Impressiveness

“Jesus said to Him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.’” (Mark 13:2)

Jesus’ statement above was a response to one of His disciples’ observation about the massiveness and impressiveness and beauty of the stones used to build the Temple. Anyone who has seen some of those remaining stones understands just how impressive and massive they were. But Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple, and, in fact, in 70 A.D. the entire temple complex was leveled to the ground by Roman soldiers. No longer impressive.

This leads us to understand that that which we consider impressive is at best relative. It is also short-lived and fragile, fleeting. It seems that people are easily impressed by things that are so temporal. How many of us have stared in wide-eyed wonder at an “impressive” fireworks display? How many of us have felt a sense of the awesome in a huge sports stadium, or a massive mega-church building?

Maybe we should be more impressed by power that is permanent in nature. Jesus was trying to help His disciples to see beyond their myopia, to see beyond what normally impresses people, to look toward that which is truly impressive – the word of God spoken and then fulfilled in God’s timing.

Lord, Help us to look beyond our tendency of short-sightedness and be impressed more by Your glory and Your eternity rather than temporary buildings and such around us. Amen.