Lesson of the widow's mite (Luke 21:1–4)
1 When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury
2 and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
3 He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
4 for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."
The widow is another example of the poor ones in this gospel whose detachment from material possessions and dependence on God leads to their blessedness. Her simple offering provides a striking contrast to the pride and pretentiousness of the scribes denounced in the preceding section (Luke 20:45-47). The story is taken from Mark 12:41-44.
comments by Fr. Tim Mockaitis:
Our Lord uses this as a teachable moment about the true value of generosity: “this poor widow put in more than all the other” since she contributed “from her poverty . . . her whole livelihood.” Her two cents was not an opinion about politics, religion, culture or anything in particular. She said nothing but became a powerful contrast between those who give for public notice and those who give out of trust.
Jesus uses the occasion of a simple anonymous widow, who clearly gave more due to her sacrifice, to teach about generous trust of the Lord. The widow, frankly, had nothing to lose. The bit of money she had remaining was nothing compared to her needs. Perhaps Our Lord read her heart as to what may have been an act of faith. “No one is here to provide for me so why not just give it all to God and trust in him” she may have thought.
The scribes loved to be noticed for their generosity. Putting in many coins one by one and slowly as to linger as people passed by. The widow gave her two cents quickly and walked on ignored by the crowd while Jesus knew that this put her in an even more vulnerable position. But her action was used to speak a lesson to all Christians.
This widow knew there was an infinite gap between her and God. She knew that she depended on him for her very “livelihood”: her life, her health, her family, her food, her shelter, her talents all that she was and all that she had. It all had come from God, and so it all belonged to God. She had no illusion of being able to give him what he truly deserved or repay him for his kindness to her. But this realization didn't make her feel worthless. Quite the opposite, she was overflowing with gratitude. And her generosity made Jesus smile with delight. So go ahead and make comparisons if you want. Just don’t waste your time comparing yourself with someone else who may have received much less or given much more than you. Instead, take a look at how generous God has been to you. He has held nothing back, including his only begotten Son. Soak in that love, and let it stir up your own generosity. Don’t try to figure out how much you have to offer. Simply give him as much as you can.
comments by Father Bober:
For Christians, the experience of giving alms is documented as early as the Acts of the Apostles (e.g. 4:32 or 11:29). The Fathers of the Church wrote of almsgiving extensively. In their view, those who were wealthy had been given much by God and should see themselves as stewards and dispensers of these gifts. Not to do so, the fathers taught, would be a misuse of such gifts. Since those gifts were meant by God for the poor, any neglect of giving alms would be stealing. This view is especially found in the writings of St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
More modern documents, interestingly, apply the obligation of almsgiving especially to those who hold office in the church. Pope Leo XIII wrote in “Rerum Novarum” (May 15, 1891) that such obligation applies to them because the special care of the poor also belongs to them. The documents of the Second Vatican Council take up that same theme and add that the ministers of the church should be paid so they can use a portion of what they have for the care of the poor (“Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests,” Article 20).
While the obligation for almsgiving is clear, the internal motivation is best addressed by Jesus when he spoke of those putting in offerings to the Temple treasury. He noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins and remarked, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood” (Luke 21:3-4).
So often in our lives, we think of giving alms as giving from what we do not need. Jesus is challenging us to give from what we do need. The almsgiving that matters in our own personal spiritual growth is that which is made not from the leftovers but from what we truly need.
This is a challenge, but it is what built the parish facilities that we utilize today. Our ancestors gave from their want (and not the leftovers) to build churches, schools and institutions to care for others when, in fact, they too were in need.
Almsgiving is not only a part of Lent but really a perennial part of Christian life. So often in our lives we want to prepare for the future by storing up what we might need. In the long view of eternity, the things we will need most at the gates of eternity are those that we have given away. Almsgiving is not only an obligation but an opportunity to demonstrate that we are indeed worthy of the kingdom of God.
comments by Dr. Mary Healy, professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit:
The poor widow who comes along is an example of the anawim (lowly ones) 12:42 often mentioned in the Old Testament, the poor and afflicted who find their joy in God alone (lsa 29:19; 61:1; Zeph 2:3).
The others had contributed from their surplus, but this woman contributed from her poverty. The others were content to give God some of their overflow, having provided sufficiently for themselves-and impress other people to boot. But this destitute woman had given God what she could not afford, all she had, her whole livelihood.
She is an exemplar of "the poor" who are blessed by God (see Matt 5:6; Luke 6:20) because their whole treasure is not in earthly possessions but in God. These words of praise for an impoverished widow are the last words spoken by the Lord in the temple of the old covenant.
Who contributes most to the flourishing of the Church today? Perhaps it is those who are overlooked and insignificant in human terms. This point brings to mind the story of the third -century martyr St. Lawrence, who was archdeacon of Rome and distributor of the Church's alms. In 258, by decree of the emperor, the pope and six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence the ranking Church official in Rome. The city prefect summoned Lawrence and demanded that he hand over the treasures of the Church. Lawrence responded that the Church was indeed very rich, and asked for a little time to gather its treasures. He then went all over the city seeking out the poor and infirm. On the third day, he gathered together a great crowd of orphans, widows, and people who were lame, blind, maimed, or suffering various diseases, and invited the prefect to come and see "the wondrous riches of our God:' The prefect was furious; in a rage he ordered Lawrence to be put to death on a gridiron over a slow fire. Lawrence is honored as one of the great martyrs of the early Church.
Olive discourse (Luke 21:5–38)
5 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said,
6 "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."
7 Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
8 He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!
9 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."
10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
12 "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.
13 It will lead to your giving testimony.
14 Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
15 for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
16 You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
17 You will be hated by all because of my name,
18 but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
19 By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
20 "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand.
21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
22 for these days are the time of punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled.
23 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
26 People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."
29 He taught them a lesson. "Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
30 When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
31 in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise
35 like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.
36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."
37 During the day, Jesus was teaching in the temple area, but at night he would leave and stay at the place called the Mount of Olives.
38 And all the people would get up early each morning to listen to him in the temple area.
The Olivet discourse or Olivet prophecy is a biblical passage found in the Synoptic Gospels of Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21. It is known as the "Little Apocalypse" because it includes Jesus' descriptions of the end times, the use of apocalyptic language, and Jesus' warning to his followers that they will suffer tribulation and persecution before the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. The Olivet discourse is the last of the Five Discourses of Matthew and occurs just prior to the narrative of Jesus' passion beginning with the Anointing of Jesus.
