Wailing Wall

Named for the sorrow over the loss of the Temple, the Wailing Wall or Western Wall is just a fragment of the foundation of Herod’s Temple. Orthodox Jews pass daily by airport-tight security to pray at the wall. Many still pray that Messiah will come and slip prayers into the wall hoping that God will hear.

The New Testament records some interesting parallels. John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus was both the Messiah and “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” Interestingly, Jesus’ crucifixion occurred at the very same hour the Jews were sacrificing their Passover lambs that year. The New Testament calls Jesus God’s Lamb because he permanently atoned for sin. In 70 AD, only a few decades after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the Temple was destroyed and the Passover sacrifices ended.

The prophet Zechariah prophesied in Zechariah 12:10 that the Jews would someday, “…look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Indeed, Jesus was both pierced on the cross, and was God’s only Son. Perhaps someday the mourning will not be for the destruction of the Temple, but for the Son who was pierced for their sins in the house of his friends.