O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.' Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

- Luke 13:31-35

In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave us parables about the kingdom of God. He compared it to a mustard seed that grows into a great tree, and the leaven that transforms an entire dough. Then He taught about those who may enter through the narrow gate of this kingdom - and those who will be locked out of the Master's house regardless of their assumptions about proximity to this kingdom. See What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." My study bible has notes on each verse in today's reading, so significant is each one. Here is the one for this verse: "This warning of some Pharisees may well be sincere, or it could be a cunning way to get Jesus to Judea so they could enforce their authority against Him. Herod Antipas imprisoned and beheaded John the Baptist." We know that Jesus has already enraged the Pharisees with His criticism. Herod rules in Galilee.

And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'" A note here reads, "Jesus does not mince words in calling Herod fox for his sly craftiness. Perfected refers to the completion of Jesus' mission through His Passion and Resurrection in Jerusalem. He has nothing to fear from Herod." In other passages, we've been told that Herod is curious about Jesus - but we already know his base actions in the execution of John the Baptist. He is a man for whom power and status is everything.

"Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." A note reads: "Jerusalem, the center of religious authority, often was the site of the judgment and persecution of God's prophets (v. 34). Jesus speaks with prophetic irony here." The center of religious power, Jerusalem conjures images of the idea that we cannot worship God and mammon: that is, the idea of holding onto power in a worldly sense has always been at odds with the prophets of God.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" My study bible says, "Jesus' tender lament and judgment over unrepentant Jerusalem show He loves His adversaries as we are to love ours." Jesus shows His love, truly, as the note from my study bible says. But I think there is another note in His tone here, and that is the sadness for the lost opportunity of His mission. They simply won't listen to Him, they reject Him. And this is where judgment happens - they will reap the harvest of this choice, their failure to understand and accept, just as beloved children deal with the consequences of their behavior when they fail to listen to the wisdom that would prevent, for example, a burned finger on a hot stove. But these "children" are the religious authority, and they know better. This is a repeated theme of the Old Testament, the failure to heed the prophets who speak for God and call authority to love, mercy and humility before God. They love their own authority and power more.

"See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'" A note here reads, "The time referred to is Palm Sunday, when Jesus will be acclaimed at His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem." These are indeed the words with which Jesus will be greeted when He enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but they also reflect another note - that of the final Judgment, of the triumph of God. They are from Psalm 118, which also contains the quotation that Jesus will use in a similar prophetic tone: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." So Jesus' words here are of the triumph of the LORD, in the refuge that is God, despite persecution. They apply to Himself personally in the events that are happening and that are immediately to come; but they also apply to the Lord's people, to the Kingdom, and the persecution they will face.

I think it's important to think about an important aspect of judgment here, and that is the love with which Jesus pronounces His melancholy over the desolation that is to come to Jerusalem. Many of us reject all notions of judgment because its seeming harshness is so at odds with our understanding of love and mercy. How can the two reconcile? But the failure to love and to practice mercy - when we know better - also carries with it the consequences of being "left outside the closed door," as Jesus referred to those outside this Kingdom in yesterday's reading. We all make choices. Repeatedly, in the story of this Book we study, God's prophets approach leadership and authority, reminding them of God's desired practice of love and mercy - as opposed to the forms that material power can take of greed, destruction, death, plunder, exploitation, cruelty; that is, evil in many forms. Jesus' repeated condemnation is of the hypocrisy of those who use religion as a cover for their greed and all that goes with it, especially among the leadership. Political authority in the form of Herod has already beheaded John the Baptist, to "honor" a lavish promise made at a birthday feast in front of his guests. And religious authority seeks to persecute Jesus because of His criticisms of the burdens they place on those who worship, and whom they keep from knowing God. All these, the humble and the exalted, are His children to whom He has come, including those who seek to persecute Him, and who reject Him. Will they listen? Do they know they are creatures of God, who is love, and who asks them to be like Him? Do they know they are children of mercy, who must seek to practice their Father's ways? The prophets have come repeatedly to Jerusalem, such as Micah, who preached to those "who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. ... Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, 'Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.'” Repeatedly, the prophets have come with a message of love, and Micah's words echo Jesus' in yesterday's reading about those who will be left out of this kingdom, who believe that the Lord is among them. And what about us today? The Holy City? Where are the words of love and mercy? Are they lost amid the tumult and the violence? How is it that Zion, this holy kingdom, is to be built? Where do we start today to listen to the God who is love and mercy, to be like Him, and understand that we too are responsible for what we choose when we claim we know better, that we will reap what we sow? Are we willing to be His brood, to gather under His wings?