·
17 Hugh, 1200, and Robert Grosseteste,
was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of
humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk. Upon his death, he was almost universally revered as a
saint in England, but attempts to procure a formal canonisation failed. A. C. Crombie calls him "the real founder of the tradition of
scientific thought in medieval Oxford, and in some ways,
of the modern English intellectual tradition". 1253, Bishops of Lincoln
·
18 Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680 is a Christian saint and the
founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen
as the venue for the Synod of Whitby. An important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, she was abbess at several monasteries and recognised for
the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice.
·
19 Elizabeth,
Princess of Hungary, 1231
20 Edmund, King
of East Anglia, 870 was king of East Anglia from
about 855 until his death.
Almost
nothing is known about Edmund. He is thought to have been of East Anglian
origin and was first mentioned in an annal of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
written some years after his death.
·
·
21 William Byrd, 1623, John Merbecke, 1585, and Thomas Tallis, 1585, Musicians
·
22 Clive Staples Lewis, Apologist and spiritual
writer, 1963
·
23 Clement, Bishop of Rome, c. 100 died 99), also known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as Bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 to his death in 99.[2] He is
considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the
Church, one of the three chief ones together with Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch.[3]
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah
65: 17 - 25 (RCL)
Isai 65:17 (NRSV)
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things
shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and
rejoice forever
in what I am
creating;
for I am about to
create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as
a delight.
19 I will rejoice
in Jerusalem,
and delight in my
people;
no more shall the
sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of
distress.
20 No more shall
there be in it
an infant that
lives but a few days,
or an old person
who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies
at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls
short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall
build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards
and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not
build and another inhabit;
they shall not
plant and another eat;
for like the days
of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen
shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not
labor in vain,
or bear children
for calamity;
for they shall be
offspring blessed by the LORD--
and their
descendants as well.
24 Before they
call I will answer,
while they are yet
speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and
the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat
straw like the ox;
but the
serpent--its food shall be dust!
They shall not
hurt or destroy
on all my holy
mountain,
says the LORD.
Malachi 4: 1 - 2a (C of
E, alt. for RCL, Roman Catholic)
Mala 4:1 (NRSV) See, the day is coming, burning
like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day
that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave
them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who revere my name the sun of
righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.
Note: Verse numbering
in the Roman Catholic bibles is different from the above
PSALM: Isaiah 12: 1 - 6
(RCL)
Isai 12:1 (NRSV)
You will say in that day:
I will give thanks
to you, O LORD,
for though you
were angry with me,
your anger turned
away,
and you comforted
me.
2 Surely God is my
salvation;
I will trust, and
will not be afraid,
for the LORD GOD
is my strength and my might;
he has become my
salvation.
3 With joy you
will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:
Give thanks to the
LORD,
call on his name;
make known his
deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his
name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to
the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known
in all the earth.
6 Shout aloud and
sing for joy, O royal Zion,
for great in your
midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Canticle 9 The First Song of
Isaiah Ecce,
Deus (ECUSA
BCP)
Isaiah 12:2‑6
Surely, it is God
who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my
stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall
draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you
shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his
Name;
Make his deeds
known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing praises of the
Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud,
inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the
Holy One of Israel.
Psalm 98 (C of E, alt.
for RCL)
Psalm 98: 5 - 9 (Roman
Catholic)
Psal 98:1 (NRSV) O
sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done
marvelous things.
His right hand and
his holy arm
have gotten him
victory.
2 The LORD has
made known his victory;
he has revealed
his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3 He has
remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of
Israel.
All the ends of
the earth have seen
the victory of our
God.
4 Make a joyful
noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into
joyous song and sing praises.
5 Sing praises to
the LORD with the lyre,
with the lyre and
the sound of melody.
6 With trumpets
and the sound of the horn
make a joyful
noise before the King, the LORD.
7 Let the sea
roar, and all that fills it;
the world and
those who live in it.
8 Let the floods
clap their hands;
let the hills sing
together for joy
9 at the presence
of the LORD, for he is coming
to judge the
earth.
He will judge the
world with righteousness,
and the peoples
with equity.
98 Cantate Domino (ECUSA
BCP)
1 Sing to
the Lord a new song, *
for
he has done marvelous things.
2 With
his right hand and his holy arm *
has
he won for himself the victory.
3 The
Lord has made known his victory; *
his
righteousness has he openly shown in
the sight of the
nations.
