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And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13:26–27)

Liz Lemon Swindle, No Man Knoweth the Hour. ldsart.com

According to the chronology of Mark, the disciples saw the withered fig tree as they were returning with Jesus to Jerusalem Tuesday morning. The first part of the day was spent again in the temple courts, where the Jerusalem authorities engaged in debates with Jesus, trying to catch him in his words. When they failed to find fault in him, Jesus returned a question to them that established his identity and authority as the promised Son of David. After denouncing their hypocrisy and contrasting them unfavorably with a poor widow, Jesus lamented over the fate of Jerusalem before leaving the temple and the city for the Mount of Olives, where he delivered a prophecy of its coming destruction and the future end of the world to his closest disciples. With this discourse he reassured his disciples that although he would be rejected at the end of this week, he would nonetheless one day return in glory and be accepted not only as the true King of Israel but also of all the earth.

While our preparations during Holy Week focus mainly on Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection, the Olivet Discourse reminds us that some of Jesus’s saving mission yet lies ahead and that we must prepare ourselves to be ready for his return. Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 2008, has enjoined us, “Let us truly celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that it portends: His return to reign for a thousand years of peace, a righteous judgment and perfect justice for all, the immortality of all who ever lived upon this earth, and the promise of eternal life.”[1]

Texts: Mark 12:13–44; Matthew 23:37‒39

The second set of Jesus’s temple teachings focuses on his responses to questions posed to him by different groups within the ruling hierarchy, each of which tried to catch him in his words. Then, after posing a question of his own to them, he denounces them for their hypocrisy and contrasts them with the selfless faithfulness of a poor widow. The earliest versions of this material are preserved by Mark. Matthew adds a poignant lament that Jesus utters over Jerusalem.

Mark

¹³And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. ¹⁴And when they were come, they say unto him, “Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? ¹⁵Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, “Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.” ¹⁶And they brought it. And he saith unto them, “Whose is this image and superscription?” And they said unto him, “Cæsar’s.”¹⁷And Jesus answering said unto them, “Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marvelled at him.

¹⁸Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, ¹⁹“Master, Moses wrote unto us, ‘If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.’ ²⁰Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. ²¹And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. ²²And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. ²³In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.” ²⁴And Jesus answering said unto them, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? ²⁵For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. ²⁶And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ ²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”

²⁸And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” ²⁹And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: ³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:’ this is the first commandment. ³¹And the second is like, namely this, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ There is none other commandment greater than these.” ³²And the scribe said unto him, “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: ³³And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” And no man after that durst ask him any question.

³⁵And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, “How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?” ³⁶For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.’ ³⁷David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son?” And the common people heard him gladly.

³⁸And he said unto them in his doctrine, “Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, ³⁹And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: ⁴⁰Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.”

⁴¹And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. ⁴²And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. ⁴³And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, “Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: ⁴⁴For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

Matthew

³⁷“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! ³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. ³⁹For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’”

The Selection and Inspection of the Passover Lamb

Background

As crowds of pilgrims streamed into Jerusalem in advance of the Passover festival, their most important task would be the selection of a paschal lamb. The law mandated that on the tenth day of Nisan each household should select a year-old, unblemished lamb or goat. They kept this prospective Passover sacrifice (Hebrew, qorban pesaḥ) until the fourteenth day of Nisan, which they were then to slaughter toward the end of the day. The lamb was then roasted and served as the main course of the festal meal when Passover began that night, the beginning of the fifteenth day of Nisan, starting with the setting of the sun on the fourteenth day (Exod 12:3‒11). In the four days between the lamb’s selection and its sacrifice, they were to check it for any imperfection, ensuring that it would be an unblemished offering (Lev 22:20‒20). While the first Passover was done at individual homes by its members, when worship was centralized in Jerusalem the sacrifice was performed at the temple, theoretically by laymen but probably in practice by Levites and priests. Elaborate procedures developed in the Second Temple period, with the slaughter taking place in the inner temple court, where the blood was caught in silver and gold bowls by priests and then passed from hand to hand to the altar, where it was sprinkled on the altar of burnt offerings. After the paschal lamb was butchered and prepared, the meat was given to the families to take home for their Passover meal.[2]

