Judaism And the Temple

There is always a momentum of event that change our life substantially. Something that shift our destiny and Identity. I can say for me myself, studying Theology is one of those event. This truth also true for Judaism.  Francis Schmidt in his book How the Temple Thinks: Identity and Social Cohesion in Ancient Judaism says, "The question of knowing when Judaism begins is a question that is always current. For some, Judaism begins after the exile." Interesting thought, normally we always think that Judaism always quite stable, from the Old Testament and until the time of Jesus because of one single consistent thing, they are very stubborn and stiff naked, if would like the use the word from Bible itself. However, Judaism quite diverse. We cannot say this is "Judaism" especially when we see the life of Judaism after the exile and after the destruction of the temple. People like Daniel Boyarin argued that it is impossible even to say with absolute that this is Judaism. D.A Carson also in a same tune like Boyarin when he propose his idea on "variegated monism."

Nevertheless, what did not change dramatically in the life of Jews in time before exile and after exile is the idea of the temple. Temple was vital, it was understood as the place whereby God choose to stay with his people, the sign of his presence on earth. We can call this literally, "the house of God". In this place, Sacrifice and festivals are held as a sign of relational and worship gesture toward the covenantal God that promise to make them a great nation. Therefore, after they returned back to the homeland after the exile, the people of God was planning to build the temple again, especially for those who already experienced the first temple. Under the reign of Herod in Jerusalem, the temple was again built. Even the Rabbi that very hostile to Herod said that we will never see beautiful things in life if we are not seeing the temple that was build by Herod. How amazing is that! Somehow, Jews found again their lost identity, even this did not goes for long  time for the temple was again destroyed by the Roman empire.

Many has been said that the destruction of the temple in 70 AD was a very horrifying event for many of Jews, particularly of the Jerusalem. In Talmud we can see the experience of the lost, even fruit lost it taste. Laughter vanished in the life of the polis. For some, it did not create any significant impact as they already change their mode of worship into synagogue, as the place of worship especially for diaspora who never saw the temple when it began (At the synagogue, almost all activities of the temple can be done except of sacrifice and also, synagogue was more egalitarian. At first, synagogue is just a supplementary but in the time of the absence of the temple, synagogue gain it primacy).Yet, for those who were struggling after the destruction of the temple face the significant question in their life, "how they were understand their God, their memories and their place in the world?"(Mark B. Spaulding). 

Actually those are three relevant questions we as believers will face as well whenever we enter so called crisis in our life. "Does God really care? Will God help me like previously in the past, Am I really precious and significant in His eyes?" Whenever we experience some kind of "crisis", humanity always ask a very deep existential questions. For those who do not believe in God still, they will ask the meaning question when they encounter crisis. Jews today pray that one day, God will restore the temple again so that they will gain the profound religious experience like before. To satisfy their longing for those three existential questions which stays in their heart up to this very moment after 70 Ad. Will they get the answer? Yes, when the Messiah come. But when? Probably soon and nobody knows. They still waiting for the time to come.Generally today, Jews does not believe that Messiah has come. 

Interestingly, as we talk about the temple, one of the great function of the temple is to bring people to God. The high priest of the Jerusalem in the Second temple period brought the intercessions of the people before God. Because there is no king and prophet more, somehow high priest gained respect and high status. Josephus even says that high priest can be said as the ruler of his people, de facto speaking. However, after the destruction of the temple, every hope seems to fall apart. King, prophet and no priest are no more. Is there any hope left? Before the destruction, there was a person by the name of Jesus, the one who embodied three office, king, prophet and priest as Scripture attested. One day, Jesus said to the people near temple, "destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up!” Here, Jesus was referring to His body, as the new temple of God. So, If we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the true temple of God on earth, the high priest and mediator of God and man, then we can say fascinatingly that God has given the answer of those questions, even before the troubled questions even  comes out as the result of the destruction! Thus, we can conclude that the problem is not in God, but truly us. The more urgent question is this, do we pay attention or are we willing to submit to this truth?