According to the narrative of the synoptic Gospels, an anonymous disciple remarks on the greatness of Herod's Temple, a building thought to have been some 10 stories high and likely to have been adorned with gold, silver, and other precious items. Jesus responds that not one of those stones would remain intact in the building, and the whole thing would be reduced to rubble.
The disciples asked Jesus for a sign, "When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" The disciples, being Jewish, believed that the Messiah would come and that his arrival would mean the fulfillment of all the prophecies they hoped in. They believed that the Temple played a large role in this, hence the disciple in the first part boasting to Jesus about the Temple's construction. Jesus' prophecy concerning the Temple's destruction was contrary to their belief system. Jesus sought to correct that impression, first, by discussing the Roman invasion, [Matt. 24:4–34] and then by commenting on his final coming to render universal judgment.[Matthew 24:35–51]
Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount defied the crowd’s and the disciple's expectations.