Take heed that no one deceives you

 

 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings?  Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?"  And Jesus, answering them, began to say:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and will deceive many.  But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles.  These are the beginnings of sorrows.  But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues.  You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.  And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.  But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak.  But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.  Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

 

- Mark 13:1-13 

 

 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David himself calls  Him 'Lord'; how is He then His Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.  Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."  Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."

 

Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings?  Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down."   Christ's prophecy of the destruction of the temple was fulfilled in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed in the Siege of Jerusalem.  Not one stone was left upon another, as there were rumors that there was gold between the stones.  Only one retaining wall remained, long known as the Wailing Wall, or today as the Western Wall.

 

 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?"  And Jesus, answering them, began to say:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and will deceive many.  But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles.  These are the beginnings of sorrows.  But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues.  You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.  And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.  But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak.  But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.  Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved."  Here Jesus begins His discourse on the end times (to be continued in Monday's lectionary reading).   My study Bible comments that Christ's account of the end times in Mark (Mark 13:1-23) occurs in what is known as chiastic (mean "cross") form.  That is, it is in a kind of reverse parallel order, where topics mentioned in the first half of this passage are then repeated and amplified in reverse order in the second half.  Today's reading begins with a warning to take heed about false christs, and we will see this repeated at the end of the passage.  The second warning here in today's passage is about wars (and Jesus will teach about tribulation in the second half of the passage we'll read on Monday).  The third warning here is regarding being delivered up to councils, whereas the third-to-last regards being delivered up (betrayed), but by family members, also in today's reading.  At the very center of this chiastic form is verse 10 of today's reading:  the prophecy that the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.  My study Bible calls this the heart of the apostolic ministry and mission of the Church (see Matthew 28:19-20). 

My study Bible comments that the Scriptures describe the end times in a variety of ways, so that there is no precise chronology laid out neatly.  But what is important is that we notice that our Lord's emphasis is rather on what we do during these times.  We can say "these times" as the Church has understood the end times to be continuing from the beginning of the apostolic period, until the time that Christ returns.  Therefore, the elements that we see noted by Jesus in this prophecy here are things that are with us, and have been with us from the beginning of what we know as the Christian era, and will continue to be with us until the time Christ returns in what we know as the Second Coming.   In my study Bible's words, then, Jesus' emphasis is not on us knowing when and how things will happen so much as it is a warning to us, plus an emphasis on how we conduct ourselves.  He asks us for watchfulness and the practice of virtue through these difficulties, and He prepares us for these times.  If we see persecutions in the world for our faith, He has warned us about them.  If we see and hear wars and rumors of wars, He has told us this.  Then and now, this is true -- certainly for the people He was addressing who would witness the horrific Siege of Jerusalem, but also for us today and clearly in recent history.  Yet, both of these things are true.  But Christ's first words (as well as His final warning which we'll read on Monday) are that we should take heed that no one deceives us.  This is a clear emphasis on our own need to be alert and aware to deceptions.  We are not meant to be like children in the sense that we are unaware of the dangers He's teaching us about, and the things to come.  We should, in fact, expect deception or those who will attempt to deceive us.  He teaches us about wars between nations, a characteristic of this time in which we have lived and continue to live.  He teaches us about earthquakes and famines and troubles as but the beginning of sorrows.  His prophecies do not make these things happen, and yet neither has He told us that we can necessarily fix or prevent them from happening, for until the time of His return there will be this struggle in the world not only affecting natural forces but also continuing in a spiritual sense.  He does not tell us which side to take, or which sort of political or other acts to take, but He does teach that these are but the beginning of sorrows.  The real tribulation for His followers comes from persecutions, and betrayals that may come even from those closest to us, with the most extreme forms of punishment meted out through even the closest and more cherished of relationships.   He even goes so far as to say that we will be hated by all for His name's sake.  The most important thing through all of these things, however, is our endurance, that we endure to the end.  That is our endurance in obedience and loyalty to His commands, to living our lives in the ways that He has taught us through the Gospels.  Most of us have not experienced the most extreme forms of the tribulation and wars He names, but nonetheless in living memory there are those for whom vicious genocide and horrific war remain clear memories in recent times, with threats of the same hanging over their heads.  Let us do what we can to uplift our brothers and sisters in the faith, to sustain those whom we cannot physically help through prayer, to strengthen our own faith so that we can help others both to take heed and to endure.  Let us be faithful to Him and strengthen faith through the ways He teaches us to live.  Let us take heed that we are not deceived into complacency or fantasies that we will not need to struggle in our own ways for Him and for the faith He gives us.