Jesus and his disciples were walking outside the temple in Jerusalem. It was a pretty remarkable building, 400 by 500 yards. It was still under construction, and had been for 50 years.

Someone commented on how remarkable it was.

“This isn’t going to last,” Jesus said. “It’s going to be more destroyed than it was the last time.”

That caught the attention of the disciples. Bad news usually does. Words of impending doom capture our imagination, feed our sense of dread.

“When?” they s...