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 FORESHADOWING . . . NEW BEGINNINGS? - in a sense, the placement of the dire
predictions of the Temple’s destruction also serves to alert the reader to another
Temple facing destruction of his life. The stone that the builders rejected will become
the head of the corner; in coded language almost Jesus is portrayed as the replacement to
the Temple as the focal point of divine-human relationship. [1]
NOT ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER - It must have been difficult for the disciples to
visualize the destruction of the Temple. According to Josephus the stones of the Temple
measured "about 25 cubits in length (cubit = distance from elbow to fingertip), 8
cubits in height and 12 cubits in width. Roughly the stones of the Temple would have been
40 feet long and 12 feet high. Jesus, however, implies its demise in the cursing of the
fig tree and the overturning of money tables. [2]
PHILIP YANCY ON MARK 13 - "Such things must happen, but the end is still to
come" [13:7] The presence of evil guarantees that the world will be full of strife
and that the world will look unredeemed. For a period of time, the kingdom of God must
exist alongside an active rebellion against God. God’s kingdom advances slowly,
humbly, like a secret invasion force operating within the kingdoms ruled by Satan. [3]
 Recall
an event so momentous in your lifetime, that you still remember what you were doing when
you first heard of it. Such must have been the case with those who first caught news of
the Temple’s destruction in 70 ace.
If you knew the world was going to end in six months, how would you live your life
differently?
How does his passage make you feel? What made the Temple so significant to the
disciples? What would its destruction symbolize for 1st century Jews? Early
Christ-followers?
 Might want to recall
Tuesdays with Morrie as a way to enter the text. An old professor dying yet wanting to
pass some learnings on to one of his students. Endings and closures of a system. Might
want to describe the fall of Enron-from 3,500 employees to 135. Recall some of the panic
and the pain that such a destroyed financial temple caused people.
Shift to the second lesson and what the implications are about Jesus as welcoming
people into God’s presence through his "temple" not made with hands.
Recall what Jesus said about the temple of his body, about what he said about the
Temple in Jerusalem in Mark’s gospel.
Shift to new Temple formed into the Body of Christ through believers
that now enter God’s presence in, under, and through the eternal and pure Sacrifice
which is Christ.
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[1] Richard A. Jensen, Preaching Mark’s Gospel (Lima, OH: CSS Publ.,
1996), page 182.
[2] Scott Pinzon, GWBI: Mark (Lancaster: Starburst, 2001), page 245.
[3] Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), page 251.
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