4 He
remembers his mercy and faithfulness to
the house of
Israel, *
and
all the ends of the earth have seen the
victory of our
God.
5 Shout
with joy to the Lord, all you lands; *
lift
up your voice, rejoice, and sing.
6 Sing to
the Lord with the harp, *
with
the harp and the voice of song.
7 With
trumpets and the sound of the horn *
shout
with joy before the King, the Lord.
8 Let the
sea make a noise and all that is in it, *
the
lands and those who dwell therein.
9 Let the
rivers clap their hands, *
and
let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,
when
he comes to judge the earth.
10 In righteousness shall he judge the world *
and
the peoples with equity.
NEW TESTAMENT: 2
Thessalonians 3: 6 - 13 (RCL)
2
Thessalonians 3: 7 - 12 (Roman Catholic)
2The 3:6 (NRSV)
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away
from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition
that they received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate
us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone's bread
without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that
we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that
right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were
with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11
For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing
any work. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to
do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters, do
not be weary in doing what is right.
Now the author orders the members to avoid those who, believing
that the era will end soon, “are living in idleness” (v. 6)
– probably living off the material support of others and failing to spread
Christ’s message. (The Greek suggests that these people are disorderly .)
They also fail to adhere to the “tradition”, the teachings handed down from the
apostles. Paul (“us”) is proposed as an example to imitate: he had the “right”
(v. 9)
to be financially supported by the community (thus freeing him to spend all his
time spreading the good news) yet he earned his living (as a tentmaker).
V. 10b is
strong language! It has been reported that those who are idle are
in fact “busybodies” (v. 11),
disturbing others and meddling in their affairs. If any continue to preach the
imminent arrival of Christ or continue to be idle (“do not obey ...”, v. 14),
avoid them and shame them (perhaps they will see the error of their ways). Even
so, love them as members of the community (v. 15).
In vv. 16-18,
the author prays that his readers may have Christ’s peace, and certifies the
letter as genuine.
GOSPEL: Luke 21: 5 - 19
(all)
Luke 21:5 (NRSV)
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful
stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 "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."
7 They asked him,
"Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about
to take place?" 8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray;
for many will come in my name and say, "I am he!' and, "The time is
near!' Do not go after them.
9 "When you
hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take
place first, but the end will not follow immediately." 10 Then he said to
them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11
there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and
there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 "But
before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand
you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and
governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify.
14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will
give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to
withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers,
by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will
be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
They will be treated as he has been: they will be accused of
heresy in “synagogues” (v. 12)
and be brought before civil courts (“prisons”). On these occasions, be
yourselves (the word translated “prepare ... in advance”, v. 14,
literally means practise a gesture or rehearse a dance);
take this “an opportunity to testify” (v. 13,
to tell the good news). Following Christ entails suffering – betrayal (v. 16)
and being “hated” (v. 17).
Perseverance under duress will gain you eternal life (v. 19).
In vv. 20-27,
Jesus combines prophecy (when Jerusalem was invaded, Christians did flee across
the Jordan) and more images drawn from prophetic and contemporary books
(“desolation”, v. 20;
vv. 23-26).
We do not know whether to take these images literally or symbolically. Jesus,
the “Son of Man” (v. 27),
will then come again. True disciples should then “stand up and raise your
heads” (v. 28)
for you will soon have eternal life (“redemption”). So (vv. 34-36),
be prepared for this day, “praying that you may have the strength to escape”,
to avoid the fate of the ungodly.
© 1996-2019
Chris Haslam
Some sayings of Jesus
deny that there will be forewarnings: see Mark 8:12 (“no
sign will be given to this generation”) and Luke 17:20-21 (“The
kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed”). That the Son
of Man will come unexpectedly is mentioned in Matthew 24:43-44 and
Luke 12:39-40;
this notion is echoed in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 (“like
a thief in the night”); 2 Peter 3:10;
Revelation 3:3; 16:15.
The foretelling of the
destruction of the Temple (God’s earthly dwelling place) seems to merge
teachings about the imminent destruction of Jerusalem with details associated
in the Old Testament with the end of human history. [ NOAB]
Verse 5: While Mark indicates that this discourse
occurs when Jesus and his inner circle of disciples are on the Mount of Olives,
Luke places the scene in the Temple itself. [ BlkLk]
Verse 5: “beautiful stones”: The second Temple was
begun after the return from exile (c. 520 BC), and was modest. Herod the Great
began construction of the third Temple in 20 BC; it was finished in 63 AD, and
destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD at the end of the Jewish revolt. It was still
under construction in Jesus’ day. The destruction of the Temple had already
been foretold in Micah 3:12 and
Jeremiah 26:18.
