A Temple Parallel

Day 87: Ezra 1-4

The Israelites are in captivity in Babylon, and the book of Ezra opens with the Babylonian King Cyrus making plans to build a temple in Jerusalem. We read at the end of 2 Chronicles that Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple, too, and my first thought is, "Why is this king going to rebuild the temple?" Does he worship God? And, yes, I soon find out that he worships God and he will allow the Israelites and all those who worship God to have a role in rebuilding the temple.

Listen to this passage about the reaction of the Israelites as they are rebuilding the temple:
"And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away" (vv. 11b-13).

Isn't the reaction of the older people interesting? That as they see the foundation of the new temple of God being laid, they weep. The second to last sentence suggests that they are weeping from sadness. Sadness over the former temple and its glory. Sadness over the time when they were free from exile and captivity. Sadness over the fact that this new temple will not be meticulously-made by Solomon like the other one. Sadness. Regret. Nostalgia.

Regardless, these elderly people are sad. Over my lifetime, I've attended church with many, many "old" people (notably, my definition of "old" has gotten older and older as I have gotten older and older!). But how often do we wonder what emotions they feel about church today? Things have got to be extremely different from when they were young--and when what they thought and what they believed and how they worshiped was a certain way. Even when they thought they were "right." Today, all this has changed has changed for them. They no longer look on these times as "the good old days." Those days have long past and some (if not most) of them tend to gripe and complain about the way things are. In many churches, the elderly are the most vocal because it seems that they have the most to lose with change. 

You've probably heard an elderly person talk about how too many churches are just about entertainment" or how "young people today are _______" (fill in the blank with a negative word), or how this world is going to hell in a handbasket. They view today's society as worse than when they were growing up (I admit this is a major stereotype), and they are resistant to these changes.

Whether they are right or wrong is not the point; rather, what I want to point out here is that they have emotions--real, true emotions--and they do not often get to express them. Either we don't listen to them--or we don't want to hear them--or we dismiss them as irrelevant to church business. This attitude of young people towards old people can, I imagine, be disheartening. Here you have people who have spent their lives giving to churches only to see the temple they helped build destroyed. And while young people are rejoicing that a new temple is being built, we must still remember to grieve with the elderly people who are sad about former times, times that appear lost to them--destroyed. Times when they were secure in their identity, in church, and in what they believed.