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Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
- Matthew 24:1-14
In yesterday's reading, we read the last part of Jesus' final public sermon, a grand critique of the practices of the scribes and Pharisees. (See the earlier readings of His sermon here and here.) He is speaking in the temple at Jerusalem. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"
Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." This seemingly simple pronunciation could not have been simple in its impact. The temple at this stage was an extraordinary architectural creation, one of Herod the Great's more ambitious projects. (Herod was also known as Herod the Builder.) The temple was called one of the seven wonders of the world, as it had been embellished and rebuilt in such an extraordinary way. Construction had begun in 19 BC. While the main part of this new construction was completed by Herod's death in 4 BC, construction would still continue for over 60 years. At the time the enlarging and beautifying of the temple would have been continuing for over 45 years. Construction would continue until 63 AD. But Jesus' stunning prophecy here was fulfilled at the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, in 70 AD. With the exception of one retaining wall, called by custom the Wailing Wall or more accurately the Western Wall, the temple was completely destroyed, so that not one stone would be left upon another, as it had been rumored, and so the soldiers believed, that there was gold between its massive stones.
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." There is no doubt that associated with the destruction of the temple would be the end of the age. Jesus' great emphasis here is on deception -- warning the disciples not to be deceived. The greatest warning is in being deceived to follow a false Christ. The wars and rumors of wars would most immediately apply to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but also characterize subsequent periods since. My study bible tells us that wars are not a sign of the imminent end but rather of the opposite -- that the end is not yet (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). In the Greek, the beginning of sorrows is literally the beginning of "birth pains."
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Jesus speaks of the period of great tribulation. In the traditional interpretation this is not referring mainly to the final years before Christ's return, but encompasses the whole of the Christian era. As my study bible puts it, all these calamities and all this opposition cannot stop the spread of the gospel. It notes that persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted. St. John Chrysostom has commented that while the Romans subdued countless Jews in a political uprising at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, they could not prevail over twelve Jews unarmed with anything but the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We turn to Jesus' warning and His great emphasis on discernment. It's our watchfulness and endurance that is important. And the most important thing is faith. The destruction of this extraordinary temple, rebuilt as one of the world's most ambitious and beautiful projects by Herod the Great, serves as a reminder of one constant message of the Old Testament: that it's not in "chariots" or material power that we trust, but God. There's a constant reminder throughout Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, that the battle is won by God. And then there is the commentary by St. Chrysostom that while the Romans would subdue countless Jews involved in a political uprising, those relatively few Jews armed with the gospel would not be stopped from spreading it throughout the Roman world. It enforces something important about our faith. When we are in times of peril and fear, threat and disruption, we are to remember Jesus' great emphasis on enduring, on not being deceived, on the essence of our faith as refuge. Right now "wars and rumors of wars" seem to abound in our world. Violence has reached a level where we hear of it all around us, and we see it all around the world. Much of it has a religious overtone to it. And Christians are persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world, as are other religious minorities. It is a time of "birth pains" that we can see every day, with "wars and rumors of war" playing out. The media brings these things to our attention and the horrors are beyond words to describe in barbarity, and in hatred, and the killing and enslavement of innocents. Where does our faith root us in this time? Jesus' emphasis is not on timetables, nor expectations of the end. Our emphasis must be on watchful, prayerful lives. We take refuge in the gospel, in His word, in His commandments. We endure, as He has taught us. And our job is also to be alert, and awake -- not to be deceived by false prophets, or false Christs. In the times we are most tempted by fear and tribulation, Jesus calls us to focus -- to watchfulness. What is a "good servant" to be about? Where is our focus? It is a time for prayer, discernment, guidance. This is not so that we "do nothing," nor that we hide. It's the opposite: it is a forceful, positive turn to the place where we find direction and discernment, for good judgment. We are not called to be blind sheep following blind guides, a term Jesus has used in a recent reading. We are called to be alert and aware of what is around us, and also of our own internal flaws that may cause us to be blind. It is a time to remember His commandments and what our faith asks from us. We remember the two greatest commandments in the Law, as Jesus has told us: to love God with all that we are, and to love neighbor as oneself. And we remember the new commandment He gave us: to love one another as He has loved us. Advent is the perfect time to consider what all of this means, even in times of persecution and instability. I don't think that there is a more needful time to center in the peace of God, in the word of Christ, and the refuge of prayer as a time of focus, watchfulness, and discernment. We need to recollect what we are to be about, to remember who we are, to hold fast to what He teaches us, and not to be carried away by the times. Instead, we continue to carry out His commandments. What we need is true wisdom, and an understanding of where His peace and grace call us. How do you put your faith into practice today? Where do we find strength in weakness? What are you going to put your faith in?
