Hi everyone. Welcome back to daily gospel
exegesis. Our goal here is to help you
prepare for the Gospel reading. You'll hear at today's mass so
we're giving you an exegesis of the literal sense of the
scripture. So we're helping you understand
what the gospel text means in its original context.
So that when you go to mass your In your mind, you'll be more
prepared to hear what the priest might have to say or the person
doing the mass will have to say about this particular reading.
So today we get to a really interesting text and in many
ways quite a difficult text that's often been
misinterpreted. So it's a longer text, Luke
chapter 21 verses 5 to 19. When some were talking about the
temple remarking, how it was adorned with fine, stonework and
votive offerings. Jesus said all these things you
are staring at. Now the time will come when not
a single Stone will be left on another everything will be
destroyed and they put him and they put to him this question
Master they said when will this happen and what sign will there
be that this is about to take place?
Take care not to be deceived he said because many will come
using my name and saying, I am he and the time is near at hand,
refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and
revolutions, do not be frightened for, this is
something that must happen, but the end is not so soon.
Then he said to them Nation will fight against nation and Kingdom
against Kingdom, there will be great, earthquakes and plagues
and famines here. And there there will be fearful
sights and great signs from heaven.
But before all this happens, men will seize you and persecute
you. They will hand you over to the
synagogues and to imprisonment and bring you before Kings and
governors because of my name. And that will be your
opportunity to Bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind you
are not to prepare your defense because I myself shall give you
an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be
able to resist or contradict you'll be betrayed even In by
parents and brothers, relations and friends.
And some of you will be put to death.
You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a
hair on your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your
lives. So you we see Jesus here doing
an eschatological prophecy his speaking.
In a way that we don't often get to hear him speak in the
gospels, but it's really important that we understand
what he was saying. So as always, we want to start
by thinking about the context. So Jesus has arrived in
Jerusalem for the last week of his life and he's already
cleanse the temple. Now, he's teaching in the
temple. It's important to keep in mind
that he's speaking primarily here to people who are already
his followers. So this is addressed to
Christians, not to the world in general.
And we're going to see here. What's often been called the
Olivet discourse? At least that's what it's often
called in the gospel of Matthew. But you'll notice that this one
is apparently not on the Mount of Olives it, but it's very
similar themes. So we'll talk about that as we
go. So starting at verse 5, it says
when some were talking about the temple remarking how it was
adorned with fine, stonework and votive offerings.
So there's people in the audience who are looking at the
temple and marring it and it was a truly remarkable building.
We know from history that the temple had lots of gold and it
was made of pure massive, white stones.
Some of these Stones were nearly 40 feet in length.
A lot of these were installed in herod's, renovations in 19 BC.
So, by the time, Of Jesus it was really quite an amazing building
it. Even had a golden Vine at the
entrance from which hung these votive offerings.
The verse he imagines votive offerings.
So those will be gifts dedicated to God.
So the people standing around with Jesus admiring, these
beautiful, big white stones and the gold votive offerings.
It was one of the most beautiful and exquisite buildings in the
world. Some people have compared it to
maybe it's similar to st. Peter's Basilica today.
It was it had that kind of wow her effect when you walked in.
And people from that time period.
Some Roman historians have said that from a distance.
The temple looked like a snow-covered Mountain.
It was that kind of beautiful. So Jesus, your notices that
people are admiring it. So he uses the opportunity to
foretell its destruction. So we're going to see here an
extended speech about the destruction of the temple.
Keep this in mind, it's specifically about the
destruction of the temple. It's not about the end of the
world as such and it's a long speech, what we see.
Here is the first half of what is the Olivet discourse in
Matthew's gospel. Jesus speech here has many
similarities to Jeremiah's speech in Jeremiah seven when
Jeremiah predicted the destruction of the first temple.
Now, interestingly, when Jesus predictions about the Temple of
fulfilled in 70 AD when the temple is destroyed.
