Mark13: 7- 27

This passage of scripture is known as the mini-apocalypse.  For further examples of apocalyptic literature you may consider reading the book of Revelation or Daniel 8-13.  The intent of apocalyptic writing is to bring hope to a time of disaster.  The hope is mediated by an angelic or “other world being” who delivers a message from God. Therefore, the genre presents a dualistic reality wherein the earthly realm will be swallowed up or transformed by the coming heavenly realm.  The Day of Judgment holds deliverance for those who remain holy, faithful and blameless as they live God’s will in the midst of the disaster.  The focus of apocalyptic literature is the faithfulness of the believer.

One makes a theological error when he or she attempts to interpret apocalyptic language in terms of the prophetic.  Herein I have in mind the language of prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Minor Prophets like Amos.  Biblical Prophets were not so much about forecasting or predicting the future as much as they were calling persons to repentance. In other words, God sends the prophet to tell the people what will
happen if they continue in their ways.

Apocalyptic language calls us to faithful endurance. Prophetic language calls us to repentance.  Thus the prophet tells us the error of our
ways and what will be the outcome of not abiding in God’s will while the apocalyptic writer tells us to stay the course of God’s will.

In our text for the first Sunday in Advent three apocalyptic themes emerge.

Do you feel the tension contained in this duality? First, disasters like earthquakes and famines are experienced as tragedy, suffering , sorrow and death. Suffering and death are perceived as the enemies of this world.  Jesus however tells us of a second realm.  Read Mark 10: 32-34 to discover this second realm of hope.

If we were in Matthew’s or Luke’s community of faith we would  be tempted to turn to the birth of Jesus as the source of our hope.  Surely you have discovered that Mark does not record Jesus’ birth.  In Mark’s Community of faith the source of hope is found in the birth of a kingdom.
See Mark 1: 15; “The time has come, he said. The Kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the Good News.

Hope depends on the power of memory!  When you hear of wars, earthquakes, famines and various disasters how do you respond?

In Rabbinical Literature:

The rabbis as a whole consider that the expression refers to the desecration of the Temple by the erection of a Zeus statue in its sacred precincts by Antiochus Epiphanes (see Apostemos). Some rabbis, however, see in it an allusion to Manasseh, who, as related in II Chron. xxxiii. 7, set up
“a carved image . . . in the house of God” (Yer. Ta’anit, iv. 68a, and Rashi on the passage in Babli, ibid. 28b).

Meanwhile, after a decisive battle in 169-8 BCE, Antiochus was on the brink of annexing Egypt to Syria. The Roman army, however, was moving victoriously eastward. With its own sights set upon Egypt, Rome warned Antiochus not to expand his kingdom in that direction. Antiochus was not powerful enough to defy the mighty Roman Empire; and finding his ambitions for conquest thwarted, he would become even
more aggressive toward the people he already ruled.

While Antiochus was away, Jason had managed to retake Jerusalem from Menelaus–a victory based on the rumor that Antiochus was dead. But he was not able to seize control of the government and was forced to flee. Antiochus, furious with the rebellion, returned to Jerusalem, laughtered thousands of people, and reinstalled Menelaus. Once Antiochus departed and heard that a second rebellion
had broken out, he outlawed Judaism. Among the now-forbidden practices were the rite of circumcision, the study of Torah, and the keeping of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws).

In the Jews’s Holy Temple, he placed a statue of Zeus–the god he believed was manifest in his own royal being–and sacrificed swine on the altar. He stripped the Temple of its sacred vessels, including the seven-branched golden menorah, and stole the silver and gold coin.

Paul Steinberg is a rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California and is the Head of the Etz Chaim Hebrew School. He previously served as the Rabbi and Director of Jewish Studies and Hebrew at Levine Academy: A Solomon Schechter School in Dallas, Texas.

One in Christ

Robert Burlingham, pastor