Mark 13:1-23

Last week the message was: Jesus is Lord. Don’t pretend to be pious. Demonstrate your devotion.

The passage we look at today was written to remind us readers that demonstrating our devotion can prove to be quite costly.

Jesus says what He says here, and Mark writes it down what Jesus says to make sure we understand the cost of following Jesus.

Mark even adds an additional editorial comment located in parentheses in verse 14, to make sure that we “understand” that if we want to follow Jesus, the stakes are high.

Now before we get into this, know that I have been very intimidated by this passage since the inception of this series. In preparation for the series I read through or listened to Gospel of Mark in one sitting dozens of times and every time I read through or listened to chapter 13, I thought to myself, “Oh boy.” I knew we would get to it at some point, but it was always seemed way far away and now far away has come very near. And I am still intimidated!

Commentaries and bible scholars have used words and phrases like: complicated, full of complexities and difficulties, sophisticated, “no passage more problematic.”

After reading what bible scholars have said, the intimidation factor hasn’t dwindled, but at least I don’t feel like I am the only one who has struggled to fully comprehend all that Jesus was laying down.

But there is one thing that is crystal clear as you start to, not just read the passage, but actually study the words and their forms in the passage, the intensity is turned up to 11!

Jesus uses 20 imperative verbs in this passage!

An "imperative verb" in Greek is a verb form used to give a command or instruction, essentially the equivalent of saying "do this.”

All the imperatives peppered throughout chapter 13 raises your heart rate.

But there is one imperative verb used three times in the passage. It was a word we highlighted last week when Jesus wanted us to observe the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

Beware. See and Notice. Watch out. βλέπω written in the present, active, imperative and second person plural form Βλέπετε.

Βλέπετε is something you say with a raised voice.

And the locations of those Βλέπετε’s in the text help point to the main take away we ought to glean from this passage.

There is a ton of stuff that will be left unsaid about this passage, but we want to make sure we understand the most important points that Jesus was communicating to His initial disciples. Some of what they were commanded reverberates down to us today.

The cost of following Jesus will increase exponentially over time, so…

Christians need to be on guard so that we can faithfully bear our witness.

Pray

Ok let’s observe some things.

Mark 13:1 (ESV)

1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”

Here we get our first imperative in the text and it is from one of the disciples demanding that Jesus look at the magnificence of the temple, and especially it’s stones.

I put a link to an app called (Herod’s Immersive Temple) you can do a self-guided virtual walkthrough and it is amazing.

The disciples were dazzled by magnificence of the construction of the temple mount, but what drew there attention was the size of the stones that were used in the structure and substructure of the Temple.

Josephus, first century Jewish historian tells us that some of the stones were 36 feet long, 8 feet high, 17 feet wide.

(Compared to our sanctuary) - have 4 people stand up.

The stones themselves grabbed the disciples attention, but then the “stone that builders rejected” said something that arrested their attention even more.

Mark 13:2 (ESV)

2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

What? How? That is nuts. Jesus you have said some crazy things, but this is off the charts. Who would do that? Why would they do that? It has taken 46 years to build this temple even under Roman supervision and don’t you remember the 132nd Psalm of ascent in which Yahweh says,

Psalm 132:14 (ESV)

14 “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

Jesus this is where God has said He will rest forever. And you are saying it is going to be torn apart stone by stone?

Don’t you know Jesus, that when the exiles came back from Babylonian captivity to begin rebuilding the temple, Haggai the prophet said…

Haggai 2:15 (ESV)

15 …stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord,

And now someone or something is going to come and systematically tear this whole thing apart? What? Who? and then next natural question is when?

Mark 13:3–4 (ESV)

3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

Jesus once again is sitting which was the position that Rabbi’s in Jesus time taught in. And Jesus is sitting “opposite” the temple, which is the same word Mark uses to describe Jesus when He was observing the offering box while the rich and the poor were putting their offerings in.

He is now observing the whole thing, not just the offering boxes and He is sitting physically on the Mount of Olives on the opposite side of the valley which showcases His overall opposition to the corrupted temple itself.

Then a small group of disciples who have had their attention grabbed demand that Jesus “tell them” when this will occur and “what the sign will be” be to initiate “these things.”

So what follows, at least until verse 23, is Jesus responding the these disciples concerning their specific questions and it is not about the end of the world as we know it.

This is about the fate of the temple and what would happen to His disciples.

What Jesus says, He says directly to His initial disciples and He warns them of the trouble that would befall them if they lived on mission for Him.

We can here the echo of what He said to them, but it doesn’t come into our ears as a one to one correlation.

Ok, now we have set up the passage, now let’s briefly observe the structure.

Look at the chiasm…

Here is the chiasm…

The first part and the last part of the structure calls us to…

Watch out! Deceivers will try to lead you astray.