It's destroyed by fire on the same day and the same month, the
ninth of of as when the Babylonians destroyed the first
temple. So the second temple was
apparently destroyed. On the anniversary of the
destruction of the first temple. So from this, we can see that
God does work in patterns. Now, some Scholars have looked
at this and maybe some Catholics might look at this sometimes and
they think that here Jesus is talking about the end of the
world, the end of time, it can be read that way certainly.
And some people in the tradition of the church have but I think
if we're looking at the literal sense, what's Jesus primarily
referring to, he's referring to the destruction of the temple in
70 AD, he's telling his audience.
What's going to happen? To the temple in 70 AD.
Having said that though, we know that the Jews at this time
viewed the temple as a model of the universe as a whole, the
temple was kind of a mini model of the entire Cosmos.
So in this sense, the destruction of the temple in
Jerusalem, foreshadows the Temple of the real Universe in
the future. And that's why when we get to
this imagery of the Stars will fall and all that sort of thing,
there's probably a hint here that the cosmological symbols In
the temple are being referred to and we'll talk about that when
we get there. So this is a long speech and
we're just going to see the first part of it in today's
reading. So Jesus, he says, all these
things you are staring at now. So he's talking about the
temple, the time will come. So Jesus is giving a prophecy is
about to predict something that's going to happen.
The destruction of the temple. In 70 AD, the Jewish people have
been attacked, lots of times in their history.
If you know the Old Testament history Israel was attacked.
A lot and in the lead up to 70 AD, there were many attacks on
Jerusalem, but it was only finally destroyed by fire in 70
AD. When the leader Titus came in
and destroyed the temple. It was a huge event for the
Jews. In fact, they've never really
recovered from it. If you go to Israel and
Jerusalem today, there will still be people that mourn.
They physically mourn, the destruction of the temple.
So this is a momentous occasion that Jesus is predicting here.
Now, Jesus has already done this.
If you've been listening to the podcast for a little while now
he's already predicted the destruction of the temple in
chapter 17. And then again in chapter 19, in
fact, in Chapter 13, quite early on, he said, Jerusalem your
house will be left to you desolate and then in chapter 19,
he specifically said, the reason that Jerusalem will be destroyed
is because they reject him as Messiah.
So, all through the Gospel of Luke, there's this theme that
the temple will be destroyed. It's a punishment from God for
rejecting the Messiah here. Jesus gives us very specific
description of how that destruction is going to look.
So he says here, not a single Stone will be left on another
and we know from history that by the end of the jewish-roman war,
the temple was literally dismantled Stone by Stone.
There was no Stones left, apparently there was nothing
left, but a field by the end of it.
So when Jesus, he says, not a single Stone will be left on
another, think about how shocked the audience would be.
Jesus has just said, they're great Temple will be destroyed.
That's shocking. So they asked, Jesus for more
information, they say master when will this happen?
And what sign will there be that this is about to take place?
So they asked Jesus here to questions they say, when will
this happen? And what sign will there be?
That this is about to take place now.
Apparently, Jesus doesn't answer their first question about
precise timing. Jesus doesn't say, when will
this happen? He does give them a ballpark but
he doesn't give them an exact date.
So when it's going to happen but he does give a very clear and
extended answer to the second question which is what signs
will there be that this is about to take place, he gives them a
very clear answer on what signs they will be in the lead up to
the destruction of the Temple. His Focus all the way through
here is for his audience. The disciples to not become
stressed or carried away. When they see the signs starting
to happen. He starts in verse 8, by telling
his disciples, take care not to be deceived.
We can translate that take care that you are not LED astray.
So Jesus knows about in the time leading up to the destruction of
the temple. There's going to be a lot of
Messianic fervor. There's going to be a lot of
people hoping that the Messiah will come.
There's going to be people claiming that their the Messiah.
It's all going to be very political and very a lot of
people be excited. A lot of people will be angry,
he doesn't want his disciples to be carried away in all the
craziness that some of the Jews get involved in and in the
lead-up to the destruction of the temple.
And he says here because many We'll come using my name and
saying, I am. He so Jesus, he says that before
the destruction of the temple, many people claim to be Christ
and we know that many did claim that many claim to be the
Messiah in the Years leading up to 70 AD.
