Chapter 13
[Mark 13:1] -- And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, behold what manner of stones and what buildings are here. And Jesus answering said to him: Do you see all these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. According to history, the meaning is clear. However, as the Lord departed from the temple, all the structures of the law and the composition of the commandments were so destroyed that nothing could be fulfilled by the Jews; and with the head removed, all the members clashed among themselves. And because, with faith established among the Gentiles and the Church of Christ, Judea was about to bear the worthy punishments for its perfidy, it was fitting for the Lord, after praising the devotion of the Church in the poor widow, to leave the temple, and to predict its future ruin and that the buildings then admired would soon be leveled. Divinely, it was arranged that, with the grace of the evangelical faith revealed throughout the world, the temple itself, once august with its ceremonies, would be removed, lest anyone still young and suckling in the faith, seeing those things which were made by the holy prophets and instituted by the Lord remaining, might wonder at the secular sanctity and gradually slip from the sincerity of the faith which is in Christ Jesus into carnal Judaism. Therefore, God, providing for our infirmity and desiring his Church to multiply, caused all those things to be overturned and utterly removed, so that with the shadow and type ceasing, the truth now declared throughout the world might hold the greater palm.
[Mark 13:3] -- And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately. Tell us when these things will be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished? Because as some were praising the buildings of the temple, the Lord openly responded that all these would be destroyed. The disciples secretly inquired about the time and signs of the foretold destruction. The Lord sits on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, discussing the ruin of the temple and the destruction of the nation, so that even in the very position of his body he aligns with the words he speaks, mystically indicating that while resting in the holy, he detests the madness of the proud. For who does not see that the Mount of Olives signifies the fruitful height of the holy Church, which the Lord always delights to dwell in? For truly, that mountain was known not for having unfruitful trees and a barren forest, but for producing olives, which provide light to dispel the shadows of the night, cures for infirmities, and rest for the weary. All of which particularly happen in the Church, as it itself says: But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever (Psalm 52).
[Mark 13:5] -- And Jesus, answering, began to say to them: See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, I am he, and they will lead many astray. Many, as the destruction of Jerusalem approached, were leaders who claimed they were christs, and reported that the time of liberation was near at hand. Many heresiarchs appeared in the Church even in the times of the apostles, who, among many other things contrary to truth, proclaimed that the day of the Lord was imminent. These the Apostle condemns in the Epistle to the Thessalonians. Many in the name of Christ were Antichrists, the first of whom is Simon Magus: to whom, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, all who were in Samaria listened, from the least to the greatest, saying: This man is the power of God that is called great, because he had for a long time bewitched them with his magical arts (Acts 8).
[Mark 13:7] -- But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled. For such things must happen, but the end is not yet. Wars pertain to enemies, seditions to citizens. Both of these abounded abundantly from the time of the Lord's Passion among the people of the Jews, who chose a seditious robber for themselves instead of the Savior Christ. However, the apostles, as these events draw near, are warned not to be terrified, not to abandon Jerusalem and Judea, because evidently the end, which should rather be deferred until the fortieth year, namely the desolation of the province and the ultimate destruction of the city and temple, is to follow.
[Mark 13:8] -- Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines. These are the beginnings of sorrows. In the Gospel of Luke, it is written: And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines (Luke 21). It is known that these things happened literally before the last and most bitter pains, by which the entire province was devastated, or rather erased, during the time of the Jewish sedition. But kingdom against kingdom, and the pestilence of those whose speech spreads like cancer, and the famine of hearing the word of God, and the upheaval of the whole earth, and the separation from the true faith, can be better understood in heretics, who, fighting against each other, bring about the victory of the Church. Moreover, the Lord reveals why so many adversities were deservedly bestowed upon Jerusalem and the whole province of the Jews, by adding when he says:
[Mark 13:9] -- But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before kings and governors for my sake, for a testimony to them. Indeed, the very fact that the Jewish people, either alone or as the greatest cause, were the cause of their own destruction, because after the killing of the Lord Savior, they tormented the heralds and confessors of his name and faith with impious cruelty.
[Mark 13:10] -- And the Gospel of God must first be preached to all nations. This is confirmed by Ecclesiastical histories, in which it is reported that all the apostles, long before the destruction of the province of Judea, were dispersed throughout the entire world to preach the Gospel, except James son of Zebedee, and James the brother of the Lord, who were the first in Judea to shed their blood for the word of the Gospel. Therefore, since the Lord knew that the hearts of the disciples would be troubled by the destruction and loss of their nation, He alleviates them with this consolation, so that they might know that even with the Jews being cast off, they would still have companions for the joy and heavenly kingdom, indeed gathering many more from all the nations of the world than would perish from Judea.
