Originally published May 3, 2019
As the fire in the Notre Dame Cathedral caught the attention of the world on April 15th, it became clear that this was a prophetic sign, a message to the Church but also to those outside the Church who would have ears to hear. While there are obviously multiple layers of revelation and messages that can be derived from the tragedy, perhaps there is also a central unifying one that can widely resonate. Here are some thoughts towards that.
The Timing Matters
The first thing to notice was that the fire was bookended by two extremely important weekends, Palm Sunday and the Easter weekend of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Palm Sunday speaks to the fire because Jesus didn’t just ride into the city but rode to the temple, which He cleansed.
He displayed His passion to have His house be cleansed from defilement and compromise, but also from the clutter that crowded out the place of prayer, particularly prayer by the Gentiles.
The other bookend was Easter weekend, where Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God was beaten and crucified. Brought to a seemingly a hopeless state, a state where it sure looked like the confederation of darkness that had risen up against Him, had utterly triumphed. But He rose. He did the unexpected, the unprecedented, and set in motion the eternally unstoppable.
So two events, the cleansing of the temple and the death of Christ, are speaking (and most specifically to the Church in Europe) that God is cleansing the Church from the ways it’s become deadened in religion or irrelevant in liberalism. He’s cleansing and bringing these things to death. Even what we have deep sentimental attachments to which haven’t had the true life of God in them, He’ll allow them to burn. There is a ruthlessness and zeal to fire, in the same way it was said of Christ “zeal for your house consumes me” (Jn 2:17). Jesus’ zeal for the true revelation of the Gospel and God dwelling in our midst hasn’t waned.
But out of the ashes He is also speaking a vibrant promise of resurrection. In spite of the universal expectations of the dead staying dead, He’s beginning to resurrect a Church that’s full of the power of God and cleansed of old compromises. It’s first for Europe because Europe has been most impacted by the secular liberalism, (with its deepest roots in France). But it’s not just for Europe.
The Iconic Image
The other enduring impact is the now iconic photograph, the primary image for all journalists around the world who have reported on the fire. The image of the gleaming cross, bright with the morning sun streaming in from an open heaven — a roofless building. Debris all around, chaos and ashes, but there stands the cross, again revealed, again central.
This image is prophetic and potent. It carries the message that the Lord is now actively working to restore the centrality of the cross in the Church, that it endures for all generations, and continues to be where the light and the glory of heaven lands.