[ NOAB] [ CAB]
Verse 6: “not one stone will be left upon another”:
Jesus has already predicted this, before he entered the Temple: see 19:43-44.
[ BlkLk] See also Mark 14:58; 15:29;
John 2:19-21;
Acts 6:14 (Stephen
before the council). [ NOAB]
Verse 7: “what will be the sign”: As Mark presents this
discourse, it is not clear whether Jesus answers this question; however in Luke
Jesus indicates that the Temple will be destroyed in v. 20,
and gives other signs in vv. 25-27.
[ BlkLk]
Verse 8: In 17:23,
Jesus says “‘They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do
not set off in pursuit”. [ NOAB]
Verse 8: “‘I am he!’”: In Isaiah 43:10,
God says through the prophet: “You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he” and in
Isaiah 48:12:
“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called: I am He; I am the first, and
I am the last”. So “I am he!” is the divine name. In John 4:25-26,
Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, in response to her statement “‘I
know that Messiah is coming’”, “I am he’”. So “I am he” as the divine name is
carried forward into the New Testament. “‘I am he’” is also found in John 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5.
[ BlkLk]
Verse 8: “The time”: BlkLk says that “the time” (or season),
the eschatological period
in God’s plan, is that of the desolation of Jerusalem (v. 20),
being the inauguration of the times of other nations (v. 24),
and that the next “time” is that of “redemption” (v. 28).
These are times (events) of God’s intervention in human affairs.
Verse 9: “insurrections”: BlkLk offers revolutions.
An example is the rebellion of the Jews against the Romans which led to the
desolation of Jerusalem.
Verse 9: “the end will not follow immediately”: Not
even the destruction of the Temple is the final event. In Mark 13:7,
Jesus says “‘the end is still to come’”. These events lead towards the end,
though the End will be sometime later. [ BlkLk]
Verse 10: 2 Chronicles 15:6 says
“They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for
God troubled them with every sort of distress.”. This idea is also found in
Isaiah 19:2.
[ NOAB]
Verse 11: For famine, pestilence and strife, see also 2
Samuel 24:13;
Isaiah 8:21;
Jeremiah 21:9;
Ezekiel 5:12.
Verse 12: Mark does not mention these events. In Luke’s
day, those who spread the good news were arrested, persecuted, and tried before
religious and civil authorities. These too are events on the path to the End.
See also Matthew 10:17-22;
John 16:2;
Acts 22:19; 25:24; 26:22;
2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:24.
[ NOAB] [ BlkLk]
Verse 13: In Philippians 1:12-13,
Paul says “I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has
actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout
the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for
Christ”. [ NOAB] See also
Acts 4:5-22, 25-26 (Peter
and John before the Sanhedrin). [ BlkLk]
Verse 15: “I will give you words and a wisdom”: 12:11-12 ascribes
this inspiration to the Holy Spirit; John 16:13-15 enlarges
on the same thought. In Acts 4:8-13,
when Peter and John appear before the Sanhedrin, Peter, “filled with the Holy
Spirit”, surprises the court with his eloquence. [ BlkLk]
Verse 16: In 12:52-53,
Jesus says: “From now on five in one household will be divided, three against
two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son
against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against
mother-in-law”. 2 Esdras 6:24 foretells:
“At that time friends shall make war on friends like enemies, the earth and
those who inhabit it shall be terrified, and the springs of the fountains shall
stand still, so that for three hours they shall not flow”. [ NOAB]
Verse 18: Coming so soon after v. 16,
this verse cannot mean that all those betrayed will escape death. It must be
interpreted in the light of v. 19.
[ BlkLk] See also 12:7 (“...
even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more
value than many sparrows”); Matthew 10:30;
1 Samuel 14:45 (applied
to Jonathan). In Acts 27:34,
Paul uses these words to tell the crew that all will survive the storm. [ NOAB]
Verse 19: This is an echo of 8:25.
The insistence on endurance/patience, steadfast endurance amid tribulation,
resembles the Pauline epistles: see Romans 2:7 (“to
those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, he
will give eternal life”); 5:3; 8:25; 15:4ff.
