This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary in Year C, most recently November 2025.
Summary: The translators do a good job in this passage of not "covering up" the intensity of Jesus words. As I played around in the Greek, I found a number of odd parallels between this passage and the resurrection account in Luke 24. First, both this story and the resurrection story are haunting. Here Jesus warns the people not to be terrified (πτοέω). When his disciples encounter Jesus after the resurrection, they will be terrified. Next, Jesus warns of the listeners they will be betrayed (παραδίδωμι); after the resurrection, the disciples will hear the angels announce that it was necessary for Jesus to be betrayed. Finally, Jesus tells them about their future witness (μαρτύριον); after the resurrection, Jesus will send them out to be his witnesses to the world.
These are loose parallels, I admit. The basic point of the passage is that witnessing to Christ is connected with our suffering and finally, our own resurrection. I would argue, both from the text and theologically, however, that witnessing to Christ finally is grounded in the suffering and resurrection of Jesus.
Theological curve ball, completely unrelated to the Greek: This week Jesus promises to give words; in Mark's account, the Holy Spirit will give the words!
Key Words:
λιθοις καλοις ("beautiful stones", 21:5) A sermon idea -- what do you consider the beautiful stones of your life? The things that "adorn" life and upon which you build your confidence, your hope and your life? The destruction of the temple rocked the foundation of Jewish world; what stones have your realized were only "beautiful stones", not "living stones."
μαρτύριον ('witness'; 21:13; see also 24:48) Originally this word simply meant "testimony." Because so many Christians gave their life as a martyr, however, the word eventually came to mean one who would die for a cause; ie, their willingness to die became their witness. Jesus, after the resurrection will say, "You will be my witnesses." (Again in Acts 1:8)
πτοέω ('terrified'; 21.9; 24.37) This word means terrified; the only other appearance of this word in the New Testament is used in Luke 24 to describe the reaction of the disciples to the risen Christ, who they believe is a ghost.
παραδίδωμι ('hand over'; 21.12; 16) A very common word in the NT (roughly 100 times!) Jesus ministry in the Gospel of Mark, for example, begins with the handing over (or betrayal) of John the Baptist. Interesting to point out here is that this word will also appear in the resurrection accounts -- from the angels and then from Cleopas.
- Oddly enough, sometimes handing things over can be good -- Paul, for example, says he is simply handing over the words of institution (11:23) and the core kyrgma (15:3).
ἀπολογηθῆναι (from ἀπολογέομαι, meaning "defend", 21:14) This word has a clear English cognate: apologize. The biblical meaning is not really apology, but more defend. In an increasingly secular age, there is increased emphasis on "apologetics", that is, speaking about the faith in a way that doesn't apologize, but defends. What is interesting here is that this verb is in the aorist passive; as a passive verb, this means that the one speaking will not do the defending, but will "be defended." Jesus is telling them not to worry about "being defended" suggesting -- promising?? -- that they will be taken care of. Sometimes we think about apologetics as our preparations and proof texting, but here it is simply allowing Jesus to defend the truth and us simply to bear witness. These are powerful words when
συναγωγη (literally "synagogue", from "lead together", 21:12) It is worth noting that people will be handed over to synagogues. Even if you want to believe this is Luke adding words into Jesus' mouth, it is clear that Jesus did not anticipate that his death and resurrection would end the conflict within Judaism about him. The 1st century included a great deal of inter-religious tension.
ὐπομονή ('endurance'; 21.19) Although rare in the Gospels, the epistles in the NT are filled with calls for endurance! 6x in Romans; 7x in Revelation. The word means to endure and is often connected with suffering. See Romans 5:3: "Suffering produces endurance (NRSV)"
κτάομαι ('acquire'; 21.19) This word appears rather infrequently in the NT. One example is from Acts, where an official mentions he acquired his citizenship for a large amount of money (22.28). This word does not mean hold but means acquire.
υμων ('of you'/'your'; 21:19) Interestingly Jesus says "By your all endurance you all will gain your all souls." Is this is a distributive "you" plural, as in -- "All of you will use your endurance to gain your souls" -- or really a plural, like your collective endurance will lead to your collective earning of your collective souls. Just throwing it out there...last minute Greek find. Too late for this year's sermon!
