Today’s Scripture readings are as disturbing as they are consoling to me! Luke (LK 19: 41-44) has Jesus describing violent destruction, killing and being encircled by your “enemies.” Interestingly, the Scripture passage immediately prior to this describes Jesus’ celebrated entry into the holy city Jerusalem, where the excitement of the people, who saw him as a messiah sent to save them, prompted them to throw down their cloaks on the road before Him – hopes and dreams for a better life, a saved way of living –they chant!
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest,”
And Jesus’ response to this display of almost-fanaticism…. “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” I wonder what this could mean.
And then… the turn in the road, in today’s Gospel. Jesus looks out and sees the city itself, and it’s almost as if he realizes that the “hurrah” that had just occurred on the road heading toward the city, was perhaps a bit of a misunderstanding on the part of the people. There are a number of times that we have the Gospel writer tells us that Jesus cries, and this is one of those times. “As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it.”
This particular passage has been referred to as “the Lament for Jerusalem.” Jesus is brought to tears by the realization that the people do not understand what is happening. They cannot see, they are not paying attention….they “did not recognize the time of….visitation!” The forthcoming description from Jesus of being encircled by “enemies” is cast in future terms, but some have claimed that it was actually a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred later in history. In any case, what strikes me most in this passage is the lamentation over perhaps mis-placed hopes and even “blindness.”
Who is Jerusalem?
We are all struggling with the terrible events of last week in Paris. And there are reactions to these events. We have seen them, we have perhaps “been” them. Good or bad, we have all responded either internally or perhaps overtly, in an attempt to “understand” or make sense of this horrific event. And there are questions….why?…..how did this happen?….what must we do?…Who could do such a thing? And then there is the response of mute silence. All of our responses, I believe, are a way of trying to find a “safe place,” somewhere we can be to sort this out, to take “refuge,” and maybe even to protect ourselves. I see this at all levels – world, national, state, civic, social, political, church, communal, individual, etc. These are questions of humanity.
Who are the “enemies” that encircle and hem us in?
Some say anyone’s greatest “enemy” is their self. I don’t know if I completely agree with that, but I believe there is at least a little piece of “me” that colors my perceptions and sometimes judgments of people and situations. OK! Maybe a “lot” of me! If I could just question or at least be aware of my own fixed way of perceiving people and things, I think it could make me just a little more humble or compassionate even. Ah, but that is not a one-person task. And this is where it gets messy! See, I think that we sometimes say “they” when we at least partially mean “I” (whether we know it or not). And the real sobering thing is that “they” + “I” = “We!” But how do “we” get there? I do not pretend an easy answer.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word that normally gets translated as “mercy” is “chesed,” which many biblical scholars say is more appropriately defined as “loving kindness,” the kind of which characterized the covenant environment of a God who passionately Loves in an infallible and unbreakable way. Mercy is then not action that comes and goes, but is actually the ground from which we are all sustained in life and love. The real challenge in this understanding of the word is that it signifies the attitude that both parties of the covenant should maintain towards each other. The difficulty is how we enable ourselves to see and tap into this already existent environment of total Mercy, i.e., total Love, that cradles us ever so tenderly but ever so strongly!
It is this aspect of the Gospel story today is, as I said earlier, that is both harrowing and also strangely consoling. It has to do with opening our eyes and waking up to what is HERE….what is “really” here and living in a way that most validates and encourages the true well-being of everyone and everything!
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
Peace,
Thomas