1Když vzhlédl, uviděl, jak bohatí vhazují své dary do pokladnice. 2Uviděl také jednu chudou vdovu, jak tam hází dvě drobné mince, 3a řekl: „Vpravdě vám pravím, že tato chudá vdova hodila více než všichni ostatní. 4Neboť ti všichni vhodili k Božím darům ze svého přebytku, tato však vhodila ze svého nedostatku celé svoje živobytí. “ 5Když někteří mluvili o chrámu, že je vyzdoben krásnými kameny a obětními dary, řekl: 6„Přijdou dny, ve kterých z toho, co vidíte, zde nezůstane kámen na kameni, který nebude stržen.“ 7Otázali se ho: „Učiteli, kdy to bude? A jaké bude znamení, až se to začne dít?“ 8Řekl: „ Dávejte si pozor, abyste nebyli svedeni. Neboť mnozí přijdou v mém jménu a budou říkat: ‚Já jsem‘ a ‚ten čas je tu‘. Nechoďte za nimi. 9Když byste uslyšeli o válkách a nepokojích, nevyděste se. Neboť to musí nejprve nastat, ale konec nebude hned.“ 10Potom jim říkal: „Povstane národ proti národu a království proti království, 11budou veliká zemětřesení a na různých místech hlad a mor, budou hrůzy a veliká znamení z nebe. 12Avšak před tím vším vztáhnou na vás ruce a budou vás pronásledovat, vydávajíce vás do synagog a do vězení, budete pro mé jméno předváděni před krále a vladaře. 13To vám bude svědectvím. 14Uložte si tedy do svých srdcí, abyste se předem nepřipravovali, jak se budete hájit. 15Neboť já vám dám řeč a moudrost, které nebudou moci odolat ani ji vyvrátit žádní vaši protivníci. 16Vydají vás i rodiče, bratři, příbuzní a přátelé a někteří z vás budou usmrceni. 17A všichni vás budou nenávidět pro mé jméno. 18Ale ani vlas z vaší hlavy se určitě neztratí. 19Svou trpělivostí získejte své duše.“ 20„Když uvidíte, že Jeruzalém je obkličován vojsky, tehdy vězte, že se přiblížilo jeho zpustošení. 21Pak ti, kdo jsou v Judsku, ať utíkají do hor, a ti, kdo jsou v jeho středu, ať vyjdou, a kteří jsou na venkově, ať do něho nevcházejí, 22protože toto jsou dny trestu, aby se naplnilo všechno, co je napsáno. 23Běda těhotným a kojícím v oněch dnech! Neboť bude veliká tíseň na zemi a hněv proti tomuto lidu. 24Padnou ostřím meče a jako zajatci budou odvedeni mezi všecky národy, a po Jeruzalému budou šlapat národy, dokud se nenaplní jejich čas. “ 25„A budou znamení na slunci, měsíci a hvězdách a na zemi úzkost národů, bezradných před řevem a vlnobitím moře. 26Lidé budou omdlévat strachem a očekáváním toho, co přichází na celý svět; neboť mocnosti nebes se zatřesou. 27A potom uvidí Syna člověka přicházet v oblaku s mocí a velikou slávou. 28Když se toto začne dít, napřimte se a zvedněte hlavy, protože se přibližuje vaše vykoupení.“ 29A řekl jim podobenství: „Podívejte se na fíkovník a na všechny ostatní stromy. 30Když vidíte, že již vypučely, sami víte, že léto je již blízko. 31Tak i vy, až uvidíte, že se toto děje, vězte, že je blízko Boží království. 32Amen, pravím vám, že určitě nepomine ono pokolení, dokud se toto všechno nestane. 33Nebe a země pominou, ale má slova jistě nepominou.“ 34„ Mějte se na pozoru, aby vaše srdce nebyla zatížena flámováním, opilstvím a starostmi každodenního života a onen den na vás nepřišel náhle 35jako past. Neboť přijde na všechny, kteří přebývají na povrchu celé země. 36Bděte a proste v každý čas, abyste měli sílu uniknout všemu tomu, co se má dít, a postavit se před Syna člověka.“ 37Ve dne učil v chrámě, ale v noci vycházel a zůstával na hoře zvané Olivová. 38A všechen lid k němu časně zrána přicházel, aby ho v chrámě poslouchal.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE WIDOW'S TWO MITES. (
Luke 21:1-
Luke 21:4)
looked up--He had "sat down over against the treasury" (
Mark 12:41), probably to rest, for He had continued long standing as he taught in the temple court (
Mark 11:27), and "looking up He saw"--as in Zaccheus' case, not quite casually.
the rich, &c.--"the people," says
Mark 12:41 "cast money into the treasury, and many rich east in much"; that is, into chests deposited in one of the courts of the temple to receive the offerings of the people towards its maintenance (
2Kgs 12:9;
John 8:20).
2 two mites--"which make a farthing" (
Mark 12:42), the smallest Jewish coin. "She might have kept one" [BENGEL].
3 And he said--"to His disciples," whom He "called to Him" (
Mark 12:43), to teach from it a great future lesson.
more than . . . all--in proportion to her means, which is God's standard (
2Cor 8:12).
4 of their abundance--their superfluity; what they had to spare," or beyond what they needed.
of her penury--or "want" (
Mark 12:44) --her deficiency, of what was less than her own wants required, "all the living she had." Mark (
Mark 12:44) still more emphatically, "all that she had--her whole subsistence." Note: (1) As temple offerings are needed still for the service of Christ at home and abroad, so "looking down" now, as then "up," Me "sees" who "cast in," and how much. (2) Christ's standard of commendable offering is not our superfluity, but our deficiency--not what will never be missed, but what costs us some real sacrifice, and just in proportion to the relative amount of that sacrifice. (See
2Cor 8:1-3.)
