Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

Lectionary: 262

Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.


I have lived in small American towns but I don’t suppose any American can imagine the all-consuming togetherness of a city like ancient Jerusalem. Several thousand people living within a few acres of land, waking and sleeping by the cycles of daylight, without running water or a sewer system, much less electric lights or telephone – this is neighborliness at an unimaginable level. They were rich and poor, able-bodied and disabled, generous and stingy and they all knew each other by sight, sound and smell. If they were separated by class, wealth and education they were united by disease, war and famine. Despite their differences they did not cultivate individuality or privacy. Neither fantasy could be entertained in such close proximity.
Their news came via announcement and rumor; but more often, rumor. Beyond anyone’s control, It reshaped every announcement. If reason sometimes had a voice, emotion ruled; and in tight quarters, emotions spread like wildfire. No one could resist the occasional hysterics that swept through the city. 
The people of Jerusalem had heard about Jesus’ coming well in advance, but they could not agree on his reception. Should the Galilean be welcomed or shunned? In the end they did both: they greeted him joyfully on Sunday and killed him several days later. And then they wondered, “What came over us? What have we done?” 
Jerusalem appears throughout scripture as the holy city and the sinful city. The city of King David is the city of King Herod. The city of God’s temple has pagan shrines. It is also an occupied city, controlled by a Roman garrison, gentile mercenaries who despise Jews but share their food and drink and disease. 
Long before Sigmund Freud explored the mysterious depths of the individual soul, the authors of scripture studied the psyche of Jerusalem. Carl Jung would discover the collective unconscious in personal experience but the collective memories of Jerusalem were as fresh as the battle scars on the city gates. Jerusalem was a city of saints and sinners, purity and filth; all within smelling distance of one another. 
So when Peter excoriated them for crucifying the Lord, they were “cut to the heart;” and they begged, “What are we to do, my brothers?” 

Peter said to them,“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In this early chapter of Acts of the Apostles there seems to be no resistance to the gospel. The joy of his resurrection sweeps through Jerusalem like the grief that swept across the United States after last December 14. But within days the pushback will come. 
The gospel demands change and more than superficial change. After Jesus’ reappearance nothing can be the same. Like the human soul the city is complex and mysterious. It welcomes and despises the gospel and its fate hangs in the balance until Judgment Day.