Tourists. As Mark 13 opens, the disciples are like tourists, gawking at the more striking features of “the big city” that they were visiting for the high and holy festival of Passover. If there had been cameras in those days, you can almost picture the disciples mugging for the camera in front of the magnificent opulence of the Temple. Little bands of tourists wearing bright orange hats would be milling through the plazas and colonnades of the Temple as tour guides with bullhorns shouted forth impressive statistics. “Some of these foundation stones weigh 5 tons and were brought into the city through the massive efforts of thousands of masons and slaves.” Appreciative “Ooohs” and “Ahhhs” would follow each stunning stat.
It was, all in all, a heady atmosphere. You couldn’t help but look up to see the towering heights. When I’ve been in places like Chicago and New York City, I know full well that standing on a sidewalk and staring up at the towering heights of the Sears Tower or the Empire State Building is the surest way possible to have me be easily identified as a tourist. But I can’t help it! I don’t want to look like some hick from the outback who is bowled over by skyscrapers, but they are just so impressive. They simply dwarf you! And so I steal as many heavenward glances as I can.
The disciples were like that. They don’t want to look like simple fishermen from Galilee and the like, but let’s face it: you just don’t see stonework like this back on the farm. Their enthusiasm is so great that they cannot resist pulling Jesus into the action. Their master seems oddly unmoved by the ramparts and architectural heights of Jerusalem. He is the only one NOT craning his neck and mugging for the camera. So the disciples try to bring him around. “Teacher! Lookee here — isn’t this one massive hunk of limestone!? Isn’t the craftsmanship on these carvings impressive? Can you imagine what it must have taken to raise up such a high edifice!?”
But Jesus meets their breathless enthusiasm with a shrug of his shoulders. “Yes, I see them. But you know what? Even the biggest of these stones will soon fall and be thrown down. One day e’re long, there won’t be a single building to look at here.”
Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on Mark 13:1-8.
Showing posts with label Prophecy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prophecy. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2009
2012
Have you heard? Hollywood says we have three years left until the apocalypse.
Hollywood, always a reliable scientific and spiritual source, is basing its prediction on the ancient Mayan long-count calendar. This is a calendar which correctly predicted an astonishing number of other astrological and mathematical events. Unfortunately for the Mayans, even the best math couldn’t factor in and figure out some highly unexpected variables – like their own demise. This ancient and powerful Mayan culture didn’t foresee the arrival and ultimate invasion of a bunch of Spanish soldiers of fortune — soldiers bearing weapons the Mayans had never seen and bringing diseases their bodies had never encountered. The advanced Mayan technology that had carefully calculated “the end of the world” on 21 December 2012, was unable to perceive that “the end of THEIR world” was only a few decades away.
Regardless of the fact that the Mayans couldn’t foresee the end of their own civilization, the Mayan prediction of 2012 as the end of human civilization has captured the imagination of popular culture. The fact that the 5125 year Mayan calendar comes to an end on 21 December 2012 is giving bad dreams and bad thoughts to a whole new generation.
Of course, there are dates that speak volumes just by their numbers. Here are a couple of them:
1776
1789
1000
428 AD (See An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire by Giusto Traina).
We process time and give it meaning by dates. But the date that you’re going to hearing more and more of us 2012, the alleged end-of-the-world date.
People who claim US citizenship have always been particularly entranced by end-of-the-world scenarios. Maybe it is because our own national history is so relatively short. Maybe it is because our roots are less deeply planted, making uprooting less intimidating. Think here of the Shakers, the Amana society, Millerites, all of whom lived all their lives preparing for the end.
Those that jumped on the apocalyptic bandwagon have often been those who have the least to lose in the event of a widespread materialistic meltdown. Recent immigrants, already uprooted, sometimes decide to send their hopes heavenward instead of sinking roots earthward. The poorest, the disenfranchised, those pushed to the edges and margins because of race, education, disabilities or just plain poverty, have always been rich soil for the germination of apocalyptic angst.
From the ancient Mayans to Nostradamus to Y2K and now 2012, there has never been any shortage of end-of-the-world scenarios. The predictions of a “nuclear winter” have been replaced by global warming, and there is still a debate over whether the devastating climate changes will bring drought of floods to vast regions of the earth — but the general agreement among all these scenarios is, “its gonna be bad.” The grimness of our environmental condition is relentlessly apocalyptic. Technological breakthroughs unaccompanied by spiritual breakthroughs can be apocalyptic. There is no such thing as a happy ending, apocalyptically speaking.
Apocalypticism is all about attitude – and it’s a bad attitude. That was Jesus’ message in today’s gospel text… Mark 13
Hollywood, always a reliable scientific and spiritual source, is basing its prediction on the ancient Mayan long-count calendar. This is a calendar which correctly predicted an astonishing number of other astrological and mathematical events. Unfortunately for the Mayans, even the best math couldn’t factor in and figure out some highly unexpected variables – like their own demise. This ancient and powerful Mayan culture didn’t foresee the arrival and ultimate invasion of a bunch of Spanish soldiers of fortune — soldiers bearing weapons the Mayans had never seen and bringing diseases their bodies had never encountered. The advanced Mayan technology that had carefully calculated “the end of the world” on 21 December 2012, was unable to perceive that “the end of THEIR world” was only a few decades away.