Some of them got quite a big following But ultimately they
were all killed. We can see a couple of examples
of this in scripture Acts, chapter 5 records.
One example of someone who claimed to be a messiah and then
ad 56. There's a reference to someone
else who leads a rebellion, it kind of a Messianic rebellion
and you can read about that in Acts chapter 21.
So, in the book of Acts, there's examples of people who claim to
be the Messiah and it gets even more heated in the, in the
lead-up to the destruction of the temple.
Jesus, he says, the time is near at hand, refused to join them.
So he says, when these things happen, when they see when the
false Messiahs start to claim to be the Messiah, the time is near
at hand, refuse to join them. So the Messianic Impostors will
claim that the kingdom of God is about to come.
And they'll say things like, don't worry, God will protect
us. The kingdom of God is about to
come. It'll Wipe Out the Romans some
people even go so far. As to say, I'm the Messiah, I'm
the one that will do it. The zealots in particular, were
a group who just before 70 AD, they claimed that they were
bringing about the kingdom of God.
Some of them did anyway so Jesus command here to his disciples is
when you see these things happening, don't join them.
That's his Ice don't get involved in that craziness.
Jesus says, when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be
frightened for, this is something that must happen, but
the end is not so soon. So, Jesus says, they'll be Wars
and revolutions, but they should not be frightened.
They, those are things that will and must happen before the final
destruction of the temple. But they're not, the destruction
of the temple themselves. So he says, don't be alarmed
about the wars that you hear about.
We know that there were lots of Wars between 'In a T30 and AD 70
in the Roman emperor in that Roman Empire.
You just look at history and you'll see that particularly
there was great turmoil amongst the Romans after Nero died in ad
68. There was a lot of fighting
amongst the leading Romans about who is going to take, who is
going to be the next Emperor on top of that.
Some Jews like the zealots they took every opportunity to try to
start revolutions and overthrow the Romans.
So, Jesus correctly, predicts. It's going to be a time of great
turmoil and many wars Jesus tells his disciples that these
things will happen and they're all leading up to the big event.
But he specifically says, the end is not yet.
What does he mean by the end? Of course, lots of people take
this to be the end of the world, but that's actually not what it
would have meant to Jesus original audience, the end
probably refers to the end of the age and they had this really
interesting ideas about the old age and the Messianic age.
So basically what the end means is it's the Of the old Covenant
system when Jesus says the end will come.
It basically means the end of the temple, the end of the old
Covenant. Now, you might not be convinced
by that, that might seem like it's stretching it a bit, but a
lot of biblical Scholars have made this point.
The phrase, the end does seem because of their views of the
time that they'll be two great periods of history.
When Jesus says the end will come, he means the end of the
first period of History before the Messianic age.
So the teaching of the New Testament is in ad 70, the old
Covenant ended And the New Covenant, the Messianic age
began. Why was the temple destroyed?
Well, one reason is that God had to remove the central icon of
the old Covenant in order to make clear to people that the
old Covenant was no longer in effect and that the New Covenant
is beginning. So, it was a visible
demonstration. That the old Covenant has ended,
it's also an opportunity for God to vindicate.
His faithful people who've been fighting to survive, basically,
and destroy those who refuse to accept the Messiah.
So in ad 70 God accomplishes multiple things in Jerusalem and
in Israel verse 10, then Jesus said to them Nation will fight
against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and of course we
know that that does happen leading up to 70 AD verse 11,
there will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines here and
there. So Jesus predicts is going to be
plagues famines earthquakes. These are all natural events but
in the Old Testament, these events often as symbols of
divine judgment God will Bring about earthquakes and plagues
and famines as a symbol of his judgment.
If you look at Isaiah 29, verse 6, Isaiah 51.
Verse 19. There's references to these
things in the Old Testament. So Jesus, here is apparently
saying that in the lead-up to the final big act, the
destruction of the temple, God will bring about Minor
punishments in plagues and earthquakes.