At the beginning of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29, authors’ translation), repeating this identification to Andrew and another one of his disciples the next day (1:36). John thus explicitly uses paschal imagery for Jesus,[3] something that the Synoptics and the Passover context of Jesus’s passion strongly imply. As discussed in Appendix B, it is difficult to establish the exact chronology of Jesus’s last week, and the issue is further complicated by the Synoptics making the Last Supper a Passover meal while John has Passover begin at sunset after Jesus’s crucifixion. Following the Synoptic ordering of events, the tenth of Nisan would have been on Sunday in our working devotional chronology, correlating Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his ascent to the temple complex with the selection of the paschal lambs, while John’s order would have the selection take place on Monday, when Matthew and Luke have the chief priests and elders first question his authority (Matt 21:23–27; Luke 20:1–8). Mark places this on Tuesday, where for devotional purposes we have also placed the other questions posed to Jesus (Mark 12:13–37; parallels Matt 22:15–46; Luke 20:20–47). Regardless of exactly when these events occurred historically, the examination of Jesus by the Jerusalem leadership is symbolically parallel to the inspection of the paschal lambs that would have been taking place in the early days of the week: even as the lambs were being inspected for blemishes, Jesus’s opponents were trying to find fault in him, the Lamb of God.[4]

Jesus Examined

Interpretation and Application

Fancisco de Zurbarán, Agnus Dei. Wikimedia Commons.

The examination of Jesus in the temple consisted of three specific questions, each posed by a different group. The first question regards the appropriateness of paying taxes to the Roman government (Mark 12:13–17; parallels Matt 22:15–22; Luke 20:20–26), which Mark and Matthew place specifically in the mouths of a delegation consisting of Pharisees and Herodians. The Pharisees had been, if not always inveterate opponents, at least intense debating partners throughout the Galilean ministry,[5] although the leading Pharisees in Jerusalem were part of the Sanhedrin and, in Matthew and John, violent opponents of Jesus. The Herodians are a more obscure group, being mentioned elsewhere only in Mark 3:6, where they also joined forces in Galilee with local Pharisees after Jesus healed the man with the withered hand. Scholars have proposed a range of possibilities as to the nature of their party, but usually they are assumed to have been a largely political party that supported the Herodian family as the means to maintain some degree of Jewish autonomy under Roman authority.[6] Asking whether it was permissible—presumably under Mosaic law—to pay a Roman tax was meant “to catch him in what he said” (Mark 12:13, where agreusōsin literally means “to snare” or “trap”). If he said that it was permissible to pay the tax, the Pharisees in the delegation could claim that he was betraying God or at least was disloyal to the Jewish nation; if he said it was not, the Herodians could claim that he was advocating resistance to Roman demands.

The issue was heightened because the denarius, or Roman coin, with which the tax was paid had both the image of the emperor Tiberius and the inscription “Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the deified Augustus, high priest,” which both offended Jewish sensibilities about graven images and claimed divine and priestly prerogatives for Roman rulers that Jews did not support. After asking whose image was on the coin,[7] Jesus’s answer, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17), silenced both. By saying “give back” (Greek, apodote; KJV, “render”),[8] Jesus both acknowledged the civic role of the emperor, who minted, and in a sense still owned, the very coin under discussion, and proclaimed the greater obligation we have to God, since, in truth, all created things belong to him.[9] In addition to establishing lasting principles regarding civic and religious obligations of believers, Jesus’s answer had particular meaning in the context of Passion Week: although his opponents could find no civic or spiritual fault in his reply, the political and religious establishment would nonetheless convict him.

James Tissot, The Pharisees Question Jesus. Painters/Alamy stock photo.

The Sadducees, who came from the chief priestly families and seemed to represent the core of the opposition to Jesus, posed the next question. Although sometimes described as a question about marriage because it was connected to a hypothetical story of a woman who was married successively to seven different brothers, it was actually a question about the resurrection, which makes it particularly disingenuous since the Sadducees did not believe in a literal resurrection. Instead, they were trying to use an extreme example involving the practice of levirate marriage to demonstrate that believing in a resurrection was absurd. Levirate marriage, a term that comes from the term for a husband’s brother (Latin, levir), was a practice established in the law whereby a dead man’s brother, or in this case, brothers, had the obligation of taking the deceased man’s widow in a temporary arrangement only to father a child for the dead brother (Deut 25:5‒10; cf. Gen 38:8). Jesus countered first by demonstrating that his Sadducean opponents did not understand the very passage that they were alluding to: levirate marriages were only temporary arrangements to begin with—the child conceived “belonged to” the dead brother, and the living brother had no further conjugal rights after the child was born. There would be no expectation that the second to seventh brother would be married to the woman in the next life. Next, and more significantly, by denying the resurrection, Jesus pointed out that they were, in fact, denying the power of God.[10]

