Mark 13: The BUCKLE UP Chapter

With the 13th chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we enter Jesus’ apocalyptic statements. An interpretative danger skulks below the bridge of the Bible’s apocalyptic passages. We need to keep a few points in mind when praying, meditating, and studying these passages. 

1. We need to keep the literal sense of the passage in mind. This means, before spiritualizing the text and applying it to 2024, we will want to recognize that Jesus was speaking directly to real people in a real point in time with a specific context. Jesus’ words are timeless, because they flow from his eternal relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit. However, Jesus is the “Verbum caro factum est,” i.e. “the word was made flesh.” It’s interesting to note that the Latin word “factum,” from which we gain the “became” in the phrase “the Word became flesh,” is the root of the English word FACT. Jesus, the Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity, became a “fact” within history. Responsible interpretation allows for the facticity, the within space-time-ness of Jesus’ revelation that spoke and speaks. 
2. When we allow Jesus’ then-word to become a now-word by the Holy Spirit, we do so within a living communion, the Church. Scriptural interpretation involves a communion of faith with a right tradition that links the present to our forebears. When the Church began in Israel and Asia Minor, churches would gather and read aloud the Old Testament and the letters of, say, Paul. The Bible, then, is a word spoken within the Church. We will want to keep this in mind as we tend to the wider background of the Church’s understanding of apocalyptic literature from the Scriptures.  
3. Finally, when we do apply these apocalyptic passages to our own day, we will want to do so with a loose grip around our interpretation and application. Throughout different cataclysmic events, the Church thought that the end was near, the real end, THE END. In different times, the Church believed Jesus’ return imminent, e.g. when Rome fell, during various Muslim incursions after the 7th century, during the Bubonic Plague, etc. More recently, apocalyptic fervor reached a fever pitch during various Cold War episodes. In each of those moments many believed Jesus would be returning NOW. So, we want to keep Jesus’ caution to us in mind: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:7-8a). We will not be given a specific date and time for The End, but we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to face whatever comes our way. Jesus says to us today: “Behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt. 28:20b).  

With those caveats in mind, let’s proceed. 
 
Mark 13:1-8 
To understand the shock of Jesus’ words to his listeners regarding the Temple, let’s keep a few thoughts in mind. In Jesus’ day, the Temple combined the executive, legislative, and judicial branch of the Jewish people (this is per Dr. Scott Hahn’s The Lamb’s Supper). Not only did the Temple symbolize the very center of all religious and political power for Jews in the first century, but it also symbolized and made present the very dwelling place of the LORD on Earth. The Temple stood for the very axis around which every aspect of their lives revolved. The prophecy about the Temple’s destruction literally meant, for those listening, the utter decimation of their entire way of life as they knew it; the “end of the cosmos.” In the year 70AD, the prophecy of Jesus in verse 2 happened. After a Jewish revolt that began in year 66AD, led by a man who called himself the Messiah (see verse 5-6), the Roman authorities reentered Jerusalem and literally leveled most of the Temple; “there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down” (v. 2). These first 8 verses, literally detail the events that happened within the first generation of Christians. Jesus’ words remain important for us today, but if we lose sight of this jaw dropping prophecy about an unthinkable event for first century Jews, we can see that Jesus’ words do need to be taken seriously today. Jesus knows what he’s talking about.   
 