[Mark 13:11] -- And when they lead you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you will speak, but say whatever is given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. When we are led to judges because of Christ, we must simply express our will for Christ. Moreover, it is Christ Himself who speaks in us, and the grace of the Holy Spirit is given in answering.
[Mark 13:12] -- Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name. But, etc. We have often seen this happen in persecutions, and there is no loyal affection among those who have different faiths.
[Mark 13:14] -- But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, let the reader understand. Where Mark says: Standing where it ought not, in Matthew it is written: Standing in the holy place (Matthew 24); which altogether signifies the same thing, because surely the abomination of desolation ought not to stand in the holy place. When we are called to understanding, it is shown to be mystical what is said. However, it can be simply understood either concerning the Antichrist, or the image of Caesar which Pilate placed in the temple, or the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood for a long time in the very holy of holies place. According to the old Scripture, an idol is also called an abomination. And hence it is added, of desolation, because the idol is placed in the desolate and deserted temple.
[Mark 13:14] -- Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the rooftop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not turn back to take his garment. It is clear that these things happened literally when, with the approaching Roman war and the extermination of the Jewish people, warned by an oracle, all the Christians who were in the province withdrew farther away, as Ecclesiastical History narrates, and sitting across the Jordan, they remained for a time in the city of Pella under the protection of Agrippa, the king of the Jews, who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, who, with those Jews willing to obey him, always acted in submission to Roman authority. According to spiritual meanings, when we see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not, that is, heresies and crimes reigning among those who seemed to be consecrated by heavenly mysteries, when we observe peace among the faithful being disturbed by workers of iniquity, speakers of lies, men of blood and deceit whom the Lord will abhor, then whoever remains in Judea, that is in the confession of true faith, should not be enslaved by earthly and weak deeds but should ascend the summit of virtues as high as the more numerous wide and wandering paths of vices we see being followed. Then whoever is on the rooftop, that is, who spiritually lives as if in the free air, exceeding carnal matters in mind, should not descend to the base deeds of past conduct, nor repeat the desires of the world or flesh which he had left behind. For our house means either this world or our flesh in which we dwell, which the Apostle speaks of: For we know that if our earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, we have a building from God (2 Cor. 5). And whoever works in the Church, like Paul and Apollos planting and watering (1 Cor. 3), should not look back at worldly hopes, which he renounced, nor presume to take up again the trappings of a fleeting life, which he had already stripped off to follow Christ.
[Mark 13:17] -- Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. Woe to the present captivity for those pregnant and nursing women, whose heavy burdens of the womb or hands of their children greatly impede the necessity of flight. Read the story of the Kings, where the wife of Jonathan, by trying to avoid the evil of captivity with a hasty flight, received her son who had fallen from her bosom permanently lame.
[Mark 13:18] -- But pray that it does not happen in winter. In Matthew it is written: But pray that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath. If we wish to take this concerning the captivity of Jerusalem, when it was captured by Titus and Vespasian, they should pray that their flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, because in the one, the hardness of the cold blocks the way to proceed to solitude, and to hide in mountains and deserts; in the other, it is either a transgression of the law if they want to flee, or imminent death if they stay behind. But if it is understood about the consummation of the world, this instructs us lest our faith and love in Christ grow cold, nor let us be idle and sluggish in the work of God on the Sabbath of virtues. For this saying of the Lord pertains partly to the Jewish captivity which happened by the Romans, and partly to the day of judgment. For in Matthew, the disciples are understood to have asked the Lord, when He was about to speak these things: Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?
[Mark 13:19] -- For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, nor ever will be. These words properly fit the times of the Antichrist, when not only will there be torments more frequent than they used to be, inflicted upon the faithful, but (what is worse) the operation of signs will also accompany those who inflict the torments: as the Apostle testifies, who says, "whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all deception, signs, and lying wonders" (II Thess. II). Indeed, how many miracles and how many powers the holy martyrs often performed before their persecutors, and yet they did not wish to believe nor to cease from persecuting. Who then will be converted to the faith, an unbeliever, whose faith already believing does not fear and is shaken, when the persecutor of piety also becomes the worker of virtue, the same one who rages with torments so that Christ is denied, provokes with miracles so that the Antichrist is believed? What then will be the refuge in these things, what hope will remain for the elect, except that the higher grace, which grants the power of patience to the pious, should quickly remove the power of persecuting and tribulating from the impious? Hence it is providently added with piety:
[Mark 13:20] -- And unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days. For this tribulation, as much as it is heavier in the weight of oppressions than the others which preceded, so much more will it be moderated by the brevity of time. For it is believed that for three and a half years, as can be conjectured from the prophecy of Daniel and the Revelation of St. John, it will wage war against the Church throughout the world.
