Stroll through Scripture for March 17, 2024

Mark 13:1–8, 24–37

The phrase that captures this Sunday’s reading is, “Keep Awake!” The whole of chapter 13, including the parts not in the lectionary are all Jesus saying in many different ways for followers to keep awake, to pay attention, to be alert. But what does that really mean? That’s been debated for ages.

In our first section, Jesus and the disciples just walked out of the temple. The end of Chapter 12 has Jesus pointing out the injustice of the temple system as it was in practice by watching a widow put in her last coins, just about ensuring she would starve. And it seems as though no one notices or cares. Maybe it’s because the injustice is so pervasive and common? Maybe it’s because they too busy paying attention to stuff that doesn’t matter like the disciples who care more about the size of the stones of the temple, rather than what’s actually taking place inside the temple.

But Jesus wakes them up — “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” That must have been a shock to hear. A wake-up call of sorts. You see what the world thinks and sees as great, too big to fail, and having immense value is nothing when it’s based on cruelty, violence, and greed.

Jesus not only foretells the destruction of the Temple, but also all the other things that will fall — all the things that we humans spend a whole lot of time paying attention to. We’re impressed by certain personalities and people who…