Luke 21:5-19 (NRSV)Luke 21:5-19 is part of the apocalyptic discourse we find in 21:5-36, dealing with the fate of Jerusalem.
Luke 21:5-19 (Mark 13:1-13 and Matt 24:1-14) (Year C November 13-19) is part of the apocalyptic discourse that extends to verse 36, dealing with the fate of Jerusalem. Luke gathered apocalyptic sayings of Jesus from Q (17:22-37), and now from Mark.
These teachings arise out of an ongoing dialogue with chief priests, scribes, elders (20:1), Sadducees (20:27) and disciples (20:45), and follow a series of questions about Jesus' authority (20:1-8), paying taxes to Caesar (20:20-26), the resurrection (20:27-40), and just how the Messiah can be David's descendant if David calls him "Lord" (20:41-44). Then, an observation about the value of a poor widow's offering draws the reader's attention to the Jerusalem Temple, setting the stage for this passage.
The apocalyptic milieu in which Christianity arose, along with a variety of other messianic sects, such as the Zealots and the Essenes, was one development of the prophetic tradition of dissent that figured so prominently in the history and religion of ancient Israel. As the repeated protests of religious apostasy and social injustice lodged by such prophets as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah were met with regular indifference or outright opposition, the stance of protest gradually hardened into one of despair at mundane reform, and prophetic attention increasingly became focused on divine intervention from outside the earthly sphere.
The writers of apocalyptic imagery used to express this refocused attention did not invent it new, of course, but drew extensively from the tradition of divine appearances — theophanies — rooted in the most ancient layer of Israel’s religious tradition. Pre-eminent among the theophanies preserved in the Hebrew Bible was the appearance of Yahweh on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, which accompanied the giving of the divine law. Apocalyptic material draws from that tradition much of its language and imagery.
We have a message given in the Temple marking the climax of the public ministry of Jesus. Here is the climax of the pronouncement that begins at 21:8, commonly referred to by scholars as the Synoptic Apocalypse (Mark 13:5-37; Matthew 24:4-36). Luke's version of this eschatological discourse gives Jesus' message a uniquely Lukan spin. While none of the gospel writers sugarcoats the catastrophic events that will befall both the chosen people of God (the destruction of the Jewish temple) and Jesus' loyal followers (the public and personal persecutions of Christians), Luke highlights these catastrophes as opportunities. For individuals this is a chance to let faith shine and witness to the rest of the world. These dramatic developments also serve a second purpose: to display divine sovereignty, intention, power and presence in the unfurling future.
Verses 5-7 is a prophetic saying concerning the destruction of the Temple. Jesus overhears people talking about the beauty of the Temple, especially its stones and the gifts or votive offerings and objects dedicated to God. Such objects became part of the Temple decorations. Some of these were quite elegant and expensive, like the so-called "golden vine" Herod himself is supposed to have given to decorate this place of worship. Herod expanded the grounds of the Temple. He added lavish embellishments and decorations to the site. The ancient world considered both Jerusalem and the Temple in its heart to be magnificent. Dazzling white stone, intricate carvings, gold adornments, all made the Temple building and its various courts a "wonder" to all. The Temple was an amazing piece of architecture. At the time of Jesus' ministry, it had been under construction for almost 50 years and was finally nearing completion. Josephus, the Jewish historian noted that its exterior lacked nothing that could astound the viewer. Massive gold plates covered the sides. The sun immediately radiated a fiery flash from which one needed to avert the eyes. First sight of it, one could mistake it for a snow-clad mountain, for the part of the Temple not covered with gold was pure white. Some of the largest stones were 40 feet long, 12 feet high, 18 feet wide and bright white in their appearance. This was more than a Temple in which to worship God; it was an incredible accomplishment of human beings. However, such admiration on the doorsteps of the Temple does not impress Jesus. In verse 6, he offers a prophetic pronouncement concerning the destruction of the Temple. As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down. The double negative makes it emphatically clear that a future event will destroy every sign of the Temple. The prophecy is consistent with the sign of the fig tree (only in Mark and Matt), the cleansing of the Temple, and his subversive teaching against religious authorities while in the Temple courts. An astute observer of the times in Israel could see that the continued conflict between Jew and Roman would lead to some major disaster. The saying illustrates Jesus’ insight into the religious and political condition of the day. Jesus stands in the line of prophets. It left no room for negotiation. The prophetic saying left no room for negotiation. The time of the coming catastrophe is limited, as the Temple will fall in ruins, but its fall will be the sign for the intervention of God.[1] Despite its beauty, elegance, and the dutiful homage it evoked, its future is destruction. Jesus weeps for the city of Jerusalem because the days will come when its enemies crush the city to the ground, not leaving one stone upon another. The reason Jesus gives for this destruction is that they did not see the visitation of God had come to them (Luke 19:44). In 70 AD, the Roman army destroyed the temple first by fire. After the flames died down, Titus then ordered the stones themselves torn down, leaving nothing standing.
