Editing Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God (section)

== Friday, Nov 22: Good News? The Destruction of the Temple & the Tribulations ==
[[File:Bible_manual._Introductory_course_on_the_Bible,_for_teachers_training_classes_and_Bible_classes_(1922)_(14749899816).jpg|thumb|Model of the First Temple, included in a Bible manual for teachers (1922) (Wikipedia)]]
[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mark 13] is more than a bit of a downer: See that great building over there, not a stone will be left upon another! Oh, and famine and war is coming, and that’s just the beginnings of the labor pains you’re gonna suffer! You’re gonna be beaten, betrayed, hated, and lied to, and after all that fun, the sun and moon will be blotted out, the stars will fall, and then some dude called the Son of Man will come surfing down to earth on winds and clouds and to gather his friends, leaving the rest to suffer eternally.

Yikes!

Well, it is good news -- indeed, THE Good News, but must have been freaky to hear about at the time.

What's so cool about the Bible is that there is not a word in it that God didn't want in it, and there's not a single word not in it that God did want in it. We're told, for example, that the "Eschatological Discourse" (end of times talk), or "Olivet Discourse," takes place just outside of Jerusalem in the Mount of Olives, where to, after spanking the Pharisees in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/12 Chapter 12], Jesus and the Apostles head.  

Mark 13 starts there, on the way out of the city, as one of his disciples looks up in amazement at the Temple:  <blockquote>As he was making his way out of the temple area one of his disciples said to him, “Look, teacher, what stones and what buildings!” Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.”<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?1 Mk 13:1-2]</ref> </blockquote>The last thing they any of them expected to hear was that the building is going to be torn down. We don't know how the others respond, but the inner crew of Apostles are shocked enough not to sputter out anything in public, and instead wait until they're alone with Jesus:  <blockquote>As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple area, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be when all these things are about to come to an end?”<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?3 Mk 3:3-4]</ref></blockquote>Jesus then launches into a series of warnings about the Tribulations and the Coming of the Son of Man, which early English monk and scholar, The Venerable Bede<ref>He's a saint, but is commonly referred to as "The Venerable Bede. Although he is a canonized Doctor of the Church (1899 by Leo XII), thus Saint Bede, I think "The Venerable Bede" sounds cooler!</ref>, points to an important detail here: Jesus gave his talk on the end times on the Mount of Olives. <blockquote>
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.</blockquote>Here we get a couple clues as to what's going on. 

Mount Olivet is just outside the Temple, and at its base is the Garden of Gethsemane. It is the object of a few Old Testament references, including to be called "the Mount of Corruption" in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1kings/11:7 1 Kgs 11:7-8], where,<blockquote>Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the L<small>ORD</small>, and he did not follow the L<small>ORD</small> unreservedly as David his father had done. Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain opposite Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.</blockquote>Hmm, something about the wrong temple, perhaps, oh, say, maybe you guys are more Solomon than David?<ref>See [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?31 Lk 11:31]: "and there is something greater than Solomon here"</ref>

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 [[Catena Aurea on Mark Chapter 13|Aquinas']] ''[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea on Mark Chapter 13],''<blockquote>'''BEDE'''. ... 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.</blockquote>

The key to Bede's analysis is the "He hates the madness of the proud," which is why Bede finds meaning in the Lord's "bodily position" -- in apposition to the pride of the Temple. In the "Woes of the Pharisees"<ref>In the NAB entitled: "Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/23:1 Mt 23:1])</ref>, Jesus denounces the inner corruption of the Temple leadership, all of which come down to pride, with a touch of carnality on top, which is consistent with the carnality of the sacrifice.  

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. In John 4, Jesus tells it plainly to the '''Woman at the Well:'''  <blockquote>Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.  </blockquote>John's narrative relates that Jesus cleansed the Temple twice -- at the beginning and end of his ministry, which in light of his prophecies in John 4 and in the Olivette Discourse that worship of God would no longer revolve around the Temple. [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 he, not the Temple and faith in God, the substance of the Old Covenant which had been replaced by ritual form. 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>
So the Temple will have to go -- not that Jesus wanted it to nor made it happen. I'm of the view that much Old Testament natural and political destruction is allowed rather than initiated by God; and when he intervenes it is a reward for faith or in keeping a Covenant: Jesus is the new Temple and anyone who leaves himself behind in the old Temple is there without God's protection. 

Continuing the Olivette Discourse, Jesus explains 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>
[[File:Second_Temple.jpg|thumb|Herod's Temple as imagined in the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. It is currently situated adjacent to the Shrine of the Book exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. (Wikipedia)]]
Matthew distinguishes the events more clearly than does Mark, who, perhaps, expected the second coming along with the ruin of the temple. But Jesus is speaking of separate events, three, in fact. 
The first is the "beginnings of the labor pains,"<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:8]</ref> and the "Coming Persecution" (verses 9-13), which is what the Apostles will face. The next is the Great Tribulation (verses 14-23), which is about the destruction of the Temple. The Third is the "Coming of the Son of Man," which event, Jesus tells them,<blockquote>Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13?30 Mk 13:30]</ref></blockquote>will be during their lifetimes. But only John would survive through the destruction of the Temple. So how is it during "this generation"? 



