Commenting on Matt 18:20 (“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”), Colin Greek noted that Jesus’ words
meant Jesus would be dwelling in
any place where Christians met, with him as the spiritual divine presence, and
them as the temple he’s dwelling in. This is a big claim. And what a change it
would mean! God’s presence had dwelled especially in the Jerusalem temple, but
Jesus’ presence would be anywhere that his people gathered as a temple. Jewish
teachers surely knew what such a claim meant. In later years, Jewish rabbis
wrote their own version of the idea: “If two men sit together and occupy
themselves with the words of the Torah [the Jewish law], the Shekinah is in
their midst” (m. Avot 3:2). If we put the two sayings side by side, this counts
Jesus and the Shekinah as equivalent, as God’s presence:
|
Jesus said |
Rabbis said |
|
“Where two or three are gathered together |
“If two men sit together |
|
in my name |
and occupy themselves with the words of the Torah |
|
there am I |
the Shekinah |
|
in the midst of them.” |
is in their midst.” |
Jesus’ disciples were being taught
to treat Jesus’ spiritual presence as God’s presence, as the Shekinah. His
presence would dwell in Christian hearts. This would be when the church
community became a temple. We know of this as the moment when his presence was
ushered in by the fire of the Holy Spirit—at Pentecost. (Colin Green, God in
3D: Finding the Trinity in the Bible and Church Fathers [Eugene, Oreg.:
Wipf and Stock, 2019], 114)
Elsewhere, on the topic of the Last Supper and celebration of the
Eucharist, we read the following:
THE LAST SUPPER PRAYER
Bible scholars have long
recognized that Jesus’ Last Supper prayer bears more than a passing a
resemblance to Solomon’s dedication prayer for his temple. We saw Solomon’s
prayer in 2 Chr 6, while we find Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Side by side, they
confirm they had a similar understanding of God’s presence:
|
2 Chr (NIV)—Solomon: |
John 17 (NIV)—Jesus: |
|
“all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was
finished” (5:1) |
“finishing the work you gave me to do” (17:4) |
|
God says: “I have chosen Jerusalem for my Name to be there”
(6:6) |
“I [Jesus] came from you . . . you sent me” (17:8) |
|
Solomon prays: “so that all the peoples of the earth may know
your Name” (6:33) |
“so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (17:21) |
|
“there is no God like you” (6:14) |
“you, the only true God . . . “ (17:3) |
|
“those who continue wholeheartedly in your way” (6:14) |
“they have obeyed your word” (17:6) |
|
“Hear the supplications of your servant” (6:21) |
“I pray for them” (17:9) |
|
“you said you put your Name there” (6:20) |
“the name you gave me” (17:11) |
|
“the glory of the Lord filled the temple” *7:1) |
“the glory that you gave me” (17:22) |
|
“When your people go to war against their enemies . . . then
hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause”
(6:34-35) |
“My prayer is not that you taken them out of the world but that
you protect them from the evil one” (17:15) |
|
“come to your resting place” (6:41) |
“that I myself may be in them” *17:26) |
|
God’s answer: “I have chosen and consecrate this temple” (7:16) |
“I sanctify myself, that they too may be sanctified” (17:19) |
(Ibid.,
123-24)
Remembering Jesus’ sacrifice in
these meetings, Christians sometimes call him the Passover meal (1 Cor 5:7). It’s
a deliberate link between the Christian communion service and the Jewish Passover
meal. . . . The ancient Israelites took part in the Passover meal in a place
God chose for his Name to dwell:
Sacrifice as the Passover to the
LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will
choose as a dwelling for his Name. (Deut 16:2 NIV)
It’s no coincidence that early
Christians taking part in the bread and wine meeting thanked God for making the
Name dwell in the church community:
And when you have had enough to eat, you should give thanks as follows: “We give you thanks, Holy Father, for your holy name which you have made reside in our hearts.” (Did. 10:2)
It’s a telling match: a meal, with
sacrifice as its center, where the Name dwells. As it was for the Passover
meal, so too for the bread and wine of the Christian gathering. Where the
Didache was used, they believed that the Christian community was the place
where God puts his Name to dwell. The early Christians were continuing to have
this deep connection with the language of the Old Testament, the language of
God’s presence in the form of his Name. (Ibid., 166-67)