Verse 19: “gain your souls”: See also Mark 13:13 (“...
the one who endures to the end will be saved ...”); Matthew 10:22;
Revelation 2:7.
[ NOAB] BlkLk offers you will
purchase your lives and says that the clue to Jesus’ meaning lies
in 9:24 (“For
those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life
for my sake will save it”) and 17:33 (which
he translates as Whoever seeks to possess his life [make his
life into a possession] shall lose/destroy it, and whoever loses/destroys
it will make it live): the lives which may be purchased are those in the
age to come.
Verses 20-22: 19:41-44 tells
us: “As he came near and saw the city [Jerusalem], he wept over it, saying,
"If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make
for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come
upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you,
and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your
children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another;
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God”. See also 23:28-31 and 17:31.
[ NOAB]
Verse 20: “desolation”: Isaiah 13:9 is
quoted below (see on vv. 25-26); see also Isaiah 64:10.
This idea occurs often in the Old Testament. “Desolation” occurs in Luke’s
source, Mark 13:14 (“desolating
sacrilege”). Luke reinterprets Mark. He does so pointing out to his first
readers some foretold events that have already occurred; he warns of further
events to come. [ BlkLk]
Verse 22: “vengeance”: This is God’s vengeance. It is
the same vengeance that produces the vindication of God’s faithfulness at the
expense of an unfaithful people. It also produces the vindication of the people
called in God’s name in the presence of the Gentiles. For an example of the
theological pattern involved here, see Deuteronomy 32:20, 35-36, 39.
Verse 22: “a fulfilment of all that is written”: Luke
tells us why he feels justified in reinterpreting Mark as he has (see Clipping on
v. 20):
Old Testament prophets foretold Jerusalem’s destruction (which, if Luke wrote
after 70 AD) has now happened. Jesus, the last of the prophets to prophesy the
city’s doom, sums up the cause of its fate. [ BlkLk]
Verses 23-24: Hosea 13:16 foretells:
“Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they
shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their
pregnant women ripped open”.
Verse 23: 2 Esdras 6:21 says
“Children a year old shall speak with their voices, and pregnant women shall
give birth to premature children at three and four months, and these shall live
and leap about”. See also 2 Esdras 4:40; 6:21.
Verse 24: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the
Gentiles”: The word translated “Gentiles”, ethnoi, literally
means nations , non-Jewish ones. This is a quotation from
the Septuagint translation
of Zechariah 12:3.
This idea is repeated in Revelation 11:2.
[ BlkLk]
Verse 24: “until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled”: We can only guess at what is meant here. One possibility is: the
spiritual opportunity that God had previously given to Jews is now extended to
non-Jews. See 20:16 (The
Parable of the Vineyard); Mark 13:10 (“...
the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations”); Romans 11:25 (“a
hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles
has come in”). See also Isaiah 63:18 and
Daniel 8:13.
[ NOAB] BlkLk points out that each nation
(ethnos) having its appointed time is found in various apocalyptic
writings. For example, 1QS (*Qumran Rule of the Community) 4:17-19 says “...
God, in the mysteries of his knowledge and in the wisdom of his glory, has
determined an end to the existence of deceit and on the occasion of his visitation
he will obliterate it for ever. Meanwhile, truth shall rise up forever in the
world ...” [ Martinez]
Verses 25-26: “signs in the sun, ...”: Joel 2:10 says
“The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are
darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining”. Isaiah 13:9-13 says
“See, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to
destroy its sinners from it. ... the sun will be dark at its rising, and the
moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the
wicked for their iniquity ...”. See also Revelation 6:12-13.
Signs are predicted in Isaiah 34:4;
Zephaniah 1:15;
Jeremiah 4:23-26;
Amos 8:9;
Micah 1:3ff;
2 Esdras 7:39-43 (the first verses with these numbers). [ NOAB] BlkLk notes that Luke omits
Mark’s “the stars will be falling from heaven”. It seems that Luke’s motive is
to emphasize the catastrophe of the fall of Jerusalem rather than that of the
global end. Luke omits “Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect
from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven”
(Mark 13:27).
He puts a positive spin on the events: see v. 28.