Jesus' eschatological discourse in Luke is inspired by Mark 13 but Luke has made some significant alterations to the words of Jesus found there. Luke maintains, though in a modified form, the belief in the early expectation of the end of the age, but, by focusing attention throughout the gospel on the importance of the day-to-day following of Jesus and by reinterpreting the meaning of some of the signs of the end from Mark 13 he has come to terms with what seemed to the early Christian community to be a delay of the parousia. Mark, for example, described the desecration of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans (Mark 13:14) as the apocalyptic symbol (see Daniel 9:27; 12:11) accompanying the end of the age and the coming of the Son of Man. Luke (Luke 21:20-24), however, removes the apocalyptic setting and separates the historical destruction of Jerusalem from the signs of the coming of the Son of Man by a period that he refers to as "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24). The times of the Gentiles is a period of indeterminate length separating the destruction of Jerusalem from the cosmic signs accompanying the coming of the Son of Man. The actual destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70 upon which Luke and his community look back provides the assurance that, just as Jesus' prediction of Jerusalem's destruction was fulfilled, so too will be his announcement of their final redemption. The powers of the heavens: the heavenly bodies mentioned in Luke 21:25 and thought of as cosmic armies (People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken).
None of the gospels mention the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. This is significant because Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple. This prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and burned the temple. The gold in the temple melted down between the stone walls and the Romans took the walls apart, stone by stone, to get the gold. Such an obvious fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy most likely would have been recorded as such by the gospel writers who were fond of mentioning fulfillment of prophecy if they had been written after A.D. 70.
comments by Msgr. Charles Pope (Archdiocese of Washington)::
In today’s gospel the Lord Jesus gives us a kind of road map of life and calls us to have a sobriety as to the passing and perilous nature of this world in which we live.
There is an historical context in which our Lord speaks. There were political rumblings in Israel in the early 30s AD that would eventually lead to war. Hatred of the Romans is growing among the Jews. The Zealot party and other factions are building power. Jesus, in this passage, prophesies that war will come and lead to Jerusalem’s ultimate destruction. Everything that they knew was going to pass away. By the Summer of 66 AD a three and half year war ensued that resulted in the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the death of 1.2 million Jews. Josephus records the war in great detail in his work The Jewish War.
The text says, "While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here( the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”.
Notice how they admire the temple and its beauty. But the Lord reminds them that, glorious though it now is, it is all going to be thrown down. We too must hear that whatever glory we see or experience in this world will not ultimately last. It is all going to pass away. The Temple is a portrait of passing things. Just as it was in splendor and now is gone, so too everything we see now and admire will pass. This is a sober truth we must come to accept, even if it is difficult. Other scriptures remind us of this truth. For example, The world as we know it is passing away (1 Cor 7:29). And again, and the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever (1 John 2:17). Hence this world is passing and we too are passing from it one day soon. Note however, for them as well as for us, one world was ending, but another was beginning. The Old Testament, Old Covenant order of the Temple was ending but the New Testament age of the Church was beginning. It was already breaking forth, even as the old was coming to an end. And so for us, we should not lament the end of this world or even our death, for a newer great world of heaven awaits if we are faithful. In fact, through the liturgy and sacraments that new world is already breaking forth if we partake of it.
Having been informed at the passing of all they see the apostles ask for signs that will precede the coming end to the temple and all things they know. We too can learn from what Jesus teaches them and apply it to our lives. Jesus warns them of four perils on the passage to the promised land of the New Testament of the age of the Church. We too will experience perils in our journey to the Promised Land of Heaven.
”See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!- Do you want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life? Then you’ve got to get rid of false messiahs. There are just too many people giving worldly things and people greater authority in their life than Jesus Christ and what he teaches. Fads, fashions, philosophies, all those people, things and philosophies we submit our lives to in hope that we be happy. The danger is that something or someone is reigning in your life other than Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is someone in power we admire, or someone in the media whom we give authority and allow to influence us inordinately. Perhaps it is political positions that we allow to trump the scriptures and the teachings of the Church. Perhaps it is just our own convictions or ideas that over-rule God’s teachings. A false messiah is any one or any thing that is telling you how to organize your life other than Jesus Christ. Before Christ can reign unambiguously in your life false powers and influences have to go. Too many people look only to science, popular culture, economics, medicine, education, politics and the like. It is not that we can’t use these things but they are not the messiah. None of these things or people every died for you. Only Jesus did that. The power to save you is in the blood of Jesus Christ. It is not in the statehouse, courthouse, or White-house – it’s in the blood, the saving blood of the lamb.
"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom". A war was looming for those ancient people. And we too are in a war, a battle. Before Christ can reign unambiguously in you the false powers in you have to be defeated. They will not go without a fight. The world, the flesh, and the devil can be expected to wage a fierce battle to keep their power. Are you in a battle? Too many Christians have lost the sense of battle. Scripture says, Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). And yet too many not only do not resist him, they welcome him. Scritpure also says, “Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:14). And old hymn says, “I’ve seen lightning flashing, and hear the thunder roll, I’ve felt sin-breakers dashing, which tried to conquer my soul; I’ve heard the voice of my savior, he bid me still to fight on. He promised never to leave me never to leave me alone”. On our way to the promised land of heaven we will encounter necessary battles. Battles for what is right, battles against sin, battles for proper priorities.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. In the time of Jesus and the era just preceding the war there were in fact many earthquakes, droughts and even heavenly signs. Historians of the time speak of a comet and strange views of what we know today as the Aurora Borealis. But what of us? For us What are earthquakes of life? Earthquakes involve the shaking of the ground! The shaking of that which is most stable and basic to us. What are you basing your life on? What is the foundation of your life? For most of us the foundations of this world are things like, Money, Politics, Friends, Family, our own skills. All of these things are shaken in life and all of them will eventually fail. Our talents and personal powers fade as we age, family members and friends die, move or fail us. Political power and worldly access fails. Haven’t we all experienced our world shaken, our soul famished, the plagues of sin that infect our world and ourselves? Haven’t the stars, all the things that orient us, fallen from the sky from time to time and the sun, the light we see by darkened. Has not the world turned upside down? Maybe it was the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job, trials, tragedies, testings, and tumult, a diagnosis of cancer or Alzheimer disease. This is why God has to be our ultimate foundation. Either Jesus is our foundation, or something else is. Without God as our foundation we cannot stand. The foundations of this world will cave, Christ must be our sure foundation.
Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name…..You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. The early Christians had much to suffer through persecutions. Most of us in the Christian West have had less to suffer but more difficult days may well be ahead as the secular West grows increasingly hostile to the traditional Christian Faith. Persecution however is an expected part of the Christian journey to the promised land of heaven. Even if we’re not handed over it is a truth of our time that many of us are not taken seriously, are written off or called names even by our closest family and friends? Christ tells us not to worry of such things. They are part of the normal Christian life. And even if some of us eventually lose our life for the faith, the Lord promises that not a hair of our head will be harmed. That is, our souls will be saved. The world can only harm our body but not our soul, unless we allow it.
More comments:
I Myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. Luke 21:15
Do you ever feel you are at a loss for words when speaking about the good things God brings to your life? Not knowing what to say is indication you are not giving your all to God for if you were there would not be the slightest hesitation when speaking about the love of Jesus Christ. I know, many of you might think you’re not a natural born speaker, right? In the joy of seeking a relationship with God and His Son’s Truth, one becomes acquainted with the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells in us all and will manifest His Truth in Your soul by your practice, prayer and proclamation.
