The Old Temple and the New
In his Study in St. Mark, Austin Farrer shows how Mark 13 parallels Mark 14. Jesus pronounces judgment on the old temple in Mark 13, but he forms his disciples into a new temple, a true house of prayer. But he cautions us not to misconstrue the contrast between the two temples:
The contrast is not between a temple which is overthrown, and a temple which abides; both temples are overthrown, for the one falls in the fall of the other; but the one rises the third day, and the other does not. Nor is it a contrast between a temple of murderers and a temple of saints, for in the supper-chamber it is said, One of you shall betray me. When the spiritual house falls, its stones also are scattered, not one of them shall remain upon another; not even that Stone whom Christ himself had named. Protest as he may, the word applies to him, ‘I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But the stones of the old temple will lie, and not be gathered; the shepherd, being risen again, will draw his flock after him into Galilee.
The prediction about the scattering of the sheep holds the same place as the prediction about the scattering of the stones: Christ says the one thing as he comes forth from the temple, and the other as he comes forth from the supper room. And both goings forth lead to the same place — the Mount of Olives (133).