We sometimes forget the transitory nature of steel. When blended with concrete and assembled high into the sky, a city emerges housing life and vitality. Cities sometimes look to us like organic creatures. During the day the residents and workers move through its streets hurrying to achieve that next great personal accomplishment. Moving through concrete canyons made of steel and cement, a city looks like a permanent fixture, that has only to grow outwards, or to replace and grow within over time. At night a city lights up with countless eyes illuminating the pathways, and pinpointing those whose work causes them to stay in the office building till well after the day is done. These points of light become dull but still present behind curtains of residences that ascend both upwards and outwards as its people go home, content to continue their journey of accomplishment on the morrow. But the city itself, and everything we accomplish within it, is at best transitory.
We look with admiration on buildings that have stood up to the test of time. Usually large marble structures, where the craftsmanship was so refined, cement was not needed at all for its assembly. We know for certain there are no steel beam backbones that underlie its skeleton. These large structures typically do not ascend so high as our modern marvels, but they remain, sometimes for several centuries in good working order. The marble stone that comprises them, still cut perfectly, placed perfectly, and the adornments added to make them beautiful can often remain intact with them over the centuries of time they stand against. Outside of the ravages of manmade war, no single generation could predict exactly when such a structure might meet its end. These buildings, often dedicated to the worship of God, seem to stand in place beyond the timelines of the residents who visit them. The Temple at Jerusalem was once such as this.
It was not the first Temple to stand this way. Solomon’s original Temple which benefited from a life of preparation from his father David, collecting materials, and laying out plans; was a structure that seemed destined to remain until the end of all things. But its beauty was too much a temptation for a king called Nebuchadnezzar, during a time when the nation of Israel was anything but faithful to the God it had been built to serve. So the original structure fell to war, and then greed (or was it the other way around). Upon returning to their homeland the Temple was to be rebuilt. No longer could it have the elaborate materials for its use, as there was no David to collect them. Only a golden dome was to be its singular mantle piece. And marble found in abundance would be the overwhelming ingredient of its construction. But the craftsmanship was no less talented, and no less dedicated to make the new structure stand the tests of time.
It had lasted nearly 400 years before Christ appeared on the scene. It had withstood the Roman invasion and loss of the homeland and was still relatively intact. From the Jewish mind, if the Temple could withstand 400 years, it could withstand an eternity. After all, we still look with respect to “ruins” that have lasted for millennia made of marble and built of craftsmanship we no longer possess. But to Jews in the time of Christ, this second Temple was destined to last forever. They had no reason to think otherwise. They, like us, believed that some human accomplishments are destined to last the span of all time. They, like us, took pride in what they did, in what they accomplished. And they, like us, forgot the transitory nature of their marble and our steel.
So Peter recalled to John Mark in his gospel in chapter thirteen, the story of something, no Jew could possibly believe. It is likely it had not happened when Peter recalled it, but nonetheless, it had not happened at the time it was first encountered. Jesus, had been teaching in the Temple for days. The Sanhedrin had tried to trap Him in front of the people and failed. Jesus had offered one of His own tests of recursion to them, ironically about the man who first envisioned such a Temple, and they had failed its answer. Jesus had looked deep into the motives of those who put treasure in the offertory in the Temple, and had cut through the motives based in self, even where giving was concerned. Now they were leaving the Temple for Jesus to instruct His disciples before His life’s end was reached (and resurrected). The urgency was higher.
It was in this context that Mark begins recording beginning in verse one saying … “And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” You will note throughout the gospel of Mark, that Peter rarely identifies himself in the stories, instead he commonly obscures “who” did what or said what, when it is him that did so. So in all likelihood it was Peter who made those remarks. As they were leaving the Temple, Peter turns around (much like Lot’s wife) and looks at the grandeur of what Israelites have built. Peter has inadvertently placed his gaze on what is behind him. He is looking backwards at the accomplishments of the past, and is content to rely upon them, and admire them. How like us. We look back at the luminaries who founded our churches, and rest content in what they did to build our various faiths. Instead of standing on their accomplishments and adding those of our own, and of equal weight in the cause of God. We stand infants in his work, with only equal accomplishments, looking backwards and not where we are, or where we could be. Peter looked at a work of stone and called it Temple, instead of to His Lord, the true Temple of our faith, who was right there with him at that very moment.