You have to read your Bible to gain God’s wisdom in practice to live by His Word every second of every day. There is many a person who can quote Scripture but God wants you live His Word not memorize each and every verse. You have to pray about everything you do in life. Once God is your habit, you will find yourself saying prayers aloud in every place imaginable. This practice and prayer leads you to purposely talking about God and His Son to anyone, anywhere and anytime. Your proclamation becomes the life you live for the Glory of God the Father. Jesus Himself by the Power of the Holy Spirit will “give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Amen. Thomas Joe Cruz-Wiggins.
Jesus promises His Spirit to us when we are called upon to give testimony for our faith. To respond best to the gift of His Spirit, there are some things we can do. Changing the tone of the conversation from a probing questioning to one of charity can help us feel more at ease and directed by the Spirit. Simply by thanking them for their question and the care they are showing for us by asking such a question will hopefully reframe the discussion to a more open sharing in charity than a rhetorical match. By studying our faith, especially the truths of the magisterium, apostolic succession and our relationship to Scripture can go a long way in these conversations as well. Another thing we can do in these conversations is not allowing numerous questions bouncing from one topic to the next. Instead, discover what really bothers them about the Catholic faith and speak to these more central questions, patiently and charitably explaining the faith to the best of our ability. Amen. Father Mayo
comments by Benedict XVI (JN):
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. . . .” (Mt 23:37-38; Lk 13:34-35). This passage clearly reveals Jesus’ profound love for Jerusalem and his impassioned efforts to elicit from the Holy City a positive response to the message he must proclaim, the message with which he takes his place in the long line of God’s messengers from earlier salvation history.
The image of the protective, solicitous mother bird comes from the Old Testament: God “found [Jacob] in a desert land . . . he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions” (Deut 32:10-11). One is reminded of the beautiful passage from Psalm 36:7: “How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Jeremiah records the words spoken by God concerning the abuses in the Temple: “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage” (12:7). Jesus says exactly the same thing: “Your house is forsaken” (Mt 23:38). God is withdrawing. The Temple is no longer the place where he sets down his name. It will be left empty; henceforth it is merely “your house”.
Flavius Josephus,the historian of the Jewish War, reports strange happenings in the final years before the outbreak of the Jewish War, all of which, in different and unsettling ways, heralded the end of the Temple. One sign bears a strange resemblance to the somber words of Jesus quoted above. The event took place at Pentecost in A.D. 66 “At the Feast of Pentecost, when the priests had gone into the inner court of the Temple at night to perform the usual ceremonies, they declared that they were aware, first of a violent movement and a loud crash, then of a concerted cry: ‘Let us go hence’ ” (The Jewish War, p. 361). Whatever exactly may have happened, one thing is clear: in the final years before the dramatic events of the year 70, the Temple was enveloped in a mysterious premonition that its end was approaching. “Your house will be deserted.”
God himself is announcing (“Let us go hence!”) that he is to depart from the Temple, to leave it “empty”. A historic change of incalculable significance was in the air. Jesus’ great eschatological discourse, which takes as its central themes the destruction of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the Last Judgment, and the end of the world is found in all three Synoptic Gospels with certain variations, could perhaps be described as the most difficult text in the whole of the Gospels. The text refers partly to historical events that have taken place in the meantime, but mainly to a future that lies altogether beyond time and reality as we know it: indeed, it brings them to an end.
Let's explore three aspects of Jesus’ eschatological discourse in which the underlying intentions of its composition become clear:
1. The End of the Temple
The Jewish War had begun in the year 66, with the expulsion of the procurator Gessius Florus and the successful resistance to the Roman counterattack. Eusebius of Caesarea (d. ca. 339) and—from a different perspective—Epiphanius of Salamis (d. 403) tell us that even before the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, the Christians had fled to the city of Pella beyond the Jordan. According to Eusebius, they decided to flee after a command to do so had been communicated to “those who were worthy” by a revelation (Hist. Eccl. III/5). Epiphanius, on the other hand, writes: “Christ had told them to abandon Jerusalem and go elsewhere, because it would be besieged” (Haer. 29, 8).
In fact we find an instruction to flee in Jesus’ eschatological discourse: “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be . . . then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. . .” (Mk 13:14). It cannot be determined which event or reality it was that the Christians identified as the sign of the “abomination that makes desolate”, precipitating their departure, but there was no shortage of possible candidates—incidents in the course of the Jewish War that could be interpreted as this sign foretold by Jesus.
Eusebius’ text is thoroughly plausible, in the sense that certain highly regarded members of the early Christian community could have recognized in some particular event, “by a revelation”, the sign that had been foretold, and they could have interpreted it as an instruction to begin their flight.
Alexander Mittelstaedt unfolds the details of the conquest and destruction of city and Temple:
“The end of the Temple took place in three stages: first the suspension of the regular sacrifice, by which the sanctuary was reduced to a fortress, then it was set on fire, again in three stages . . . and finally the ruins were demolished after the fall of the city. The decisive destruction . . . took place through fire; the subsequent demolition is just a postscript . . . those who survived and did not then fall victim to famine or plague could anticipate the circus, the mine, or slavery”
The death toll given by Flavius Josephus is 1,100,000 (The Jewish War, p. 371). Orosius (Hist. Adv. Pag. VII, 9, 7) and likewise Tacitus (Hist. V, 13) speak of 600,000 dead. Mittelstaedt says these figures are exaggerated, and it would be more realistic to assume about 80,000 dead (p. 83). Anyone who reads all the written accounts, with their tales of murder, massacre, looting, arson, hunger, desecration of corpses, and environmental destruction (everywhere within an eleven-mile radius was deforested and laid waste), can understand Jesus’ comment, based on a passage from the Book of Daniel (12:1): “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be” (Mk 13:19).
In Daniel’s text, this prophecy of doom is followed by a promise: “But at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book” (12:1). Similarly in Jesus’ discourse, horror does not have the last word: the days are shortened and the elect are saved. God grants to evil and to evildoers a large measure of freedom—too large, we might think. Even so, history does not slip through his fingers.
The destruction that took place in the year 70 was definitive. Attempts to restore the Temple under Emperor Hadrian through the revolt of Bar Kochba (A.D. 132-135), and later under Julian (361), were unsuccessful. The revolt of Bar Kochba actually led Hadrian to prohibit the Jewish people from entering the area in and around Jerusalem. In the place of the Holy City, the emperor built a new one, known henceforth as Aelia Capitolina, where the cult of Jupiter Capitolinus was celebrated. “Emperor Constantine in the fourth century was the first to allow the Jews, once a year, on the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem, to visit the City in order to grieve at the wall of the Temple” (Gnilka, Nazarener, p. 72).
For Judaism, the end of the sacrifice, the destruction of the Temple, must have come as a tremendous shock. Temple and sacrifice lie at the very heart of the Torah.
Now there was no longer any atonement in the world, no longer anything that could serve as a counterweight to its further contamination by evil. What is more: God, who had set down his name in the Temple, and thus in a mysterious way dwelt within it, had now lost his dwelling place on earth. What had become of the Covenant? What had become of the promise?
