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 [[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 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 "He hates the madness of the proud," which is why he finds meaning in the Lord's "bodily position" -- in apposition to the pride of the Temple. | The key to Bede's analysis is "He hates the madness of the proud," which is why he finds meaning in the Lord's "bodily position" -- in apposition to the pride of the Temple. | ||
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> | 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 to him, and it makes him cry -- 40 years in advance. | ||
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> | |||
[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, but faith in God, the substance of the Old Covenant which had been replaced by the form of ritual. 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> | |||
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> | 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)]] | [[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. | 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. | 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, <blockquote>'''THEOPHYLACT'''. As if He had said, As when the fig tree puts forth its leaves, summer follows at once, so also after the woes of Antichrist, at once, without an interval, shall be the coming of Christ, who will be to the just as summer after winter, but to sinners, winter after summer.</blockquote> | |||
Well, here we can 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. Indeed, all that happened in less than a week from this moment. 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?” | Well, here we can 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. Indeed, all that happened in less than a week from this moment. 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?” | ||