The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (64 page)

12:42 copper coins:
The smallest unit of currency in circulation.
a penny:
Worth one sixty-fourth a laborer's daily wage. 
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12:44 out of her poverty:
Jesus points to a paradox: the
poor widow
(12:42) gave more to the Temple treasury than the
rich people
(12:41), despite her minuscule donation. Unlike them, she offered to God her whole livelihood with pure intentions and a generous spirit (2 Cor 9:7). 
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13:1-37
Commonly called the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse", in which Jesus teaches his disciples at length about the imminent destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (
A.D.
70). This coming catastrophe will mark the expiration of the Old Covenant and bring God's vengeance on those who have rejected Jesus as the Messiah. The Temple's demise is also a prophetic sign of the end of the world (CCC 585-86). See essay:
End of the World?
at Mt 24. 
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13:1 what wonderful stones
: Herod the Great began rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple about 20
B.C.
, and the project was still in progress during Jesus' ministry (Jn 2:20). Several of its marble stones measured almost 40 feet in length, some weighing nearly 100 tons. Its massive platform spanned more than 170,000 square yards, and the wall facing the Mount of Olives to the east towered more than 300 feet in height. To the senses, the Temple was an impregnable fortress that appeared indestructible by every earthly standard. 
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13:2 one stone upon another:
Jesus' words were fulfilled in
A.D.
70, when Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem and brought the Old Covenant to a dramatic and violent end (Lk 19:41-44). More than one million Jews perished in the catastrophe. • Jesus forecasts the Temple's doom, much as the OT prophets predicted the devastation of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians in 586
B.C.
(Jer 26:6; Mic 3:12). 
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13:3 Mount of Olives:
See note on 11:1.
opposite the temple:
Jesus symbolizes his opposition to the Temple's corruption by standing over against it. Once sacred and revered, it had now become a "den of robbers" (11:17). 
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13:6 Many will come:
According to Acts 5:35-39 and extrabiblical sources, several self-proclaimed Messiahs appeared in Israel in the first and second centuries
A.D.
 
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13:10 to all nations:
The missionaries of the early Church must spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire and eventually the world. Much of the Roman world was evangelized by the middle of the first century, just before the onset of Jerusalem's judgment in
A.D.
70 (Rom 1:8; Col 1:6, 23; 1 Thess 1:8). 
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13:12 brother . . . father . . . children:
The demands of Christian discipleship outweigh even the sacred duties of family unity and loyalty (Lk 14:26). • The scenes of family strife recall Mic 7:6, where the prophet condemns Jerusalem for her rampant injustices (Mic 6:9-7:10). Although families were suffering internal division (Ezek 22:7), Micah assures Israel that the faithful will be vindicated by God. Jesus evokes this oracle to paint a similar portrait of Jerusalem in his own day: disciples may suffer persecution, but they will be vindicated and delivered in
the end
(13:13). 
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13:14 the desolating sacrilege:
A recurrent expression in Dan 9:27, 11:31, and 12:11. • The desolating sacrilege in Daniel refers to the Temple's desecration in 167
B.C.
by the villainous Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He sacked the Jerusalem Temple and erected within it an idol of the Greek god Zeus (1 Mac 1:31, 54). According to Jesus, this tragic event prefigures the final profanation of Jerusalem's Temple by the pagan armies of Rome (Lk 21:20).
those . . . in Judea flee:
Jesus forewarns Christians (13:23) to evacuate Jerusalem when its demise draws near (13:29) and to resist every temptation to defend the city.
See note on Mt 24:16
. 
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13:19 such tribulation:
Great calamities will precede the Old Covenant's termination (Dan 12:1). 
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13:24-25
Jesus speaks of cosmic disturbances in the manner of the prophets. • These are not literal predictions of heavenly convulsions or an atmospheric meltdown, but they evoke OT oracles of judgment that foretell the downfall of pagan kingdoms (Is 13:9-10; 34:4; Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 2:10, 31; Amos 8:9). Visions of heavenly chaos serve to underscore the magnitude of God's dreadful judgment, i.e., it will be a "world-shaking" event. Jesus turns the language of these prophecies toward Jerusalem to condemn its pagan ways and forecast its coming doom. 
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13:26 the Son of man:
Jesus identifies himself with the royal figure of Dan 7:13. • Drawing from the details of its original context, Jesus implies that he will be enthroned with the Father and receive a worldwide "kingdom" and "everlasting dominion" (Dan 7:14; cf. Mt 28:18). The oracle foretells his heavenly Ascension (16:19) as well as his Second Coming in glory (Acts 1:11; CCC 673). See essay:
Jesus the Son of Man
at Lk 17. 
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13:27 the angels:
Or, "the messengers". This may denote the apostles and their missionary work (cf. Mk 16:15).
See note on Mt 24:31
. 
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13:30 this generation:
These words of Jesus were fulfilled with Jerusalem's demise in
A.D.
70, within the lifetime of his contemporaries (Mt 10:23; 16:28). His words are thus more reliable than the stable universe itself (13:31).
See note on Mt 24:35
. 
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13:32 nor the Son:
Jesus describes the general signs preceding Jerusalem's destruction (13:6-23), but does not disclose the exact
day
or
hour
of judgment appointed by the Father (CCC 672-74).
See note on Mt 24:36
. 
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13:34 It is like:
A short parable to promote vigilance. •
Allegorically
(St. Gregory the Great,
Hom. in Evan.
9): the parable outlines the responsibilities of the Church before the Second Coming. The man signifies the human nature that Christ assumed in the Incarnation and took into the far country of heaven at his Ascension. Christ then imparts the Holy Spirit to his servants, enabling them to fulfill their duties in his absence. The pastors of the Church are the doorkeepers, guarding against the intrusion of the devil until Christ's glorious return. 
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13:35 Watch therefore:
The command to be vigilant operates on several levels.
(1)
The earliest Christians, still worshipping in the Jerusalem Temple (Lk 24:52), must be prepared to flee the city before its downfall (13:14-16).
(2)
Everyone must be ready for his personal judgment by God (2 Cor 5:10).
(3)
The Church must persevere in holiness while awaiting Jesus' Second Coming at the end of time (Acts 1:11; 1 Thess 1:10). The Gospels elsewhere focus on similar themes of watchfulness and accountability (14:32-42; Mt 24:45-51; 25:1-13; Lk 19:11-27; CCC 2612, 2849).
evening . . . midnight . . . cockcrow . . . morning:
Names for the four "watches" of the night between 6
P.M.
and 6
A.M.
See note on Mk 6:48
. 
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14:1 the Passover:
The yearly Jewish feast celebrating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian slavery (Ex 12). Paschal lambs (14:12) were sacrificed in the Temple courts the afternoon before the feast. At sundown families or small groups would gather to eat a Seder meal of lamb, unleavened bread, wine, and herbs. Combined with the festival of
Unleavened Bread,
the liturgical celebrations ran seven days, from the 15th of the month (Mar/ Apr) until the 21st of the month (Lev 23:4-8; Num 9:1-14). Passover was one of three pilgrim feasts that required Jewish men to travel to Jerusalem (Deut 16:16). 
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