Church Fathers Commentary Mark 13:28-31

"Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that he is nigh, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, until all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." — Mark 13:28-31 (ASV)

The Venerable Bede: Using the example of a tree, the Lord gave a pattern for the end, saying, Now learn a parable from the fig tree: When its branch is still tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things come to pass, know that it is near, right at the doors.

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He had said: Just as summer follows at once when the fig tree puts forth its leaves, so also the coming of Christ will follow immediately after the woes of the Antichrist, without any interval. For the righteous, His coming will be like summer after winter, but for sinners, it will be like winter after summer.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Everything said by the three Evangelists concerning the Lord’s Advent, if diligently compared and examined, will perhaps be found to relate to His daily coming in His body, which is the Church. The exceptions are those places where the final coming is promised as if it were approaching. For instance, in the last part of the discourse in Matthew, the coming itself is clearly expressed where it says, When the Son of Man comes in His glory (Matthew 25:31).

To what do the words, when you see these things come to pass, refer, if not to those things He has mentioned before? Among these it is said, And then you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. Therefore, the end will not be at that moment, but it will be near. ¹

Or should we say that not all the things mentioned before are included, but only some of them? This would mean leaving out the words, Then you will see the Son of Man coming, because that will be the end itself, and not just its approach. But Matthew has declared that it is to be taken without exception, saying, When you see all these things, know that it is near, right at the doors.

Therefore, what was said before must be understood this way: And He will send His angels and gather together the elect from the four winds. This means He gathers His elect from the four winds of heaven throughout the entire last hour, coming in His members as if in clouds.

The Venerable Bede: This fruit-bearing of the fig tree can also be understood to represent the state of the synagogue, which was condemned to perpetual barrenness because, when the Lord came, it had no fruits of righteousness among those who were unfaithful. But the Apostle has said that when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25). What does this mean, except that the tree which has long been barren will then yield the fruit it had withheld? When this happens, do not doubt that a summer of true peace is near.

Pseudo-Jerome: Or else, the leaves that come forth are the words now being spoken, and the approaching summer is the Day of Judgment, in which every tree will show what it had within it: either deadness for burning, or greenness to be planted with the tree of life.

Then follows: Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are done.

The Venerable Bede: By “generation,” He means either the entire human race or, specifically, the Jews.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or else, This generation will not pass away—that is, the generation of Christians—until all these things are fulfilled which were spoken concerning Jerusalem and the coming of the Antichrist. For He does not mean the generation of the Apostles, since most of them did not live to see the destruction of Jerusalem. But He says this about the generation of Christians, wishing to console His disciples so they would not believe that the faith could fail at that time. For the immovable elements will fail before the words of Christ fail, which is why it is added, Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

The Venerable Bede: The heaven that will pass away is not the ethereal or starry heaven, but the atmospheric heaven. For wherever the waters of the flood could reach, there also, according to the words of the blessed Peter, the fire of judgment will reach (2 Peter 3:10-12). But heaven and earth will pass away in the form they now have; in their essence, however, they will last forever.

1. Epist., 119, 11