fear and expectation of what is coming" (Luke 21:26).

And at the same time the Lord commands the disciples: "...watch yourselves..." This does not mean that we should not pay attention to what is happening in the world around us. On the contrary, the Lord tells the disciples: "pray," so that for the sake of the prayer of the elect this time of catastrophes may be shortened. But, as the evangelist Mark conveys this thought in the passage read today, we can observe the final battle in ourselves, in our own life and in our own heart. The Lord speaks of persecutions and division between those who accept Him and those who do not. One can say that this is precisely the essence of what happens at the end times, while, strictly speaking, a catastrophic character belongs to every age.

But the most important thing is that the Lord tells us about the other side of the matter: "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." Amid all the chaos of the approaching end, Christ's disciples must therefore carry out this task, because it is the chief thing that must be done for the salvation of the world.

Calling His disciples not to think about what they will have to say when testimony before persecutors is required of them, Jesus at the same time reminds them that only the one who remains faithful to the end amid universal madness will be saved. One would think that this is exactly where everything should be carefully weighed and considered before saying anything: before such an audience, testimony must be especially vivid, and at the same time especially measured, so that everything said would sound flawless both in content and, preferably, in form. Jesus, on the contrary, calls them not to think anything through in advance. Of course, this call can be explained by the fact that it is practically impossible to think through all possible situations in advance and work out in advance some models of behavior for one case or another: there are usually too many situations, especially in troubled times, for such planning to become possible. But the point is probably also something else. Who, and when, can afford not to prepare for a responsible speech? Probably only the one who is sure that someone else will prepare his speech for him, and someone who can be trusted unconditionally. And the Savior, as we can see, offers His disciples exactly that option. But for this, their whole life must be part of the Kingdom that He brought into the world and in which one can live one life with Him. Then one can pass through all the twists and turns of a troubled time while remaining a faithful witness of the Kingdom whose life one lives.

In His conversation with the disciples about the end of the world, the Lord, as the biblical prophets sent by Him did, speaks at the same time about nearby concrete events and about the still distant end of history. In this case, clearly, the Lord uses the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as an image of the end of the world. Yet His words can in many ways also be applied to other eras. In the passage we read today, it is important that the Lord says to the disciples: "Pray..." He also adds that for the sake of His elect God shortens the last days. It follows from this that it is within our power, through prayer and faithfulness to God, to lessen the weight of the sufferings of the last time. Together with the preaching of the Gospel, this becomes the most important task of the Church, giving a truly cosmic meaning to its existence.

Christ warned us in advance about the calamities that precede His return. About calamities that we ourselves provoke by our deeds. On learning of the reckoning, one can drop one's hands in despair, but it is better to gather oneself inwardly and turn to the One who saves.

The Lord has already shortened those days for the sake of the elect. Ten righteous people were not found in Sodom, but in a world that has surpassed Sodom, Christ has called many pure souls who, unnoticed by those around them, prevent the final catastrophe from taking place.

The forces of evil understand this too, and in the days of tribulation, "such as has not been from the beginning of creation," they will once again try to neutralize the healing leaven. They will try the old method: sending false christs and false prophets who perform lying signs and wonders. Well, there are already many such people in our time. And though we do not know the day and hour of the final battle, the One who warned us beforehand has called us to be ready every day. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed; may we not drop the weapon of faith and faithfulness to Christ, nor cast it aside to gather dust.

Lord, grant us discernment of spirits! Amen.

Today I want to draw attention to the words: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." "Heaven and earth" is a biblical expression meaning the whole universe, the whole cosmos created by God. The Bible begins with these very words, as we all remember well. But do we understand correctly what Heaven is, what earth is, where we are, and where God is? The worst thing is if we think at the level of Soviet propaganda leaflets: that we are on earth and God is in heaven. It is known that after Gagarin's flight, articles appeared in the Soviet press saying that now it had been proven that there was no God in heaven. This is a warning against very crude errors. But there is also a more subtle mistake. It is to think that God is in Heaven, with Heaven capitalized, understanding Heaven as some world beyond the earthly one, inhabited by angels and the souls of the dead, over whom God reigns. Perhaps this mistake comes from a wrong understanding of the words "Our Father, who art in Heaven..." or "O Heavenly King..." This mistake will become clear when we recall the already mentioned lines of Gen. 1:1. The Lord created Heaven too, and there was a time when there was no Heaven, but God was. This does not mean that God is not in Heaven, but when we say that He is there, we greatly limit Him, placing Him on the same level as creatures, while He is the Creator. This is exactly what the lines of today's reading, which we wanted to offer you today for reflection, should remind us of. "Heaven and earth will pass away." Heaven, like earth, is not eternal. The end of time does not at all mean that people will be selected on earth and taken up to Heaven, as though they were being saved from the sinking ship of a passing world onto the firm shore of eternity. No, the end of time will mean the complete reordering of creation, which even Heaven will not avoid. This is what today's reading reminds us of.

We read Christ's prophetic words about the future of the world and the days before His Second Coming in power and glory. Everything that will happen will be terrible, and... all of it is already found in our world: earthquakes and wars, famine and epidemics. But what is the Lord's patience of which the apostle speaks? It consists in His waiting for every person and giving everyone opportunities to meet Him. He has given us the promise of which the apostle speaks: “According to His promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Our world can become these new heavens and this new earth if Christ's proclamation is heard by everyone; if Christ's works and people's love for Him become the foundation of human life; if through repentance and the fear of God each person acquires faith, hope, and love. Prayer for the world and for everything that happens in it, prayer to Christ for the salvation of human souls amid distress and misfortune, must resound every day in the heart of every Christian, just as it resounds every day in the Church.

It is said clearly enough that no one can know either the day or the hour, yet advice is given to watch for signs that speak of coming events. But how can we avoid confusing true symptoms with apparent ones? Over the last twenty centuries, how many natural and historical cataclysms have already occurred, how many signs have seemed to coincide with those foretold, and yet the end of time has still not come? And does not the fig tree put out leaves every summer?

Yes, every summer, and at the same time it does not know which summer will be the decisive one. But year after year it continues to put out leaves so that by autumn fruit may ripen. Without being troubled by times and dates, we are called to keep watch, so that by the coming of the Master of the house we may have fruit prepared.

Why does Jesus not answer such a burning question about times and dates? Does God really deliberately hide such an important fact from people? Indeed, if only we knew the exact date of the coming triumph of the Kingdom... Still, it is not so simple to say unambiguously what any of us would do in that case. One cannot even be sure that everyone would take such a revelation seriously. And yet, as is well known, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, and each person decides for himself how to respond to a warning. In any case, for those who take spiritual life seriously, the situation would become noticeably simpler: they would not have to remain in a state of continuous spiritual, and perhaps not only spiritual, tension, expecting every day the main event of their life. Besides, Jesus Himself says that even He does not know the time of His own return. Why is this so? Maybe the point is not that something is being hidden from us, but that the time has not been fixed? After all, the history of the Kingdom is, above all, the history of those who live in it and bear witness to it, the history of Christian righteousness, which is determined not only by God's will but also by the choice of those people whom God calls. And then it inevitably turns out that the time of the Messiah's return and the triumph of the Kingdom depends not only on God, but also on us.