[Mark 13:21] -- And then if anyone says to you: Here is Christ, here there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Some refer this to the time of the Jewish captivity, where many, saying they were Christs, led astray crowds of people after them. But it should be noted that in that siege of the miserable and wretched city, there was no faithful one to whom the divine exhortation, not to follow perverse teachers, should be made: rather, all equally, both the lesser and the greater, both the besieged and the besieging, persisted alien to Christ. Hence, it is better to be understood about heretics, who, coming against the Church, would lie about being Christs. The first of whom was Simon Magus; but the last, greater than the others, is the Antichrist.
[Mark 13:24] -- But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will darken, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars of the sky will fall. The stars will appear obscure on the day of judgment, not because their light decreases, but because the brightness of the true light, that is, of the supreme judge, will come, when he will come in his majesty, with the Father, and the holy angels; although nothing prevents it from being rightly understood that the sun and the moon, along with the other stars, will be deprived of their light for a time, just as it is known that the sun did during the Lord's Passion. For the moon at that time, being full, lay hidden under the earth. Hence that prophecy of Joel remains imperfect up to this day: after he said, "The sun will turn into darkness," he added, "And the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes" (Joel II). And Isaiah, speaking of the day of judgment, said, "And the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts reigns in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders is glorified" (Isaiah XXIV). However, after the day of judgment has passed and the glory of future life has shone, when there is a new heaven and a new earth, then what the same prophet says elsewhere will occur, "And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days."
[Mark 13:25] -- And the powers that are in the heavens will be moved. Is it any wonder that humans, who are earthly by nature and sense, are perturbed at this judgment, at the sight of which even the powers of the heavens, that is, the angelic powers, tremble? Blessed Job also attests to this, saying, "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof" (Job XXVI). What will the tablets do, then, when the pillars tremble? What will the twig of the desert endure, when the cedar of paradise is shaken?
[Mark 13:27] -- And then he will send his angels, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky. By the four winds, he means the four quarters of the world: East, West, North, and South. And lest anyone think it was only from the four sides of the earth, and not rather from its entire bounds including the interior regions, he aptly added: From the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky, that is, from the extreme borders of the earth straight to its farthest limits, where, to those gazing afar, the circle of the sky seems to enclose the earth. Therefore, on that day, no elect will be left behind, who will not meet the Lord coming to judgment in the air, whether still living in the body or already resurrected to life from death. The reprobates also come to judgment, both those found living in the body and those resurrected to life from death. But with this distinction, that the just are gathered into the joy of their Lord; whereas his enemies, after the judgment is finished, are scattered and perish from the presence of God.
[Mark 13:28] -- From the fig tree learn the parable: when its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, etc. With the example of the tree, He taught the coming of the consummation. Just as when the branches of the fig tree become tender, and the bud breaks into flower, and the bark bears leaves, you understand the coming of summer and the entrance of the west wind and of spring; so too, when you see all these things written, do not think that the end of the world is already at hand, but that certain preludes and forerunners come to show that it is near and at the doors. But this fructification of the fig tree can be understood more deeply according to mystical senses, namely concerning the state of the Synagogue, which, when the Lord came to it once because it had no fruit of justice, was condemned to eternal barrenness among those who then were unbelievers. But because the Apostle said that blindness has happened in part to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved (Rom. XI). When this time comes, so that the long blindness of unbelief is taken away, and all Israel receives the light and salvation, what else will happen but that the fig tree, long barren, will yield the fruit it had denied? As it is written in the blessed Job: A tree has hope; if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not cease. If its roots grow old in the earth, and its trunk dies in the dust, at the scent of water it will bud and produce branches like a newly planted sapling. When you see this taken place, you will not doubt that the day of final judgment and the summer of true peace and light are near.
