Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
December 1, 2024
Mark 13:1-13
Comments at the beginning of worship:
Advent always seems to pop up unexpectedly when it immediately follows Thanksgiving. We don’t have a buffer between giving thanks and focusing on the coming of Jesus. It’s as if the dining room table hasn’t even been cleaned as the Christmas music begins.
I often read a book about Advent or Christmas during this season. This year it will be a book on Ukrainian Christmas celebrations-if it arrives on time. In 2022, it was Fleming Rutledge’s Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ.[1]I still go back to that book. It’s a collection of sermons and lectures given by an Episcopal priest whose theology is steeped in the Reformed Tradition. I like her title.
Yes, we remember as we prepare for Christmas during Advent that the Jews waited for years for the Messiah. Jesus came and we celebrate his birth every year. But the other part of Advent is also important. Jesus will come again. During Advent, we hold these two themes in tension—the coming and the return of Christ. It’s not just about celebrating the past; it’s about being ready for the future.
Before reading the Scripture:
We will still be in Mark during Advent. But I’m skipping over the 12th chapter, in which Jesus teaches through a parable and some encounters around the temple. I’ll pick up those stories during Lent of 2025. In the 13th chapter, Jesus speaks about the end of history and the things which must happen before his return. These are Advent themes: the first coming of Christ and his triumphant return.
This chapter begins by focusing on the temple in Jerusalem, which we first saw in the 11th chapter.[2] Jesus, who in Mark only spends a few days in the temple, leaves its walls for the final time.[3] The disciples, country-bumpkins from Galilee, are in awe. They’re kind of like us, walking around New York City and looking up at the buildings in amazement. But Jesus has some bad news.
Afterwards, he and the disciples make their way to the Mount of Olives, which stands about 300 feet higher than Jerusalem.[4]There, with a perfect view of the temple below, four of the disciples ask Jesus about the prediction he made when they were leaving.
While this chapter contains some disturbing themes, it also has an important message for followers of Jesus. Things may get worse, but we hold on to hope and continue to proclaim Jesus as Lord.
Read Mark 13:1-13
When I was in the sixth grade, finishing up my last year at Bradley Creek Elementary School, I was sad walking down the halls and stairs and out the front door for the last time. I boarded the oversized orange snub-nosed Bus 6, which waited to take us home for the summer. I realized when taking those steps that I may never walk those halls again.
Ever since that early June day in 1969, I have had similar feelings as I obtained diplomas or said goodbyes to places of employment, along with apartments and houses around the country. There is something nostalgic knowing it’s your last time at a particular place. As for Bradley Creek, where I spent grades 4 to 6, I never did go back. The next year, I started Junior High. Because of redistricting, my brother and sister who were a year and two years behind me, moved to Winter Park Elementary. So, I didn’t even have a chance to go back and see them.
And later, after we all moved on, an arsonist burned the school to the ground. I was glad for those years between being a student and the flames because, like most 12-year-old boys, I’d fantasized about the school going up in smoke. I didn’t want to be a suspect.
Do you ever have nostalgia knowing you’re moving on and won’t ever have an opportunity to relive the past?
But I’m not sure Jesus had such feelings when he left the temple for the final time in our passage this morning. Jesus wants the disciples to focus and trust him, but they are in awe of the temple. After all, the massive 35-acre structure had been built using huge stones. The retaining wall on the east side incorporated chiseled out stones which were up to 45 cubits or 67 feet long.[5] When the disciples attempt to get Jesus’ take on the magnificent temple, he pours on cold water. See these great buildings, they’ll be all torn down.
After that, I imagine the walk down into the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Olives was a bit subdue. How can this be, they pondered. Once they arrive, with a majestic view of the temple before them, four of the disciples—Peter, James, John, and Andrew—corner Jesus. “Tell us,” they insist. “When will this happen?”
As often is his manner, Jesus doesn’t directly answer their question. He doesn’t say, “well, in 70 AD, Rome with have had enough of the Zealots in Israel and a mighty army will put down a revolt and burn the temple. And afterwards, just to make sure it’s gone, they’ll break apart the stones and wipe away any evidence it ever existed.”
