In 1 Kings we read about the construction of the temple that Solomon built for God. It was a lavish building that took 7 years to complete, yet God makes the point that this temple wasn’t the reason God would dwell among the children of Israel. Rather, it was conditional on them walking in God’s statutes, obeying His rules, keeping His commandments and walking in them. As God tells Isaiah, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? … this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.“
Mark 6 describes the perfect example of such a person. Jesus, who knew God’s word so well that he could astonish the “experts” of the law, who selflessly healed “many who were sick”, who had compassion on the multitudes of people because they had no shepherd, feeding them spiritually and physically, who interrupted his night of prayer to comfort his disciples caught in a storm. In this Jesus manifested God perfectly, to whom Jeremiah exclaimed “Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands“.
Let’s follow God’s advice to Solomon, and imitate Jesus’ attitude, so that together we are built up as a spiritual house for God.