We know from history, that there was a famine that affected
Jerusalem in ad, 45 to 48. If you look at Acts chapter 11,
it talks about this and then Paul writes about it in his
letter. To lots of other Roman writers.
Write about this great place, Great Famine.
We know that there was lots of earthquakes to colossae was
destroyed by an earthquake. In the ad 50s, that was a major
city at the time and there was an earthquake in Pompeii as well
around this same time period. Jesus says that all these
unnecessary signs of judgment which precede the destruction of
the temple in 70 AD but it's not the final judgment.
Then Jesus says they'll be another Of signs, they'll be
fearful sights and great signs from Heaven.
This can be interpreted multiple ways, and some people have
thought that Jesus, here, must be referring to the end of the
world, because there wasn't great signs in heaven, in ad 70
actually, that doesn't appear to be the case.
If you look at history and Roman historians from this time period
they talk about these incredibly miraculous things that happen in
the sky and in the city just prior to the destruction of the
temple. And Of Scholars have said that
Jesus words here about. They'll be fearful sights and
great signs from Heaven. It does seem that Jesus, that
God brought about supernatural signs in Jerusalem just before
the temple was destroyed. So there's a few strange things
that happened. Here's what some historians have
recorded apparently in the Years, leading to the
destruction of the temple. There were voices of Angels.
The could be heard from inside the temple saying we will.
Now leave here. That's kind of spooky, isn't it?
But people heard voices. From the temple saying we will
now leave here. So it's like God's protection
was removed from the temple and apparently people heard that
voice. Other people said, they saw
horses running around in the clouds, getting ready for the
destruction of the temple. Apparently, this is what they
saw in the clouds and then we know that there were prophets
walking through Jerusalem Night and Day, Warning of the
destruction of the temple. There were clearly prophets sent
to Jerusalem to give them one final warning.
You might not have heard this before because ad 70 is often
too. Elected by Christians, but it's
quite an amazing time period. Where God is doing some really
interesting stuff just before the temple is destroyed.
And then Jesus says, but before all this, so this is where
things get a little bit more difficult to track.
So Jesus has just been talking about the things that will
happen in the lead-up to the destruction of the temple.
And now Jesus is going to jump back in time.
He's going to say what are the things that will occur before
the lead-up to the Destruction of the temple.
So he's doing a bit of a Time jump backwards in a sense, what
he's done for them already is his introduced to them, he's
letting them know. Look the temple is going to be
destroyed, it's going to be a big deal and now what he's going
to do is to go back to some things that will happen before
the destruction of the temple gets near.
So he's giving them some indication of things to look for
that will happen that need to happen before the destruction of
the temple. Now Matthews version of the this
discourse Matthews In to arrange it more chronologically.
So he deliberately gives the prophecy in a way that's a bit
easier to follow in terms of chronology, but Luca is going to
jump backwards in time a bit So Jesus is now going to mention
some things that will happen to the disciples in this time
period. And in fact, he's already
mentioned quite a few of these in chapter 12 verses 8 to 12.
He says here to the disciples men will seize you and persecute
you. So Jesus here is going to get
quite specific. And here he says, the disciples
will be arrested and persecuted for preaching the gospel.
And we know that that does happen in the early years before
70 AD Jesus says, they will hand you over to the synagogue.
Books and to imprisonment. And again, this is something
that did happen. Jewish councils and synagogues,
they maintain public order and they could impose punishments on
certain Jewish people if they were causing disruption, amongst
the Jews. So synagogues did have councils
who would maintain public order? As we know from the book of
Acts, the Jewish leaders were not impressed.
When the disciples went around preaching, in the name of Jesus,
it was basically considered to be blasphemy so many of the
disciples were punished and they were imprisoned as a result of
preaching. The gospel.
All you need to do is open any page of the book of Acts.
And you'll see pretty much this happening to most of the
disciples and Jesus says, they'll be an even further
persecution. He says, you will be brought
before Kings and governors for my name's sake.
So here he mentions not only will Jewish leaders persecute
you, but Gentile ones will as well.
Kings and governors a little bit later in the book of Acts.
