NOTES for Zec 2:1-3:10

Here the prophecy calls Zion not the mountain on which Jerusalem stands, but its inhabitants who are far away from it. If so, does this not imply that it speaks not only of the particular city of Jerusalem, and not even only of those inhabitants of Judea who remain faithful to the Lord during the Babylonian exile, but of all who belong to the people of God, wherever they may be? For the faithful, the Lord will become an unbreakable wall in every place. Here we remember the Heavenly Jerusalem spoken of in John’s Revelation, the city that many of the saved will enter from every corner of the earth.

The cleansing of the priest’s garments means that the cleansing of the whole people and their return to God begins with the cleansing of the priests and their return to the path of unstained ministry. But the return only begins there, for not only priests but all of us are called, each in our own way, to serve the Lord and fulfill His will.

"Let all flesh be silent before the Lord"... On the whole, comment is unnecessary. We can and should speak about God. Preaching is a wonderful thing. We can and should speak with Him. Verbal prayer is beautiful and important. But sometimes we must stop and fall silent, simply remaining wordlessly in His presence...

What makes the people of God the people of God? Special qualities? Hardly: in this respect the Jewish people are like all others. Of course, they have their own national face, always and everywhere easily recognizable; but what people does not? Then perhaps a special destiny? In a certain sense, yes: not every people can boast of such sharp turns in its history.

But all this is still a human matter. Who knows what twists history can produce when four millennia are involved. The presence of God among His people, however, is God's matter; it does not depend on people or on history. Though, of course, this independence is relative: preserving and guarding the presence of God is precisely a human task, entrusted to the people of God, who were called to bear witness to God dwelling among them. But then it is also true that the people of God remain such only as long as there is a place for God among them.

It is no accident that both the Torah and the prophets speak not so much of the people's ownership of the land God gave them as of their use of it, a use limited by the conditions of the covenant-union made with God. If the union is broken, a situation may quite well arise in which the people lose both their land and the Temple. But such a thing can become possible only in one case: if God leaves, if He abandons the land, the city, and the Temple that He once blessed and sanctified by His presence.

After that, the destruction of the city and the Temple and the desolation of the land become only the outward expression of this new spiritual condition, a kind of anti-witness, proof that, at least at this historical stage, the people did not manage to fulfill its spiritual task. But the return of the people to the land of their fathers, the restoration of the city and the Temple, mean precisely that, after repentance and a new turning, the people are again ready for the mission God has entrusted to them. And that means that a new stage begins in their historical destiny: a stage that leads them straight to the threshold of the New Covenant.

What is the prophet Zechariah speaking about here? God chose a holy dwelling for Himself: the Temple in Jerusalem. There, in its innermost chamber, the Holy of Holies, where the sacred things of the Old Covenant are kept, God's presence is hidden. So it remained until the cup of Israel's sins overflowed. Then God left His Temple, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon.

But now the prophet sees a new scene. God is returning: He visits His dwelling once more and calls His people. And no human power can resist His will to save Israel and bring it back to its own land.

Yet these words have another meaning too. God will come into this world, dwell in the midst of His people and reveal His face—and what will a person be able to say then before the face of the Lord? Questions, complaints, excuses: all will be worthless. Only the face-to-face encounter will matter.