However, those who hear the pronouncement ask him when, not if, this destruction will be and the sign of the day of the Lord that this destruction is about to take place. They do not doubt the prophetic utterance of Jesus, but only question how much time they have left. This suggests the dialogue is now limited to the inner circle of the followers of Jesus.
Why spend so much time, energy, and wealth, on a Temple? Consider the possibility that all products of human creativity, all art and imagination, culture, architecture, institutions, nations, all are in service of our desire for immortality. Our lives will end. We will disappear as something inconsequential. However, we can pass on what we have to children and grandchildren. We can endow a chair at the university or build a great sone building. We can live forever in the family and communal institutions we build. We know we are mortal, so we imbue our institutions, as personal as family and as general as government, with immortality. We will die, but the family, the college, the denomination, the club, the nation, will last forever. Even in the modern era, we make government buildings to look like temples thousands of years older than they really are, for we plan for them to be here millennia after us.
We might say to Jesus, look at our great institutions. Yet, in this prophetic saying, Jesus says it is all a lie. It all melts down, disintegrates, turns to dust. We do not know the date, even as it took 40 years after this saying for it come true. The harsh reality of this saying is that our political party, our denomination, our nation, will end.
Verses 8-11 is a saying concerning signs before the end. Instead of giving them a definite time, Jesus describes a series of telltale events. Jesus' reply is a caution against the constant temptation to look for signs. The disciples are curious about how they will know that the Temple is about to be destroyed. Jesus’ answer describes many different situations. First, he predicts false messiahs to whom the disciples should not respond. This proliferation of false leaders will be a sign of the end. They will declare that the eschaton has come and now is the time for action. He cautions his disciples against allowing others to lure them into premature action. In verse 8a (Mk 13:5b-6) Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ ˆ(Ἐγώ εἰμι). In John 8:24, Jesus says the crowds will die in their sins unless they believe that “I am he.” Deceivers will come, trying to usurp the divine name. False prophets are masterful at attaching the credentials of heaven to their earthbound existence. The greatest danger deceivers pose to believers is the false notion that the Parousia is here, that the time for watchful vigilance is past. These words of the early church to followers of Jesus of any age are about the alluring snares and deceptions that will usher in this age. The very appearance of “false prophets,” Jesus cautions, should alert the faithful to an even more vigilant state.[2] In verse 8b (unique to Luke) And, ‘The time is near!’ (Ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγικεν). In Mark 1:15, part of the summary of the preaching of Jesus is that the time (καιρὸς) is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near (ἤγγικεν). In Matt 3:2, 4:17, the summary of the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus is that the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near (ἤγγικεν) Do not go after them. Josephus tells the story of another Jesus who gave dire warnings to the city just before its fall. Josephus refers to many false prophets around 70 AD. Note what Josephus says about the events that led up to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
These people owed their demise to a phony prophet. He was someone who on that very day announced that God had ordered the people in the city to go up to the temple area, there to welcome the signs that they would be delivered. Many prophets at the time were incited by tyrannical leaders to persuade people to wait for help from God. ... When humans suffer, they are readily persuaded; but when the con artist depicts release from potential affliction, those suffering give themselves up entirely to hope.[3]
People are ready for apocalyptic speech when they are desperate. Do we really want such earth-shaking occurring among us? Would such an expectation be a threat or promise to us? Our lives stretch between the times. Many people have good reason look at their lives with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. They are at peace with the world. Apocalyptic expectation in the Bible challenge present arrangements of society and look forward to something more and better. For those who experience this world as painful and tragic, the shaking of heaven and earth would be welcome
Second, in verses 9-11, still in response to the disciples' question, Jesus continues to describe other events signaling the rapid approach of this judgment day. 9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified. For these things must take place first, but the end (τέλος) will not follow immediately. Regardless of how intimidating such political upheaval will be, Jesus urges them to keep their sense of terror, anxiety, and fear at bay. Such paralyzing fear is premature, for the end is not yet, and reveals mistrust in the providence and purpose of God, since these things must take place first. 10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (Isa 19:2). Such a description of the times was common. Kings, peoples, potentates, and tribes will be at war and ravage Greece.[4] The text then moves to the common apocalyptic expectation of wars. Kings, peoples, potentates, and tribes will be at war and ravage Greece (Sibylline Oracles 3:635, in Egypt, 163-145 BC). “They” will make war against each other, people against people and kingdom against kingdom (IV Ezra 13:31, 100 AD).