[Mark 13:30] -- Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. By the name of generation, he either signifies every kind of people or specifically the Jews. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. The heaven that will pass away must be understood not as ethereal or sidereal but as the aerial, from which even the birds of heaven and clouds of heaven are named, as Peter attests saying: "The heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water, by the word of God; by which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished." The heavens that now exist and the earth, are stored up by the same word, reserved for fire for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men (II Peter III), clearly teaching that not other heavens will perish by fire than those that perished by water, that is, these empty and nebulous spaces of windy air. For it is not to be believed that the water of the flood, which surpassed the tops of mountains by fifteen cubits only, reached beyond the boundaries of the air and ether. However, wherever it could reach, there indeed, according to the aforementioned opinion of blessed Peter, the fire of judgment will also reach. But if heaven and earth will pass away, it can be questioned how Ecclesiastes says: "A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever" (Eccl. I). But, with clear reason, heaven and earth pass away by the form they now have; however, they persist without end by essence. For the figure of this world is passing away (I Cor. VII). And to John, the angel says: "There will be a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev. XXI); which indeed are not to be newly made, but these same ones are to be renewed. Therefore, heaven and earth both pass away and will be, because they are purged by fire from the form they now have, yet are always preserved in their own nature. Hence also it is said through the Psalmist: "You will change them, and they will be changed" (Ps. CI). Indeed, this last change of theirs, they now declare to us by these revolutions by which they unceasingly alternate for our uses. For the earth fails from its winter form through dryness, flourishes again with spring moisture. The heaven is daily covered with the darkness of night, and renewed by divine light. Hence, therefore, hence let each faithful person gather, that these things both perish and yet are renewed through their renovation, which now evidently seems to be continually repaired as though from defect.
[Mark 13:32] -- However, of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Arius and Eunomius rejoice as if the ignorance of the master is the glory of the disciples: and they say: "He who knows and he who is ignorant cannot be equal." But since Jesus, that is, the Word of God, made all times (for all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made, and in all times the day of judgment must also be, can He who knows the whole, be ignorant of a part? Therefore, a reason must be given why He is said to be ignorant. The Apostle wrote concerning the Savior: "In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2). Why hidden? After the resurrection, being questioned by the apostles about the day of judgment, He answered more clearly: "It is not for you to know the times or the moments which the Father has set by His own authority" (Acts 1). When He says, it is not for you to know, He shows that He Himself knows, but it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that, always uncertain of the coming of the Judge, they may live daily as if they were to be judged that day. Furthermore, the subsequent discourse of the Gospel makes it clear. Also teaching that the Father alone knows, He includes the Son in the Father. For every father’s name is of the son.
[Mark 13:33] -- Watch, therefore, and pray. For you do not know when the time is. Like a man who, traveling abroad, leaves his house and gives authority to his servants, etc. The Lord clearly shows why He said: "Of that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Because it is not expedient for the apostles to know, so that in the uncertainty of the hanging expectation they may always believe Him to be coming, whom they do not know when He will come. And He did not say, because we do not know at what hour the Lord will come, but you do not know. And, having given the example of the householder, He more clearly teaches why He conceals the day of consummation, saying:
[Mark 13:35] -- Therefore, keep watch; for you do not know when the Lord will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at the cock's crow, or in the morning. Lest, when he comes suddenly, he finds you sleeping. However, the man who went on a journey and left his house, without a doubt, is Christ, who, ascending victoriously to the Father after the resurrection, left the Church corporally, which he nevertheless never deprived of the divine presence's protection, remaining in it all days until the consummation of the age. For the place of the flesh is properly the earth, which is as though led to foreign lands when it is placed in heaven through our Redeemer. But he gave his servants the power of every work, because to his faithful, granting the grace of the Holy Spirit, he gives the ability to serve in good works. He also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch, because he orders the spiritual pastors and leaders, with diligent care, to oversee the Church entrusted to them.
[Mark 13:37] -- But what I say to you, I say to all: Keep watch. Not only the apostles and their successors, indeed the leaders of the Church, but all are commanded to keep watch. We are all urgently ordered to guard the doors of our hearts, lest the ancient enemy break in by suggesting evil. We must each carefully avoid being found sleeping when the Lord comes. For each of us will give an account to God. He keeps watch who has the eyes of his mind open to the vision of true light. He keeps watch who, by working, keeps what he believes. He keeps watch who repels the darkness of lethargy and negligence from himself. Hence Paul says: Awake to righteousness, and do not sin (I Cor. XV). Hence he says again: It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep (Rom. XIII).