Little Apocalypse Now
Chaos is always underfoot
The end of the Church year is only two weeks away. Soon, Advent will begin, when the Church prepares for the Second Coming of the Messiah, and over the course of four weeks, contemplates the four last things, namely death, judgment, hell and heaven. But already, this Sunday, we have a foretaste of Advent in the readings at Holy Communion. In Mark 13, Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple of Jerusalem and prophesies its destruction amid a time of chaos and disaster. Hence this chapter is sometimes called the “Little Apocalypse,” reminiscent as it is of such biblical books as Daniel and the Revelation of St John, which are typical of the apocalyptic genre.
Though the word “apocalypse” is often used nowadays to refer exclusively to disaster and the end of the world — I particularly have in mind Francis Ford Copolla’s epic film, Apocalypse Now — the Greek literally just means “revealing” or “bringing out of hiding.” Apocalypse is a form of prophetic truth-telling given by God. It may reveal something about the future, even the end of the world, but it may equally refer to present circumstances, and build on what has happened in the past.
So, when are or were the events which Jesus teaches about in Mark 13?
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. (Mark 13:14-23)
Our Lord warns of a tribulation of a scale unprecedented since the very beginning of creation, when God imposed order on the chaotic void. It will be greater even than the Flood which Noah famously survived, a time of earthquakes and famine. The angelic lights in the heavens will fall to earth again as they did in the days of Adam. An abomination will be set up in the Temple, replacing the worship of the one true God with the appeasement of bloodthirsty idols. False Messiahs will try to seduce the faithful into rebellion against God. The only comfort is that God will shorten the days of trial, as he limited the Flood to forty days, and as He saved Noah and later the Israelites, so He will save the faithful remnant again.
Something like this had already happened before, in the past. You can read about it in 1 Maccabees, the story of the Jews’ heroic resistance to foreign conquest. In 170 BC, the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Jerusalem, seized all the treasures of the Temple, had a statue of Zeus erected in the Holy of Holies and ordered the Jews to sacrifice pigs to the idol. He banned circumcision on pain of death, killing the mothers of circumsized baby boys and putting the bodies on display with the babies hung around their necks. The Torah was banned and burned. All worship of the true God was forbidden.
Maccabees calls the statue of Zeus the “abomination of desolation,” the same phrase that Jesus and Daniel use. Jesus is predicting that history will repeat itself. And indeed it did, in AD 70, when the Romans, under Titus, sacked the Temple. If you go to the Arch of Titus near the Coliseum in Rome, you will find the triumphal march depicted. Roman soldiers carry the Temple treasures through the streets of Rome, including the 7-branched candle stick called the Menorah.
Because the destruction of the Temple happened in AD 70, many modern scholars assume that St Mark’s Gospel, or at least chapter 13, was completed just after that time. Personally, I have no difficulty in believing that Jesus Christ, as God Incarnate, could prophesy a future event, so I do not think we need to share their assumption of such a late date for the Gospel. But even if the Gospel was written after the event, it was certainly written a long time before a new “abomination” was set up in the Temple. That would happen in AD 136, when the Emperor Hadrian banned all Christians and Jews from Jerusalem, built a temple to Jupiter (the Roman name for Zeus) on the site of the destroyed Temple, along with a temple to the goddess of seduction, Venus, on Calvary where Jesus died. Repeating Antiochus’ edict, he also banned circumcision.
The answer to the question of when the events Jesus warns of take place seems to be all the time: past, present and future. He is not warning of something that will only happen in the distant future, but a threat that is always just around the corner. The chaotic void which God put into order in the beginning is always hidden underfoot, kept at bay by God’s power alone. We are always walking on water and always in danger, like Peter, of sinking if our attention slips.
Jesus’ Little Apocalypse reveals the chaos that is always waiting to engulf us, and warns us of what to do when it comes: if you have to flee from Zion, seek another high place, find another mountain. Mountains, remember, like Eden, Ararat and Sinai, as well as Zion itself, are holy places. They are where earth and heaven meet. So as well as the literal meaning, we can find a spiritual meaning to Jesus’ words. When we are threatened by idols which demand our obedience and sacrifice, by threats to mothers and children, by the seduction of false Messiahs, Jesus commands us to seek spiritual heights. First and foremost, this means holding fast to Jesus, the stable anchor in the deluge, because He is the same always and everywhere, bearing the perfect image of the Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow of change. It means holding fast to His words, which will not pass away.
You may have heard that the Archbishop of Canterbury has just resigned over failures to act against a very influential and charismatic church volunteer who physically abused over 150 boys in his care. Other resignations will follow. Many attribute this failure to a culture in the Church which has prioritised target-driven managerialism and been seduced by personality cults. These are among the abominations and idols which displace the worship of the true God in the Temple today. As we prepare for Advent, we need to examine ourselves carefully and see whether we are obeying anything other than God. What really demands our loyalty? To what idols do we make sacrifice? Now is the time - in fact, it is always the time - to stop, and watch, and wait. Now is the time to hear God’s Word and obey it alone. Now is the time to join in the only true sacrifice, made once and for all on Calvary for the salvation of the world.
Amen🙏🙏