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Where is the presence of God now?13 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 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.”3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.Mark 13:1-8Jesus and the TempleAt the beginning of our Gospel reading, one of Jesus’ disciples tries to get his opinion on the temple: “It’s a marvellous thing, isn’t it Jesus? Look at all the stones, and jewels, and little rooms, and so on.”This temple was the second one built on this same site, the first having been destroyed by the Babylonians when they invaded. About five-hundred years before the time of Jesus, the temple had been rebuilt and it had been recently enhanced by the King of Judea, Herod the Great, a client king of the Roman Empire. No doubt it was a magnificent building, but it was clearly bound up in some political and religious implications by which Jesus was less than impressed.“Do you see these great buildings?” he said, “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”In saying this, he predicted the destruction of the Temple which was to take place in the year 70 AD at the hands of the Romans.The thing that was so special about the temple was not its architectural greatness but the fact that it housed the presence of God. That was what it was for and that is what made it important. And this fact is how we can understand Jesus’ attitude towards it.The key, I think, can be found in the second chapter of John’s Gospel. You probably know the story of Jesus’ driving out the money changers and pigeon sellers from the temple. After that happened, the Jews asked Jesus for a sign to show them that was he was doing was from God.“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” Jesus said. The Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” (They must have been speaking there about the recent rebuilding programme at the hands of Kind Herod.)John says about this in his narration: ‘But he was speaking about the temple of his body’ (John 3:21).And there is the point: the Temple was a place of greatness. It was a place of the presence of God even. But in Jesus something even greater than the Temple is here: God himself, come to Earth in human flesh, the divine life present in the Incarnation.Consider that for a moment: what is the holiest place in the world do you think? The holiest Christian site or building? St Peter’s in Rome? The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem? Canterbury Cathedral? (Probably not, let’s face it.) Now imagine someone stands outside one of those and says, “It’s not so impressive. In fact it will probably be pulled down soon. If you want to know the presence of God, look at me. I am the presence of God.” A pretty shocking claim, by all accounts…unless it is the truth.Where is Jesus now?What I take from these observations is that the presence of God was relocated and intensified in the person of Jesus Christ. If we want to know the presence of God, therefore, we must find it not in temples made by human hands, but in Jesus himself. Which leads to the question: Where is Jesus now?The first thing to say about this is tha