MARK 13:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.”
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death — the familial betrayal intensifies the persecution section: the kingdom's division of loyalties (Mark 3:31–35, 10:29–30) will produce literal family betrayals. The intimacy of the betrayal (brother/brother, father/child, children/parents) communicates that the kingdom's claim supersedes every human loyalty — and that those whose loyalties are differently ordered will become persecutors of those who follow Jesus.
Church Fathers on Mark 13:12
The Lords shews how Jerusalem and the province of Judaea merited the infliction of such calamities, in the following words: 'But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten.'
Fitly also did He premise a recital of those things which concerned the Apostles, that in their own tribulations they might find some consolation in the community of troubles and sufferings.
Matthew adds, 'And then shall the end come.' [Matt 24:14]
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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