The final Sundays in the liturgical year always feature readings that are drawn from the more apocalyptic readings in the scriptures. Drawing from the mini-Apocalypse of Mark 13, our Gospel this Sunday has often confused people. Indeed Mark suggests that people may well misunderstand it, when he adds the note to the reader in verse 14: “Let the reader understand.”
Many interpreters have believed that this chapter was about the end of the world, but the context makes it clear that this is mainly about events that would unfold within a single generation, when at the end of the first Jewish-Roman war (66-70 AD) the Roman army had laid siege to Jerusalem, which had ended with the complete and devastating destruction of both the city of Jerusalem and its centre-piece, the second temple, which had only recently been completely rebuilt by Herod.
Recorded at St Paul’s, 6pm Vigil (8’15”)
Sunday 33B; Mark 13:24-32