The heart of the matter is that God always wanted to reside with Man. But He wanted to do it with Man’s consent and desire for Him. He did not want the idea of Him as creator to force Man to love Him and stay with Him. He asked Adam/Eve if He could reside with Him (the request to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge). But when Adam/Eve did that very thing, God still came to them. Then is when Adam/Eve spurned God, by saying they were not worthy to be in His presence. Who were they to say they were unworthy, when God the Perfect had created them perfect.

Then came His advance to Man again, after getting them out of Egypt. He said He would be their God and stay in each of their tents, and make all of them Priests/Mediators on His behalf… Israel refused. They wanted a covenant by which they had a Master God, and they be subservient to Him, just like Egypt. God granted them this and said instead of their tents, He would pitch His tent outside of the main camp, and still be with them.

Solomon was invoking this desire of God, when He dedicating the Temple, for the Temple was going to be a glorified Tent, where God would reside amongst the people.

The underlying truth of all this was God’s Desire to be in communion with man, through Man’s sincerity and equal desire for God. And Man was always in the deficit.

Jesus in the Gospel reading is pointing to this, when He responds to those questioning Him. Traditions are good, but they must not outweigh/become more important than the primary focus – loving God with all our being. This response from us can only come from inside. And if this is not inside, than it is replaced with everything that makes us unclean.

 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might…”