One thing is clear: the Bible—the Old Testament—had to be read anew. The Judaism of the Sadducees, which was entirely bound to the Temple, did not survive this catastrophe.
Among the Jewish schools of thought prevailing at the time of Jesus, the only one to survive was Pharisaism, which acquired a new center in the rabbinic school of Jamnia and there developed its own particular way of reading and interpreting the Old Testament after the loss of the Temple, centered on the Torah. Only then did it become possible to speak of “Judaism” in the strict sense as a way of viewing the canon of Scripture as revelation and reading it anew in the physical absence of Temple worship. That worship no longer existed. In this sense, Israel’s faith also took on a new guise after the year 70.
Saint Gregory Nazianzen (d. ca. 390), contemplating with hindsight the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, divided up the world’s religious history into a series of phases. He speaks of the patience of God, who does not impose upon man anything too hard to understand: God acts like a good schoolteacher or a doctor. He slowly puts an end to certain customs, allows others to continue, and thus leads man forward. “A departure from time-honored, customary ways is, after all, not easy. Am I making my point? The first change cut away idols but allowed sacrifices to remain; the second stripped away sacrifices but did not forbid circumcision. Then, when men had been reconciled to the withdrawal, they agreed to let go what had been left them as a concession” (Oration 31, “On the Holy Spirit”, par. 25). From the perspective of this Church Father, even the sacrifices prescribed by the Torah appear as something merely allowed to remain—as a stage along the path to true worship of God, something temporary that had to be surpassed and was, indeed, surpassed by Christ.
Inasmuch as it belonged to the Father, Jesus loved the Temple (cf. Lk 2:49) and taught there gladly. He defended it as a house of prayer for all peoples and tried to prepare it for that function. Yet he knew that the age of this Temple was over and that something new was to come, linked to his death and Resurrection.
Even if up to this point there has been no explicit distancing from the sacrifices of the Law, an essential distinction has nevertheless been drawn. The place of the sacrifices has now been taken by the “breaking of bread” the Acts of the Apostles has this to say: “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts” (2:46)".
As for the new theological synthesis that sees in the death and Resurrection of Jesus the end of the Temple’s place in salvation history, even before its outward destruction, there are two names that stand out: Stephen and Paul. Even if we cannot reconstruct Saint Stephen’s theological vision in detail, its nucleus is clear: the era of the stone Temple and its sacrificial worship is past. For God himself said: “Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool”.
Paul did not simply ignore the question. On the contrary, the belief that all sacrifices are fulfilled in the Cross of Jesus Christ, that in him the underlying intention of all sacrifices is accomplished, namely expiation, that Jesus in this way has taken the place of the Temple, that he himself is the new Temple: all of this lies at the very heart of Paul’s teaching. For Paul, the Temple with its worship is “demolished” with Christ’s crucifixion; its place is now taken by the living Ark of the Covenant—the crucified and risen Christ.
2. The Times of the Gentiles
A superficial reading or hearing of Jesus’ eschatological discourse would give the impression that Jesus linked the end of Jerusalem chronologically to the end of the world, especially when we read in Matthew: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened. . .; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. . . .” (24:29-30). This direct chronological connection between the end of Jerusalem and the end of the whole world seems to be further confirmed when we come across these words a few verses later: “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place. . . .” (24:34).
On first glance, it seems that Luke was the only one to downplay this connection. In his account we read: “They will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (21:24). Between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, “the times of the Gentiles” are here inserted.
Luke has been accused of thereby shifting the temporal axis of the Gospels and of Jesus’ original message, recasting the end of time as the intermediate time and, thus, inventing the time of the Church as a new phase of salvation history. But if we look closely, we find that these “times of the Gentiles” are also foretold, in different terms and at a different point, in the versions of Jesus’ discourse recounted by Matthew and Mark.
Matthew quotes the following saying of Jesus: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (24:14). And in Mark we read: “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” (13:10).
From the content, it is clear that all three Synoptic Gospels recognize a time of the Gentiles: the end of time can come only when the Gospel has been brought to all peoples. The prophecy of the time of the Gentiles and the corresponding mission is a core element of Jesus’ eschatological message. The special mission to evangelize the Gentiles, which Paul received from the risen Lord, is firmly anchored in the message given by Jesus to his disciples before his Passion. The time of the Gentiles—“the time of the Church”—which, as we have seen, is proclaimed in all the Gospels, constitutes an essential element of Jesus’ eschatological message.
3. Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse
Before we address the strictly apocalyptic part of Jesus’ discourse, let us attempt a summary of what we have seen so far.
First, we saw the prophecy of the destruction of the Temple and, in Luke, explicit reference also to the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet it became clear that the nucleus of Jesus’ prophecy is concerned, not with the outward events of war and destruction, but with the demise of the Temple in salvation-historical terms, as it becomes a “deserted house”. With the Cross of Christ, the era of sacrifices was over.
In the meantime, Israel retains its own mission. Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it “as a whole” at the proper time, when the number of the Gentiles is complete. The fact that the historical duration of this period cannot be calculated is self-evident and should not surprise us.
From this perspective, it can be understood that this “time of the Gentiles” is not yet the full Messianic age in terms of the great salvation promises, but it remains the time of present history and suffering; yet in a new way it is also a time of hope: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand” (Rom 13:12).
A further key element of Jesus’ eschatological discourse is the warning against false Messiahs and apocalyptic enthusiasm. Linked with this is the instruction to practice sobriety and vigilance.
Matthew and Luke recount the parable of the servant who noted his master’s delay in returning and, thinking him absent, made himself master, beat the servants and maids, and gave himself over to fine living. On the other hand, the good servant remains a servant, knowing that he will be called to account. He gives to all their due and is praised by the master for so doing: acting with justice is true vigilance (cf. Mt 24:45-51; Lk 12:41-46). To be vigilant is to know that one is under God’s watchful eye and to act accordingly.
This relativization of the cosmic, or, rather, its focusing onto the personal, is seen very clearly in the closing words of the apocalyptic section: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). The word—which seems almost nothing in comparison to the mighty power of the immeasurable material cosmos, like a fleeting breath against the silent grandeur of the universe—the word is more real and more lasting than the entire material world. The word is the true, dependable reality: the solid ground on which we can stand, which holds firm even when the sun goes dark and the firmament disintegrates. The cosmic elements pass away; the word of Jesus is the true “firmament” beneath which we can stand and remain.
It becomes clear that the word of God from the past illumines the essential meaning of the future. Yet it does not offer us a description of that future: rather it shows us, just for today, the right path for now and for tomorrow. Jesus’ apocalyptic words have nothing to do with clairvoyance. Indeed, they are intended to deter us from mere superficial curiosity about observable phenomena (cf. Lk 17:20) and to lead us toward the essential: toward life built upon the word of God that Jesus gives us; toward an encounter with him, the living Word; toward responsibility before the Judge of the living and the dead.
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| João Zeferino da Costa - The widow's mite (1876) |
2 and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
3 He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
4 for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."
