"Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
but you were unwilling!
Every year hundreds of people arrive at Ben Gurion Airport and take a taxi to the Holy City with expectations of ecstasy. Within a few days many of them are carried to the psychiatric ward of the hospital, suffering Jerusalem Syndrome. Reading the Old and New Testaments, they have pondered the importance of this hilltop fortress with its sacred temple. They have seen how God favors the city with extraordinary blessings. They want to live in a holy place and know the Lord with revelatory intimacy. Arriving there, they are crushed by its ordinariness. It is a city like every other, with a few saints and many disreputable characters.
The Old and New Testaments recognize a dreadful irony about Jerusalem: this holiest city beloved of God is also sinful. The Hebrew prophets railed against its civil, religious, and business leaders for their neglect of the sacred duties. Not only did the priest perform their religious rituals without reverence, the civil leaders took bribes and the business leaders neglected the poor. When the city was overrun by heathen armies the prophets saw the punishing hand of an angry, disappointed God.
The New Testament presses the irony further as the Holy City searches Bethlehem to kill the Messiah; and, several years later, its angry denizens cry out, "His blood upon us and our children!"
In today's gospel we hear Jesus's lament, ""Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone those sent to you...."
In the VA hospital, chaplains often encounter this conundrum and its bitter consequences. "Why does a God who is supposed to be All-Good, All-Powerful, All-Knowing, and All-Beautiful permit so many terrible things to exist?" Unlike many questions, this one does not answer itself.
Jesus, as he appeared (and disappeared) to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, sharply reminded them,
"Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"
(Luke 24:27)
Our fallible human wisdom supposes that the Holy should know nothing of pain, sorrow, grief, rage, hatred or tragedy. These are merely human experiences, we think, and shameful. If we were in control of our lives they would not happen. "If I were God, there would be nothing like that in my world."
But the Risen Lord declares, this was necessary. We cannot know the Lord, we cannot be saved, unless he is crucified for us.
Again, in the hospital, some patients will argue with the doctor about their diagnosis and prognosis, "That can't be right! Is this really necessary?" Some people have fantasy notions of their body's strengths and virtues. They can smoke and not destroy their lungs; drink excessive alcohol and not get pancreatitis;, habitually eat too much and suffer no ill effects.
The same fantasies about how life should be would argue about the Messiah's suffering, "It should not have been necessary! Nor should I have to make sacrifices for the Love of God!"
Embracing the cross of Christ we accept the Sacrifice he has made for us. And then follow in his steps.
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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.