Jesus’s next point, “when they rise again from the dead, they neither enter into marriage nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in the heavens” (Mark 12:25; emphasis added), can be, at first glance, a difficult one for Latter-day Saints because of our understanding of, and love for, the principle of eternal marriage. However, as Richard Thomas France (1938‒2012), a noted New Testament scholar and Anglican cleric, observed, “what Jesus excludes from the afterlife is the process of ‘marrying and being given in marriage’ rather than the resultant state of being married.”[11] Given that the individuals in the hypothetical case were never properly sealed, Latter-day Saint scholar Julie Smith observes, “Jesus’ answer in 12:25 suggests that none of these marriages will be eternally valid.”[12] But given the Passion Week setting of the debate, perhaps Jesus’s most significant declaration is that God “is not the God of the dead but the God of the living” (Mark 12:25). Not only did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob continue to live in the spirit world (the Sadducees did not seem to believe in any kind of life after death), but through Jesus’s own resurrection he would overcome physical death for them and for us.

The next person to question Jesus was one of the scribes (Greek, grammateis), a term that we have rendered as “experts at the law” to emphasize their expertise in the books attributed to Moses as well as other scriptures.[13] Generally, at least in Jerusalem, these legal experts are linked with the chief priests and elders as being opposed to Jesus,[14] but this particular scribe seemed sincere, perhaps because of the ways he had heard Jesus respond to previous questions. In this episode (Mark 12:28‒34; parallel Matt 22:35‒40), the expert questions Jesus as to which is the most important commandment, a question that was understandable, given that legal authorities would later identify 613 different commandments in the Mosaic law.[15] Jesus answers by citing two different passages, the obligation to love God with all our faculties (Mark 12:29‒30; cf. Deut 6:4–5) and to love our fellow men and women (Mark 12:31; cf. Lev 19:18). While Matthew ends his version of this episode with Jesus’s answer, Mark continues with the expert at the law responding favorably to Jesus, complimenting him on his answer and going on to acknowledge that love—which might, in fact, be the greatest commandment, under which the two greatest are both subsumed—is greater than the ritual sacrifices with which the temple was concerned.[16] Jesus declares that he is not far from the kingdom of God. Jesus’s answer, and perhaps the fact that he almost converted one of their number, silences his opponents.

During the lull, Jesus turns the tables on his opponents, asking a question based upon Psalm 110:1 that forces all these groups to reconsider their own contemporary messianic expectations (Mark 12:35–37; parallels Matt 22:41–46; Luke 20:41–44). Traditionally attributed to David, many scholars classify this as one of the royal psalms that were sung at significant events in the reign of an anointed king. In this context, Psalm 110 would have reflected how YHWH, or Jehovah (traditionally represented as “the Lord” in English translations), called upon the new king, the people’s lord (Hebrew, ʾādōnāy), to symbolically sit on his right hand upon the king’s coronation.[17] Ideally the king thus served as a type of the Messiah, who took his place at God’s right hand. Contemporary messianic expectations said that the Messiah would be a son of David, a future king of David’s line who would redeem Israel and restore her to greatness. However, when this verse is put in the voice of David, the greatest of these kingly types, Jesus explained that the Christological implications of this verse were far greater than what the scribes expected. David had understood that the Messiah was more than one of his descendants: he was already God’s chosen who sat at his right hand millennia before his birth in the flesh.[18]

Liz Lemon Swindle, The Widow's Mites. ldsart.com.

