§8. TIME OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, until all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. L Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. It is as ten virgins, which took their not. or that hour J Then shall the kingdom of K heaven be likened unto Watch therefore, for M ye know not the day nor the hour. § 11. MISSION OF THE DISCIPLES AND ATTENDANT PERSECUTION But take ye heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in synagogues shall ve be beaten; and before governors and kings shall ye stand for my sake, for a testimony unto them. And when they lead you to judgement, and deliver you up, be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, And the gospel must first N be preached unto all the nations O but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved. that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child; and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: And not a hair of your head shall perish. In your patience ye shall win your souls. I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They shall be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother in law against her daughter in law, and daughter in law against her mother in law. There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light: and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops. And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father: but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. $12. A PARABLE ON FAITHFULNESS in the MISSION P Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. It is as when man sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey. Straightway he that received the five talents went and traded with them, and made other five talents. In like manner he also that received the two gained other two. But he that received the one went away and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. Now after a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and maketh a reckoning And he also And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter: and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. In the above reconstruction there is shown, in one or other of the three columns, all portions of the report of the discourse as transmitted by the thirteenth chapter of document MK. In addition to the document MK report, there is used, in the reconstruction, document P§§20, 31, 32, 60, and document M §§24, 25. In a single instance, the above portion O, gospel LK is regarded as supplying a more original form of the document MK record. The central of the three columns represents the material that is accepted for the reconstruction of the discourse. The sources of that material are as follows: $81-4. Document MK. §§5-7. Document P §60, except that the second half of § 5 is document MK 13:5, 6. $88, 9. Document MK. §10. Document M $24. §11. Document MK + (gospel LK 21:18, 19) + Document P §§31, 32, 20. §12. Document M 825. To the left hand there are set those portions of the document MK account which are regarded as reporting themes original to the discourse, but of which we possess reports in other documents which have more faithfully preserved either the setting or the verbal form of these sayings of Jesus. These other reports are more consistent, more vivid, suggestive, and striking, and more complete. To the right hand there are set those minor portions of the documents which seem to be editorial comments (B), or sayings out of their original setting (H, I), or sayings influenced by another document (M the result of L), or a formula resulting from the original documentary setting (K), or portions which reflect the experiences of history (A, D). In addition, there is evidenced in these portions the eschatological tendency of document or editor (Q-S), the effect upon a document of the loss of a defining term in a preceding paragraph (J), the interpretation of the person of Jesus (F), and the endeavor to set a chronological limit for the return of Jesus (H, N). In the proposed reconstruction there are some minor departures from the order of the present document MK. Thus the two references to the Rise of Messianic Claimants, MK 13:5, 6 and 21-23, are brought together under §5; and the sayings of Jesus about the Mission, MK 13:9-13, are grouped with those from document P as $11. The second reference to Messianic Claimants, MK 13:21-23, testifies to the original order of Jesus as witnessed further by document P, which, like document MK, has the Rise of Messianic Claimants and the Day of the Son of Man in sequence. The present document MK placing of the first reference to Messianic Claimants, MK 13:5, 6, is due, it may be, to the early, large, and continued disintegrating effect of these claimants upon the Christian community, an effect evidenced by many other indications in the records as already observed. With the chronological outline of the present thirteenth chapter of document MK, it would be difficult to place sayings of Jesus about persecution at any later point in the discourse than that given them in that chapter, for the coming of the Son of man is to follow closely upon the destruction of Jerusalem. This may account for the particular place given these sayings in the discourse by that document. That even this document MK placing of these sayings did not wholly meet the problem raised by the fixed chronology of events proposed by that document seems evidenced by the judgment of Luke, who made adjustment by preceding this group of sayings with the editorial introduction, "But before all these things," Luke 21:120. There seems to be every reason for the conviction that Jesus did not pass to other subjects before he first had answered the question which occasioned the discourse. If so, the sayings about the Mission and Persecution belong later in the order of the discourse. Indeed, if the evidence has been correctly interpreted as to the extent of these sayings upon this occasion, they would be seriously misplaced if inserted before Jesus' answer to the question of his disciples. The disciples had asked as to the advance indications and the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Between his statement about the advance indications of that event (§§3, 4) and that about the time within which it might be expected (§8), Jesus introduced some thoughts on subjects (§§5, 6) which superficially make the impression of digression. But a closer examination of the movement within the discourse reveals that these subjects are the natural outgrowth of his forecast in outline of the history of the coming years (§§3, 4). Jesus foresaw that for his society the most threatening danger of those years of national distress lay in Zealot messianic uprisings which would promise relief from the direful situation ($5). Against the seduction of their specious arguments and bold assurances of a new era, the aeon of the Messiah, he urgently warned his disciples (85). To this apparent digression he was led, it seems, by the conviction that for his disciples it was of more importance to be forewarned against Zealotism in its relation to their own faith than to be precisely informed as to the method and time of the ultimate outcome of Zealotism for the nation. But it may be believed that Jesus felt the weakness of the simple hortatory injunction, "Go not away, nor follow after them." That would hardly stay his disciples in the fearful days of national distress that were coming. Nothing less than a new definition of the nature of the day of Jehovah, a definition which should eliminate |