Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions
→Friday, Nov 22: Good News? The Destruction of the Temple & the Tribulations
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The Venerable Bede doesn't go that far, but he does suggest it's about the proximity to the temple that Jesus chooses this location. From Aquinas' ''Catena Aurea''<blockquote>'''BEDE'''. (ubi sup.) Because the Lord, when some were praising the buildings of the temple, had plainly answered that all these were to be destroyed, the disciples privately enquired about the time and the signs of the destruction which was foretold; wherefore it is said: And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled. The Lord sits upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, when He discourses upon the ruin and destruction of the temple, so that even His bodily position may be in accordance with the words which He speaks, pointing out mystically that, abiding in peace with the saints, He hates the madness of the proud. For the mount of Olives marks the fruitful sublimity of the Holy Church.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea on Mark Chapter 13]</ref></blockquote> | The Venerable Bede doesn't go that far, but he does suggest it's about the proximity to the temple that Jesus chooses this location. From Aquinas' ''Catena Aurea''<blockquote>'''BEDE'''. (ubi sup.) Because the Lord, when some were praising the buildings of the temple, had plainly answered that all these were to be destroyed, the disciples privately enquired about the time and the signs of the destruction which was foretold; wherefore it is said: And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled. The Lord sits upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, when He discourses upon the ruin and destruction of the temple, so that even His bodily position may be in accordance with the words which He speaks, pointing out mystically that, abiding in peace with the saints, He hates the madness of the proud. For the mount of Olives marks the fruitful sublimity of the Holy Church.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea on Mark Chapter 13]</ref></blockquote> | ||
The destruction of the Temple is at the heart of much criticism of the authenticity of the New Testament, with critics pointing to it as a reverse-engineered prophesy: i.e., Jesus didn't actually predict it, his authors wrote that he did after Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in 70 AD. | |||
'''< | These critics miss entirely Jesus' point: '''''he''''' is the new temple, '''''he''''' is the sacrificial lamb, and '''''he''''' is the bridegroom of the new Church. Whether Jerusalem gets torn down or not doesn't matter to his point. But it does, and it makes him cry -- 40 years in advance. [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/19:40 Lk 19:40-44] presents the destruction of the temple as part of "The Lament for Jerusalem" (not Luke's title),<blockquote> | ||
As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”</blockquote>Jesus weeps not for the temple, but for what makes the Temple irrelevant following the Cross -- "what makes for peace" is him, not the Temple. | |||
Additionally, we see that [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/19?45 Lk 19:45], which follows immediately, "The Cleansing of the Temple," which summarizes everything Jesus was telling the Pharisees and about them,<blockquote>but you have made it a den of thieves.</blockquote> | |||
Back at Olivette, Jesus goes on to explain to the inner crew, Peter, John, James and Andrew, "The Coming Persecution" of famine, earthquakes and war, and "the beginnings of the labor pains" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?7 Mk 13:7-8]) and his warning to get out of Dodge in order not to be caught up in "The Tribulation" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?14 Mk 13:14-23]). He then says that more will follow, "after that tribulation" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?24 Mk 13:24]), with the sun and the moon darkened and<blockquote> | |||
And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather [his] elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?3 Mk 13:26-27]</ref></blockquote> | |||
Matthew distinguishes the events more clearly than does Mark, who, perhaps, expected the second coming along with the ruin of the temple. | |||