While the crowds rejoiced in Jesus’s upending of the understanding of the Jerusalem authorities, he proceeded to roundly condemn the aggrandizement of the experts at the law (Mark 12:38–40; parallel Luke 20:45‒47). Matthew’s account not only expands the indictment but also extends it to the Pharisees and adds seven damning “woes” that condemn their behavior in detail (Matt 23:1‒36). Mark’s previous approval of the single scribe who had responded favorably to Jesus highlights the condemnation of the group as a whole, as does Jesus’s warm approval of the motivation of the poor widow who offers all she has to the temple treasury (Mark 12:41‒44; parallel Luke 21:1‒4). While the rich make an ostentatious display of casting large offerings into the treasury, she throws in two small copper coins. Traditionally translated as “mites,” each was a tiny coin (Greek, lepton) that was the smallest in circulation. The equivalent of the Roman denomination called a quadrans, it was hardly one-sixty-fourth of the value of a day’s labor. [19] Together they represented barely enough for single meal, recalling the widow of Zarephath who gave the substance of her final meal to the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs 17:10‒15).[20] In addition to illustrating Jesus’s appreciation of and love for women and all the marginalized, the widow’s sincerity may also serve as a Christological type. Because “her whole means of subsistence” (Greek, holon ton bion autēs) literally means “her whole life,”[21] Smith has observed, “The reference to her whole life (KJV: “all her living”) may foreshadow Jesus’ coming gift of his whole life.”[22]

As the various authorities in Jerusalem try to find fault in Jesus as they examine him, Jesus not only frustrates their traps but he also provides allusions to his divine identity and saving mission. Matthew then ends Jesus’s temple teachings with a poignant lament over Jerusalem (Matt 23:37‒39). Not only does this lament employ the powerful image of Jesus as a hen longing to gather her chickens under her wings that Latter-day Saints also know from the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 10:5‒6), it also concludes with the same phrase that just days before had been on the lips of the crowds as Jesus first entered the city in triumph: “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt 23:39; compare Ps 118:25–26; Matt 21:9). Since the Jerusalem leadership failed to accept Jesus now, his true triumphal return will occur at the end of time.

Texts: Mark 13:1–37; Matthew 25:1–13, 31–46

Mark 13 comprises the longest single discourse of Jesus in that Gospel; elsewhere in Mark, Jesus’s sayings comprise short parables or teaching sayings. This discourse, which consists of a prophecy that Jesus delivered on the Mount of Olives, treats both the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, before which Jesus will return in glory. Parallels appear in Matthew 24:1–25:46 and Luke 21:5–38. Matthew’s version is the longest of the three and includes several parables about preparing for the end, two of which are provided here.

Mark

¹And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, “Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” ²And Jesus answering said unto him, “Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

³And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?” ⁵And Jesus answering them began to say, “Take heed lest any man deceive you: ⁶For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ⁷And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. ⁸For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.”

⁹“But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. ¹⁰And the gospel must first be published among all nations. ¹¹But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. ¹²Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. ¹³And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

¹⁴“But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judæa flee to the mountains: ¹⁵And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: ¹⁶And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. ¹⁷“But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! ¹⁸And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. ¹⁹For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. ²⁰And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. ²¹“And then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there;’ believe him not: ²²For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. ²³But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.”

²⁴“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, ²⁵And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. ²⁶And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”

²⁸“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: ²⁹So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. ³⁰Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. ³¹Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”

³²“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. ³³Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. ³⁴For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. ³⁵Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: ³⁶Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. ³⁷And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Mount of Olives from the Old City of Jerusalem. Rachel Huntsman-Petersen, used by permission.

Matthew

¹“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ²And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶And at midnight there was a cry made, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.’ ⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish said unto the wise, ‘Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.’ ⁹But the wise answered, saying, ‘Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ¹¹Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ ¹²But he answered and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, I know you not.’ ¹³Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

³¹“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.’ ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?’ ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ ⁴¹“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.’ ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?’ ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.’ ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

The Olivet Discourse

Interpretation and Application

As Jesus leaves the temple for the last time, a disciple comments on the scale and beauty of the Herodian complex, leading Jesus to prophesy how, in a coming day, it will be totally destroyed, not leaving one stone on top of another (Mark 13:1‒2; parallels Matt 24:1‒2; Luke 21:5‒6). In Mark, this prophetic oracle is the verbal equivalent of the temple incident on the previous day, which was an enacted sign framed by the cursing and withering of the fig tree. Jesus’s departure is, in a sense, parallel to Ezekiel’s vision of the departure of the šekīnâ—the presence of God visible as a cloud of glory—from the Temple of Solomon after it had been defiled and before it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. This cloud of glory likewise left the temple and Jerusalem heading east, resting briefly on the Mount of Olives (Ezek 10:18‒19; 11:22‒23).[23] Given that the last episode in Mark’s narrative was the widow’s offering, the final sin that condemned the Temple of Herod under its priestly leadership was arguably the exploitation of this poor woman, who gave all she had to the temple when the establishment instead should have been supporting her as the Mosaic law and prophets had enjoined.[24]

Francesco Hayez, The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Wikimedia Commons.