Regardless of the fact that the Mayans couldn’t foresee the end of their own civilization, the Mayan prediction of 2012 as the end of human civilization has captured the imagination of popular culture. The fact that the 5125 year Mayan calendar comes to an end on 21 December 2012 is giving bad dreams and bad thoughts to a whole new generation.
Of course, there are dates that speak volumes just by their numbers. Here are a couple of them:
1776
1789
1000
428 AD (See An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire by Giusto Traina).
We process time and give it meaning by dates. But the date that you’re going to hearing more and more of us 2012, the alleged end-of-the-world date.
People who claim US citizenship have always been particularly entranced by end-of-the-world scenarios. Maybe it is because our own national history is so relatively short. Maybe it is because our roots are less deeply planted, making uprooting less intimidating. Think here of the Shakers, the Amana society, Millerites, all of whom lived all their lives preparing for the end.
Those that jumped on the apocalyptic bandwagon have often been those who have the least to lose in the event of a widespread materialistic meltdown. Recent immigrants, already uprooted, sometimes decide to send their hopes heavenward instead of sinking roots earthward. The poorest, the disenfranchised, those pushed to the edges and margins because of race, education, disabilities or just plain poverty, have always been rich soil for the germination of apocalyptic angst.
From the ancient Mayans to Nostradamus to Y2K and now 2012, there has never been any shortage of end-of-the-world scenarios. The predictions of a “nuclear winter” have been replaced by global warming, and there is still a debate over whether the devastating climate changes will bring drought of floods to vast regions of the earth — but the general agreement among all these scenarios is, “its gonna be bad.” The grimness of our environmental condition is relentlessly apocalyptic. Technological breakthroughs unaccompanied by spiritual breakthroughs can be apocalyptic. There is no such thing as a happy ending, apocalyptically speaking.
Apocalypticism is all about attitude – and it’s a bad attitude. That was Jesus’ message in today’s gospel text… Mark 13
Prediction
Have you ever tried to make a prediction? Here are some predictions from the past. All from people who were trusted individuals:
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, in 1943 said, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Popular Mechanics magazine in 1949 made this prediction: "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons."
There was an inventor by the name of Lee DeForest. He claimed that "While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility."
The Decca Recording Co. made a big mistake when they made this prediction: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." That was their prediction in 1962 concerning a few lads form Liverpool. Their band was called the Beatles.
As the disciples walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem Jesus paused, looked back at the Temple and predicted, "Do you see all these great buildings. Not one stone will be left on another." To the disciples this was bedrock. Nothing could bring down these walls. "Look, teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" they said to Jesus.
The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed 50 tons. The largest existing stone, part of the Wailing Wall, is 12 meters in length and 3 meters high, and it weighs hundreds of tons! The stones were so immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material was used between the stones. Their stability was attained by the great weight of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area. Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock mountain shaved flat and during Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the structure. No sports structure in America today comes close.
You can then understand the disciples’ surprise. As they walked down the Kidron Valley and up Mount Olive Peter, James, and John wanted to hear more. Jesus' prediction that a structure so immense would be leveled to the ground seemed implausible. But they pressed Jesus for more information. They wanted to know when. What would be the sign that this was about to take place? In their voice was fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that their lives were about to change forever. Jesus had not made any predictions like this one. This was different. This, they could understand.
Forty years later Jesus' prediction came true. In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed by Rome. What are we to learn from this prediction and its fulfillment?
1. The bedrock of faith is not in Temples.
2. The bedrock of faith is not in Signs.
3. The bedrock of faith is in Christ.
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, in 1943 said, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Popular Mechanics magazine in 1949 made this prediction: "Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons."
There was an inventor by the name of Lee DeForest. He claimed that "While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility."
The Decca Recording Co. made a big mistake when they made this prediction: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." That was their prediction in 1962 concerning a few lads form Liverpool. Their band was called the Beatles.
As the disciples walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem Jesus paused, looked back at the Temple and predicted, "Do you see all these great buildings. Not one stone will be left on another." To the disciples this was bedrock. Nothing could bring down these walls. "Look, teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" they said to Jesus.
The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed 50 tons. The largest existing stone, part of the Wailing Wall, is 12 meters in length and 3 meters high, and it weighs hundreds of tons! The stones were so immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material was used between the stones. Their stability was attained by the great weight of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area. Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock mountain shaved flat and during Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the structure. No sports structure in America today comes close.
You can then understand the disciples’ surprise. As they walked down the Kidron Valley and up Mount Olive Peter, James, and John wanted to hear more. Jesus' prediction that a structure so immense would be leveled to the ground seemed implausible. But they pressed Jesus for more information. They wanted to know when. What would be the sign that this was about to take place? In their voice was fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that their lives were about to change forever. Jesus had not made any predictions like this one. This was different. This, they could understand.
Forty years later Jesus' prediction came true. In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed by Rome. What are we to learn from this prediction and its fulfillment?
1. The bedrock of faith is not in Temples.
2. The bedrock of faith is not in Signs.
3. The bedrock of faith is in Christ.
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