So we read…

Mark 13:5–6 (ESV)

5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See (Βλέπετε) that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.

and then at the end of this section we read.

Mark 13:21–23 (ESV)

21 And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. 23 But be on guard; (Βλέπετε) I have told you all things beforehand.

The urgent message that Jesus is getting across to His initial disciples is this:

“You guys, in my absence are susceptible to being lead astray.”

In these verses Jesus warns the guys that were with Him for three years to not be “lead astray” because people will come in the future that will have the capacity to lead, “many astray,” so be on guard. When the time comes and you are tempted to walk away, remember what I said.

And the echo that we need to hear is amplified. If they were susceptible to being lead astray after hearing the voice of Jesus with their own ears, seeing Jesus with their own eyes and touching Jesus with their own hands, how much more do we need to be forewarned about not being lead astray?

We all need to recognize our own fickleness and vulnerability to being lead astray by others or even by our own wicked passions.

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.”

And maybe we aren’t “lead astray” completely, but so often we venture off into unprofitable theological debates on tertiary things and get side tracked from living on mission to make disciples who make and mature more disciples.

Watch out, don’t be lead astray.

Show the Chiasm…

Now we are moving inward towards the center of Jesus teaching and on either side of the center Jesus says…When you hear and when you see. This tells me we must…

Keep our ears and eyes open.

Hear

Mark 13:7–8 (ESV)

7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

The imperative that is imperative to notice is this, “Do not be alarmed.” Don’t be inwardly stirred up and frightened if you hear of alarming things that humans can cause like “wars” and things that only God can bring about like “earthquakes and famines.”

Don’t be alarmed and catch “end time fever” when you see disturbing things.

Here Jesus is saying don’t panic, be patient. One commentator said it beautifully,

“Jesus is trying to restrain the disciples apocalyptic excitement, not aggravate it.”

He is trying to tamp down their excitement, not light a fire under it so that it consumes them.

I think that is what we see so often in our day. It only take one click on one “end time” youtube video to trip the algorithms to set you in a direction that can be very destructive and dangerous and steal all your time and attention away.

End times stuff is fascinating, but if we, like the initial disciples are more interested in “when” things might happen as opposed to living faithfully until they do happen, then we are off and dangerously wasting our time. And once again, these first 23 verse of Mark 13 aren’t about the end of the world per say, they are about the end of the temple that Jesus was sitting opposite from.

So back to the structure, Jesus says… “When you hear…(says a bunch of disturbing stuff) then says, “these are just the beginning of birth pains.” It isn’t time for delivery yet. So be patient.

So verse 7 says, focuses on what the initial disciples heard and then verse 14 highlights what they would see with their own 1st century eyes.

Mark 13:14; 18 (ESV)

14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…Pray that it may not happen in winter.

Wow! There is a lot to say about verse 14-18, but we will only highlight two of the main imperatives from this section.

The first thing that should be said, is that Jesus was assuming that the disciples in front of Him would be able to “see” the “abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be.” He was expecting this and forecasting it to happen within the lifetime of these disciples.

An abomination is something that abhorrent to God and it usually relates to something that is violent in nature and gives God like worship to something that is not God.

“The phrase “abomination that causes desolation” is a phrase that is found in the book of Daniel and it refers to an event in which the daily sacrifice in the temple comes to and end and some unspecified desecration of the temple takes place.” - Peau

We aren’t going to get into the ends and outs of all of this, but when you look at the prophecies of (Dan. 8:8-13; 9:27; 11:31; 12;11) and you cross reference that with Jewish history, you can see a correlation to “Alexander the Great,” in 332 AD when he conquered Jerusalem and then later on in history as “Antiochus Epiphanes IV,” “build an altar on top of the altar in the temple and then proceeded to kill a pig on it,” in 168 BC. This sparked the Maccabean Revolt by rebel leaders which lead to the Hasmonean Kingdom and the celebration of Hanukkah!

So the disciples were looking for something that would be similar in nature to what Daniel prophesied and then what actually happened in the past.

Jesus was saying here, that something like that was going to happen again and then Mark, the author, adds an imperative to the words of Jesus, “Let the reader understand.”

Mark doesn’t want His original audience to miss the event that was going to happen within their lifetime.

In hindsight, the abomination of desolation that occured was more than likely during the Jewish Roman war that took place between 66-70 AD.

Josephus writes about the war and cites an instance when in 67 AD Jewish zealots stormed the temple and appointed their own priests. He tells us that they “came into the temple with their polluted feet,” and he quotes the true high priest at the time saying that he, “had seen the house of God full of so many abominations.”

This event has a really good chance of being the abomination Jesus was warning His disciples about and when they “saw” it, Jesus gives them a very direct imperative: “Flee.”

