Priests & People (UK). 8 pp.

"LOOK, WHAT MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURES!" (Mk 13:1). Jesus’ disciples cowe fascinated, before the Jerusalem Temple edifice. It is indeed a magnificent structur bigger than life, architectural symbol of their social project. But Mark's Jesus refuses to be impressed, for he understands what they do not. This House must be deconstructed in order to make possible a more human society that will be pleasin to the true "owner of the House" (Mk 13:35).

"If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand" (Mk 3:25). The master political metaphor Jesus uses to describe his messianic mission is that of a struggle over a "House divided." He introduces it in his very first parable in Mark, which narrates an act of breaking into and entering a "strong man's house" in orde to "loot his goods" (3:25). Later in Mark's story, this "divided House" is revealed to be none other than the Jerusalem Temple itself. Intended as "a home for all people (11:17a), this House has instead become a "den" where criminal authorities practic exploitation (11:17b). Jesus there performs his most dramatic exorcism, symbolically "looting" those who have looted the people (11:15f). Shortly thereafter he predicts the dismantling of this House.