Today’s Scripture Reading (May 14,
2014): Ezekiel 21
Jews (and
admittedly Christians) from all over the world are drawn to the Western Wall in
Jerusalem. The Wall is believed to be the outer wall of the western perimeter
section of the partition that separated the court area of the Temple in
Jerusalem from the rest of the city– or more precisely of the Second Temple
which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. But the wall stands as a testimony
of the power of Holy places in our lives. The temple itself is no longer
standing, the Ark of the Covenant and the holy relics are long gone – lost in
antiquity, and yet this one wall still exercises its strange attraction over
literally millions of people on our planet. And for every one of these people
the wall provides a very tangible connection with God.
Maybe for
the Christian, the wall that we worship at is a lot closer. A few weeks ago a
gentleman walked into the church that I pastor looking for a connection with
God. He asked if he could just take some time to pray in the sanctuary. After I
said he could he walked into the sanctuary and then returned to my office
looking a little confused. Why didn’t our church have a cross? I smiled and said
that it did, but it just wasn’t where he expected it to be. In our sanctuary,
the cross is in the middle of a side wall over the baptistery. My new friend
returned to the sanctuary and located the cross. A few minutes later when I went to check on
him I found him kneeling at the side of the church as close to the cross as he
could get. For him, the cross was his Western Wall – his connection with God.
But what
sometimes surprises people is that we are often more attracted to these Holy
Places than God would seem to be. God’s requirement has always been for us to
live in obedience to him. And sacrifice and prayers at a particular Holy Place
always takes second place to that obedience. Therefore God instructs Ezekiel to
set his face against the city of Jerusalem, and more specifically against the
sanctuary – against the Temple of God. It seems that as far as God is concerned,
if there is no obedience, there is no need for a Holy Place.
As God sets
his face against the Temple, he seals the fate of the Holy Place. Without God,
the Temple could not stand. Some experts think that it was not just the destruction
of Solomon’s Temple at the hands of the Babylonian Empire that God is speaking
of, but also of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. at the hands of
the Romans – the very destruction that left only the Western Wall standing. So
we continue to travel to the wall; to pray, to wail, and to ask of God what his
plans are for our future. And as we come to the wall God reminds us that we don’t
need a Holy place – we never have. We just need to decide that we will be
obedient to him.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel
22
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