Sitting down on the Mount of Olives across the Qidron Valley across from the temple, Jesus then delivered a prophetic discourse, which forecasts the coming destruction of the temple, persecution of his followers, signs in heaven, and the eventual return of the Son of Man in glory (Mark 13:3‒36; parallels Matt 24:1–25:46 and Luke 21:5–38). Sometimes called “The Little Apocalypse,” employing the term used to describe the book of Revelation (Greek, apokalypsis), Jesus’s discourse contains some, but not all, of the features of apocalyptic literature.[25] Delivered to Peter, James, John, and Andrew, who were the first four of the Twelve to have been called in the Synoptics (Mark 1:16‒20; parallels Matt 4:18‒22; Luke 5:1‒11), this discourse can be read on several levels. First, its primary application is to the disciples and then the original audience of Mark, with much of the discourse anticipating the upheavals that would lead up to and culminate in the Jewish revolt against Rome in AD 66‒72, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple in AD 70. On a broader, symbolic level, it lays out the challenges—and the responsibilities—that believers experience in every age. Finally, particularly at its end, it is an eschatological discourse, meaning that it addresses “events of the end times” (Greek, ta eschata).

Jesus warns of the regional wars, the famines, the profanation of the temple, and the rise of messianic pretenders that would precede the final destruction of Jerusalem (Mark 13:5‒8, 14‒23), but perhaps more important to the four disciples to whom he first delivered this discourse is the guidance that he gives them (Mark 13:9‒13). The “good news” being “proclaimed to all nations” predicts the spread of the gospel to the various peoples of the Roman Empire as part of the Gentile mission, and Jesus encourages these four disciples, and other missionaries of the apostolic church, to be faithful in the face of the persecution and tribulation that they will experience, trusting the spirit to inspire them in their witness.[26] Yet these are also the experiences of believers in all ages, leading Ben Witherington, professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, to note, “The major function of the Olivet discourse, then, is not to encourage eschatological forecasting, but rather to encourage watchfulness and Christian diligence in Christian life and witness.”[27] Not least, they apply to us in the Restoration, particularly as we work in our days to gather all Israel in advance of the Second Coming.[28]

More clearly eschatological, however, is the powerful image of heavenly signs that echo Old Testament prophecy about the great and terrible Day of the Lord (Mark 13:24‒27; cf. Isa 34:4; Joel 2:1–10), and, in particular, the image of the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory (Mark 13:26; cf. Dan 7:13). While this seems a clear reference to the Risen Lord’s glorious return, it has particular significance in its Passion Week setting, especially to Jesus’s closest disciples. After the triumphal entry, when it seemed that Jesus was about to fulfill their mistimed messianic expectations of returning the kingdom to Israel, he no doubt knew how confused his friends would be when their expectations of political deliverance would be dashed and how heartbroken they would be when he was arrested, judged, executed, and laid away in a borrowed tomb. By giving them a foretaste of his future glory, when he would come to rule and reign upon the earth, he planted the seed of hope and gave them a longer perspective to understand his full mission.[29] Likewise for us, although we have accepted Jesus as King in our hearts, the challenges and tribulations of our lives can often overwhelm us. Yet we, too, can look forward to that great day when he comes as King over all the earth.

Until that day, Jesus has bid all his followers—past, present, and future—to look out, stay alert, and pray (Mark 13:34; KJV, “Take ye heed, watch and pray”). To illustrate the necessity of living in a state of preparation, Matthew’s longer version of the Olivet Discourse concludes with four parables of preparation: the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant (Matt 24:45–51), the parable of the ten virgins or bridesmaids (25:1–13), the parable of the talents (25:14–30), and the parable of the sheep and the goats (25:31–46). The parable of the bridesmaids, a rendition of which we have provided above, employs the powerful image of Christ as the Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride. For us to be called to the marriage feast, representing the covenantal union of the Lord and his people, we must be prepared with extra oil and our lamps burning, regardless of when the Lord will actually return. Of this parable, President Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1984 and First Counselor in the First Presidency since 2018, has written, “The arithmetic of this parable is chilling. The ten virgins obviously represent members of Christ’s Church, for all were invited to the wedding feast and all knew what was required to be admitted when the bridegroom came. But only half were ready when he came.”[30] The parable of the sheep and the goats, also provided, suggests that the best preparation we can make to be found on the right hand of our Heavenly King is to love and serve others, for thereby we are in fact serving the Lord (Matt 25:39–40; cf. Mosiah 2:17).

