GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 13:14
When the Sacred Becomes Profane
During the American Civil War, church buildings were often pressed into service by both armies. Sometimes the buildings became hospitals, such as Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and sometimes the buildings were used as stables for horses, such as St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. In these cases, the intent was not the purposeful desecration of the building, but necessity dictated by circumstances.
In 167 B.C., Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the ruler of the Seleucid Empire, attempted to unify his realm on the basis of Hellenistic culture. He thought it necessary, therefore, to extinguish the Jewish religion. He set up the statue of Jupiter on the great altar of burnt offerings in the temple at Jerusalem and offered swine flesh on the altar. He set up public brothels in the sacred courts and outlawed Jewish practices. The Jews, remembering the prophecy of Daniel (9:27), referred to this as the “abomination of desolation.” Every Jew knew that phrase; it had become something of a colloquialism.
In 70 A.D., when the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem and had the city under siege, warring groups inside the city—Zealots and Assassins—commandeered the temple filling the holy place with the bodies of their own fellow citizens and setting up command centers in the sacred precincts. The leaders of Jerusalem had invited these marauders to defend the city against the Romans, but their outrages against God and the citizens compounded the misery and reminded the people of the words of the Prophet Daniel: “the abomination of desolation.”
Jesus warned his disciples about an “abomination of desolation” in the future. “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not—let the reader understand—then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Mark 13:14) When that terrible event happens, Jesus said that those living in Judea should flee. In 70 A.D., with the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem, most Christians, remembering Jesus’ warning, fled to Pella, roughly 80 miles northeast of Jerusalem on the other side of the Jordan River. Many Jews, however, fled into the city of Jerusalem, expecting divine protection. The suffering inside the besieged city, however, was horrible. The Jewish historian Josephus says over 1,100,000 people perished by slow starvation and the sword.
St. Mark was writing his gospel in Rome, perhaps at the same time the Roman army was attacking Jerusalem. To his narrative, he added the parenthetical imperative, “let the reader understand.” Paul was in prison at this time, or perhaps had already been executed; Christians were being harassed and persecuted, and Mark said, “Reader, understand!” In the midst of this, Mark seems to say, “Understand that the Father is still in control.” Reader, understand—an admonition that remains powerful today.
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