And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved

Second Coming, c. 1700, Greek.  Icon on wood, gesso, tempera (Private Collection)

Then Jesus went out and departed from 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

Recently we have been reading through Jesus' final sermon, delivered in the temple at Jerusalem, and directed in scathing criticisms of the religious leadership.  Yesterday we read that Jesus 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 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."  Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of the temple was fulfilled in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans.  Although orders had been given not to destroy or harm the temple, in the frenzy of the battle Roman soldiers attacked the temple by setting fire to it.  There had been rumors that gold was hidden between its stones, and in search of this gold, the soldiers quite literally fulfilled Jesus' prophecy of tearing apart and throwing down the stones of the temple.  Only one retaining wall was left standing, which is today called the Western Wall (for many years referred to as the Wailing Wall as it remains to this day the site of prayers and lamentation over the temple's destruction).

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?"   My study bible notes that the Scriptures describe the end times in a variety of ways, so that no exact chronology could be determined (see Daniel 7-12; Mark 13; Luke 21; 1 Corinthians 15-51-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10; and the Book of Revelation).  Rather than giving chronologies, Jesus' emphasis is on watchfulness and the practice of virtue.  Indeed, throughout each reporting of this prophecy in the Gospels, the destruction of the temple (and Jerusalem) is bound up with end times, the period in which we now live.  Matthew describes the end as encompassing three parts:  the initial sorrows (given in today's reading), the great tribulation (verses 15-28), and the coming of the Son of Man (verses 29-31).  My study bible notes for us that we should understand the period of the great tribulation as including the entire Christian era, and not limited to the final years before Christ's return.

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."  Here, Christ's warnings against deception are given the greatest emphasis.  He most stresses the warning against following a false Christ, which He will repeat again in verses 11 (below) and 23-27.  Before the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, there were several "Messiahs" or "Christs" who led various violent revolts which the Romans responded to by increasingly repressive force.  Eventually this would lead to ongoing and extremely violent civil war between the Zealots and the royal family which ruled for Rome, increasing in scope and violence as it went on.

"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."  The revolts and civil war in Jerusalem went on for years, eventually drawing in Roman forces from Syria. In the ongoing fighting between these Syrian forces and the Zealots, the Zealots' food stocks were destroyed, and the Zealots in turn began to raid the homes of local Jews.  Thus those living in Jerusalem died from famine in great number.   My study bible says that the wars described here by Jesus refer first and foremost to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but also include subsequent wars.  It notes that wars are not a sign of imminent end, but of the opposite -- that the end is not yet (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3). 

"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."  My study bible notes here that all of these calamities and all of this opposition cannot stop the spread of the gospel.  Indeed, it says, persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted.  In a commentary of St. John Chrysostom, it notes, he marvels that while the Romans subdued countless Jews in a political uprising, they could not prevail over twelve Jews unarmed with anything except the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is a sad fact of life in this world that it is, to a great extent, marred and even dominated or underscored by violence.  We have the violence of wars, which we can see described very well from the "beginning" in Genesis 4, in which the murder of one brother by another leads to ever-increasing cycles of retribution and violence, and in which Lamech eventually declares, "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."  This ongoing evil and violence through the generations sets the stage for the story of Noah, who found grace in the sight of God.  In our reading yesterday, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, tying in the violence done to all the prophets with the rejection which will now come to Him, and its eventual results in the destruction of Jerusalem.  An increasing cycle of violence ends with total destruction.  But in the midst of such alarming evil comes the Messiah, Jesus, who preaches a turning back to God, the practice of righteousness, and saves His greatest criticism for the hypocrisy of the leadership which covers their greed and selfishness, and the violence which we shall see is done in order to retain their places.  Instead, Jesus offers a cure of humility, an understanding of service as the highest calling of leadership, and a depth of self-knowledge which leads us to turn from the impulses within us which would cause abuse of power:  selfishness, lust or covetousness, violation of good conduct among ourselves, and all the possible forms that takes.  In such a world, we are given the Gospel, sent out "as sheep in the midst of wolves," taught that ultimately we are responsible to God and to neighbor, to practice a righteousness that does not exclude the heart and is not covered merely by acts designed to show our piety or righteousness as a signal to others.  Jesus teaches that it is God whose good opinion we must seek and to whom we need to answer, and this includes the possibilities and practice of an ongoing repentance, a depth of communion and prayer that keeps us walking the right road, and especially participation in His Cross.  These are the things that make for our peace.  We will always be beset by the problems that evil and its destruction pose in our world.  If we listen to Jesus, there is simply no substitute for personal righteousness and the rigorous and ongoing work of faith and of the heart.  Perhaps we, as our earliest faithful ancestors, may also see forms of violence and destruction.   Perhaps we will be spared these worst of all horrors endured in Jerusalem.  But whatever our circumstances, Jesus has a message for us in the midst of them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you"  and "he who endures to the end shall be saved."  We know what He teaches us, the word to which we cling in faith.  Each of us possesses within ourselves this capacity for faith; He calls us to awareness and endurance.  With God's help and grace, may we all encourage one another in the strength to persist in our faith and to help one another in doing so.   In the icon above, a depiction of the Second Coming, we see Christ surrounded by angels and saints from throughout the centuries, including the ongoing supplication on our behalf of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist on His right and left.  At the top is the prepared throne of the Crucifixion.  The great circle shows us that in the Body of Christ, all is one, an eternal and great communion.  Below is an illustration of Paradise; the image on the left shows the bosom of Abraham, and on the right is the repentant good thief who enters with his cross.  Let us remember Christ's words of endurance and awareness, watchwords for all the saints of both the Old Testament and the New, in this "time of the end" in which we still live.

