Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Luke · About this commentary
Not One Stone on Another
Luke 21:5-19
5 As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said, · WEB
A remark about the stonework gets an answer about rubble — and the trouble described is a chance to speak.
As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said, "As for these things which you see, the days will come in which there will not be left here one stone on another" Luke 21:5–6.
The discourse is given in the earliest account Mark 13:1–23. The temple was one of the wonders of that world and its foundation blocks were the size of rooms.
"Teacher, so when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are about to happen?" Luke 21:7. Their question is narrower here than in the other accounts — about the building, not about the end of the age — and the answer stays closer to the city.
"Be careful that you don't get led astray" Luke 21:8. The first word is not about disasters but deception, and it is the warning repeated through the chapter.
"When you hear of wars and disturbances, don't be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end won't come immediately" Luke 21:9. The last clause is this telling's own and it is emphatic. Wars, earthquakes and famines are listed precisely so they will not be read as a countdown; the account says outright that the end does not follow immediately.
"But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you" Luke 21:12.
Before all these things reorders the list. The persecution is not a later stage; it comes first, and it is the part that concerns the people listening.
"It will turn out as a testimony for you" Luke 21:13.
That is this Gospel's distinctive note, and it changes the whole tone. Arrest, synagogue trials, appearances before kings and governors — and the verdict on all of it is that it turns out as an opportunity to speak. The second volume of this work is largely the record of that: Peter before the council, Stephen before the elders, Paul before Felix, Festus and Agrippa, every one of them preaching from the dock.
"Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom" Luke 21:14–15. The help is promised at the hour rather than in advance, which is why it cannot be prepared.
"You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death" Luke 21:16. The betrayal is domestic, and the promise that follows sits oddly beside it: "not a hair of your head will perish" Luke 21:18, said two sentences after some of you will be killed. Both are meant. What can be reached is not what is being kept.
"By your endurance you will win your lives" Luke 21:19. Endurance again, as with the good soil Luke 8:15 — the quality this book keeps naming when it describes what lasts.
held with reason What this mark means