Lot and his family in the days of Abraham were instructed not to look backwards at the buildings, cities, and accomplishments of men. Instead they were to look forward, to what God could do for them all. The failure of only his wife to do so, led to more ruin within his family, and more descendants who refused the God of Israel or His ways. Peter was now looking backwards at the marble Temple that had stood for 400 years. He was looking at the systems and traditions that were on the verge of becoming irrelevant. But his pride led him to think that none of this would ever reach its end. The bricks, and the worship, such as it was, were sure to last forever. Jesus had other views, and a different perspective.
Jesus responds in verse 2 saying … “And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” This was heresy in the Jewish mind and heart. They had already lost the original Temple of Solomon and had only the stories of the pain of that loss to remember it by. Now, Christ was foretelling the loss of this second Temple, to the point of losing each stone, so that none were left. A destruction all the way down to the very ground upon which this second Temple was built. When the Romans re-took Jerusalem in 70 AD, they had orders not to burn the Temple, but a soldier made that mistake anyway. The catastrophe melted the golden dome that had capped the Temple’s highest peak, melting the precious metal in between the very stones of its construction. Roman’s not wishing to waste wealth, took every stone one by one apart to reclaim the gold and discard the marble. But no Jew could have possibly foretold this calamity, especially when Jesus did.
None, of the traditions of animal sacrifice, of the day of atonement, of the blood of sheep or goats were to be needed anymore. And shortly, there would be no place to perform them within. Everything this second Temple was based upon, its entire structures pointing to Christ, were to meet their fulfillment in Christ, and this building was to be destroyed down to its base to insure Israel could no longer look backwards with pride, but forwards with wonder. The people had grown up a pride in the building of the Temple itself, instead of in the author of the religion itself. In the Jewish mind, the Temple at Jerusalem was as ornate as St. Peters in Rome, or St. Paul’s in London. The same condition existed, as human minds were drawn to the building, but not to the God it was dedicated to serve. The pride was the same both then and now in what “we” could accomplish.
And we sit here reading the same words, guilty of the same acts, but apply them only to the Jews of His day, instead of to our own hearts. We take pride in the accomplishments we complete in our work, in our world. Looking at our cities as if they will last forever, only increasing in size and glory over time. But knowing when Christ returns there will not be one stone left upon another. The lesson of the transitory nature of steel will be brought home to us in 3D, and in living color, as what we have built will pass away in an instant. So with this knowledge, why do we prioritize its construction so highly in our own lives? Why do we let career, and accomplishment, become the priority we serve, when at the end of all things it will pass into oblivion? What will remain in that day is our children, our parents, our spouse, our family, friends, community, and church peers. The people will continue to stand then, despite the total destruction of steel and concrete. The business projects will be gone, but the business co-workers will remain. So can we not adjust our focus, and our priority, to reflect His love to what will stand past the destruction we know is coming?
And were it only our secular thinking infected, perhaps our sin would not be as great. But instead, we have allowed this same kind of Peter’s boast, to infect our spiritual thinking as well. Always looking backwards at the accomplishments of our past, of our forefathers, even of what God has already done for us; never looking at where we are, or where we could be with Jesus. We take pride in our various churches, in our various denominations, stating that what we have accomplished in our faiths, is something to be proud of. It is not. If your toddler took only one step, and then sat down, content that they had walked enough, would you as parent be equally happy? The joy of continued walking will lead your child to places they have yet to imagine. The joy of running will do so even more. Mobility is a gift, your child has only to embrace by a choice to move forward. We, in spiritual matters, are also the toddlers content that one step was enough. There is so much more for us to discover. There is so much more joy in the world, in places we have yet to imagine, in impacting lives while reflecting His love. These are gifts of participation in His work, we could be honored to receive. Or not, as we sit back down, look backwards, and think we have walked enough.
Remember the lesson of the transitory nature of steel, in both what you do in the world, and in the church. Look forwards to Jesus, who is right here with you, just like He was standing in front of Peter. Christ had made a stunning prediction, which perhaps is still relevant in our day. Christ predicted that the superficial, the traditions, and even the buildings of the past would be torn down to the very ground upon which they were built. Perhaps now, in our last days, the same will be true again. Perhaps it will be not only your faith, or my faith, but perhaps every Christian faith, may lose the buildings, and meaningless man-made traditions – destroyed to the very root – so that we replace them with a one-on-one look to Jesus for our salvation and our future.
But when a prediction that is so bold is offered, our human nature cries out to know … “when?”. This will be the subject of our next study as Jesus had much more to say.
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