Verse 25: “the roaring of the sea and the waves”:
Psalm 65:7 says:
“You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of
the peoples”. [ BlkLk]
Verse 26: “People will faint from fear”: 2 Baruch 62:2 says “Behold!
the days come, and it shall be when the time of the age has ripened, and the
harvest of its evil and good seeds has come, that the Mighty One will bring
upon the earth and its inhabitants and upon its rulers perturbation of spirit
and stupor of heart” [ BlkLk]
Verse 26: “the powers of the heavens will be shaken”:
Isaiah 13:10 says
“Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of
its place, at the wrath of the Lord of
hosts in the day of his fierce anger”. See also Isaiah 34:4,
which mentions “fruit withering on a fig tree”, thus leading in to vv. 29-30.
[ BlkLk]
Verse 27: Daniel 7:13-14 says:
“As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with
the clouds of heaven ...”. [ NOAB]
Per a footnote in the NRSV, Son of Man, rather than “a human
being”, occurs in the Aramaic original.
Verse 27: “coming in a cloud”: Mark 13:26 has
“coming in clouds”. In using the singular, Luke emphasizes the link between the
Transfiguration and Christ’s second coming. (but not the final judgement). [ BlkLk]
Verse 28: “your redemption is drawing near”: Not
personal salvation only, but an event wrought by God in history.
Ephesians 4:30 says
“... the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day
of redemption”. [ BlkLk] See
also 2:38 (“the
redemption of Jerusalem”); 9:26; 12:9;
Acts 7:56.
[ NOAB]
Verses 29-30: The fig tree looks very dead in winter, so
when it sprouts leaves, the change is dramatic. It is a symbol of life out of
death. To CAB, it is a symbol of
the nearness of the Kingdom.
Verse 31: “the kingdom of God is near”: In Mark 13:27,
there is an implication that not only the Son of Man but also the end of the
era is to be expected after the signs described. But in Luke the coming of the
Kingdom is just one step towards the final consummation. [ BlkLk]
Verse 32: The delay of Christ’s second coming troubled
early Christians, for:
- Matthew 10:23 says
that the Son of Man will come before the Twelve have finished their
initial preaching.
- From Mark 9:1 and 13:30,
we gather that at least some of Jesus’ contemporaries should have lived to
see Christ’s second coming.
- John 21:20-23 (part
of the appendix to the gospel) awkwardly tries to account
for the fact that, contrary to expectation, the “beloved disciple” did die
before Christ’s coming.
As time progressed, many
Christians died and people doubted whether the resurrection of the dead would
really happen: see 1 Corinthians 15:12-19.
Paul explained that Christ was the “first fruits” of the resurrection and at
his second coming the dead would be made alive: see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 and
1 Thessalonians 3:13.
2 Peter proposes several
reasons for the apparent delay (see 3:3-9),
but insists that the Day of the Lord may still come at any time (see 3:10 and
Ezekiel 12:21-28).
The writer of Revelation likewise believed and promised that Jesus would come
“soon”: see, for example, 1:1, 3; 22:6-7, 10, 20.
No New Testament passage
refers to Jesus’ second coming as such. In John 14:3,
Jesus says he will come again, and the writer of Hebrews (see 9:28)
says that Christ will appear a second time. Usually, however, the reference is
simply to the coming of the Son of Man or Christ as Lord which, like the coming
of the Kingdom of God, the Day of Judgement, and the resurrection of the dead,
was expected in the not too far distant future, at the end of the present era.
[ HBD]
BlkLk notes that Luke picks up
Mark 13:30-31 almost
word-for-word. In that Luke reinterprets, thus extending the end times, so
“generation” cannot mean for him one generation of history , as
it does for Mark. He has forced it to mean humankind.
Verse 32: “all things”: i.e. the whole process of
salvation history, the whole of God’s plan, not just the events described here.
[ JBC]
Verse 33: See also 16:17.
Jesus, about to meet a violent death in Jerusalem, utters words of eternal
significance.
Verses 34-36: For parallels to these exhortations, see 8:11-15; 11:5-8; 12:22-31, 45; 18:1-8.
The terminology is so akin to Paul’s that perhaps Luke is using a fragment from
some lost epistle written by Paul or by one of his disciples: for v. 34,
see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3;
for v. 34a,
see 1 Thessalonians 5:7;
for v. 36,
see 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10, 18.
Even the rare Greek word agrypneo (“be on guard”, “keep
awake”) appears here and in 1 Thessalonians. [ JBC] I note that while Mark’s
ending is different, he does use agrypneo in 13:33.
© 1996-2019
Chris Haslam
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