Day 20: The End and the Beginning

Read Mark 13-14

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. -Mark 13:12-13

First, let’s decipher what Mark chapter 13 is talking about. 

• In the beginning of the chapter, as Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples told Jesus how he admired the temple for its grandeur and stature. Immediately, Jesus throughout whatever that disciple said by stating, “Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be let on another; every one will be thrown down.” Jesus states that the temple will be destroyed and demolished. Furthermore, Jesus at this moment was making slight references to the end of times, or at least the end for humanity. Throughout the passage, Jesus makes harsh comments about humanity or at least the human aspect of humanity. 
• Also, Jesus states to his disciples to, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.” Jesus basically gave a forewarning to his disciples and to us about how people will act as if they were Jesus, preforming flawed miracles and professing false prophecy. It’s up to us whether we will believe them or not. 
• Additionally, Jesus told his disciples that, “On account of me you will stand before governors and kinds as witnesses to them.” Honesty, if I was a disciple a the time, I would try to run away as far as possible. I wouldn’t want be the center of attention at a trial that might determine my fate. But Jesus states that, “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” Although this might seem hard to believe, if we put all our faith and trust in Jesus as well as let Him take the stage, He can take us away from the worst of times. 
• What I think is the most pivotal point of this chapter is when Jesus said, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” It’s crazy to think about two brothers killing each other for what each of them believe, or even a father to his child. Basically, this shows how a belief in Jesus can cause many to hate you. But Jesus states that in the end, whoever withstands the hate and evil will be saved.  Jesus says that the person what holds his/her faith strong and uses that faith throughout the trials that have yet to come, what he will be saved at the end. 
• I think the most impactful words that Jesus said are near the end of the passage. He states that, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” This is so impactful because Jesus states that everything will perish but His words will not. Therefore, if we keep his words throughout all the temptations and trials, we will be able to conquer them. 
• Near the end of chapter 13, Jesus states that the end of times are only known by the Father and that we will never know when Jesus will come to this world, but, “if he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.” Jesus here doesn’t actually mean literal sleep, but rather whether you are being productive in society and using what talents that Jesus blessed you with, or are you sedentary and doing nothing with the talents that Jesus gave you.

Personally I think chapter 14 is the most pivotal chapter in the book of Mark. 

• Let us first start with Jesus anointed at Bethany. "As Jesus was reclining at a table in the house of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.” This may seem very random and when the people who were at the house saw this, they were disgusted. But Jesus stated that, “She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” Jesus make a forewarning that he will soon die. 
• Also at this time, Judas Iscariot went to the priests to betray Jesus. During the Last Supper, Jesus predicted that one of the twelve disciples will betray with. All of them were greatly saddened by that fact. The Last Supper basically meant the last time Jesus would ever eat with his disciples. 
• Next, Jesus told Peter that he will “disown me three times.” Peter completely rejected the claim and states that, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Although later we know that Peter disowns Jesus three times, I feel we can somewhat relate to Peter a lot. We are always put in trials and temptations that test our faith. Even when we know that it’s wrong and it’s against the Word of God, we don’t want seem like the “Jesus-freak” among the group; therefore, we commit some wrong action anyways. 
• Next Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray and asked his disciples to, “Stay here and keep watch.” As Jesus returned he saw Peter sleeping and stated that, “Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This happened two more times. I also feel we can relate exactly to what the disciples were in. Literally, whenever it is late night and we know we should say a prayer before we go to sleep, we end up falling asleep before we even say a single word. We resemble somewhat like the disciples because we are supposed to keep watch and keep the Word of God in our hearts, but we end up falling into earthly temptations, disowning Jesus and letting ourselves get taken in by the earthly wonders. 
• After Jesus prayed three times, he knew that his captors and his betrayer was waiting for him. At the moment Judas came and kissed Jesus, the guards came to seize him. And the disciples, “deserted him and fled.” Here the disciples also resemble the action that we tend to do in the present. We tend to flee whenever the world pressure us; we tend to flee our religion whenever we are pressured to go against it. 
• Near the end of this chapter, Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin and faced a harsh trial where he was beaten and scolded by the people. I feel that this chapter was talking about how if he hold strong in our faith God will always deliver.

- Joshua Mathew