Good morning,

How would you keep the Messiah out of your city? I reflect today on the visible result of one fellow’s grand effort.

But first, here is the Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, April 17, 2020
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• Grassroots leaders want Gov. Greg Abbott to reopen Texas. In an open letter to the governor, they write that Texans “are strong and resilient... willing to sacrifice for their neighbors in times of need.” In other words, they believe Texans can be trusted to reopen Texas. Cary Cheshire has additional details.
     
• Yesterday, the White House Coronavirus Task Force rolled out its guidelines for a phased approach to opening up America again. The ultimate decision making power, however, is in the hands of the governors. Today at noon Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled to hold a closed press conference. Will he finally announce his plans for getting Texas back to work?
    
• Dallas County officials have delayed funding for an overflow medical facility for coronavirus patients after area hospitals said they can handle the county’s anticipated peak caseload. Erin Anderson reports officials there must now decide whether to proceed with opening a temporary military hospital at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas or release those federal resources for use in coronavirus hot spots elsewhere.
     
• Tony McDonald walks us through the conflicting rulings from a district court and the attorney general as to the role mail-in ballots will play in this year’s elections. 
      
• Cary Cheshire writes about the responsibility elected officials must expect to shoulder for their coronavirus-inspired comments, actions, and mandates – whether they like it or not.
       
• “Public officials enjoy (and deserve) deference from their constituents in how they respond to crises. They’re granted the benefit of the doubt on their discretion. They aren’t expected to be perfect or make the right decision at every juncture. However, they are expected to take responsibility, provide a plan, and act in accordance with citizen feedback and data. To be responsive rather than merely reactive. To be servant leaders rather than leaders of servants.” – Cary Cheshire
        
• In a new commentary, David Stanowski writes that fear of infectious diseases has emerged as the ideal vehicle to acquire Orwellian levels of control over our population.
       
• “What psychological and spiritual harm does it inflict on us if we submissively cower in our homes, silently accepting the government’s latest encroachment on our rights?” – David Stanowski of the Galveston Open Government Project
     
• And finally... on a lighter note, Brandon Waltens offers a eulogy for the XFL, the relaunched football league killed by the coronavirus: “It was the right league at the wrong time.”

Friday Reflection

By  Michael Quinn  Sullivan

How sturdy must a wall be built to keep God out? And why are we so insistent on trying? Those questions weighed on me at Mount Olivet, looking toward Jerusalem’s ancient city walls.

Though today it is covered with family crypts, 2,000 years ago, the hillside was dotted with olive groves, producing its name and the region’s most important fruit. But its place in history is even more significant.

Before Jesus entered Jerusalem in the last week of His ministry, He looked out over the city from the Mount of Olives. Before being arrested, Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is nestled on the hillside.

For modern visitors, it’s a convenient point from which to photograph the ancient walls of the Old City, the Temple Mount, and the golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine.

One detail is easy to overlook. From the Mount of Olives, you are looking directly at the Old City’s eastern wall. From this place, you see the outline of what would have been a massive gate; it was permanently sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, a Muslim.

The Jewish crypts blanketing the Mount of Olives were placed there for the same reason the Muslims sealed the gate: this is where, in the Jewish Talmudic belief, the promised Messiah would enter Jerusalem at the end of time, resurrecting the dead in His wake.

The Jews wanted a good seat, and the Muslims wanted to block His entry.

Did the sultan think that through? If he were concerned enough to seal the gate, maybe he should have considered that a few feet of stone wouldn’t cause this divine and victorious Messiah to even break His stride.

Fifteen hundred years earlier, and less than a mile away, a similar decision was made. The Roman prefect overseeing Judea sealed the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid, pacifying the Jewish political leaders. Just as those efforts proved not to be an impediment to the risen Jesus, neither shall the work of 16th-century Muslim masons.

It’s easy to laugh at sealed gates and sealed stones, but reflect on how often we create similarly meaningless barriers to God individually and corporately. Whether it’s the unconstitutional “separation” of state from church with bans on school prayer, or simply an adamant (and arrogant) denial of God’s very existence, our flimsy barriers have no impact on His reality.

The God who spoke the universe into being goes where He wants. All we do is deny ourselves the joy of knowing Him.

In sealing up our hearts to God, we imprison ourselves.