Celebrating Holy, or Great, Tuesday in the Christian Tradition

Egeria mentions that on the Tuesday of Passion Week pilgrims in fourth-century Jerusalem repeated the Monday service at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. However, at the conclusion of the regular service, worshippers and pilgrims followed the bishop to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives. Known as the Church of Pater Noster today, this church was built in the fourth century over a cave where Jesus was believed to have taught his end-time sermon. Here Egeria records, “When they have come to that church, the bishop enters into the cave in which the Lord was accustomed to teach the disciples, and he takes the gospel book, and, standing, the bishop himself reads the words of the Lord that are written in the Gospel according to Matthew, that is, where he says, ‘See, let no one lead you astray.’”[31]

In modern times, the Holy Tuesday Bridegroom service is repeated from the previous day but with slight variations. In particular, the Tuesday service emphasizes the parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1–13) and the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14–30).

Suggestions for Latter-day Saints

Families can mark the Tuesday of Holy Week by reading together the questions that Jesus’s opponents asked him, noting that this examination demonstrated that he was the unblemished Lamb of God prepared for Passover. They can also continue to discuss the theme of kingship, particularly how it will ultimately be realized at his glorious Second Coming. Reading together the parables of the ten virgins and of the sheep and the goats, parents can discuss with their children what we each need to do to prepare for the Second Coming, when we can welcome the glorified Jesus Christ with greater enthusiasm than the crowds did on Palm Sunday. Perhaps the best preparation we can make is be like the widow, who gave her all to the Lord, and to love and serve others, seeing in them the Lord himself.

Harry Anderson, The Second Coming of Christ. Courtesty of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

A hymn that powerfully paints a picture of the Second Coming is “Jehovah, Lord of Heaven and Earth” (Hymns, no. 269), and children may enjoy singing the much-loved “When He Comes Again” (Children’s Songbook, 82‒83). [1/4 page image: 4.7 Harry Anderson, The Second Coming of Christ] Art that illustrates the events of the day includes Tissot’s “The Tribute Money” and “Prophecy of the Destruction of the Temple.” Latter-day Saint artist Gary E. Smith has produced a lovely depiction of Jesus on the Mount of Olives entitled Christ Laments over Jerusalem, and Liz Lemon Swindle has painted one entitled No Man Knoweth the Hour. For other art ideas, see Appendix D: Celebrating Holy Week—A Resource Guide for Latter-Day Saints.

Marking the Tuesday of Holy Week

Tuesday marks the end of what we have termed the Kingly Portion of Holy Week. Reflecting on these events and pondering what we must do to prepare for Jesus’s Second Coming is an important way of putting Jesus’s salvific work in a Restoration context, recognizing that we are living in the latter-days and that we believe that “Christ will reign personally upon the earth” (Articles of Faith 1:10). Yet regardless of whether the Risen Lord comes again in our lifetime or in the yet distant future, we must be faithful, keep our covenants, and prepare to meet him today. President Oaks has taught, “If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow—through our premature death or through His unexpected coming—what would we do today? . . . I testify of Jesus Christ. I testify that He shall come, as He has promised. And I pray that we will be prepared to meet Him.”[32] §

For Further Reading

Borg and Crossan. The Last Week, 55–84.

Hatch. A Stranger in Jerusalem, 192‒93.

Huntsman. God So Loved the World, 27–38.

Jackson, Kent P. “The Olivet Discourse.” In Holzapfel and Wayment, From the Transfiguration through the Triumphal Entry, 318–43.

Levine. Entering the Passion, 65–90.

Smith. The Gospel according to Mark, 642–99.

Notes

[1] D. Todd Christofferson, “Preparing for the Lord’s Return,” Ensign, May 2019, 84.

[2] Huntsman, “Gospel of John,” 316‒17.

[3] m. Pesaḥ. 5:5–10 = The Mishnah, A New Translation, trans. Jacob Neusner (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), 238–39. See Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, “Passover Sacrifice (Hebrew, “zebaḥ Pesaḥ”; lit. “sacrifice of exemption”),” in Jewish Encyclopedia, .

[4] Huntsman, God So Loved the World, 30.

