When I was in Israel many years ago, I stood among the ruins of the city of Megiddo, looking over the Valley of Jezreel. The town had been there since 7000 BC, strategically placed on a hill that overlooked the opening of a narrow pass on the ancient routes connecting Egypt to the south and Assyria to the north. It was on these routes that all the great armies had travelled to conquer the people. It was a place where major battles had been fought by the Jewish people protecting their homeland. We read about it in many of the books of both the Hebrew scriptures and our Christian scriptures.
For so often, particularly at the time of Mark’s writings, the experience of life of the Jewish people had been one filled with war and persecution. They had a dream to be set free from those wars and persecutions, and so looked forward to the time when God, through God’s messiah, would come as King to vanquish their foes and rule their nation. And where would this battle take place? Well, where all of the great battles in their history had taken place. Near the town on the hill called Megiddo, overlooking the valley. In Hebrew, the word for hill is HAR. So this final conflict would be the battle at HAR MEGIDDO … Let me anglicize that – It would be the Battle of Armageddon. That’s the word used in the English translation of the Book of Revelation.
When we read and ponder words written at 2000 years ago, it is important, very important, for us to understand the context – lest we create images of ‘end times’ based on movies with Bruce Willis, or on fanciful flights of imagination. The images of the dreams of liberation from oppressors was immersed in the very air that Mark and others of that time breathed. And so when he wrote about what Jesus was telling them, it was natural for him to use that imagery. And Mark tells us about Jesus’ words in a manner that he was accustomed to, living in that place at that time. So the words were filled with images of battles and war. His readers would have understood both the style and what he was saying.
The words we read in Mark chapter 13 are not about the end of time, but rather they are about the impending destruction of the temple. And it was good advice for the disciples. Mark wrote his Gospel after the fall of the Temple, and so he connected the dots in his writing about the predictions …. Hence our Gospel starts today with the words “Jesus spoke to his disciples about the end which is to come.”
But to really get a sense of what our Gospel is all about, it helps to read all of Mark chapter 13 to get Mark’s perspective. It starts with Jesus and the Disciples walking out of the Temple. Glorious. Huge. Amazing construction. Awesome and inspiring. And Jesus lets them know about a few things. That the temple will be destroyed. In their lifetime. That the disciples will be persecuted for their beliefs. That there will be lots of people who will claim to speak for God, but only speak for themselves. And above all, while being awake to the signs of the times, to never lose hope in God. Mark lived in a time when those words came true.
2000 years later, and half a world away, the question becomes …. what is important that we should try to understand from today’s Gospel. Well, first and foremost, the readings today are not a list of the events predicted to occur before Armageddon arrives. Sorry, Bruce.
The key message then, and the key message now, is one and the same. Be watchful, awake, and never lose hope in God. To be watchful and awake is to actively seek out the evidence of the Creator that surrounds us in all places and all times. From the mystery of the cosmos to the beauty of nature. From the joy of holding a newborn child to the movement of our soul as we tend to those in need, life unfolds within us and around us, and God is revealed to us. To hope is to know that we are beloved sons and daughters of God, connected to God in ways we can scarcely even imagine, to know that it is within God that we live, and move, and have our being. To know that our eternal life has scarcely even begun.
Be watchful, be awake, and never lose hope in God. Those are words we can live by.