The widow is another example of the poor ones in this gospel whose detachment from material possessions and dependence on God leads to their blessedness. Her simple offering provides a striking contrast to the pride and pretentiousness of the scribes denounced in the preceding section (Luke 20:45-47). The story is taken from Mark 12:41-44.
comments by Fr. Tim Mockaitis:
Our Lord uses this as a teachable moment about the true value of generosity: “this poor widow put in more than all the other” since she contributed “from her poverty . . . her whole livelihood.” Her two cents was not an opinion about politics, religion, culture or anything in particular. She said nothing but became a powerful contrast between those who give for public notice and those who give out of trust.
Jesus uses the occasion of a simple anonymous widow, who clearly gave more due to her sacrifice, to teach about generous trust of the Lord. The widow, frankly, had nothing to lose. The bit of money she had remaining was nothing compared to her needs. Perhaps Our Lord read her heart as to what may have been an act of faith. “No one is here to provide for me so why not just give it all to God and trust in him” she may have thought.
The scribes loved to be noticed for their generosity. Putting in many coins one by one and slowly as to linger as people passed by. The widow gave her two cents quickly and walked on ignored by the crowd while Jesus knew that this put her in an even more vulnerable position. But her action was used to speak a lesson to all Christians.
This widow knew there was an infinite gap between her and God. She knew that she depended on him for her very “livelihood”: her life, her health, her family, her food, her shelter, her talents all that she was and all that she had. It all had come from God, and so it all belonged to God. She had no illusion of being able to give him what he truly deserved or repay him for his kindness to her. But this realization didn't make her feel worthless. Quite the opposite, she was overflowing with gratitude. And her generosity made Jesus smile with delight. So go ahead and make comparisons if you want. Just don’t waste your time comparing yourself with someone else who may have received much less or given much more than you. Instead, take a look at how generous God has been to you. He has held nothing back, including his only begotten Son. Soak in that love, and let it stir up your own generosity. Don’t try to figure out how much you have to offer. Simply give him as much as you can.
comments by Father Bober:
For Christians, the experience of giving alms is documented as early as the Acts of the Apostles (e.g. 4:32 or 11:29). The Fathers of the Church wrote of almsgiving extensively. In their view, those who were wealthy had been given much by God and should see themselves as stewards and dispensers of these gifts. Not to do so, the fathers taught, would be a misuse of such gifts. Since those gifts were meant by God for the poor, any neglect of giving alms would be stealing. This view is especially found in the writings of St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
More modern documents, interestingly, apply the obligation of almsgiving especially to those who hold office in the church. Pope Leo XIII wrote in “Rerum Novarum” (May 15, 1891) that such obligation applies to them because the special care of the poor also belongs to them. The documents of the Second Vatican Council take up that same theme and add that the ministers of the church should be paid so they can use a portion of what they have for the care of the poor (“Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests,” Article 20).
While the obligation for almsgiving is clear, the internal motivation is best addressed by Jesus when he spoke of those putting in offerings to the Temple treasury. He noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins and remarked, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood” (Luke 21:3-4).
So often in our lives, we think of giving alms as giving from what we do not need. Jesus is challenging us to give from what we do need. The almsgiving that matters in our own personal spiritual growth is that which is made not from the leftovers but from what we truly need.
This is a challenge, but it is what built the parish facilities that we utilize today. Our ancestors gave from their want (and not the leftovers) to build churches, schools and institutions to care for others when, in fact, they too were in need.
Almsgiving is not only a part of Lent but really a perennial part of Christian life. So often in our lives we want to prepare for the future by storing up what we might need. In the long view of eternity, the things we will need most at the gates of eternity are those that we have given away. Almsgiving is not only an obligation but an opportunity to demonstrate that we are indeed worthy of the kingdom of God.
comments by Dr. Mary Healy, professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit:
The poor widow who comes along is an example of the anawim (lowly ones) 12:42 often mentioned in the Old Testament, the poor and afflicted who find their joy in God alone (lsa 29:19; 61:1; Zeph 2:3).
The others had contributed from their surplus, but this woman contributed from her poverty. The others were content to give God some of their overflow, having provided sufficiently for themselves-and impress other people to boot. But this destitute woman had given God what she could not afford, all she had, her whole livelihood.
She is an exemplar of "the poor" who are blessed by God (see Matt 5:6; Luke 6:20) because their whole treasure is not in earthly possessions but in God. These words of praise for an impoverished widow are the last words spoken by the Lord in the temple of the old covenant.
Who contributes most to the flourishing of the Church today? Perhaps it is those who are overlooked and insignificant in human terms. This point brings to mind the story of the third -century martyr St. Lawrence, who was archdeacon of Rome and distributor of the Church's alms. In 258, by decree of the emperor, the pope and six deacons were beheaded, leaving Lawrence the ranking Church official in Rome. The city prefect summoned Lawrence and demanded that he hand over the treasures of the Church. Lawrence responded that the Church was indeed very rich, and asked for a little time to gather its treasures. He then went all over the city seeking out the poor and infirm. On the third day, he gathered together a great crowd of orphans, widows, and people who were lame, blind, maimed, or suffering various diseases, and invited the prefect to come and see "the wondrous riches of our God:' The prefect was furious; in a rage he ordered Lawrence to be put to death on a gridiron over a slow fire. Lawrence is honored as one of the great martyrs of the early Church.
Olive discourse (Luke 21:5–38)
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| David Roberts - The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus (1850) |
5 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said,
6 "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."
7 Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
8 He answered, "See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.' Do not follow them!
9 When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."
10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.
12 "Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.
13 It will lead to your giving testimony.
14 Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
15 for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
16 You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
17 You will be hated by all because of my name,
18 but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
19 By your perseverance you will secure your lives.
20 "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand.
21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
22 for these days are the time of punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled.
23 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
26 People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand."
29 He taught them a lesson. "Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
30 When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
31 in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise
35 like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.
36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."
37 During the day, Jesus was teaching in the temple area, but at night he would leave and stay at the place called the Mount of Olives.
38 And all the people would get up early each morning to listen to him in the temple area.
The Olivet discourse or Olivet prophecy is a biblical passage found in the Synoptic Gospels of Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21. It is known as the "Little Apocalypse" because it includes Jesus' descriptions of the end times, the use of apocalyptic language, and Jesus' warning to his followers that they will suffer tribulation and persecution before the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. The Olivet discourse is the last of the Five Discourses of Matthew and occurs just prior to the narrative of Jesus' passion beginning with the Anointing of Jesus.