The apostles, do begin to be persecuted by the Romans and the
Jews. And Jesus says, that has to be
part of what's going to happen. It's part of bearing witness
before the pagans. This will be surprising for the
apostles to hear, probably many of them expected, not to have
anything to do with the Gentiles.
They probably expected. There were just be preaching the
kingdom of God to do. Is.
But here Jesus says, no, actually you're going to face
yourself in situations where you can have to preach to Gentile
leaders as well. Jesus says, that will be your
opportunity to Bear witness or you can translate that a time to
Bear testimony. So Jesus warns his disciples
here in advance that. When these trials happened to
them, it will actually be a great opportunity to preach the
kingdom. It's an opportunity, verse 14.
Keep this carefully in mind you are not to prepare your defense
or You can translate this not to meditate beforehand.
How to answer? This is one verse that's been
misinterpreted, this is not a command for all Christians.
Jesus here is not saying to all Christians, you never have to
prepare in order to preach the gospel.
This is a command for his disciples in the first century
for the apostolic age. He's saying that unlike
professional speakers and orators in that culture who
rehearse their speech over and over again before delivering
them in the public squares. Jesus.
He says that in this I'm when the kingdom of God, is beginning
in the time of Covenant will transition, as it's often called
Jesus says the holy spirit will be very active and it will give
them words to say, which will Amaze the rulers.
And we know, if you look at the book of Acts, that's exactly
what happens. So basically he's giving the
disciples, some hope and comfort amidst, all the bad news.
He says, actually, when this happens to you, it will be an
opportunity to spread the kingdom and in fact I Jesus will
give you the words to say through the Holy Spirit, he goes
on. I myself shall give you an
eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able
to resist or contradict. So Jesus Through the Holy Spirit
empowered, the early, Christian leaders to give amazing speeches
as testimony to the gospel. And we can think of Like Stephen
speech in the book of Acts verse 16, you will be betrayed even by
parents and brothers, relations and friends.
And we know from history that Jesus prediction here is
remarkably accurate, by the way, it's worth mentioning that
depending on which Bible, you pick up, or which resources, you
look at to help study the gospels.
Some people who are a bit skeptical of Supernatural
things. You could say, some people are
skeptical that this was written before the events happened, some
Scholars. Think the Best explanation of
Jesus words here is that Luke is writing after all these events
are occurring and he's putting words in Jesus mouth.
So some Scholars even Catholic ones, unfortunately a really
skeptical that Jesus could have such specific Supernatural
knowledge of what's going to happen in the future so they
don't think these are genuine prophecies.
They think they were written after the fact, I think it is.
Orthodox believing Catholics. We don't have to resort to that
option. We can say that clearly Jesus as
the Son of God knows. Going to happen in the future
and he tells the disciples some details about that in order to
give them some comfort. So, we know that after Jesus was
gone often, some members of a family would be Christians.
While others would use. Jesus says here, you will be
betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations, and
friends, and that's what happened.
Christians, will often persecuted by family members and
friends, and they were handed over to the Jewish authorities
by now, perhaps his disciples may not have been surprised by
that, because earlier, he said that allegiance to the gospel,
might sometimes require driving a wedge between family members.
If you look at Chapter 14 verse 26, he says that he even gets
more explicit, though. Jesus says, some of you will be
put to death. And we know that most of the
Apostles, perhaps all of them, although it's not 100% clear.
Certainly many Christian leaders were killed as a result of their
faith and Jesus is warning them. Look, these are the things that
are going to come in the coming years.
Verse 17, you will be hated by all men on account of my
namesake. So this is kind of a summary
statement of Everything Jesus. This has just said, he says that
because they follow God's will as laid out by the Messiah.
The Son of, Man, they are going to be persecuted.
The Jews will hate them. The Romans will hate them
sometimes even their own family, and friends will hate them, and
that seems to be pretty bad news.
Although Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount pretty much talking
about the same topic. He says to the disciples
blessed. Are you when you are persecuted
for my name's sake, so he's constantly telling them that
when these things happen, they shouldn't be surprised, they
shouldn't be downhearted. It's an opportunity to preach
the gospel and it will actually lead to their own sanctification
and greater glory. Verse 18.