Mark 13:9-13 
Jesus foretold the persecution of the Church in these verses. The details speak to the testimony Christian martyrs bear today. Catholic Christians remain a potent threat to every political authority claiming absolute rights over their subjects. We believe Jesus is the real King. In the Medieval church, Saint Robert Bellarmine laid out the Catholic Church’s stance on the limits of government. Everyone is born equal in dignity before God the Father. Those who reign do so with the delegated authority of the people they serve. No one can claim the right to tyrannical power, and no one can claim authority over the Church. Because we owe allegiance to Christ the King, this disrupts the status quo. As a result, persecutions take place. Jesus charges us to share the Gospel with all of creation. This puts us into direct conflict with those who resist the Word of God. This will even result in the disruption of the small cell of society, the family. “And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death” (v. 12). Jesus did not promise tranquility for his followers. Quite the opposite. A real spiritual battle is taking place. HOWEVER, Jesus’ Holy Spirit – the same Holy Spirit who anointed and empowered Jesus Christ – rests upon the Church for the advance of the Kingdom of God today. Time and again Jesus tells us: “be not afraid!” That word of courage continues to fill our veins with the fire of the Gospel. We take up our Cross daily and follow Jesus. When we act on his word, the power of the Holy Spirit shines through us. A life of discipleship doesn’t mean a lack of conflict, it means he equips us for the frontline. No bystanders exist for the Church Militant as we await Jesus’ Second Coming. 
 
Mark 13:14-22 
Dr. Mary Healy gives us the literal background of verse 14 in her commentary on the Gospel of Mark (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, p. 265): 
 
The desolating abomination is an expression from Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11), where it alludes to the terrible sacrilege committed by the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BC. After plundering Jerusalem, this infamous tyrant erected an idol of the Greek god Zeus on the altar of sacrifice in the temple (see 1 Macc 1:31, 54-59). A desolating abomination is one so egregious that it leads to the utter destruction of the temple and city, turning it into a desolate wasteland. Here the tragic event of the past is viewed as a foreshadowing of the final desecration of the temple that will lead to its destruction by the pagan armies of Rome (see Matt 24:15; Luke 21:20). ‘Standing where he should not’ is precisely in the temple sanctuary, the holy place where the living God is worshipped. The masculine ‘he’ suggests that this evil will be carried out by an individual, perhaps a military general, who is a kind of anti-Messiah figure (see 2 Thess 2:3-4). 
 
Jesus weaves together known biblical passages, prophetic insight, and apocalyptic warnings in this brief section. If we want to apply this passage to our own day, one possible interpretation might be: when what is most profane is placed where that which is holiest should be, the entire order of the world upends. When you see that GET READY! Jesus does not sugar coat the tribulation that we will face during the End Times. It will trouble that catches us unaware and that no one will be able to imagine (v. 19). Jesus continues to keep us grounded in the truth of his presence and God’s providential direction of these events (v. 20). But the times will be confusing, no doubt (v. 21). It is very possible that Jesus meant those words for the listeners during the time of its utterance and for us today. Remember: he told us all these things beforehand (v. 23).  
 
Mark 13:24-27 
These verses engage us with language oft used in apocalyptic narratives. Does Jesus mean these words literally or spiritually or both? If literally, could this point to events that would take place within history and affect our solar system? If spiritually, could this speak to a benighting of the mind and heart during times of persecution? If both, could it indicate that the very cosmos responds to the spiritual crisis of the End Times? All are possibilities and each nuance carries its own interpretative helps and difficulties. We can know that Jesus speaks of an angelic intervention that assists in his return.  
 
Mark 13:28-37 
These concluding verses call each of us to a posture of readiness. “Of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (v. 32). If we pay attention, as we do for changes in season (v. 28-30), we will not be caught off guard. We keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, and we know and believe that he has won the ultimate victory already. These verses outline events with both spiritual and literal purchase upon the human story. Readiness includes an awareness of historical events and a spiritual posture of readiness to meet Jesus when he comes again. In our uncertain times, it would surely be wise for us to be ready in both senses. Ready, not alarmed. Confident, but wise. Faithful, and prudent.  
 
Reflection Questions: 

1. We can often face persecution by coworkers, friends, and family members when we try to live our Catholic faith well. How do the words of Jesus in Mark 13 help situate your own persecution within Jesus’ forecast of such persecution? What consolation can we draw from Jesus’ insistence upon his providential guidance and the help of the Holy Spirit?  
2. When we view the world from the vantage point of the apocalyptic, we view the secularization of the culture from a different perspective. What are some aspects of our life of faith that we hold most sacred that the culture minimizes? What are some aspects of life we understand as immoral that the secular culture elevates to something like the “sacred” in its non-Gospel outlook?