A woman named Sharon Ann Burnston wrote this on Ravelry (reposted with permission) and I loved it so much I wanted to save it here. Tis is really the first thing I’ve ever read that makes the Judeo-Christian concept of a Messiah make sense to me, as anything more than idle wish fulfillment.
When I was a child, the idea appealed to me of a Moshiach who would show up some day and reward us for good behavior.
As I got older, that made less and less sense.
I have come to believe that when we have improved the world enough that we are ready for Moshiach, we will have created our own Paradise on earth, where all people are fed, clothed, educated, healthy, and living in peace. The Moshiach, if there is such an actual person, will be whoever is the leader of this initiative at that time.
Or maybe there is no personified Moshiach, just a Messianic Age, which we can create by our own efforts.
So, we will bring Moshiach, not by earning this, like good little children who get a reward for good behavior, but like adults who create a good situation by working for it, and then get to enjoy the benefits of it.
To paraphrase the words of the immortal Pogo, “We have met the Messiah, and he is us.â€
To me, the Temple is irrelevant. And possibly a dangerous distraction from the tasks at hand. When we have earned that Messianic Age, then maybe it’ll be time then to think about that…
(It was in response to someone else’s question, “Would you want the Temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt? Why or why not?” and I’d pointed out that in Jewish belief that only happens with the coming of the Messiah.)