Aquinas quotes the 11th century Byzantine thinker, Theophylact of Ohrid, who understands the "generation" to be the overall "generation of Christians", thus the Tribulations are signs of a distant end of times (at least until the present): <blockquote>'''THEOPHYLACT'''. Or else, This generation shall not pass away, that is, the generation of Christians, until all things be fulfilled, which were spoken concerning Jerusalem and the coming of Antichrist; for He does not mean the generation of the Apostles, for the greater part of the Apostles did not live up to the destruction of Jerusalem. But He says this of the generation of Christians, wishing to console His disciples, lest they should believe that the faith should fail at that time; for the immoveable elements shall first fail, before the words of Christ fail; wherefore it is added, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>

Our friend the Venerable Bede is less certain,<blockquote>
'''BEDE'''. (ubi sup.) By generation He either means the whole race of mankind, or specially the Jews.<ref>[https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/untitled-53.shtml Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas]</ref></blockquote>Perhaps there's another way to look at it. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible<ref>Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Ignatius Press, p. 52</ref> suggests a way to harmonize the Coming of the Son of Man and the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of the stars, as well as the earthquakes with the First Coming of the Son of Man, not the second. 

Indeed, all that Jesus describes happened in less than a week from the Discourse. Matthew chronicles it in Chapter 27:45-52, "The Death of Jesus":<blockquote>From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “''Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?''”* which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “This one is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.” 

But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.</blockquote>The Temple housed the Sanctuary which [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/78?69 Psalms 78:69] describes for us,<blockquote>''He built his shrine like the heavens,''

''like the earth which he founded forever.''</blockquote>In this view, Jesus is describing the end of the Old Testament worship, as the sanctuary was a replica of the God's creation the universe, and the sanctuary and Temple worship were to be eclipsed at his death upon the Cross. The Destruction of the Temple fits in better with Tribulations as a connected event. Only John will live to see the Destruction of the Temple (as far as we know), but they all, even Judas, who killed himself after Jesus' death, lived through the Tearing of the Veil, God's sign that the Old Testament, as Jesus said in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19:30 Jn 19:30],<blockquote>“It is finished.”</blockquote>The one missing element is the Son of Man coming down from the clouds, but who knows. Maybe the Centurion, by tradition, Saint Longinus, as part of "all that was happening," saw Jesus on a surfboard, riding the clouds in his glory, when he said,<blockquote>The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”</blockquote>That the Tribulation and coming of the Son of Man regarded the first coming makes sense to me, but with all things Biblical, we need to reach further. Jesus is talking about both the First and Second Coming. And he wants us to be prepared for it and for it unexpectedly, for that's the moment we will see, like John in his vision,<blockquote>Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/14?14 Rev 14:14]</ref></blockquote>
----A final thought on Mark 13, from [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:32 Verse 32], which is at first glance confusing:<blockquote>“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.</blockquote>Why does the Father but not the son know? (Soon we'll discuss harmonizing contradictions in the Scripture)

First of all, God is not going to tell us when the Second Coming is -- as that would violate free will, so he cannot tell us.  

Imagine that God announces the world will end next Thursday -- there'd be a Fat Week celebration through Tuesday, then impossibly long confessional lines through Wednesday night. No, our faith must be in the now, which is why Jesus teaches over and over not to wait. If you ever wondered, or felt a little uncomfortable about [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?57 Luke 9:57] and the "The Would-be Followers of Jesus" who would love to find the kingdom of God... ''but not right now'', that's what the Lord is talking about. Parables of the lurking thief, the return of the boss, and so on, are all about this same point, which he makes quite literally. 

It's no parable or allegory about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud to "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>, so we must take it literally, and, as Jesus teaches us, <blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote>
----Today we focused our discussion upon the limits of our understanding of the words of God and his meaning. He won't just plainly tell us -- because he wants our faith (just so that he won't say when the 2nd coming will be, as that would annul faith). We looked at the descriptions of the darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars falling from the heavens, and decided that we just don't know.  We know, for example, that the stars are not stationary, so are they "falling"? But it doesn't matter so much as our faith and our preparedness for God. Great buildings fall -- the Twin Towers -- and God persists. The lesson is to focus on God and not things of this of man.

A couple other points discussed in and out of the topic:

* do the faithful have a higher standard of faith than non-believers?  
** do priests? 
** see [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/1?20 Romans 1:20] for how Paul taught that pagans can be held to account for their non-belief, because they had enough evidence to believe in the Creator but ignored what was plain and "became fools" instead, focusing on the vain.
* Scripture can seem self-contradictory: 
** if Cain and Seth were the first born of the original man and woman, where'd their wives come from? 
** how can there be signs of the second coming but no one will know when it will come? 
** we will discuss this soon!