Commentary On: Mark 13:14-23

In Mark 13, the evangelist has gathered some events of his lifetime and retrojected them back thirty-some years into the life-time of Jesus of Nazareth, so that Jesus appears to predict the difficulties experienced by Mark's readers. Verses 1-4 "predict" the destruction of the Temple (which has already occurred). Verses 5-13 reflect real events in Nero's persecution (64-68 A.D.). A vivid description of sufferings is recorded in verses 14-23, the reading for today's Liturgy. Verses 24-27 announce the reason for steadfastness and loyalty in suffering this persecution: Disciples will be vindicated when Jesus returns. The chapter concludes (vv. 28-37) with exhortations to vigilance.

The Cultural Context

Sensitivity to Mediterranean culture casts elements of this passage in a fresh light.

1. Shame. The "desolating sacrilege standing where he should not" is very likely the entrance of the Roman general Titus into the Holy of Holies during the final days of the Jewish war. In the honor and shame culture of the Mediterranean world, Titus knew full well the shame his entry into holy space inflicted on his captives. Only Mediterranean natives and those intimately familiar with honor and shame culture can appreciate the force of the phrase: "Desolating sacrilege." This, after all, is God's temple! How could God allow this? Isn't God shamed? And what of God's people's shame? Our patron has disappointed us!

2. Time. Mediterranean culture is as strongly focused on the present moment ("Truly," Jesus says, "this generation will not pass away before all these things take place" v. 30) as Western culture is hopelessly focused on the future. A present orientation is unable to foresee or prepare for future events. It only knows how to spontaneously respond to whatever happens as it happens. Many of the generation Jesus spoke to died before the Temple was destroyed (v. 2). Mark's generation, of course, was experiencing tribulation. What advice did Jesus give? Something very oriented to the present moment: Run for your lives!

3. Deceit. Honor thrives in a public society where everybody knows and minds everybody else's business (see Mk 1:35-37). Privacy simply doesn't exist. But if this is so, how can one affirm honor, that is a public claim to worth and a public acknowledgement of that claim? Isn't honor self-evident to everybody? Not so. People in an honor and shame culture resort to secrecy, deception and outright lying as legitimate strategies for protecting and augmenting honor.

By fostering secrecy (Jesus offers his disciples explanations in secret, see Mk 13:3) and deception (true to his culture, Jesus favors parables, stories that are not what they seem and mean something other than what appears). Thus false prophets and false messiahs (v. 22) were a normal fact of everyday life in ancient Israel. Secrecy, deception, and lies challenged everybody to sort things out as best as possible, but one could never be sure one did.¹ Help from Jesus would be most welcome.

Walking Through the Text

Jesus is presumably talking in private with Peter, James, John and Andrew (13:3). They have asked him for a timetable (when will this be?) and for signs regarding the destruction of the Temple (v. 2).

13:14 Titus entering into the Holy place is an obvious sign. This is not a reverential visit but rather part of a planned total destruction already under way.

13:15-16 When this destruction begins, flee! Don't waste time trying to save valuables. Save yourself!

13:17 Women with children (whether mothers or wet nurses) will be additionally burdened. Escape will be hindered by these youngsters.

13:18 The Greek text literally says "rainy season" which in Palestine is correlative to "the dry season." Translators often name this "winter," though the ancients only knew two seasons: Wet and dry. In the rainy season, floods make it impossible and risky to cross the wadis further hindering escape.

The dry season is a good time for travel. There is little work to be done, and roads are accessible. The wet season is a time for staying home. Jesus likely initiated his ministry at the beginning of a dry season, sat out the rainy season, and set off for Jerusa lem at the beginning of the next dry season (Passover) when he met his death. By the same token, it is difficult to appreciate a military strategist invading in a Mediterranean rainy season. If escape is difficult, so is invasion.

13:20 Mediterranean natives enjoy the present moment, because they have no control over nature, hence no ability or reason for planning ahead. But God knows all, present, past and future, and surely God will be swift about what must take place. Moreover God is in charge and in control. God doesn't need the amount of time human's might need to accomplish his will.

13:22-23 The Hebrew Bible had no word for "false" prophet. Prophets were labelled "false" by those who disagreed with them. Listeners had to evaluate them. The Septuagint inserted into its translation the Greek word "false prophet." This is clearly an interpretation much more than a simple translation. The challenge of evaluating prophets and messiahs, however, remained. Scripture could only evaluate the past. People had to deal with their present. Given the normal and prevalent practice of secrecy, deception, and lying in Middle Eastern culture, it was and is always difficult to sort things out.

That Jesus is said to have "told you all things beforehand" is small consolation. So what else is new? Yet in crises, people often forget the obvious and need to be reminded of that. Even such reminders are valuable aids to maintaining equanimity and clear-headedness.

Significance

During the life of Jesus, the Temple still stood. There was no virulent persecution. Jesus and his opponents engaged in mutual name-calling which won Jesus enormous honor until he ran afoul of the Jerusalem elite. They succeeded in pinning two labels on him (blasphemer and throne-pretender) which brought about his execution. But God raised him, restored and augmented his honorable reputation, and scores of people believed and pledged loyalty to him.

Some thirty or forty years afterward, the recipients of Mark's gospel suffered "tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be" (13:19). Loyalty to Jesus was being tested and strained. Did Jesus have any advice? Mark's Jesus obliged. In brief, Mark's Jesus in today's reading advises: The tribulation will be of brief duration, escape if you can, and beware of those who might deceive or mislead you. "I have told you all things beforehand."

Mark's retrojected interpretations placed on Jesus' lips sufficed to comfort the believers of his day. It should suffice in modern times as well.

John J. Pilch Catonsville, Maryland

1. See my listing of eight kinds of deception reflected in the Bible in Session Three: "Overview of the NT: A Mediterranean Cultural Perspective" in Hear the Word! Volume 2: Introduction to the Cultural Context of the New Testament (New York and New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1991).