[5] The point is that as they have in the past, wars and conflicts will continue to occur. However, the simple unfolding of human history is a story controlled and timed by God. In and of themselves, these events are simply part of God's gradual, unfolding plan for human history ‑‑ they are not the looked‑for, eschatological, end times. Further, using Jewish images, Jesus reiterates his caution, now expanding the ravages from human tumults into natural disasters, 11 there will be great earthquakes (Judges 5:4f; Psalm 18:7f; Isaiah 24:19), and in various places famines (Jeremiah 15:2; Ezekiel 5:17) and plagues. Such images continue in later Jewish writings. People who do not die in war will die in earthquakes, those who escape that will die in fire, and those who escape that will die in famine (II Baruch 27:7, 70:3,8, later in the second century).[6] There was a famine in the time of Claudius, earthquakes at Laodicea in 61 AD and Pompey in 62. Jesus cautions his disciples not to let events in the natural world receive the false label as portents of an imminent eschaton. God has used such events before in human history. God will use them again. Amid them all, there is no need for fear. Further, there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
Verses 12-19 (Mk 13:9-13, Mt 24:9-14)[7] contains sayings on persecution.[8] These sayings reflect detailed knowledge of events that took place after Jesus’ death. They do not refer to events in Galilee or Jerusalem during Jesus’ lifetime. They are sayings from the Jewish-Christian community. Before the destruction of the Temple, there will be persecutions. The reason for the persecutions will be Jesus' name. They will come from Jewish, Gentile, and even family sources. Jesus will give testimony through them.
Verses 12-13 focus upon persecution and testimony. 12 “But before all this occurs, Luke highlighting the temporal order of end-time events, postponing the events prophesied in verses 10-11,[9] they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over, as the authorities wanted to do to Jesus in Luke 20:19, to religious leaders and thus to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before political leaders and thus to kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify.[10] Once authorities have incarcerated the disciples, they will enjoy the right to speak out in their own defense. Verses 14-15 focus on Spirit under trial. 14 So make up your minds (literally "place in your hearts," a precise Semitic term in Lukan Septuagint language) not to prepare your defense in advance. It describes the careful preparation and meditation necessary before giving a legal defense. This kind of painstaking preparation Jesus cautions incarcerated disciples not to attempt. 15 For I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.[11] Instead of offering advice on how his disciples might minimize their sufferings, he simply insists they are not to worry about or plan for their responses in these situations. Expect and wait for words to come to them from Jesus himself at the crucial moment - words that will utterly confound the evil intentions of their persecutors. Jesus will fill his followers' mouths with the right and necessary words. It is surprising that Luke's gospel, which does much to focus on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, clearly notes that in this instance Jesus personally, not the Spirit, will provide vocabulary and testimony for his persecuted beloved. The stress is upon the possibilities of witness that persecution will present. Verses 16-19 describe the fate of the disciples. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends. The people you love the most will hurt you the most. Such a statement is a piece of wisdom and a warning. We need to prepare ourselves for this. Disciples will also suffer abuse at the hands of loved ones. Undoubtedly the promise of Jesus' personal guidance and presence is most comforting, especially to those who will suffer trial and abuse, not from the synagogue or from the government, but from their own families and friends. And they will put some of you to death. Luke's rendition of these personal attacks and betrayals takes Mark's words and puts their verb form into the up-close-and-personal second person. Luke makes the relationship between the betrayed and the betrayer unmistakably personal by referring all the connectedness back through this second person "you." 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. The prediction of such future betrayals is certainly more distressing to the disciples than the threats from organized religious and political institutions. Jesus' prediction is shocking. It suggests to his followers that from now on, even when they gather into the very hearts of their families, they are never safe from argument, attack and abuse. 18 But, in a proverb or saying from common lore taken from Q at Luke 12:7, and not in Mark 13, not a hair of your head will perish.[12] We can see a reflection of the special touch of Luke in this proverb. By reiterating this protective promise, Luke softens the harshness of the prediction of persecution that precedes it. Such a saying stresses the security of the disciples. They have no reason to doubt the providential care of God. The Father has intimate and detailed care for humanity. Thus, each disciple is an end that serves the providential care of God for the world as well. Yet, the way in which God has the good of individual creatures in view, namely, with regard for the divine care of all other creatures, is different from what the creatures themselves seek as their good.[13] 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls (ψυχὰς).[14] Those who hold out in persecution will find true and authentic life in with the sense of eternal life.[15] In 8:15, those who receive the word like good soil will bear fruit with patient endurance. We see another reflection of the special touch of Luke as he fashions a more upbeat message as he points to the promise of the future for disciples of Jesus.
