Church Fathers Commentary Mark 13:32-37

"But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. [It is] as [when] a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." — Mark 13:32-37 (ASV)

Theophylact of Ohrid: The Lord, wishing to prevent His disciples from asking about that day and hour, says, But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

For if He had said, “I know, but I will not reveal it to you,” He would have saddened them considerably. Instead, He acted more wisely and prevented them from asking such a question, lest they should importune Him, by saying that neither the angels nor He knew.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: This ignorance of the day and hour is used as an argument against the Only-Begotten God, as if God born of God did not have the same perfection of nature as God. But first, let common sense decide whether it is credible that He, who is the cause of all things that are and that will be, should be ignorant of any of these things.

How can it be beyond the knowledge of that nature by which and in which what is to be done is contained? Can He be ignorant of that day, which is the day of His own coming? Human beings, as far as they are able, foreknow what they intend to do, and the knowledge of what is to be done follows from the will to act.

How then can the Lord of glory be believed to have an imperfect nature—one that is under a necessity to come, yet has not attained the knowledge of its own advent—all because of an apparent ignorance of that day? ¹

Furthermore, how much more room for blasphemy is there if we attribute a feeling of envy to God the Father, for withholding the knowledge of His blessedness from the One to whom He gave a foreknowledge of His death? But if all the treasures of knowledge are in Him, He is not ignorant of this day. Rather, we should remember that the treasures of wisdom in Him are hidden; His ignorance, therefore, must be connected with the hiding of the treasures of wisdom that are in Him.

For in all cases where God declares Himself ignorant, He is not under the power of ignorance. Instead, it is either not an appropriate time for speaking, or it is a matter of divine arrangement (an economy) of not acting.

If God is said to have known that Abraham loved Him at the moment He revealed that knowledge to Abraham, it follows that the Father is said to know the day because He did not hide it from the Son. Therefore, if the Son did not know the day, it is a sacrament—a sacred sign—of His silence, just as, on the contrary, the Father alone is said to know because He is not silent. But God forbid that any new and bodily changes should be ascribed to the Father or the Son.

Lastly, lest His ignorance be attributed to weakness, He immediately added, Take ye heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is.

Pseudo-Jerome: For we must watch with our souls before the death of the body.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But He teaches us two things: watching and prayer. For many of us watch, but only to pass the night in wickedness. He now follows this up with a parable, saying, For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave his servants power over every work, and commanded the porter to watch.

The Venerable Bede: The man who took a far journey and left his house is Christ, who, ascending as a conqueror to His Father after the Resurrection, left His Church in terms of His bodily presence, but has never deprived her of the safeguard of His divine presence.

St. Gregory the Great: For the earth is properly the place for the flesh, which was, as it were, carried away to a far country when it was placed by our Redeemer in the heavens. And he gave his servants power over every work, when, by giving His faithful ones the grace of the Holy Spirit, He gave them the power to perform every good work. ²

He also ordered the gatekeeper to watch, because He commanded the order of pastors to care for the Church committed to them. However, not only those of us who rule over churches, but all are required to watch the doors of their hearts, lest the evil suggestions of the devil enter them, and lest our Lord find us sleeping.

Therefore, concluding this parable, He adds, Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

Pseudo-Jerome: For he who sleeps does not apply his mind to real things, but to phantoms, and when he awakes, he does not possess what he saw. So also it is with those whom the love of this world seizes in this life; after this life, they leave behind what they only dreamed was real.

Theophylact of Ohrid: See again that He did not say, “I do not know when the time will be,” but rather, Ye know not. He concealed it because it was better for us. For if we are careless now, when we do not know the end, what would we do if we knew it? We would continue in our wickedness right up to the very end.

Let us, therefore, pay attention to His words. The end comes “at evening” when a person dies in old age; at “midnight” when they die in the midst of their youth; and at “cockcrow” when our reason is fully developed within us. For when a child begins to live according to reason, the cock crows loudly within him, rousing him from the sleep of the senses. The age of early childhood is the “morning.”

Now, people in all these stages of life must be watchful for the end, for even a child must be watched, lest he die unbaptized.

Pseudo-Jerome: He thus concludes His discourse, so that the last may hear from the first this precept which is common to all. Therefore, He adds, But what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For He speaks not only to those in whose hearing He then spoke, but to all who came after them, to those before our time, to us, and to all who will come after us, right up to His final coming. But will that day find all of us living? Or will anyone say that He is also speaking to the dead when He says, Watch, lest when he cometh he find you sleeping? ³

Why then does He say to all what applies only to those who will be alive then, if not because it applies to all, as I have said? For that day comes to each person when their day comes to depart from this life, in the state in which they will be judged on the great day. For this reason, every Christian should watch, lest the Lord’s coming find them unprepared. And that day will indeed find unprepared the one whom the last day of his own life finds unprepared.

1. de Trin., ix
2. Hom in Evan, 9
3. Epist., 199, 3