In our text Jesus makes a comparison between two different things: buildings and a person.

The buildings he spoke of were of great importance, representing many resources. No doubt the excess wealth of the city or nation was required to build them. Many workers were conscripted to work on them. And, no matter big or small, they were always much larger, more solid, and of greater economic value than any of the persons who helped in their construction. In fact, they gave a feeling of permanence which those who made them did not.

Any individual worker was insignificant among the huge number employed to construct the buildings. Even the most talented of the artists who adorned them are unknown to us today. A person was fragile and of short duration, here today, gone tomorrow. A person was tempor…