Mark 13:1-4-- Tearing Down

As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down."  As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?"

After debating and teaching, Jesus is now ready to leave the temple area.  As they are leaving, one of the disciples points out to Jesus the magnificent buildings and stones of the temple area.  This seems incongruent to all that Jesus had just said about the temple in the last few days.  Jesus demonstrated that idolatry of money was being practiced in the temple; that the priests of the temple were the killers of God’s messengers; that the teachers of the temple didn’t know God’s law or power, and that many of them didn’t follow God’s law at all.  And just before, Jesus demonstrated that the very stones and buildings were carved and built on the backs of the poor, to their detriment.  

Thus, Jesus declares to his disciples the condemnation of the temple itself—it would be destroyed completely, its magnificence dismantled, stone by stone.  This was an amazing prophecy at the time.  Herod the Great built the temple of Jerusalem to be a structure in comparison with one of the most amazing structures of the time—the pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, the Pantheon of Greece.  It was built with huge stones—six feet cubed—in order to last forever.  No one could imagine that this marvel of human effort could be destroyed in a generation when it had only existed for a generation.  Yet Jesus declared it to be gone—and in 70AD it was destroyed.  Jesus also was not just speaking of the buildings, but of the power structure that maintained it—the Sanhedrin, and the priesthood would be destroyed that had existed from Moses’ time.  

After Jesus’ stunning prophecy, four of Jesus’ closest disciples asked Jesus to explain it more—they wanted to know when the temple and power structure would be destroyed and what is the sign of the fulfillment.  These are two separate questions.  The “sign” of its fulfillment is not the indication of when it would happen.  Rather, the “sign” is the God-given proof that it would happen.  Such signs would be given with regularity in prophecies that seem unlikely.  A sign could be an unlikely miracle, but on a smaller scale (see Judges 6:36-40; II Kings 20:8-11).  But it could also be an indication of when the event would occur (Isaiah 7:1-17).  The disciples seem to think it important to know the times of when things would occur (Acts 1:6-7), and they want some assurance that this prophecy would occur.  Jesus then gives his last lecture on this subject.

Structures and institutions are made by human beings.  And no matter how noble or pure or just any institution is as it begins, or how noble and godly the founders, it cannot last forever, nor will the principles last forever. If the temple itself, built by the command of God, becomes unjust and needing to be destroyed, then so must, at some point. our most loved congregation.  If the priesthood, established by God and continuing for thousands of years must end, then so must our church leadership structure when it supports the end of life.  If the Sanhedrin, established by the wisdom of Moses, must end, so must our governments when they no longer are concerned about mercy or compassion.

As human beings we have a tendency to become overly attached to ideas or institutions that not only are not doing what they were made for, but end up undermining the very principles on which it is built.  This is why God, in His wisdom, establishes means for these establishments to be torn down and new organizations to be built.  Both as a means for us to look at what justice really is, but also so we can be warned that injustice will destroy us all.