‘But in those days, after that suffering,the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13: 24-27)

The language is very similar to apocalyptic imagery used in Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and non-canonical sources. It does not, however, precisely quote any of these sources.

Mark also departs from tradition in the source of suffering. In much of the Old Testament God is the source of purifying challenges.

The answer Jesus gives Peter, James, John, and Andrew suggests that suffering comes at the hands of earthly powers. It is "after the suffering" that the Son of Man comes and gathers his elect.

The elect is a common translation of the Greek eklectos. We have - especially with the help of John Calvin - come to understand this as a rather small group.

The literal meaning of the Greek is "from" (ek) the "called" or the "spoken" (lego). It is the Greek from which the English eclectic is derived.

It would be as accurate to translate the last sentence above as "to gather those who have been called from the four winds..."

I wonder if those gathered will be considerably more eclectic than Calvin envisioned while sitting by the fire in Geneva.