Shekinah

Today, the readings are compelling and jam-packed with meaning. The first reading is the Ten Commandments—the Commandments that form the bedrock of our Judeo-Christian faith. And in the Gospel, we meet Jesus doing something so out of character that it is startling. He is wielding a whip and chasing the money changers and merchants out of the temple. Our kind, compassionate Jesus is in a fit of rage, without a bit of the man of love we know, showing He is throwing tables over and making quick work of clearing the temple. 

It might be helpful to learn a new word. The word is Shekinah. In classic Jewish thought, the Shekinah refers to a dwelling of the divine presence. Shekinah is the wonder of God present physically among us. In the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament, Shekinah was experienced in the Commandments written on tablets. Moses also saw it in the Burning bush and the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the desert. When one is in Shekinah’s presence, they are awe-struck by the wonder of the “Holy of Holies.”

The temple was Shekinah. It was the dwelling place of God. It was the place where the people knew God was present. Remember the story of young Jesus going with his family to the temple, and they unintentionally left him there. After journeying for days, they realize he is not with them and rush back to find Jesus in the temple, asking and answering the questions of the rabbis. When Mary asks him why he caused them so much worry, Jesus answers, “Did you not know I would be in my Father’s house.” In essence, Jesus was saying I was in the Shekinah of God. I was in God’s dwelling with God.

From a very early age, the temple is essential to Jesus. At the beginning of his ministry, he went to the temple and took the scroll. He read the words of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has appointed me to bring glad tidings to the lowly…Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

This is an introduction to a different manifestation of the Shekinah. Jesus embodies the divine presence and power as the Son of God.  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes to the temple. The place he knows to be the Shekinah of God and finds it to have been turned into a marketplace, a shopping center. His righteous anger and decisive action reflect the Shekinah, the divine presence. As the living Shekinah, Jesus is acting as God. He clears it of commerce and makes it once again holy ground.

No longer is the Shekinah, only the temple. Now, Shekinah is present in Jesus. It is in Him that the divine presence dwells. Jesus is the living Shekinah of God for all time.

While we have lost a sense of the word Shekinah throughout the years, we have yet to lose the awe the Shekinah represents. We know when Jesus is present, we are in the dwelling of God.

Jesus showed us that Shekinah is not only about buildings. It is not just about churches, shrines, and miraculous events. Whenever we gather as a faith community, we are Shekinah. Together, as people of faith gathered in His name, we are the dwelling place of God.

When we allow God to be the center of our lives, the source of love, and the bedrock of the hope in our hearts, we are the Shekinah of God that Jesus embodied. 

Stone tablets, burning bushes, a pillar of fire in the desert, the temple, our churches, Jesus himself, Son of God, and you and me are called the Shekinah of God. We are called to be God’s dwelling. It is in us and through us that God is made known.

May we stand in awe of the divine presence of God as we walk with one another on this journey of life. May we be the living, breathing Shekinah of God for our world that so desperately seeks a holy place, our world that longs and thirsts for a place to rest in the presence of God.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen