Olivet Discourse 4 - JSM - 1:27-30; Mark 13:27

Jesus starts the transition to the good stuff with a very interesting analogy. He says, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” What? I thought that only vultures ate dead things, but according to the internet eagles eat dead things too. It’s interesting that the Lord didn’t use vultures and used eagles instead. I wonder if vultures carried the same stigma back then as they do now. A vulture connotes a scavenger, unable to care for themselves and only able to live if something else dies. An eagle portrays majesty, the beauty of nature and a keen ability to care for themselves. If we were to call a person or a group of people a certain type of animal, an eagle is much more regal and noteworthy. In fact the United States is symbolically represented by the eagle, whereas people are considered vultures if they profit off of the misfortune of others.

The eagles represent a group of individuals that are respected and capable, but why the carcass? Wouldn’t this analogy be about a group of people lowering their standards, or debasing themselves with behavior that was mortally questionable? That’s how I read the analogy, so imagine my surprise when I read a quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie in the IM saying, “In the parable, as here given, the carcass is the body of the Church to which the eagles, who are Israel, shall fly to find nourishment.” That’s when I realized that I’d been thinking about this all wrong. I was looking at it from a human point of view, whereas the eagles, they are just birds, they don’t care where the food comes from, as long as they are able to eat what they need. Jesus couldn’t have used the example of an eagle hunting down a rabbit and then eating it while it was still alive, that’s a vicious and bloody illustration. But a carcass is just an animal that has died, and we know that death is not the end, it’s just part of the circle of life, the eagles need nutrients to thrive and they get it from feasting on the carcass, and we get our spiritual nutrients from feasting on the gospel.
Back in the days of the pioneers, there was one “carcass” and all the eagles flocked to it, but today, it’s different. The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “With the creation of stakes and the construction of temples in most nations with sizeable populations of the faithful, the current commandment is not to gather to one place but to gather in stakes in our own homelands. There the faithful can enjoy the full blessings of eternity in a house of the lord. There, in their own homelands, they can obey the Lord’s command to enlarge the borders of His people and strengthen her stakes. In this way, the stakes of Zion are ‘for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and form wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.’” It has always really bothered me with the idea of “gathering to Zion” as all members coming and living in Salt Lake to be protected in the last days. How could anyone afford to come here suddenly? How would we be able to keep the people in the city safe? Why are we building church buildings and temples all over the world if they are just going to be abandoned when the going gets tough? It makes so much more sense that the saints will build where they are.
The bad news keeps on coming, now talking about the destruction at the last days and not at the time of Jerusalem, Jesus tells of “wars, and rumors of wars. Behold I speak for mine elect’s sake; for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. And again, because iniquity shall abound, the love of men shall wax cold; but he that shall not be overcome, the same shall be saved.” The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as noting, “We constantly hear or read of wars and rumors of wars. Atheism, agnosticism, immorality, and dishonesty are flaunted in our society. Desertion, cruelty, divorce, and infidelity have become common place, leading to a disintegration of the family. Truly we live in the times of which the Savior spoke, when ‘the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.’” Having been on the receiving end of divorce, infidelity, cruelty, I can attest that his statement is true.
I know that we already talked about what it means for “love to wax cold,” but I was thinking about this day and age, what is it about love going away that changes a society? I work in medicine and I see young couples all the time come in who are going to have a baby, and they are so young, and they aren’t married. In fact, I think that more babies are born outside of marriage now than are born within. I think about my own situation, we were married and we had two kids, but he still walked away. What is it about love that it’s absence leads to cruelty and heart break? I think when you  love something, it’s easier to make a commitment to it, and work through the hard times. If you love baseball and want to play professionally, then you commit to the practice and training that it takes to improve. Relationships are like that too, if you love something, then you commit to doing your part in what it takes to make it succeed. It’s not a no brainer, obviously, I’m divorced and an excellent example of how it doesn’t always work out, but I can never say that I didn’t do my best, and that was because I loved him.