Jesus' eschatological discourse in Luke is inspired by Mark 13 but Luke has made some significant alterations to the words of Jesus found there. Luke maintains, though in a modified form, the belief in the early expectation of the end of the age, but, by focusing attention throughout the gospel on the importance of the day-to-day following of Jesus and by reinterpreting the meaning of some of the signs of the end from Mark 13 he has come to terms with what seemed to the early Christian community to be a delay of the parousia. Mark, for example, described the desecration of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans (Mark 13:14) as the apocalyptic symbol (see Daniel 9:27; 12:11) accompanying the end of the age and the coming of the Son of Man. Luke (Luke 21:20-24), however, removes the apocalyptic setting and separates the historical destruction of Jerusalem from the signs of the coming of the Son of Man by a period that he refers to as "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24). The times of the Gentiles is a period of indeterminate length separating the destruction of Jerusalem from the cosmic signs accompanying the coming of the Son of Man. The actual destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70 upon which Luke and his community look back provides the assurance that, just as Jesus' prediction of Jerusalem's destruction was fulfilled, so too will be his announcement of their final redemption. The powers of the heavens: the heavenly bodies mentioned in Luke 21:25 and thought of as cosmic armies (People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken).
None of the gospels mention the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. This is significant because Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple. This prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and burned the temple. The gold in the temple melted down between the stone walls and the Romans took the walls apart, stone by stone, to get the gold. Such an obvious fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy most likely would have been recorded as such by the gospel writers who were fond of mentioning fulfillment of prophecy if they had been written after A.D. 70.
comments by Msgr. Charles Pope (Archdiocese of Washington)::
In today’s gospel the Lord Jesus gives us a kind of road map of life and calls us to have a sobriety as to the passing and perilous nature of this world in which we live.
There is an historical context in which our Lord speaks. There were political rumblings in Israel in the early 30s AD that would eventually lead to war. Hatred of the Romans is growing among the Jews. The Zealot party and other factions are building power. Jesus, in this passage, prophesies that war will come and lead to Jerusalem’s ultimate destruction. Everything that they knew was going to pass away. By the Summer of 66 AD a three and half year war ensued that resulted in the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the death of 1.2 million Jews. Josephus records the war in great detail in his work The Jewish War.
The text says, "While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here( the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”.
Notice how they admire the temple and its beauty. But the Lord reminds them that, glorious though it now is, it is all going to be thrown down. We too must hear that whatever glory we see or experience in this world will not ultimately last. It is all going to pass away. The Temple is a portrait of passing things. Just as it was in splendor and now is gone, so too everything we see now and admire will pass. This is a sober truth we must come to accept, even if it is difficult. Other scriptures remind us of this truth. For example, The world as we know it is passing away (1 Cor 7:29). And again, and the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever (1 John 2:17). Hence this world is passing and we too are passing from it one day soon. Note however, for them as well as for us, one world was ending, but another was beginning. The Old Testament, Old Covenant order of the Temple was ending but the New Testament age of the Church was beginning. It was already breaking forth, even as the old was coming to an end. And so for us, we should not lament the end of this world or even our death, for a newer great world of heaven awaits if we are faithful. In fact, through the liturgy and sacraments that new world is already breaking forth if we partake of it.
Having been informed at the passing of all they see the apostles ask for signs that will precede the coming end to the temple and all things they know. We too can learn from what Jesus teaches them and apply it to our lives. Jesus warns them of four perils on the passage to the promised land of the New Testament of the age of the Church. We too will experience perils in our journey to the Promised Land of Heaven.
”See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them!- Do you want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life? Then you’ve got to get rid of false messiahs. There are just too many people giving worldly things and people greater authority in their life than Jesus Christ and what he teaches. Fads, fashions, philosophies, all those people, things and philosophies we submit our lives to in hope that we be happy. The danger is that something or someone is reigning in your life other than Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is someone in power we admire, or someone in the media whom we give authority and allow to influence us inordinately. Perhaps it is political positions that we allow to trump the scriptures and the teachings of the Church. Perhaps it is just our own convictions or ideas that over-rule God’s teachings. A false messiah is any one or any thing that is telling you how to organize your life other than Jesus Christ. Before Christ can reign unambiguously in your life false powers and influences have to go. Too many people look only to science, popular culture, economics, medicine, education, politics and the like. It is not that we can’t use these things but they are not the messiah. None of these things or people every died for you. Only Jesus did that. The power to save you is in the blood of Jesus Christ. It is not in the statehouse, courthouse, or White-house – it’s in the blood, the saving blood of the lamb.
"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom". A war was looming for those ancient people. And we too are in a war, a battle. Before Christ can reign unambiguously in you the false powers in you have to be defeated. They will not go without a fight. The world, the flesh, and the devil can be expected to wage a fierce battle to keep their power. Are you in a battle? Too many Christians have lost the sense of battle. Scripture says, Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). And yet too many not only do not resist him, they welcome him. Scritpure also says, “Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:14). And old hymn says, “I’ve seen lightning flashing, and hear the thunder roll, I’ve felt sin-breakers dashing, which tried to conquer my soul; I’ve heard the voice of my savior, he bid me still to fight on. He promised never to leave me never to leave me alone”. On our way to the promised land of heaven we will encounter necessary battles. Battles for what is right, battles against sin, battles for proper priorities.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. In the time of Jesus and the era just preceding the war there were in fact many earthquakes, droughts and even heavenly signs. Historians of the time speak of a comet and strange views of what we know today as the Aurora Borealis. But what of us? For us What are earthquakes of life? Earthquakes involve the shaking of the ground! The shaking of that which is most stable and basic to us. What are you basing your life on? What is the foundation of your life? For most of us the foundations of this world are things like, Money, Politics, Friends, Family, our own skills. All of these things are shaken in life and all of them will eventually fail. Our talents and personal powers fade as we age, family members and friends die, move or fail us. Political power and worldly access fails. Haven’t we all experienced our world shaken, our soul famished, the plagues of sin that infect our world and ourselves? Haven’t the stars, all the things that orient us, fallen from the sky from time to time and the sun, the light we see by darkened. Has not the world turned upside down? Maybe it was the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job, trials, tragedies, testings, and tumult, a diagnosis of cancer or Alzheimer disease. This is why God has to be our ultimate foundation. Either Jesus is our foundation, or something else is. Without God as our foundation we cannot stand. The foundations of this world will cave, Christ must be our sure foundation.
Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name…..You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. The early Christians had much to suffer through persecutions. Most of us in the Christian West have had less to suffer but more difficult days may well be ahead as the secular West grows increasingly hostile to the traditional Christian Faith. Persecution however is an expected part of the Christian journey to the promised land of heaven. Even if we’re not handed over it is a truth of our time that many of us are not taken seriously, are written off or called names even by our closest family and friends? Christ tells us not to worry of such things. They are part of the normal Christian life. And even if some of us eventually lose our life for the faith, the Lord promises that not a hair of our head will be harmed. That is, our souls will be saved. The world can only harm our body but not our soul, unless we allow it.
More comments:
I Myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. Luke 21:15
Do you ever feel you are at a loss for words when speaking about the good things God brings to your life? Not knowing what to say is indication you are not giving your all to God for if you were there would not be the slightest hesitation when speaking about the love of Jesus Christ. I know, many of you might think you’re not a natural born speaker, right? In the joy of seeking a relationship with God and His Son’s Truth, one becomes acquainted with the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells in us all and will manifest His Truth in Your soul by your practice, prayer and proclamation.