There was a reason early Christians did some things:
• left secret signs (the fish) to mark safe places to worship or seek a night's refuge;
• wrote secret messages (in the languages of their hymns and liturgies) to communicate with other Christians.
It was a dangerous world in which to be a Christian. The political winds of tolerance and intolerance blew hot and cold depending upon the whims of the emperor, the mood of the regional rulers, the fanaticism of local synagogue officials or the tempers of the marketplace crowds. But the greatest threats to the small, struggling Christian communities were internal. Insiders were the ones who often turned in the early Christians who suffered martyrdom. The informers gave names of Christians to the officials. To make matters worse, these "informers" also coldly recommended what kinds of tests political authorities could give to see whether someone was really a Christian. Insider-informers knew that a true Christian would 1) never curse Christ, 2) never pray to Roman gods, and 3) never offer wine and incense to the emperor's statue. If any accused Christian willingly participated in all three of these, he/she was set free.
Since many people seeking to be faithful to the witness of the early church have misused eschatology, I am not sure what to do with eschatology. We also have the counter scientific evidence that we are moving toward nothingness. Most human beings are acquainted with discouragement. We are familiar with unfulfilled hopes and dreams. We may desire that death will bring the fulfillment of hopes and dreams that remain unfulfilled. Yet, when we consider the harsh reality that desire remains unsatisfied, we resign ourselves to human experience. We do not dare to believe that there is something more. When that experience combines with scientific data so nicely, death and nothingness are the natural result of life in this universe.
In the year 1000, apocalyptic dreamers watched the skies for the apocalypse. The entire Middle Ages witnessed intense millenarian movements. Followers of Joachim of Fiore even resorted to self-flagellation, blaming themselves for Christ's failure to return on schedule. In the 1500s, Martin Luther thought the world was in its final days. William Miller, a Vermont pastor with thousands of followers, calculated that the world would end in 1843. J. F. Walvoord's 1974 book, Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis, was a million seller (even its updated and reissued 1990 edition). Hal Lindsey's Late Great Plant Earth was a multimillion seller through the 1970s and early 1980s.
Apocalyptic elements in the Bible can become fads in the hands of some theologians and preachers. I think of the Anabaptists of the 1530s in Munster, Germany, the Millerites of the early 1840s, the early 1970s publication of The Late Great Planet Earth, and the Left Behind books and movies. Such language also gained attention in the secular world with the turn of the millennium. A thorough study of such movements would be a long book. Harold Camping studied the Bible and concluded the world would end May 21, 2011. He placed his message on 5,000 billboards. He estimated 7 billion people would die. He used millions of dollars to convey his message. When the date came and went, he amended the date to October 21. By then, the fad had subsided. In our time, we are naturally and justly skeptical of such language. A well know story from colonial New England says that during an eclipse panicked several state legislators. They moved to adjourn, thinking the end of the world must be near. However, one of them said, "Mr. Speaker, if it is not the end of the world and we adjourn, we shall appear to be fools. If it is the end of the world, I should choose to be found doing my duty. I move you, sir, that candles be brought."[16]
Followers of Jesus in every generation will need discernment. People will always present themselves as the ones to solve a perceived crisis that, if not resolved, will mean the end of humanity. The suffering and fear of people might lead them to place their hope in such false leaders, but followers of Jesus need to be aware that the end is not yet, and that such sufferings, political failures that lead to war, and natural disasters, are part of the natural course of events on this earth. Faithful disciples will face many dangers. However, they should never doubt that these events are unfolding according to divine plan and in keeping with God's time.