Instead, Jesus uses this opportunity to teach them about what to expect. “Beware that no one leads you astray,” he begins.
Jesus knows, and history proves, there were others who came after him claiming to be the Messiah. After all, the type of Messiah Jesus turned out to be didn’t meet their criteria for David’s successor. Some would come, insisting on kicking out Rome, which scratched the itchy ears of the Jews who longed for revenge and to be made “great again.” And, in 66 AD, they did kick out the Romans, but it was a short-lived victory.
While Jesus speaks of false Messiahs, he essentially speaks about religious insiders who lead the faithful astray. These could be those within the church, who mislead people for their own potential gain. They could be those espousing a Christian nationalist viewpoint… Or a David Koresh, Jim Jones, or those within the Heavens Gate movement wanting to catch a ride on the Hale-Bopp comet. We must be careful not to follow such and maintain our focus on Jesus.
After teaching about insiders who endanger believers, Jesus continues by looking at the international scene, things in which most individuals have no control over. Wars will continue. Human history has had few periods without a war somewhere. He encourages the disciples not to panic.
As if troubling news on the international scene isn’t enough, Jesus also suggests there will be other problems. The world will shake and fail to feed… Earthquakes and famines. Even this isn’t the end. It’s important to understand, Jesus does not provide a timetable for the future here. It’s all just the beginning.
In verse 9, Jesus shifts and begins to discuss our responsibility as his followers. I can pictured Jesus humming Lynn Anderson’s song from when I was in Jr. High. Do you remember “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden?” Too often we think that once we accept Jesus, everything will be peachy. Scripture tells us otherwise.
Jesus speaks of his followers being hauled before leaders and into courts. As frightening as this sounds, Jesus suggests it’s an opportunity. We have an opportunity to give our testimony. We can tell Jesus’ story! And we shouldn’t worry about what to say. Instead, we depend on God’s Spirit.
And then it gets worse as even family members betray us, even to death. Think of those living in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany and the betrayals which occurred. Yet, we’re to endure, to stick to Jesus[6] to the end. If we do that, we’ll be saved.
In some ways, the first events happening in this section of Mark 13 occurred in 70 AD, when the temple was destroyed, after a period of both famine and earthquakes in the region.[7] It was a time when people felt their world was ending. But there have been believers in almost every age who have gone through similar situations and the world continues. As bad as the first three centuries were for Christians, the 20th Century had more Christians martyrs than previous 19 Centuries combined.[8] While we in the United States, along with Canada and the United Kingdom have been spared from the worse persecutions, Christians in Europe, Asia, South and Latin America, and Africa all have faced great challenges.
The disciples asked the wrong question. Instead of when will this occur, the right question has to do with how we respond. What do we need to do to ensure we remain faithful? Of course, there seems to be no way to prepare other than trusting. We trust God to give us the words when needed. This section of Mark 13 is all about God’s work being done and we’re not directors but actors on the world’s stage. Do we keep our eyes on Jesus or are we lured away by false prophets and fears?
We should consider what we might do if we had to choose between Jesus, the truth of the gospel, and the lies of the world. Perhaps, if we find ourselves in such a situation, we should recall how Jesus taught us not to judge others.[9] We don’t know what others are going through.[10] Instead, we should focus on ourselves and our own salvation. Are we being true to the Jesus of Scripture? Amen.
[1] Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018).
[2] See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/11/24/what-does-jesus-have-against-fig-trees/
[3] At least the final time as a free man, if part of his trial that took place in the courtyard was on the temple. See Mark 14:53f.
[4] James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 389.
[5] Morna D. Hooker, The Gospel According to Saint Mark (1992 Hendrickson Publishers 1997), 304.
[6] The Message translates “endure” as “stay with it.”
[7] Edwards, 391-392 (see also notes 17 and 18).
[8] This was recently reported in a news article, but I was unable to locate it.
[9] Matthew 7:1-2.
[10] As an example of such focus, see John P. Burgess, Holy Rus’: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 192.