Jesus today is delivering his "Sermon on the Mount of Olives" which is a eschatological discourse to prepare his disciples for the "last things." Just as in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus sits down on a mountain to deliver an authoritative teaching except, this time, he is not in Galilee but on the Mount of Olives where it was expected that the dead would rise at the end of time. This is evident to today where one can see all of the tombs on the Mount. He is also opposite the temple on which he shut down after his messianic entry to the city (Mk 11: 15-19 ) and declared its redundancy in the parable of the fig tree (Mk 11: 12-14, 20-25). In this sermon he tells his disciples of the signs of the end times but he doesn't give them any date or time. The message for the Early Christians and for us remains the same and is given at the end of the chapter: "Therefore, keep awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake" (Mk 13: 35-37) What is the effect of this teaching on our lives in 2021? It serves to exhort us to self-discipline so we do not yield to temptation and self-indulgence and lapse into despair that results. St Paul wrote to the Romans: "Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Rm 13: 11-14)
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