As Karl Barth noted in his Romans commentary, we need to take to heart the notion that Christianity is completely and restlessly eschatological. One sign of the church adjusting its message to its contemporary setting too much is the loss of its apocalyptic speech and therefore its eschatological dimension. Regardless of our current setting, we need to know that the future of humanity and a concern for its destiny is not so much a matter of how or when, but a matter of who. Thus, dreadful things happen in this world, but do not despair. God has not given up on us. We must not give up on God or ourselves. The future is not in the hands of beastly powers. The future belongs to the Human One. The future has the human face of Jesus Christ, the one who died for us so that we might find life. The hope contained in eschatology for a world in which evil and suffering laid aside while peace and justice are taken out of the hands of human beings and accomplished by the work of God was important to Jesus and to the early church. Eschatology tells us that history does not end in a whimper but in redemption. Standing there in glory at the conclusion of all things is Jesus, the one in whom God has turned toward the world and each of us in love and grace. I modestly hope that Jesus and the early church are right. We are moving toward creation and history glorifying God. My expectation is that God as revealed to us in Jesus will not bring this end into existence through coercion and force, but rather, will find ways to lure human minds and hearts and the institutions they create toward an increasingly just and peaceful world.
This discourse of Jesus is a reminder that Christianity has a hope for the redemption of creation and human history. Like the Gospels, many New Testament writings, and the New Testament itself, theology tends to put eschatology, as a discussion of the doctrine of last things, as its last chapter. Yet, in another sense, good theology shows that its eschatology accompanies it along the way to the end. Without the hope contained in the concluding chapter, much of what Christianity says about creation, Christology, anthropology, ecclesiology, and Christian life, will make little sense. Eschatology attempts to keep chronos, time that passes by the clock and calendar, and kairos, the right and fulfilled time, in juxtaposition. It attempts a dimension of realism regarding the calendar. It attempts to sustain the expectation that, despite the incomprehensible nature of the direction of the present, the secret is that God is moving history toward its saving and grace-filled consummation. Such an orientation toward the future helps to see realistically the fallibility of the church, for it is not a finished product today. Christ finished his work on the cross and resurrection. The participation of the church in that work has not finished. The church is a community on the way to its completion. The same is true of our lives.[17] Human history will not be a genuine story unless we think in terms of ultimate ends. A proper estimation of eschatology will help the church avoid the danger of always adjusting the church to the needs and anxieties of the culture.
At the same time, if you pray the Lord’s Prayer regularly, you are praying apocalyptically: Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. If you recite the Creed, you are affirming your connection to the apocalyptic hope of the early Christians: “And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. … And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” When we ask God to interfere with our affairs on this world, we are asking for an end to the world, as we know it. When the author walks on the stage, the play is over. The world as we know it, says apocalyptic hope, will melt away like a dream and something else that never entered our heads to conceive arrives, something so beautiful to some and terrible to others.[18]
[1]
[2] The difficulty historically here is that historians of the first century have no evidence of such rebellions until Bar Cochba in 132 AD.
[3] Jewish Wars, 6.285-87
[4] Sibyline Oracle iii 635
King will lay hold of king and take away territory.
Peoples will ravage peoples, and potentates, tribes.
All leaders will flee to another land.
The land will have a change of men and foreign rule
Will ravage all Greece and drain off …
[5] IV Ezra xiii 31 (ca 100AD)
And they shall plan to make war against one another, city against city, place against place, people against people, and kingdom against kingdom.
[6] II (Apocalypse) of Baruch. 27:7, 70:3,8,
In the sixth part: earthquakes and terrors.
And they will hate one another and provoke one another to fight. And the despised will rule over the honorable, and the unworthy will raise themselves over the illustrious. … And it will happen that everyone who saves himself from the war will die in an earthquake, and he who saves himself from the earthquake will be burned by fire, ad he who saves himself from the fire will perish by famine.
[7] These sayings reflect detailed knowledge of events that took place after Jesus’ death. They refer to the trials and persecutions of Jesus’ followers, the call to preach the gospel to all nations, advice to offer spontaneous testimony, and the prediction that families would turn against one another are features of later Christian existence. They do not refer to events in Galilee or Jerusalem during Jesus’ lifetime.
[8]
[9]
[10] In verses 12-13, persecution & testimony, Luke expands what he found in Mark to conform to what he writes in Acts. Most scholars do not think Jesus could have said this.
[11] In verses 14-15, Luke revises what he found in Mark to conform to the speeches of Peter and Paul in Acts. Most scholars do not think Jesus could have said this.
[12] Verse 18 is a proverb taken from Q, found in Luke 12:7, which most scholars think Jesus said.
[13] Pannenberg,
[14] In verses 16-19, which most scholars do not think Jesus could have said.
[15] Schweizer, TDNT, IX, 647.
[16] Lamar Williams Jr., Mark, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1983) p. 242.
[17]
[18]
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