When you look through the lens of your camera you’ll see a square or rectangular shape that focuses on the face or the object of most interest in the frame. When you move the focus to a more distant place beyond the immediate foreground the detail becomes less clear and the focus is lost.

This problem of focus confronts us here as we read of the end of the ‘Age’. Is Jesus talking about the present ‘Age’ that is the near focus or the end of history, the far focus?

This may seem like an academic question but it has important consequences for our Christian discipleship.

Paul discovered in some of the churches that he visited that they had misunderstood Jesus' message about the coming Kingdom and had thought he was talking about the end of the world. As a result many stopped working and started waiting. They gave up with this world because they believed that the next world was just over the horizon.

Paul warned the Thessalonian church sternly: “If anyone is unwilling to work, let him not eat” 2Thess 3:10

Focus then is all important because it literally gives us clarity when it comes to important issues of Christian discipleship like how should I live?
Focus is important for another reason as we will discover when we choose the frame of our picture
Are we interested in the far horizon, then we will lose focus on the near or are we interested in the near, then we will lose focus on the far horizon.
The frame we choose for our photo gives meaning to the objects within the picture, or if we are writing a novel the ending is the frame that gives the story meaning.

I will take as an example the life of Mark Rosthko, the American artist whose dark moody paintings take us to a meditative space where we can contemplate meaning and purpose. Rothko’s last paintings, a series of murals for the smart new Segram centre in New York were designed to challenge the comfortable diners in the building's restaurant. This is what he said about the murals:

“I accepted this assignment as a challenge with strictly malicious intentions. I hope to paint something that will ruin the appetites of every son of bitch who ever eats in that room”

Rothko’s intended challenge of American capitalism was uncompromising and ultimately destructive for it saw no hope of a better future, there was no redemptive message, just a nihilist despair.

“Anybody who will eat that kind of food for those kinds of prices will never look at a painting of mine.”

If we seek to interpret our times as Rothko and critique its values, then we must focus not only on the failures but offer hope for the future.

What then is the frame of reference that Jesus is using when he talks to the disciples about the ‘Close of the Age’?

Clue One: “Let the reader understand” Mark 13:14.
Jesus points us back to the OT prophecies in Daniel in which the ‘Abomination’, is set up in the Temple by invading armies of the Greek general Ephiphaniades in the middle of the Temple.
This act of blasphemy takes us to the events of AD 70 when the Romans army destroyed Herod’s Temple and set up their banners in the Temple. The Jewish historian Josephus describes this terrible time in graphic detail, but the prophecy of Daniel tells us of its cosmic significance. It marked the end of an ‘Age’ and the coming ‘Age’ of the ‘Son of Man’.

Just as Jesus had predicted, the destruction of the Temple would be the sure sign that God had vindicated him as the true representative of his people.
Daniel 7:13 ‘They will see the Son of Man coming on clouds with great glory’.
Daniel here is referring not to the return of the Son of Man at the end of time but to his glorious resurrection and ascension after suffering. This was to be the sign that ‘Time’ had been called on the system that had opposed God’s call and God’s Gospel.
The blasphemy of the Roman legions was the beginning of the end of the Roman empire.

Clue two: ‘He will gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the Heavens.’ Mark 13:27.

This new age would be the age of the Gentiles and the establishment of a mission that would draw people from all nations of the earth together into a new people of God – the Church. The significance of these words for those who heard is made clear by Jesus.
“This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Mark 13:30.
The disciples were being prepared not for the end of the world but for the beginning of a new age.
The picture Jesus draws is of the fig tree in spring when its leaves are just about to come out. This new age is to be a ‘Springtime’ for the earth. It is to be an age of new growth and promise in which the blossoming of God’s Kingdom would be seen in every corner of the world. Just as the old prophecies had foretold, God's word would go out into the world and fulfil its purpose.

Clue three: “No one knows about that day or hour... nor even the son, but only the Father.”
Mark 13:32.

Jesus is unwilling to speculate about the end of time, because he has no knowledge of its timing. Just as we discovered when we focused on the objects in photos, distant objects remain out of focus when we are focusing on objects in our immediate frame.
We should beware of anyone who tells us that they have such knowledge! It would seem that for Jesus the most important detail to focus on was the immediate future, not the distant horizon.

Jesus had in view two horizons, the present and the future.
Both horizons present us with a wonderful view of God’s plan and purpose for mankind. The distant horizon must for the moment remain as a backdrop for the age in which we live. It tells us that history has a direction and meaning, that all creation is part of a God given plan for the renewal of the earth and the salvation of mankind.

However it is the near horizon that is to motivate us to action and shape the choices we make in this life.
The life, death and resurrection and ascension are the ‘Signs of the Time that shape the way we live. It is in his sacrifice, his love, his passion for the least of the least that we find our vocation as Christians.

‘And the gospel must be proclaimed to all nations’ Mark 13: 10

Jesus gives us a perspective in which to live our lives. As Martin Luther the Reformation theologian said,
“ Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would plant my apple tree today”
Jesus gives us the faith and the reason to live in the light of the glorious future in which the world will be renewed and the glory of God will be made known to everyone.