Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
And so we have arrived at last in Jerusalem, the Holy City, where God lives with his people; the doomed city which must be destroyed -- not one stone upon a stone -- because of its infidelity. Jerusalem is the geographical center and spiritual home of everything in the Old and New Testaments, but it is especially Saint Luke's focus. Mary and Jesus set out for Jerusalem in the beginning of the Gospel; the disciples set out from Jerusalem to announce the Gospel to the whole world in Luke's Acts of the Apostles.
Jerusalem is a march, a frontier or border area between two countries or territories where different nations meet: Jews and gentiles, sinners and saints, God and mortals.
Pope Benedict XVI remarked in his books about Jesus that early Christians did not regard the Holy City with the same fascinated awe as their Jewish forebears. When the city was destroyed by the Romans the Jewish people from India to Spain were left shocked and homeless.
Christians -- a mixed group of former Jews and gentiles -- hardly noticed. There is no direct mention of the catastrophe in the New Testament. The Church had become the New Jerusalem. Our international fellowship, urban diocese and, eventually, the local parish were the center of worship, the site of a daily and weekly pilgrimage. The Holiness of God -- the Shekinah -- rested upon the Church, the Real Presence of the Eucharist, the Tabernacle and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Homeless Christians neglect those mysteries; if they would return they do not go to the old Jerusalem, with its ruined temple and the empty tomb.
Lent has led our catechumens to the Church; they will spend this week in final preparation for Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation during the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. Lent leads Christians to Palm Sunday, Holy Week, the Triduum and Easter. This is a week of intense drama for us as we carry palm branches into the church, and remember Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. We remember the raucous crowd who greeted him and the whispered conspiracy to kill him. We remember his unpretentious display, as he rode on a foal. That odd gesture didn't enhance his standing with the poor or the great; but it may have reminded them of Zechariah's prophecy,
Exult greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
Behold: your king is coming to you,
a just savior is he,
Humble, and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem;
The warrior’s bow will be banished,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
The Church today, assailed for its opposition to abortion and "gay marriage," ignored for its support of human dignity, mocked for its proclamation of revealed truths, and despised for supporting "illegal" immigrants in the United States, also chooses to ride the donkey.
Powerful institutions ignore our presence and our counsel at their peril; not because we might destroy them but because they build their legal, social and economic structures on sand. They imagine a future of no more than the next electoral cycle; we expect the Kingdom of God.
But this week we return to our holy city of prayer, ritual and community. We enter Jerusalem, the doomed city, with Jesus.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.