Mark 13:2
Seeing
my grandchildren play with blocks is one of the joys of living where we live.
Their concentration focused attempts to build, and then either their exhilaration
or disappointment when if all falls down. The simple process of building can be
so inviting, that I have been known to get down on the floor with them to help!
We
know that everything in this world seems to fall apart over time. Very few
things stay constant in our physical world. Everything decays, even if only by
a little bit. And then you throw in disasters, both natural and manmade, and
you can get large destruction in a few short days. Earthquakes can ruin a whole
city in just a few seconds, turning once majestic buildings in a pile of
rubble. Wars have caused untold damage over the millennia. Even before explosives,
human set fires would destroy a city in a matter of days.
The
amount of energy expended when the twin towers fell was the same as the energy
expended to construct them. All that steel and concrete had been moved up those
thousands of feet. It held in itself potential energy. And when the planes
crashed and the structure began to weaken, that energy was turned from
potential energy to energy in motion. And move it did. I can imagine that there
is still dust created by that expenditure of energy that archaeologists will
find in thousands of years as they do some future renovation. That dust settled
where no human eye will see it for a long time.
One
of Jesus’ disciples made a remark about the stones used to build the
magnificent buildings in Jerusalem. The stones, many of them still visible in
Jerusalem today, weighed tons. It took tremendous energy to place all those
stones. And it was all done without the benefit of modern machinery. No
multi-ton cranes. No forklifts. Only incline planes, levers and muscle power.
Jesus
takes this somewhat odd and seemingly out of context comment by an unnamed
disciple and uses it to alert His disciples about future events, events
connected to those magnificent buildings. He brings the conversation back to
important things. What could have veered off into a discussion of the history
of the city, the efforts of those in the past to build and then rebuild the
city, or even the style of architecture and how it was influenced by the surrounding
culture at the time of its building, turned to a discussion about God’s
sovereignty over events, past, present and future.
The
city would not fall by natural disaster. No earthquake would bring it to its
knees. The stones that took energy to be placed, would be removed by additional
force. People would again apply pressure to move the stones, creating chaos out
of order. Instead of neatly laid blocks, a pile of rubble would result.
Today
a TV series could be made called “Man Against Blocks” which chronicles the
destruction of a city, one block of stone at a time. Teams could be formed that
would be charged with destroying a building using only their strength and a few
simple tools. I’m not sure it would be a smashing success!
Jerusalem
was destroyed in a few short years. The Temple Mount was scraped clean of
buildings. The rubble can still be seen in Jerusalem today. What we might think
is fairly permanent, isn’t. Everything can be shaken. Only our faith in Christ
will last.