Take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand

 "So when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not" (let the reader understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house.  And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  And pray that your flight may not be in winter.  For in those days there will be tribulation, such has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.  And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.   Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, He is there!' do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.

"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.  And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven."

- Mark 13:14-27

We are currently reading through the events of Holy Week in the Gospel of Mark.  On Saturday, we read that 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."

 "So when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not" (let the reader understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house.  And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  And pray that your flight may not be in winter.  For in those days there will be tribulation, such has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.  And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.   Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, He is there!' do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.  But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.  And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven."  Jesus continues His warning and prophecy to the apostles.  Events concerning both the fall of Jerusalem (particularly the destruction of the great temple) and the end of the age are mixed in this discussion, as the questions of the disciples included both (see Saturday's reading, above).  Here Jesus refers to the prophecy of Daniel (see Daniel 11:31, 12:11) and the "abomination of desolation" included in that prophecy.  This is considered to have happened during the Siege of Jerusalem, when the Roman general Titus entered the Holy of Holies.  After the near-total demolishing of the temple (with the exception of the Western Wall), the entire sacrificial system was ended, as was the Sanhedrin.   The destruction of the temple and the city, and the devastation of the people was unthinkable.  Heeding Christ's warnings, the early Church survived, earlier fleeing Jerusalem according to the signs He indicated.  There were those who claimed false christs, and false prophets, but we recall Jesus' words as He wept over Jerusalem, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42).  The "abomination of desolation" works as a kind of type, as this had occurred centuries earlier when the First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, and Jews were sent into captivity, changing the nature and emphasis of the practice of the faith.  The tribulation described here is also a sort of type, and extends to the entire age, as it refers not only to what happened then in Jerusalem, but to the entire Christian era -- and not merely the final years before the return of Christ.

What is tribulation?  We have to "take heed" of the difficulties that are put before us in Christ's prophecy and warning about "end times."  As we wrote in Saturday's commentary, and also above, end times does not just describe the immediate years before Christ's return, although the term has been popularly used as such.  But we live today in "end times," and these times -- or this era -- began with Christ's ministry into the world.  It is in these times of the end that we await His Return.  We live in a time of conflict and tribulation in the sense not only of the upheavals and violence and difficulties that we may witness and also experience, but in the sense that we are all faced with a choice, all the time.  Mentioned before in this blog is this book by Fr. Stephen Freeman.  Today I'd like to cite something he's recently written on his blog (Glory to God for All Things), in this recent post titled "Before the Judgment Seat of Christ."  Fr. Freeman wrote, "Peter’s judgment is instructive: The one who had denied Christ is not upbraided about that three-fold incident. He is asked, 'Do you love me?' It was doubtless the most searching question that could have been spoken. It is the likeliest form that the judgment will take for us all. Many times each day."   Jesus has taught us (in Thursday's reading) the greatest commandments: love of God and love of neighbor.  This love -- including its infinite potential expressions -- is the choice with which we are faced, and the choice at the center of tribulation and difficulties.  Jesus' words in His lament as He wept over those who did not know "the things that make for your peace" echo for us as well.  It is this question, "Do you love Me?" that contains in it the center of peace, as all things reconcile in Christ.  For this reason, He said that He brought a sword and division, and not peace (see Matthew 10:34-39).  Peace is something we answer for; it is not forced upon us.  God does not compel us to love God, to return God's love.  This is up to us.  Into this great cosmic mystery Christ tells us that our job during this entire period of the end is to "take heed."  We are to beware, and we are not to be deceived.  We are to endure as faithful servants and friends and those who will answer, "Yes, Lord."   This is what makes for our peace, even in the middle of tribulation or tough choices.  Let us make note that while Jesus was daily disputing in the temple in the readings of Holy Week that we have just been through, He found ways to respond to His questioners that avoided the traps that were set for Him.  He confounded their aims.  Life is like that, too.  We may find ourselves, in effect, between a rock and a hard place seemingly offered by the world.  But turning to our love for Christ finds us a way through, one we may not have expected -- with patience and endurance and forbearance, carrying our own cross.  We may not be equipped to change the world, nor the minds of anyone else.  But we are equipped for this choice of love.  This is His way, and He has told us all things beforehand.