Holy Tuesday - 2026

 

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Mark 13:1–2 ESV).

 

On Tuesday of Passion Week Jesus returns to Jerusalem from Bethany. According to most scholars this is when Jesus was issued various challenges by the Pharisees and Sadducees over subjects such as marriage in heaven, paying taxes to Caesar, and the source of His authority (cf. Matthew 21:23-23:39; Mark 11:27-12:44; Luke 20:1-21:4). It is also the day Jesus commented on the widow’s donation (cf. Mark 12; Luke 21) and was approached by believing Greeks (cf. John 12:20–36). Additionally, we see the most direct and scathing judgement that Jesus spoke over the Pharisees. They have been called His seven “woes” (cf. Matthew 23:13–36). In the evening He delivered the Olivet Discourse (cf. Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21:5–36).

 

It is the latter of these that we will focus our attention on today. Our reading is taken from the beginning of Mark’s account of the vast teaching. One of the disciples turned and looked at the magnificent temple structure, which was truly one of the wonders of the ancient world. Still in amazement at this building, which he had probably seen hundreds of times, he said to Jesus: “Look at that. Isn’t that something?” He directed the gaze of Jesus not to the temple built by Solomon in the Old Testament, which was destroyed, but to the temple that was being rebuilt by Herod the Great. The construction of this temple by Herod had begun fifty years before this occasion. It still was not finished. The image attached is a rendering from Scripture and Josephus developed by The Temple Institute in Israel.

 

To give you some idea of the Herodian temple, the outer court measured five hundred by three hundred yards. The outer court was five football fields by three football fields. The temple itself took up thirty-five acres of ground. Herod was known throughout the world for his incredible construction products and for the development of what have been called “Herodian stones.” Josephus tells us that some of the stones making up the temple were sixty feet long. We are talking about one stone: sixty feet long, eleven feet high, eight feet deep, each one weighing over a million pounds. Some historians of antiquity said the temple of Herod in Jerusalem looked like a mountain of marble decorated with gold. The disciples were looking at the temple, standing in awe of what seemed to be an impregnable structure that nothing imaginable could destroy. As the disciples were in awe at this magnificent edifice, Jesus said: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (v. 2). In other words: “Do you see those sixty by eight by eleven feet stones that weigh one million pounds? They’re going to be crushed into dust.” Oh… and they were in 70 AD.

 

Let me telescope for a moment. Jesus said: “Three things are going to happen: one, the temple is going to be destroyed; two, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed; three, I’ll be coming on the clouds of glory at the end of the age.” The first question out of the disciples’ mouths is, “Well when will that be?”

 

Jesus did not give them a specific answer to that question; and, we still don’t have the answer to that question. Many have tried to understand the fullness of Jesus’ description of “the times and season.” However, no one has that answer fully. What we do know is that the three days of the cross, burial, and resurrection a new Temple was being constructed. This is the reason Jesus instructed His disciples to be vigilant:

 

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mark 13:32–37 ESV).

 

Are you awake… or have you been lulled into sleep? Awaken… your Savior is indeed coming again!