You have to read your Bible to gain God’s wisdom in practice to live by His Word every second of every day. There is many a person who can quote Scripture but God wants you live His Word not memorize each and every verse. You have to pray about everything you do in life. Once God is your habit, you will find yourself saying prayers aloud in every place imaginable. This practice and prayer leads you to purposely talking about God and His Son to anyone, anywhere and anytime. Your proclamation becomes the life you live for the Glory of God the Father. Jesus Himself by the Power of the Holy Spirit will “give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” Amen. Thomas Joe Cruz-Wiggins.
Jesus promises His Spirit to us when we are called upon to give testimony for our faith. To respond best to the gift of His Spirit, there are some things we can do. Changing the tone of the conversation from a probing questioning to one of charity can help us feel more at ease and directed by the Spirit. Simply by thanking them for their question and the care they are showing for us by asking such a question will hopefully reframe the discussion to a more open sharing in charity than a rhetorical match. By studying our faith, especially the truths of the magisterium, apostolic succession and our relationship to Scripture can go a long way in these conversations as well. Another thing we can do in these conversations is not allowing numerous questions bouncing from one topic to the next. Instead, discover what really bothers them about the Catholic faith and speak to these more central questions, patiently and charitably explaining the faith to the best of our ability. Amen. Father Mayo
comments by Benedict XVI (JN):
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. . . .” (Mt 23:37-38; Lk 13:34-35). This passage clearly reveals Jesus’ profound love for Jerusalem and his impassioned efforts to elicit from the Holy City a positive response to the message he must proclaim, the message with which he takes his place in the long line of God’s messengers from earlier salvation history.
The image of the protective, solicitous mother bird comes from the Old Testament: God “found [Jacob] in a desert land . . . he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions” (Deut 32:10-11). One is reminded of the beautiful passage from Psalm 36:7: “How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Jeremiah records the words spoken by God concerning the abuses in the Temple: “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage” (12:7). Jesus says exactly the same thing: “Your house is forsaken” (Mt 23:38). God is withdrawing. The Temple is no longer the place where he sets down his name. It will be left empty; henceforth it is merely “your house”.
Flavius Josephus,the historian of the Jewish War, reports strange happenings in the final years before the outbreak of the Jewish War, all of which, in different and unsettling ways, heralded the end of the Temple. One sign bears a strange resemblance to the somber words of Jesus quoted above. The event took place at Pentecost in A.D. 66 “At the Feast of Pentecost, when the priests had gone into the inner court of the Temple at night to perform the usual ceremonies, they declared that they were aware, first of a violent movement and a loud crash, then of a concerted cry: ‘Let us go hence’ ” (The Jewish War, p. 361). Whatever exactly may have happened, one thing is clear: in the final years before the dramatic events of the year 70, the Temple was enveloped in a mysterious premonition that its end was approaching. “Your house will be deserted.”
God himself is announcing (“Let us go hence!”) that he is to depart from the Temple, to leave it “empty”. A historic change of incalculable significance was in the air. Jesus’ great eschatological discourse, which takes as its central themes the destruction of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, the Last Judgment, and the end of the world is found in all three Synoptic Gospels with certain variations, could perhaps be described as the most difficult text in the whole of the Gospels. The text refers partly to historical events that have taken place in the meantime, but mainly to a future that lies altogether beyond time and reality as we know it: indeed, it brings them to an end.
Let's explore three aspects of Jesus’ eschatological discourse in which the underlying intentions of its composition become clear:
1. The End of the Temple
The Jewish War had begun in the year 66, with the expulsion of the procurator Gessius Florus and the successful resistance to the Roman counterattack. Eusebius of Caesarea (d. ca. 339) and—from a different perspective—Epiphanius of Salamis (d. 403) tell us that even before the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, the Christians had fled to the city of Pella beyond the Jordan. According to Eusebius, they decided to flee after a command to do so had been communicated to “those who were worthy” by a revelation (Hist. Eccl. III/5). Epiphanius, on the other hand, writes: “Christ had told them to abandon Jerusalem and go elsewhere, because it would be besieged” (Haer. 29, 8).
In fact we find an instruction to flee in Jesus’ eschatological discourse: “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be . . . then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. . .” (Mk 13:14). It cannot be determined which event or reality it was that the Christians identified as the sign of the “abomination that makes desolate”, precipitating their departure, but there was no shortage of possible candidates—incidents in the course of the Jewish War that could be interpreted as this sign foretold by Jesus.
Eusebius’ text is thoroughly plausible, in the sense that certain highly regarded members of the early Christian community could have recognized in some particular event, “by a revelation”, the sign that had been foretold, and they could have interpreted it as an instruction to begin their flight.
Alexander Mittelstaedt unfolds the details of the conquest and destruction of city and Temple:
“The end of the Temple took place in three stages: first the suspension of the regular sacrifice, by which the sanctuary was reduced to a fortress, then it was set on fire, again in three stages . . . and finally the ruins were demolished after the fall of the city. The decisive destruction . . . took place through fire; the subsequent demolition is just a postscript . . . those who survived and did not then fall victim to famine or plague could anticipate the circus, the mine, or slavery”
The death toll given by Flavius Josephus is 1,100,000 (The Jewish War, p. 371). Orosius (Hist. Adv. Pag. VII, 9, 7) and likewise Tacitus (Hist. V, 13) speak of 600,000 dead. Mittelstaedt says these figures are exaggerated, and it would be more realistic to assume about 80,000 dead (p. 83). Anyone who reads all the written accounts, with their tales of murder, massacre, looting, arson, hunger, desecration of corpses, and environmental destruction (everywhere within an eleven-mile radius was deforested and laid waste), can understand Jesus’ comment, based on a passage from the Book of Daniel (12:1): “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be” (Mk 13:19).
In Daniel’s text, this prophecy of doom is followed by a promise: “But at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book” (12:1). Similarly in Jesus’ discourse, horror does not have the last word: the days are shortened and the elect are saved. God grants to evil and to evildoers a large measure of freedom—too large, we might think. Even so, history does not slip through his fingers.
The destruction that took place in the year 70 was definitive. Attempts to restore the Temple under Emperor Hadrian through the revolt of Bar Kochba (A.D. 132-135), and later under Julian (361), were unsuccessful. The revolt of Bar Kochba actually led Hadrian to prohibit the Jewish people from entering the area in and around Jerusalem. In the place of the Holy City, the emperor built a new one, known henceforth as Aelia Capitolina, where the cult of Jupiter Capitolinus was celebrated. “Emperor Constantine in the fourth century was the first to allow the Jews, once a year, on the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem, to visit the City in order to grieve at the wall of the Temple” (Gnilka, Nazarener, p. 72).
For Judaism, the end of the sacrifice, the destruction of the Temple, must have come as a tremendous shock. Temple and sacrifice lie at the very heart of the Torah.
Now there was no longer any atonement in the world, no longer anything that could serve as a counterweight to its further contamination by evil. What is more: God, who had set down his name in the Temple, and thus in a mysterious way dwelt within it, had now lost his dwelling place on earth. What had become of the Covenant? What had become of the promise?