Jesus says, you'll be hated by all men but not a hair of your
head will be lost. This is an interesting phrase
now, that's not literally true because many of the disciples
did die, they did lose limbs, they do lose hair.
So it has to be a hyperbole. It has to be a metaphor for
something. Not a hair of your head will be
lost. It has to mean something like
this, ultimately, the disciples who are faithful to God will be
with him. In heaven, all of the Earthly
trials will be nothing in comparison to the rewards that
we receive in the next life. Although you're persecuted
ultimately not a hair of your head will be lost.
That's the perspective. He wants them to have an
internal perspective, notice the degree of suffering, the Jesus
warns, his Apostles and other leading disciples, that they'll
experience, but also correspondingly, they have a
greater degree of Glory when they spread the kingdom of God
and when they're persecuted for it, they'll have great.
Words in heaven, Jesus is constantly telling the leading
Apostles and the leading Disciples of the glory and the
suffering that they'll share. There's actually a lot of words,
Jesus has just for the leading disciples in the gospels, and we
know that later in the book of Acts, the disciples rejoice.
When they are persecuted for Jesus name.
You can see that in Acts chapter 5 verse 41, verse 19.
He says your endurance will win you your lives, or you can
translate this different ways by your endurance.
You will gain your lives or the other gospels have this as he
who perseveres will be saved. So this idea of saving your
life, it has something to do with saving something and it
appears to mean, in this case, saving your soul The teaching
here is that if the Christian disciples keep the faith and
they don't deny Jesus in the coming years, in the apostolic
age, despite the fierce persecution.
If they don't deny Jesus, they will receive eternal life.
I think that's the best way to understand.
Jesus words here, your endurance will when you your lives.
A lot of Christians are not comfortable with that because
that implies that you may lose your salvation or that you have
to do something to retain your salvation.
But that is, of course, Catholic teaching.
You must hold fast to God. And Not deny Jesus.
Jesus goes on to amplify this further in the gospel of
Matthew. When he says he who acknowledges
me before others, I will acknowledge before my father,
but he who denies me before others?
I will deny before my father. So clearly there's a warning
here. If you give up the faith you may
not make it to Heaven. That's what he's telling the
Christian leaders here. Now, there is actually more to
this discourse where Jesus gets even more graphic about what's
going to happen. In that time period, you can
hear the next part on Thursday of week, 34 in ordinary time,
let's turn to the catechism and the catechism of the Catholic
Church, of course, is a summary of Catholic teachings.
There's one specific paragraph which makes reference to this.
It's an interesting one, paragraph 675.
This is in the section called the church's ultimate trial.
So it's the part of the catechism, which tells us The
Catholic Church's beliefs about what's going to happen in the
end times. So here it sees a possible
further, application of Jesus prophecy here in Luke chapter
21, this is primarily about what's going to happen to the
early Apostles in the apostolic age as we've been discussing.
But the catechism here also sees that the things that happen then
in the apostolic age or a foreshadowing of a greater
persecution, which will eventually come upon all
Christians at the End of Time. Here's what paragraph 675 says.
Before Christ's Second Coming, the church must pass through a
final trial that will shake the faith of many Believers.
The persecution that accompanies.
Her pilgrimage on Earth will unveil the mystery of iniquity
in the form of a religious deception offering men and
apparent solution to their problems at the price of
apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception
is that of the Antichrist a pseudo messianism by which man
glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah.
In the Flesh. So the church has some quite
specific beliefs about what the end of time is going to look
like. So that section of the catechism
is well worth, looking at all include this in the show notes
as well. So I hope you've learned
something new today. It is quite a difficult text but
hopefully this has helped shed some light on what it's all
about. Thanks for your support of the
ministry. Please, keep telling other
people about it. Leave a positive review on
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questions to logical Bible study at Gmail.com all of the links
are in the episode description and hopefully, you'll tune in
again tomorrow.