Saving the Temple

    In chapters 5-7, Karen Armstrong repeatedly writes of the idea that the Temple is the core of the Jewish people.  Being that the temple is where God resides, Jerusalem - or any place for that matter, is worthless without the temple because there would be no connection to God. 
     Since the Jewish people believed in this connection to God through the temple, they were very protective of the temple.  Armstrong recounts several times when the Temple was threatened or invaded by other political leaders only to be met with riots and protests by the Jewish people.  She then tells of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his visit to the temple where he prophesied, "Not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed."  In light of all the previous and attempted attacks on the Temple, it makes sense that the Jewish leaders would be worried.  Previously, I had considered the desire of the Jewish leaders to be rid of Jesus to stem purely from jealousy and worry that he was leading the Jewish people incorectly, but this idea of the leaders eliminated Jesus partly because he presented a threat to the temple, their link to God, is completely logical and may even explain the choice those who had been more sympathetic towards Jesus to turn against him.  "Any threat to the Temple, especially during the crowded and emotional festival of Passover, was liekly to lead to violence, which, in turn, could result in dreadful reprisals.  Jesus was a risk that the Jewish people could not afford."
     After the death and ressurection of Jesus, Jewish people became more willing to see God as mobile again as the idea that the sacred could be manifested in a human and that "spiritual reality" could be reached without the Temple, if one believed in Christ and the earth dwelling presence of God, began to be taught - and believed.