The gospel for this coming Sunday, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, is Jesus’ mini-apocalyptic message about the future of the Jerusalem Temple and the coming days.. In yesterday’s post we explored the significance of the Temple in the mind and perspective of the Jewish people. Today we begin exploring the passage itself: While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said, “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” ⁷ Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? (Luke 21:5-6)

When and by what Sign? In v.7 an unnamed interlocutor(s) asked Jesus, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” Given the introduction in v.5 where the disciples are mentioned, one assumes the disciples are the audience. But one should note that nowhere else in Luke do the disciples call Jesus “teacher.”  This is the eleventh time Jesus is so addressed and in none of the previous ten are the disciples the one addressing Jesus. Luke reserves the address “Teacher” as coming from the Pharisees, lawyers, the crowd, the rich, Sadducees, and scribes.  Given the larger context of Luke, it is more likely that while the disciples are present, Jesus is responding to those present in the Temple complex.

Be assured, Jesus tells them, these things are not permanent. The phrase these things (tauta) becomes central to the discourse, since the disciples ask in v.7: “what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” 

The gospel for this coming Sunday, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, is Jesus’ mini-apocalyptic message about the future of the Jerusalem Temple and the coming days. In yesterday’s post we set the stage for understanding the nature of the Lucan narrative that is our gospel reading. Today’s post explores the significance of the Jerusalem Temple, its history, and the potential impact of Jesus’ words: “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” 

The architectural entity known as the Jerusalem Temple was a complex institution. It played a central religious and cultic role in Israelite life, as well as functioning on a political level. It was a symbol of the national state of which Jerusalem was the capital during the pre-exilic period (Babylonian Exile), then of the semi-autonomous community of Judeans after the exile, and finally of the Jews who continued to live in Jerusalem and the surrounding territory, with sporadic periods of autonomy, in the centuries before its final destruction.

This post is a more detailed discussion regarding the nature of Luke’s third prediction of Jerusalem’s fall, a far more detailed speech (the others come in 13:34-35; 19:41-44). It is a bit of a deep dive beyond this morning’s post which included summary information. So, feel free to dive in …. or wait until we pick up the thread tomorrow morning.

The speech’s character emerges when one examines the parallels in Matthew 24:1-35 and Mark 13:1-37. A comparison of these parallels shows how Luke has drawn out some additional teaching and made some distinct points. Some of these points emerge from the additional material Luke includes (vv. 18, 21-22, 24, 28 are certainly additional material; vv. 19-20, 23b-26, 34-36 are probably additional). Other emphases surface because of the way Luke has presented the traditional material. Where Matthew speaks specifically of the “the desolating abomination” (Mt 24:15, referring to Daniel 12:11), for example, Luke simply refers to the “desolation” (Lk 21:20).

The significance of these differences becomes clear as one carefully compares the accounts. Luke emphasizes the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 in a way the other Gospels do not. Mark and Matthew anticipate the fall of Jerusalem in the way they introduce the discourse, but Luke focuses on the short-term event in a way Matthew and Mark do not. His temporal indicators (vv. 9, 12) draw the reader back toward the present before really focusing on the end in verses 25-28. A transition begins to appear in verses 20-24, but until verse 19 the focus is still on events before the judgment of the capital in A.D. 70, which is not yet the end.

This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C. Two Sundays ago was the encounter with Zacchaeus in Jericho (Luke 19:1-10). This followed by Jesus’ parable of the ten gold coins (19:11-27) and Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the events of Palm Sunday (v.28). What follows has been a series of confrontations with the Jerusalem authorities in the Temple, an example of which was the previous Sunday gospel in which the Sadducees confronted Jesus around the topic of resurrection. The confrontation now shifts to the future tense. The extended dialogue concerns the:

• coming persecutions and destruction of the Temple (21:5-19), our gospel reading;
• destruction of the Jerusalem (21:20-24); and
• coming of the Son of Man (21:25-36).

It is tempting to refer to these verses as St. Luke’s “little apocalypse,” given its similarity to the accounts in Mark and Matthew – and the ongoing fascination of evangelical American Christianity with the “end times” popularized by the “Left Behind” series of books and movies. Described in another post later this morning with more details for those interested, Luke’s account is different in that all the “temporal markers” in the telling are focused on the present. Luke reserves the future focus for later verses outside our gospel text. Up through verse 18 the focus remains on events before the judgment of the capital in A.D. 70, which is not yet the end. While there are apocalyptic elements, it is not the final words of Jesus, but an introduction to his suffering and death.