Rumors

As he walked away from the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at that stonework! Those buildings!”

Jesus said, “You’re impressed by this grandiose architecture? There’s not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble.”

Later, as he was sitting on Mount Olives in full view of the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew got him off by himself and asked, “Tell us, when is this going to happen? What sign will we get that things are coming to a head?”

Jesus began, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. But these things are nothing compared to what’s coming. (Mark 13:1-8)

An old Egyptian proverb says that “All things fear time. But time fears the Pyramids.” However, nothing lasts forever. Not even the more than five thousand year old Pyramids. Jesus’ disciples were impressed by the glory of the Jerusalem Temple and its seeming imperviousness. Human are easily impressed by massive architecture.

Jesus wasn’t. The beautiful buildings that they thought were so great, the Temple that was the focal point of all of Judaism, were soon going to become piles of rubble, thanks to the Roman army within in a generation. It wasn’t the temple that was important, it was the God behind it that mattered.

But rather than wondering about the nature of God and how they would be able to worship him without a temple, the only question the disciples had was about the timing the temple’s demolition.

So Jesus didn’t give them the answer they wanted: a date. Instead, he warned them against focusing on gloom and doom prophesies and worrying about the timing of such destruction. He told them that a lot of people would come along claiming to be the Messiah. And a lot of people would overemphasize the sort of problems that always exist in the world. Jesus’ disciples expected a revolution. But they were only concerned about physical change, rather than the more substantial—and important—spiritual change. They kept mistaking the Kingdom of Men for the Kingdom of God.

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