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Raspberry Beret

 


Ezekiel 46:2

The prince must enter from the outside through the entrance hall of the gateway. He must stand by the doorposts of the gateway.

 

Thought for the day – Raspberry beret

One of the musicians I enjoy listening to is Symbol, or the artist formally known as Prince. It’s a tenuous link to today’s reading but hey I’ve had more tenuous links. And the reason I mentioned Symbol because for the last few days I’ve been wondering who the prince of the New Temple is or represents. And it seems that many Biblical scholars think that the prince in Ezekiel is a symbol of how the role of leader is even more distinct from the role of priest than it was before.

 

The prince mediates worship but never leads it. The prince functions less as a prediction of one particular ruler and more as a foil: an authority who mediates worship but is still barred from the inner sanctuary, pointing beyond himself to a greater priest-king who would not need to offer for his own sin and who opens access fully. That greater priest-king would be Jesus as shown in Hebrews as the King who is also our High Priest.

 

What a contrast between the kings of old and the future King. And what a symbol for the use of political power as a way of mediating worship. In the congregation, not over it. 


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