The Mishkan is complete, the resting place of Hashem in the world built by the Jewish people in the desert. Is that its final purpose, to be a resting place for Hashem to dwell in the desert? There must be more to the story, right?
My feeling is an irrevocable yes! The job of the Jewish people is to be the "spokesepeople," so to speak, for Hashem in the world. So it makes sense that we would be the ones to build it, but we certainly can't just leave it there. We have a mission: to bring the Mishkan to the land of Israel and allow the light of G-d to flow throughout the world. Like it says, "My house will be a house of prayer for all people." Are we fulfilling this mission?
There is an interesting story in the Gemara, Tractate Yoma, where the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) enters into the marketplace on Yom Kippur and is spat upon by an Arab. In the end, his brother must take his place for the remainder of the Yom Kippur service because the original Kohen is now impure. Why is he impure, you might ask? It's because the spit of non-Jews is considered impure. Had been spit upon by an animal or a Jew, he would have been able to complete the Yom Kippur service. Rav Daniel said that this is clearly a decree to keep Jews away from non-Jews.
It seems to me that we have been living in an 'exile mentality' for a very long time, and as long as we continue to live this way, we will never be able to truly complete our mission of creating the final dwelling place of Hashem in the world. It is a house for all nations. I'm not trying to say that we're all the same. We have a unique job, one that the other nations don't have. They can't build the Mishkan; only we can. But we must have in mind that it's not just for us; it's for the world.
This is also true for our individual selves. We must work on ourselves, but only as much as it enables us to spread Hashem's light throughout the world. In the beginning of this week's parsha, Rabbenu Bachayai comments on the fact that Mishkan is mentioned twice. He states that this is connected to the upper Mishkan and the lower Mishkan. The lower Mishkan being the one we built, and the upper being the days of the creation of the world. It says in last week's parsha that the people should bring what their heart stirs them to bring to help build the Mishkan. We must also see this in connection to the upper Mishkan. What we bring to the world is our contribution to the creation of the world.
We are in the Land of Israel again. The stage is set once again for the establishment of Hashem's dwelling place. Let us all bring to it a vision of peace and wholeness for the entire world. The time has come to stop living in an 'exile' mentality and stop living in fear of the other nations, and rather stand with our feet planted firmly in the ground of the Land of Israel and shine forth the light that we are meant to shine forth.