When you see this taking place, get out of there and preserve yourselves so that in due time the message of the Gospel that has been entrusted to you (9-13), can continue on and you don’t just end up in a bloody mess after the temple and the better part of Jerusalem is torn apart after 5 month long seige of the city that was incredibly gruesome. When the walls were breeched there was hardly a fight because the people were so worn out and weary for lack of food. Roman soldiers would enter house and find dead bodies.

Jesus was wise enough to know when to fight and know when to flee and He wanted His disciples to know how to discern the times as well. When God’s judgment on the crookedness of the temple was ripe, don’t try to keep what is spoiled on the tree. Let the judgement come so that God can begin doing something new. The something new is the Gospel message that I am entrusting to you.

Fleeing in this instance is not a sign of cowardice; it is a demonstration of obedience for the greater good!

Flee, don’t fight, is the first imperative and the second one that is amazing to see in hindsight is the call for them to “pray that it may not happen in winter,” from verse 18.

Jesus is unaware of what season this will take place in, but He does fully understand how difficult it would be for people to flee to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem in the winter months, so He commands His disciple to “pray” that the time to flee would be at a more favorable time of the year.

And do you know what is amazing. The seige of the city started April 14 and ended on August 9th. The time to flee Jerusalem took place in late spring and summer meaning that the desire of Jesus was accomplished through the prayers of His disciples.

God answered their 1st century prayers.

Ok, so far we have been told to…

Watch out for those who are trying to deceive to lead you astray. We have been summoned to keep our ears and eyes open, but all of that was leading us to the central message of this passage that that focuses on the persecution of followers of Jesus.

It is the center part of the structure that once again is on the screen.

Verses 9-13 is about the persecution of Christians.

Christians need to be on guard so that we can faithfully bear our witness.

The aim of our lives is to please Him and He desires that we be His faithful witness come what may.

Verses 9-13 feature three more imperatives verbs.

The first one introduces the central message of Jesus in verses 1-23.

Βλέπετε - Be on guard.

The second one is…

προμεριμνᾶτε - Don’t be anxious or (worry beforehand)

The final one is…

λαλεῖτε - “Speak”

Be on guard. Don’t be anxious. Speak

This was the message that was given to the 1st century disciples entrusted with the Gospel message and it is the message that has reverberated down through the centuries to us as well.

Jesus says

Mark 13:9 (ESV)

9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you (1st century disciples) over to councils, and you (1st century disciples) will be beaten in synagogues, and you (1st century disciples) will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness (μαρτύριον) before them.

Jesus was asking them to be willing to be martyred for the message He was giving them! And if we read the book of Acts and we study church history, we will see that this is exactly what they were willing to do and as a result we are here in this building today.

Jesus says be martyrs because…

Mark 13:10 (ESV)

10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.

Who is going to do that if Jesus is dead in a few days? These disciples!

Really? These guys proclaiming to “all the nations?” Tall task and one that comes with a great cost. Martyrdom.

Seems like that would create some butterflies in their stomachs so Jesus says.

Mark 13:11 (ESV)

11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

He commands them to “not be anxious beforehand,” about what they might say. They just have to wait for the trial to come and then God will supply what they need in that moment, and not a moment before. Anxiety is always future oriented, but we live in the present. When we try to live in the future we mess a whole bunch of stuff up…ask Marty McFly.

So Jesus says to them…live in the moment and trust me to supply you with what you will need in the future.

And what they needed was words.

That is the last imperative. He says, “say whatever is given you in that hour.” These guys were going to have to open their mouths and declare what the Holy Spirit was longing to say by means of their words!

Speak! We have to use words to “preach the Gospel.”

Speak!

Wow. That can apply to us as well. We might be anxious to evangelize, but we must open our mouths and let Holy Spirit inspired words come out of them as we share from this divine book so that the message of the Gospel can be preached to “all nations.”

Romans 10:14 (ESV)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Jesus tells these guys…be on guard. Bear your witness to me. Don’t be anxious. Simply speak and 50 days after Jesus died…

Acts 2:5 (ESV)

5 …there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Acts 2:6 ESV

6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

Acts 2:12 (ESV)

12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

And once their interests was peeked by the enablement of the Spirit through these guys obedience, Peter preaches and members of every nation get convicted and converted!

Communion

Discussion Questions

Jesus warns about “deceivers” trying to “lead people astray.” Have you ever believed something “false” about God or the bible? How did you find out it was false? I know it is hard to forecast the future, but what are some possible outcomes if you never were shown your false belief?

Have you or someone you know ever caught “end times fever?” In this passage, how is Jesus trying to curb their enthusiasm?

Jesus told them to “pray” that the time to flee wouldn’t occur during winter and according to history it didn’t. God answered the prayer He commanded them to pray! How is that an encouragement to you today? What have we been commanded to pray?

We need to be “on guard” to faithfully bear our witness. Who have you been sharing the Gospel with recently?