Mark 13
TLBCMark 13:3-37
A Warning from the Fig Tree (13:3-37)
The careless reader may well overlook the strategic location of this next body of teachings. Jesus sat (the usual posture of the Jewish teacher) on the Mount of Olives (recall the symbolism of the mountain). He sat “opposite the temple,” looking down at it and across the steep ravine cut by the Kidron. The Temple, as we have just noticed, was the most ominous and powerful obstacle to his ministry. This was instruction intended only for his intimate friends, that is, for those to whom he had promised his cup and his baptism (Mark 10:39), those who would experience the implacable hatred of the world. Moreover, the timing was also strategic.
It was immediately before the Passover and therefore the last long opportunity Jesus had for lecturing this class before the hurrying momentum of events prevented such lecturing. Yet those coming events were very much in view. (The second-mile student should try to discover all the cross references between chapter 13 and subsequent chapters; for example, the “watch” of Mark 13:37 and Mark 14:38; the darkened sun of Mar 13:24 and Mark 15:33.) Although the Cross of Jesus loomed ahead, these teachings were more concerned with preparing the Apostles for their own crosses. They were the servants to be put in charge of his house by “a man going on a journey” (Mark 13:34). What will they do during his absence? How will they then meet the sudden squalls on the sea? (Mark 4:35-41). Against what dangers must he forewarn them? Notice again the two times which Mark had in mind. There is the time of the Church’s suffering from arrests instigated by synagogues, governors, and kings (Mark 13:9). Their faithfulness during that time would depend on their memories of what Jesus had taught during the time of his suffering from the same opponents. This need explains the imperious tone of these teachings and Mark’s sense of their importance.
The teachings appear to be prompted by the disciples’ nervous query, “When will this be . . . ?” The antecedent of the pronoun “this” is uncertain. The casual reader will suppose it refers to the crumbling of the Temple buildings. Not so. The following question is much more inclusive in its reference to “these things.” The question deals with the consummation of the warfare between Jesus and all his enemies, human and demonic. It was clear that this warfare produced an unparalleled reversal in all things, in permanence and power, wealth and greatness, sin and righteousness. But what would be the sign that this warfare was about to be ended?
The question has bothered Christians ever since. Perhaps we start aright by observing that Jesus, as so frequently is the case, did not really answer the question, but took their asking as an opportunity to warn them against both false hopes and false fears.
It was a false hope to follow those who would come in the name of Christ, saying, “I am he!” They must avoid such feverish excitement (vs. 6) . It was a false fear to judge from international conflict that the end was at hand. They must not give in to such alarms (vss. 7-8). The end would not come as soon as that, or with that kind of harbinger.
Fear, of course, would not be a sin, but certain fears would be. They should not be afraid of their enemies, but be concerned only with how to give their testimony fearlessly (vs. 9). God had a purpose in allowing them to face tribunals and terrorism (vs. 10) : the gospel must thus be preached in weakness to powerful men of all nations as Jesus preached from the cross to the centurion (Mark 15:39). They were not to worry in advance over these courtroom scenes. The Holy Spirit could be counted upon to speak through them (as he spoke through Jesus to Caiaphas and Pilate). Concern for dating the end must be replaced by concern for enduring to the end (vs. 13). For both this hatred and this endurance, Jesus’ own story provided the best illustration.
Nothing could make clearer the absolute antithesis between a world order in which “you will be hated by all for my name’s sake” and a kingdom in which the God of love redeems all for his own sake. So absolute was this contradiction between hatred and love that the imagination staggers at the effort to conceive it, or to say how the transition could take place from one world to the other. Jewish seers had long adopted the most extreme language to indicate what would happen in that Day. Mark employs their visions here in verses 14-18. The upshot of these verses was simply to stress the truth that before God’s love could be made the basis of world order there would necessarily be “such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation” (vs. 19).
Yet the sequel which we expect to find is simply not there. These verses do not describe the accomplishment of all things (vs. 4). Even after inconceivably terrible tribulation, the end does not come. Even after such dread signs, the disciples must not be trapped by them into following false messiahs and false prophets. They are forbidden to base their own hopes or fears upon external crises of this sort. Their Messiah has come. Their primary duty is endurance in his name. Nothing will be done to make their baptism any easier than his.
This does not mean that there would be no triumph of the Kingdom of love over the realm of hatred. Men would see the Son of Man enthroned with majestic glory and terrible power, coming to rule over men and to gather his people, the living and the dead (vss. 26-27). This is exactly the same message which Jesus gave the high priest (Mark 14:62), and it is implied in his declaration concerning the Temple’s destruction (Mark 13:2). The time will come, because it has come, when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). But they will not see him until simultaneously the usual light for seeing has failed (Mark 13:24) and until the powers which rule men have been dethroned (Mark 13:25).
Such are the signs which disciples may well notice, tokens that the usual standards of power and glory have been shaken by the power and glory of the Risen Lord. When this kind of earthquake shakes their world, then they will know that he is very near, “at the very gates.” Otherwise his work, his mission, his salvation, would decay and pass away, while the world order that had been challenged by his work would remain forever unchanged. So, to put the message of this paragraph (vss. 28-31) in a word, Jesus made despair impossible for his followers. Are they tempted to despair because summer is so far away? Yes, but if they believe in his glory and his power, they will see the fig tree’s leaves (vs. 28). Are they tempted to despair because of the unbroken chain of generations one after another?
Yes, but they must remember that his promise is to their own generation (vs. 30). Do heaven and earth appear unchanged by his mission and commission? Yes, but his words are more eternal even than they. Is such despair inevitable and such faith impossible? When a disciple thinks so, he should recall such words as these: “all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). For Mark, at least, Jesus had defined faith by an impossibility which had become possible: God’s redemption of the world through a crucified Messiah.
That was why Mark chose a particular parable to conclude this concluding lecture by the Messiah. Here is a final warning against sign-watching and time-charting. Not even the Son knows the day in advance (vs. 32). The test of a disciple’s faithfulness is not the accuracy of his predictions but his patience and endurance in watching. But the man who sits at the door scanning the horizon is not watching. No, true watching is accomplished when each servant performs his assigned work (vs. 34).
To sleep is to forget that this work has been assigned by the Lord, and to delay its completion. To watch is not anxiety over heavenly cataclysms but obedience to the very Person who has assigned the task. The nature of this Person and his assignment are both described perfectly in the Passion Story. Suddenly, this crucified Lord will come to those whom he has hired. Will they be alert and ready? Only if they watch as he watched in Gethsemane.
This was the final command of Jesus to all disciples in every century, the warning of the fig tree: “What I say to you I say to all: Watch” (vs. 37).