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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Well, it is good news -- indeed, THE Good News, but must have been freaky to hear about at the time. | 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 several important Old Testament references, including to be called "the Mount of Corruption" in 1 Kings ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1kings/11:7 1 Kgs 11:7-8]), where Solomon "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD" (oops), and built temples to the pagan gods of some of his wives:<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? Yikes. | |||
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> | |||
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Why does the Father but not the son know? (Soon we'll discuss harmonizing contradictions in the Scripture) | > Matthew distinguishes the events more clearly than does Mark, who, perhaps, expected the second coming along with the ruin of the temple. | ||
Getting back to the passage itself, [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:32 Verse 32] 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. | |||
There's no parable or allegory here about the Son of Man coming down on a cloud and "gather [his] elect" (sic)<ref>[https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13 Mk 13:27]</ref>:<blockquote>What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/13:37 Mk 13:37])</blockquote> | |||
== Friday, Nov 15: "Get behind me, Satan!" == | == Friday, Nov 15: "Get behind me, Satan!" == | ||