NOTES for Luk 21:5-7

Today’s composite Gospel reading includes three passages from chapter 21 of the Gospel of Luke in which the Lord speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem. On the one hand, Christ’s predictions were fully realized in AD 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans. On the other hand, in every age we see in the world around us the fulfillment of what the Lord says: nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there are earthquakes, famines, and other dreadful events. All this prevents us from applying His prophecy only to the events of the year 70. In one way or another, the death and destruction of which the Lord speaks are an image of the fate of a world that does not accept Christ. In this connection, it is important for us to notice that the Lord gives us the hope of salvation precisely within this terrifying prospect. Knowing everything that will happen and revealing it to His disciples, He says: by your endurance save your souls. Christ calls us not to be afraid, but to trust in God precisely amid the catastrophes that we witness.