5 CHRIST'S PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND WARNINGS TO PREPARE FOR HIS SECOND COMING, SUGGESTED BY IT--HIS DAYS AND NIGHTS DURING HIS LAST WEEK. (Luke 21:5-38)
(See on
Matt 24:1-
Matt 24:3.)
8 the time--of the Kingdom, in its full glory.
go . . . not . . . after them--"I come not so very soon" (
2Thess 2:1-2) [STIER].
9 not terrified--(See
Luke 21:19;
Isa 8:11-
Isa 8:14).
end not by and by--or immediately, not yet (
Matt 24:6;
Mark 13:7): that is, "Worse must come before all is over."
10 Nation, &c.--Matthew and Mark (
Matt 24:8;
Mark 13:8) add, "All these are the beginning of sorrows," or travail pangs, to which heavy calamities are compared (
Jer 4:31, &c.).
12 brought before, &c.--The book of Acts verifies all this.
13 for a testimony--an opportunity of bearing testimony.
18 not a hair . . . perish--He had just said (
Luke 21:16) they should be put to death; showing that this precious promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnishing a key to the right interpretation of the ninety-first Psalm, and such like. Matthew adds the following (
Matt 24:12): "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many," the many or, the most--the generality of professed disciples--"shall wax cold." But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Sad illustrations of the effect of abounding iniquity in cooling the love of faithful disciples we have in the Epistle of James, written about this period referred to, and too frequently ever since (
Heb 10:38-
Heb 10:39;
Rev 2:10). "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come" (
Matt 24:14). God never sends judgment without previous warning; and there can be no doubt that the Jews, already dispersed over most known countries, had nearly all heard the Gospel "as a witness," before the end of the Jewish state. The same principle was repeated and will repeat itself to the end.
20 by armies--encamped armies, that is, besieged: "the abomination of desolation" (meaning the Roman ensigns, as the symbols of an idolatrous, pagan, unclean power) "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" (
Dan 9:27) "standing where it ought not" (
Mark 13:14). "Whoso readeth [that prophecy] let him understand" (
Matt 24:15).
Then . . . flee, &c.--EUSEBIUS says the Christians fled to Pella, at the north extremity of Perea, being "prophetically directed"; perhaps by some prophetic intimation still more explicit than this, which still would be their chart.
23 woe unto--"alas for."
with child, &c.--from the greater suffering it would involve; as also "flight in winter, and on the sabbath," which they were to "pray" against (
Matt 24:20), the one as more trying to the body, the other to the soul. "For then shall be tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be"--language not unusual in the Old Testament for tremendous calamities, though of this it may perhaps be literally said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (
Matt 24:21-
Matt 24:22). But for this merciful "shortening," brought about by a remarkable concurrence of causes, the whole nation would have perished, in which there yet remained a remnant to be afterwards gathered out. Here in Matthew and Mark (
Matt 24:24;
Mark 13:22) are some particulars about "false Christs," who should, "if possible"--a precious clause--"deceive the very elect." (Compare
2Thess 2:9-11;
Rev 13:13.)
24 Jerusalem . . . trodden down . . . until, &c.--Implying (1) that one day Jerusalem shall cease to be "trodden down by the Gentiles" (
Rev 11:2), as then by pagan so now by Mohammedan unbelievers; (2) that this shall be at the "completion" of "the times of the Gentiles," which from
Rom 11:25 (taken from this) we conclude to mean till the Gentiles have had their full time of that place in the Church which the Jews in their time had before them--after which, the Jews being again "grafted into their own olive tree," one Church of Jew and Gentile together shall fill the earth (Rom. 11:1-36). What a vista this opens up!
25 signs, &c.--Though the grandeur of this language carries the mind over the head of all periods but that of Christ's second coming, nearly every expression will be found used of the Lord's coming in terrible national judgments, as of Babylon, &c.; and from
Luke 21:28,
Luke 21:32, it seems undeniable that its immediate reference was to the destruction of Jerusalem, though its ultimate reference beyond doubt is to Christ's final coming.
28 redemption--from the oppression of ecclesiastical despotism and legal bondage by the total subversion of the Jewish state and the firm establishment of the evangelical kingdom (
Luke 21:31). But the words are of far wider and more precious import. Matthew (
Matt 24:30) says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven," evidently something distinct from Himself, mentioned immediately after. What this was intended to mean, interpreters are not agreed. But as before Christ came to destroy Jerusalem, some appalling portents were seen in the air, so before His personal appearing it is likely that something analogous will be witnessed, though of what nature it is vain to conjecture.
32 This generation--not "this nation," as some interpret it, which, though admissible in itself, seems very unnatural here. It is rather as in
Luke 9:27.
34 surfeiting, and drunkenness--All animal excesses, quenching spirituality.
cares of this life--(See on
Mark 4:7;
Mark 4:19).
36 Watch . . . pray, &c.--the two great duties which in prospect of trial are constantly enjoined. These warnings, suggested by the need of preparedness for the tremendous calamities approaching, and the total wreck of the existing state of things, are the general improvement of the whole discourse, carrying the mind forward to Judgment and Vengeance of another kind and on a grander and more awful scale--not ecclesiastical or political but personal, not temporal but eternal--when all safety and blessedness will be found to lie in being able to "STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN" in the glory of His personal appearing.
37 in the daytime--of this His last week.
abode in the mount--that is, at Bethany (
Matt 21:17).