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Mark 13 Bible study: Watch!
Jesus's answer on the Mount of Olives begins "Be careful" (13:5) and ends "Watch!" (13:37). The WEB's six watch verses in it are two Greek verbs, three each, and the second, which Strong's gives as "to keep awake", is the one he says three times in Gethsemane, where he finds Peter, James and John sleeping (14:34-40).
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“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
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“In Mark 13:3, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Jesus privately on the Mount of Olives.”
Is that in Mark 13, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Not one stone on another
"As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”" (13:1). Jesus answers, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down" (13:2) (tap thrown down). Since he came to Jerusalem Mark has told of him in the temple again and again (11:11, 11:15, 11:27, 12:35). This is the last time: after he goes out in 13:1, Mark never tells of him going in again. When he is seized he says, "I was daily with you in the temple teaching" (14:49). Now he sits "on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple", and four of them, "Peter, James, John, and Andrew", ask him privately (13:3): "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are all about to be fulfilled?" (13:4). Everything else in the chapter is his answer.
Where the Old Testament leads here
The doorkeeper keeps watch
1 Chronicles 9:23leads toMark 13:34-35
The gatekeepers "had the oversight of the gates of the LORD’s house, even the house of the tent, as guards" (9:23), and "They stayed around God’s house, because that was their duty" (9:27). Jesus told of a man "having left his house and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch" (Mark 13:34), and said, "Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming" (Mark 13:35). The parable comes in Jesus' teaching on his coming: "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26). Jesus doesn't cite 1 Chronicles 9, so setting his words beside it is a reading, resting on a shared picture, servants set to keep watch at the door of a house. Some hear in the gatekeepers of God's house the watchfulness Jesus asks of everyone: "What I tell you, I tell all: Watch!" (Mark 13:37). Others keep Mark 13 to Jesus' teaching about his coming, and read 9:23-27 only as the Levites' duties, without looking from one to the other.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Mark 13
That was a taste
The rest of Mark 13 is waiting in Favor
- It begins "Be careful" and ends "Watch!"
- "I have told you all things beforehand"
- Three Gospels on the Mount of Olives
- "Watch," and then they slept
- 17 questions as you read
- 12 more Greek words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Mark 13 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Greek word behind it
γρηγορεύωgregoreuosay gray-gor-YOO-o
Strong's: "to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively)". The man going away "commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch" (13:34), and Jesus says, "Watch therefore" (13:35), and "What I tell you, I tell all: Watch!" (13:37). Mark has the verb six times (counted in RP2018, the Byzantine text the WEB translates): these three, and three more on the night in Gethsemane: "Stay here and watch" (14:34), "Couldn’t you watch one hour?" (14:37) and "Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation" (14:38). The Watch of 13:9, 13:23 and 13:33 is another verb, blepo.
For your group
Mark 13 Bible study questions
- 1Jesus's answer begins, "Be careful that no one leads you astray" (13:5). What helps you tell a true word from one that would lead you astray?
- 2Jesus says, "don’t be anxious beforehand or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour" (13:11). Where do you find it hardest to trust that what you need will be given when the moment comes?
- 3"What I tell you, I tell all: Watch!" (13:37). What does staying awake for Jesus look like for you in an ordinary week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Mark 13 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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