2 Maccabees 5:11-20: a reflection

11Now when news came to the king concerning that which was done, he thought that Judea was in revolt. So, setting out from Egypt in a rage, he took the city by force of weapons, 12and commanded his soldiers to cut down without mercy those who came in their way, and to kill those who went into their houses. 13Then there was killing of young and old, destruction of boys, women, and children, and slaying of virgins and infants. 14In a total of three days, eighty thousand were destroyed, of which forty thousand were slain in close combat, and no fewer were sold into slavery than slain. 15Not content with this, he presumed to enter into the most holy temple of all the earth, having Menelaus for his guide (who had proved himself a traitor both to the laws and to his country), 16even taking the sacred vessels with his polluted hands, and dragging down with his profane hands the offerings that had been dedicated by other kings to enhance the glory and honor of the place. 17Antiochus was lifted up in mind, not seeing that because of the sins of those who lived in the city the Sovereign Lord had been provoked to anger a little while, and therefore his eye was turned away from the place. 18But had it not been so that they were already bound by many sins, this man, even as Heliodorus who was sent by King Seleucus to view the treasury, would, as soon as he came forward, have been scourged and turned back from his daring deed. 19However the Lord didn’t choose the nation for the place’s sake, but the place for the nation’s sake. 20Therefore also the place itself, having shared in the calamities that happened to the nation, did afterward share in its benefits; and the place which was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was, at the reconciliation of the great Sovereign, restored again with all glory.

Amid the account of a terrible assault on Jerusalem and its temple, the writer pauses to state a principle about God's priorities: The Lord didn't choose the nation for the place's sake, but the place for the nation's sake. The temple, holy as it was, existed for the sake of the people, not the people for the sake of the temple. God's concern was ultimately for his people; the sacred place served them, not the reverse. Even when the place shared in the nation's calamity, it also afterward shared in its restoration, precisely because it existed for the people's sake. God values his people above the place; the place mattered for the sake of the people God loved.

Notice the ordering of God's priorities: the place for the nation's sake, not the nation for the place's sake. The temple was sacred and precious; yet God did not value the people merely as servants of the place. Rather, the place existed to serve the people, to be a gift to them, a means of their communion with God. God's ultimate concern was for his people, and the sacred place served that concern. This reveals where God's heart lay: not primarily in a building or a thing, however holy, but in the people he loved, for whose sake the holy place existed. God values people above places and things; his heart is set on his people.

That is worth taking to heart, for God values people above places and things, and his heart is set on his people. We can come to value places, institutions, things, even sacred ones, above the people they are meant to serve; but God valued his people above the temple, which existed for their sake. God's heart is set on people, not on things, however holy; and we do well to reflect that ordering, valuing people above the places and things that are meant to serve them. Do not value places, institutions, or things, even sacred ones, above the people they exist to serve; God values people above these, as the place existed for the nation's sake. Value people above places and things, as God valued his people above the temple, which he made for the nation's sake and not the nation for its sake; for God's heart is set on people, not on things however holy, and the sacred places and things are meant to serve the people God loves, not the reverse.

Lord, amid the account of a terrible assault on Jerusalem and its temple, the writer pauses to state a principle about your priorities: the Lord didn't choose the nation for the place's sake, but the place for the nation's sake. The temple, holy as it was, existed for the sake of the people, not the people for the sake of the temple. Your concern was ultimately for your people; the sacred place served them, not the reverse. You value your people above the place. Show me the ordering of your priorities: the place for the nation's sake, not the nation for the place's sake. The temple was sacred and precious; yet you did not value the people merely as servants of the place. Rather, the place existed to serve the people, to be a gift to them, a means of their communion with you. Your ultimate concern was for your people. This reveals where your heart lay: not primarily in a building or a thing, however holy, but in the people you loved. You value people above places and things. Take that to my heart, for you value people above places and things, and your heart is set on your people. I can come to value places, institutions, things, even sacred ones, above the people they are meant to serve; but you valued your people above the temple. Your heart is set on people, not on things, however holy. Keep me from valuing places, institutions, or things, even sacred ones, above the people they exist to serve; help me value people above these, Lord, as you valued your people above the temple, which you made for the nation's sake.