[5] In favor of the Pharisees as “debating partners” instead of constant opponents, see the following instances where they seemed kindly disposed to Jesus: Luke 13:31; 14:1; John 3:1‒2; 7:50-52; 19:38‒42; Acts 15:5. There seems instead to have been a distinction between the Pharisees in Galilee and those in Jerusalem, the latter of which were part of the leadership class and more hostile to Jesus.

[6] France, Gospel of Mark, 151‒52, 467; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 205‒6, 643.

[7] Jesus may have been making an interesting allusion to Genesis 1:26‒27 and humanity bearing God’s image, in which case, by putting his will first, we give back to God our very selves.

[8] Alexander Sand, s.v., “apodidōmi,” EDNT 1:127‒29.

[9] France, Gospel of Mark, 468‒69, and Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 324‒26, both note the irony that Jesus did not even own a Roman coin, while the Pharisees, who presumably objected to both the coin’s image and inscription, apparently had one on hand.

[10] France, Gospel of Mark, 473; Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 327‒30.

[11] France, Gospel of Mark, 472.

[12] Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 654. Smith further notes, “The wording used in this passage refers to the contracting new marriages; . . . this idea is wholly congruent with Latter-day Saint thought: it is precisely because new marriages are not believed to be contracted in the next life (Doctrine and Covenants 132:16).”

[13] Günther Baumbach, “grammateus,” EDNT 1:259‒60, which makes “scribes” the equivalent of the Hebrew sōp̱ərîm or ḥaḵānîm and allows it to serve as the equivalent of nomikoi or “experts of the law.”

[14] These scribes, or “experts at the law,” were affiliated with almost every Jewish group and would not automatically be opposed to Jesus. Matthew 13:52, in fact, is another example of a “righteous scribe.”

[15] While the number is attributed to Simlai in b. Mak. 23b–24a, the earliest categorization and listing of the commandments was done by Maimonides (1135–1204) in his compendium Sefer Hamitzvot or Book of Commandments. See the summary and discussion of Marc Herman, “The Origins and Use of the 613 Mitzvot,” TheTorah.com.

[16] Tellingly, whereas Jesus quotes the law to say that we must love God with all our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, the expert repeats Jesus’s answer without the possessive, perhaps indicating less personal devotion.

[17] deClaissé-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 834‒38; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 661.

[18] France, Gospel of Mark, 482‒85; Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 333‒34; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 662‒63. Because of our understanding that YHWH, or Jehovah, was the divine name of the premortal Jesus Christ, this interpretation takes additional effort in Latter-day Saint exegesis of Psalm 110:1 because in its original setting YHWH refers to the Father and ʾāḏōnāy refers to the premortal Jesus Christ. Two possible ways of understanding this are that (1) Jehovah was speaking about himself on behalf of the Father to “David” through what is called “divine investiture of authority” (“‘The Father and the Son’: A Doctrinal Exposition of the First Presidency and the Twelve,” June 30, 1916, in Messages of the First Presidency [Salt Lake City, 1971], 5:26‒34), and (2) Jehovah, while referring to the Son in the vast majority of instances, could accurately be a name-title also applied to the Father because its root meaning was something like “the one who was, is, and is to come” and “the one who causes things to be.” For the history of Latter-day Saint uses of the terms Elohim and Jehovah, see Ryan Conrad Davis and Paul Hoskisson, “Usage of the Title Elohim,” Religious Educator 14, no. 1 (2013): 115–24.

[19] Bauer, “leptos, ē, on,” BDAG, 893‒93. See Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 334‒35; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 665‒66.

[20] France, Gospel of Mark, 493.

[21] Bauer, “bios,” BDAG, 177.

[22] Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 667.

[23] France, Gospel of Mark, 495.

[24] Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 669.

[25] France, Gospel of Mark, 498‒99; Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 336‒37; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 669‒70.

[26] Space does not allow for a thorough exegesis of the Olivet Discourse here. For detailed discussion, see France, Gospel of Mark, 499–530; Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 337–47; Smith, Gospel according to Mark, 672–89.

[27] Witherington, Gospel of Mark, 340.

[28] Kent P. Jackson, “The Olivet Discourse,” in From the Transfiguration through the Triumphal Entry, 318–43.

[29] Huntsman, God So Loved the World, 35–36.

[30] Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Ensign, May 2004, 8.

[31] Itinerarium Egeriae 33.1‒2 = McGowan and Bradshaw, Pilgrimage of Egeria, 170‒71.

[32] Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” 9, 10.