Today's Scripture Reading (August 14, 2026): Ezekiel 21
Jews (and admittedly
Christians) from all over the world are drawn to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
The Western 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, the Second Temple,
which the Romans destroyed in 70 C.E. Still, the wall stands as a testimony to
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 to antiquity,
and yet this one wall still exerts its strange attraction on literally millions
of people on our planet. And for each of these people, the wall provides a very
tangible connection to God.
Maybe for the Christian,
the wall we worship at is much closer. A while back, a gentleman walked into
the church looking for a connection with God. He asked if he could take some
time to pray in the sanctuary. After I said he could, he walked into the
sanctuary, and I returned to my office. A few minutes later, he came to me
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 and the point of his connection with God.
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 that we live in obedience to him.
And sacrifice and prayers at a particular Holy Place always take 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 to be obedient
to him.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 22
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