One thing is clear: the Bible—the Old Testament—had to be read anew. The Judaism of the Sadducees, which was entirely bound to the Temple, did not survive this catastrophe.
Among the Jewish schools of thought prevailing at the time of Jesus, the only one to survive was Pharisaism, which acquired a new center in the rabbinic school of Jamnia and there developed its own particular way of reading and interpreting the Old Testament after the loss of the Temple, centered on the Torah. Only then did it become possible to speak of “Judaism” in the strict sense as a way of viewing the canon of Scripture as revelation and reading it anew in the physical absence of Temple worship. That worship no longer existed. In this sense, Israel’s faith also took on a new guise after the year 70.
Saint Gregory Nazianzen (d. ca. 390), contemplating with hindsight the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, divided up the world’s religious history into a series of phases. He speaks of the patience of God, who does not impose upon man anything too hard to understand: God acts like a good schoolteacher or a doctor. He slowly puts an end to certain customs, allows others to continue, and thus leads man forward. “A departure from time-honored, customary ways is, after all, not easy. Am I making my point? The first change cut away idols but allowed sacrifices to remain; the second stripped away sacrifices but did not forbid circumcision. Then, when men had been reconciled to the withdrawal, they agreed to let go what had been left them as a concession” (Oration 31, “On the Holy Spirit”, par. 25). From the perspective of this Church Father, even the sacrifices prescribed by the Torah appear as something merely allowed to remain—as a stage along the path to true worship of God, something temporary that had to be surpassed and was, indeed, surpassed by Christ.
Inasmuch as it belonged to the Father, Jesus loved the Temple (cf. Lk 2:49) and taught there gladly. He defended it as a house of prayer for all peoples and tried to prepare it for that function. Yet he knew that the age of this Temple was over and that something new was to come, linked to his death and Resurrection.
Even if up to this point there has been no explicit distancing from the sacrifices of the Law, an essential distinction has nevertheless been drawn. The place of the sacrifices has now been taken by the “breaking of bread” the Acts of the Apostles has this to say: “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts” (2:46)".
As for the new theological synthesis that sees in the death and Resurrection of Jesus the end of the Temple’s place in salvation history, even before its outward destruction, there are two names that stand out: Stephen and Paul. Even if we cannot reconstruct Saint Stephen’s theological vision in detail, its nucleus is clear: the era of the stone Temple and its sacrificial worship is past. For God himself said: “Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool”.
Paul did not simply ignore the question. On the contrary, the belief that all sacrifices are fulfilled in the Cross of Jesus Christ, that in him the underlying intention of all sacrifices is accomplished, namely expiation, that Jesus in this way has taken the place of the Temple, that he himself is the new Temple: all of this lies at the very heart of Paul’s teaching. For Paul, the Temple with its worship is “demolished” with Christ’s crucifixion; its place is now taken by the living Ark of the Covenant—the crucified and risen Christ.
2. The Times of the Gentiles
A superficial reading or hearing of Jesus’ eschatological discourse would give the impression that Jesus linked the end of Jerusalem chronologically to the end of the world, especially when we read in Matthew: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened. . .; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. . . .” (24:29-30). This direct chronological connection between the end of Jerusalem and the end of the whole world seems to be further confirmed when we come across these words a few verses later: “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place. . . .” (24:34).
On first glance, it seems that Luke was the only one to downplay this connection. In his account we read: “They will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (21:24). Between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, “the times of the Gentiles” are here inserted.
Luke has been accused of thereby shifting the temporal axis of the Gospels and of Jesus’ original message, recasting the end of time as the intermediate time and, thus, inventing the time of the Church as a new phase of salvation history. But if we look closely, we find that these “times of the Gentiles” are also foretold, in different terms and at a different point, in the versions of Jesus’ discourse recounted by Matthew and Mark.
Matthew quotes the following saying of Jesus: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (24:14). And in Mark we read: “The gospel must first be preached to all nations” (13:10).
From the content, it is clear that all three Synoptic Gospels recognize a time of the Gentiles: the end of time can come only when the Gospel has been brought to all peoples. The prophecy of the time of the Gentiles and the corresponding mission is a core element of Jesus’ eschatological message. The special mission to evangelize the Gentiles, which Paul received from the risen Lord, is firmly anchored in the message given by Jesus to his disciples before his Passion. The time of the Gentiles—“the time of the Church”—which, as we have seen, is proclaimed in all the Gospels, constitutes an essential element of Jesus’ eschatological message.
3. Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse
Before we address the strictly apocalyptic part of Jesus’ discourse, let us attempt a summary of what we have seen so far.
First, we saw the prophecy of the destruction of the Temple and, in Luke, explicit reference also to the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet it became clear that the nucleus of Jesus’ prophecy is concerned, not with the outward events of war and destruction, but with the demise of the Temple in salvation-historical terms, as it becomes a “deserted house”. With the Cross of Christ, the era of sacrifices was over.
In the meantime, Israel retains its own mission. Israel is in the hands of God, who will save it “as a whole” at the proper time, when the number of the Gentiles is complete. The fact that the historical duration of this period cannot be calculated is self-evident and should not surprise us.
From this perspective, it can be understood that this “time of the Gentiles” is not yet the full Messianic age in terms of the great salvation promises, but it remains the time of present history and suffering; yet in a new way it is also a time of hope: “The night is far gone, the day is at hand” (Rom 13:12).
A further key element of Jesus’ eschatological discourse is the warning against false Messiahs and apocalyptic enthusiasm. Linked with this is the instruction to practice sobriety and vigilance.
Matthew and Luke recount the parable of the servant who noted his master’s delay in returning and, thinking him absent, made himself master, beat the servants and maids, and gave himself over to fine living. On the other hand, the good servant remains a servant, knowing that he will be called to account. He gives to all their due and is praised by the master for so doing: acting with justice is true vigilance (cf. Mt 24:45-51; Lk 12:41-46). To be vigilant is to know that one is under God’s watchful eye and to act accordingly.
This relativization of the cosmic, or, rather, its focusing onto the personal, is seen very clearly in the closing words of the apocalyptic section: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mk 13:31). The word—which seems almost nothing in comparison to the mighty power of the immeasurable material cosmos, like a fleeting breath against the silent grandeur of the universe—the word is more real and more lasting than the entire material world. The word is the true, dependable reality: the solid ground on which we can stand, which holds firm even when the sun goes dark and the firmament disintegrates. The cosmic elements pass away; the word of Jesus is the true “firmament” beneath which we can stand and remain.
It becomes clear that the word of God from the past illumines the essential meaning of the future. Yet it does not offer us a description of that future: rather it shows us, just for today, the right path for now and for tomorrow. Jesus’ apocalyptic words have nothing to do with clairvoyance. Indeed, they are intended to deter us from mere superficial curiosity about observable phenomena (cf. Lk 17:20) and to lead us toward the essential: toward life built upon the word of God that Jesus gives us; toward an encounter with him, the living Word; toward responsibility before the Judge of the living and the dead.
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