Lent #33:  Tuesday in Holy Week.

Not one stone will be left upon another.

(Matthew 24:2)

After a full day of teaching in the magnificent porticoes of the temple courts, Jesus and his disciples make their way back home to Simon’s house just a bit east on the other side of the Mount of Olives. As they pass over the Mount of Olives they can’t help but look west and marvel at the “wonderful stones” of Herod’s temple. Jesus is not impressed. He tells his disciples that the temple will be destroyed stone by stone.

Solomon’s Temple stood for near 400 years till the Babylonians breached the walls, destroyed the temple, and took the Israelites captive into Babylon. Seventy years after their captivity, the Persians conquered Babylon and set the captives free to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild their temple.  This second temple—the temple of the exiles, turned out to be a sorry sight as the prophet Haggai observed: “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?” (Hag 2:3) Those who remembered Solomon’s temple’s “wept” when they saw the meagerness of the second temple (Ezr 3:12). Yet, Haggai went on to prophecy of a future splendor that will be far greater than Solomon’s temple (Hag 2:9).

King Herod thought that he could fulfill Haggai’s prophecy by rebuilding the shabby second temple into something even greater than Solomon’s temple. It was these stones—Herod’s stones, that Jesus was talking about. Is Herod’s temple really the “Splendor” of Haggai’s prophesy? Is it really the place where God has dealings with his people? Is it really the place where heaven and earth meet?

From the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry among us, he spoke of the destruction of the temple and how a new temple would rise up in three days (Jn 2:22). Mount Zion would become Mount Calvary: “Come to him, a living stone …and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house …through Jesus Christ. …See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame" (1Pt 2:4-7).