Grammar Review: Non-necessity of an implied subject (its easier than it sounds)
In Greek, because you conjugate the verb based on who is the subject, you don't always need to list the subject. For instance: "λεγω" tells you both the action (speaking) and the subject (I). Normally, in fact, Greek doesn't explicitly say the subject, but the reader/listener figures it out from the conjugated verb.
Sometimes though Greek will leave in the non-necessary subject for emphasis. This is true in a particular expression: "I am" or "εγω ειμι." This particular expression is often used as a name of God -- the one who is! A handful of times Jesus will use this in the Gospels, most pointedly in John. In this particular passage, Jesus says that many will come and that "I am," using two words, the subject and verb. Again, the subject is unnecessary. So why the emphasis? First, because anyone declaring they are the messiah would probably want to emphasize the fact that they were indeed the Messiah. Secondly, someone could employ this construction to indicate, in short hand, that they are God.
Only once will Jesus use these words - "I am he" - for himself in the Gospel of Luke. After the resurrection he stands in the midst of his disciples and say, "εγω ειμι." (24.39) A reminder that its not only in John that Jesus uses such expressions!
Sentence Translation: 21:9
οταν δε ακουσητε πολεμους και ακαταστατιας, μη πτοηθητε; δει γαρ ταυτα γενεσθαι προτον, αλλ ουκ ευθεως το τελος
First step, as always, is to break down the sentence into smaller parts. Let the punctuation help you here.
1) οταν δε ακουσητε πολεμους και ακαταστατιας
2) , μη πτοηθητε;
3) δει γαρ ταυτα γενεσθαι προτον
4) , αλλ ουκ ευθεως το τελος
Now you've got four fragments, each of which is really translatable
1) οταν δε ακουσητε πολεμους και ακαταστατιας
First step to translating a clause is to figure out its subject-verb. Here this is ακουσητε , which is conjugated (thanks Bible Works) for a 2nd person plural. But you knew that anyway, right ;-)
The basic of the sentence is then: You hear
- Do you know yet why the verb is in the subjunctive mood?
πολεμους και ακαταστατιας is the object: wars and destruction. Its in the accusative case telling you its the object of the action. So in proto-english:
You hear wars and destruction
You gotta add in the "of" because in English the verb "hear" needs this
You hear of wars and destruction
Now lets go back (skip the de) and figure out this conjunction οταν. Actually, pretty straight-forward again. It means "when" or "whenever." It also demands the subjunctive mood of the verb.
Clause 1: "Whenever you hear of wars and destruction."
2) , μη πτοηθητε;
Translation: Do not be terrified. Worth noting here. Simple aorist subjunctive regarding a future event/action we are not to engage in ;-) Normally in the Bible, the words "do not fear" are in the present (and not aorist) tense, suggesting that the person who hears them is currently fearing. The aorist subjunctive doesn't assume the person currently engages in such actions!
Clause 2: Do not be (or perhaps even become) terrified.
3) δει γαρ ταυτα γενεσθαι προτον
When you see a dei clause, look for a verb in the infinitive. In this case - γενεσθαι. So we know that the basic translation of this passage will be : "It is necessary to happen/be/occur." Once you know you are in an infinitive clause, then find your subject, which will be in the accusative case.
Agh! There are two things in the accustative: ταυτα and προτον. Well, it turns out that Greek likes to stick neuter accustative adjectives in there as adverbs -- προτον (first) in this case. So you get "It is necessary for these (things) to happen first." But even if you didn't know about first functioning as an adverb, "It is necessary for first to happen this" doesn't work. Add back in the "gar" and you get:
Clause 3 "For it is necessary for these things to happen first."
4) , αλλ ουκ ευθεως το τελος
"But not immediately the end." If we recall from last week, sometimes Greek drops the "to be" verb. So we can get: "But the end is not immediately." Or perhaps better: "But the end will not happen immediately." It is not so hard to conceptually figure out what the Greek means, but its kind of awkward English.
Clause 4: "But the end will not happen immediately."
