Mark 13:1–2 – Don’t neglect the inner life

What we are about to enter is better known as the Olivet discourse. It is the farewell prophecy that Jesus gave at Mount Olive. It forms the perfect connection to the climatic events of His life - His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

Bear in mind that the temple was very central to the whole controversy. The Lord had confronted the Jewish leaders there, concerning their hypocrisy and unfaithfulness. They had commercialized the temple and exploited the people who went there seeking to worship God. They had made it a den of thieves by making huge sums of money, through money changing. And the worship to God had sadly degenerated into meaningless rituals. Unknowingly, they had shifted their security and trust in the Lord to the temple.

In Mark 13:1, as the Lord and His disciples were going out of the temple, one of them exclaimed to Him, saying, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful building!” The temple was fabulous. Its size was unbelievable and magnificent. Just imagine raving about a building when the Lord had just spent a week condemning it. So the Lord responded with a question. “Do you see this great buildings?” It seems like a needless question. After all it was one of His disciples who had pointed out the buildings to Him.  No, this was not a redundant question. Like the disciples we could see with our physical eyes, yet not see or discern its deeper implications. Remember the Lord had just showed how their religious activities in the temple had fallen far short of God’s expectation. All they could see was impressive magnificent buildings and not how the purpose of the place had been abused and corrupted.

Here the Lord was calling on the disciples to see past its impressive exterior. God is not interested in great buildings, if the worship is not God honoring.  God is not impressed by great buildings or religious activities, but a people who set their hearts to love Him and one another. While the disciples saw the grandeur of the building, Jesus saw its impending doom. So He continued, saying, “Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

These two verses tell us the tendency of our fallen human nature. We are prone to be impressed by the outward. We are so used to make a fuss over the peripheral when it’s the core that really matters. If we are the temple of the living God, what should be our priority? Isn’t making the main thing the main thing more important? Let’s not fuss about the mundane, let’s take care of the important. For men look at the outward, but God looks into our hearts.