Lent 2, Gospel of Luke

Lent 2, Gospel of Luke
Luke 13.31-35

Standing on the Mount of Olives, millions of pilgrims have beheld Jerusalem; then they walk down the hill, remembering Jesus’ last days. The Mount of Olives is the highest point in Jerusalem, and this is the view Jesus would have seen as he walked into Jerusalem.

Each time I stand there, my heart weeps for this city, with its gold domes and towers, a magnificent testimony to love for God. For centuries, religious people have built churches, mosques, synagogues, monasteries and holy shrines. The view is breathtakingly beautiful.
Photo: Jerusalem from Dominus Flevit, the Mount of Olives

On Sunday, as we were listening to these words from the gospel of Luke, young Arab men, hiding in a mosque built where the temple stood in Jesus’ time, started throwing stones at the people visiting the Temple Mount. They were angered by Israel’s decision to designate holy sites in Hebron and Bethlehem as Israeli heritage sites (see Monday’s meditation).

“Four policemen were lightly wounded by Arab stone-throwers yesterday during riots that began on the Temple Mount but soon spread to the alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City. Eight rioters were arrested….Senior police officers attributed the riots to the [Israeli] government's recent decision to declare Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem national heritage sites. That decision has sparked days of rioting in Hebron, and yesterday it spread to Jerusalem, police said. But Arab residents of East Jerusalem said the riots broke out because the police allowed a larger than usual number of Jewish visitors to ascend the Temple Mount yesterday.” (Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=temple+mount&itemNo=1153021ml?sw=temple+mount&itemNo=1153021)

Protests continued on Monday, as seven Palestinians were arrested (photo of protest from Palestine Network News): http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7907

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians appears so intractable that resolution seems hopeless, that these places where Jesus walked will never see peace. Israeli confiscation of Palestinian lands and stone-throwing young protesters have been constant news over the past 60 years, especially since 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.

“Go and tell that fox….” Jesus’ words in this week’s gospel are a stark reminder that the powers of the world, whether Israeli, Palestinian or American, are not the last word. “Jerusalem,” the seat of religious and secular power, is the object of God’s mothering love. Behind all Herod’s foxy maneuvers for power, God waits…..not in judgment, but to surround Jerusalem with her mothering wings, protecting her chicks. God, whose spirit hovered over the waters at the birth of the world (Gen 1.2), is Lord of creation—not Herod.

If world peace depended on the efforts of the Palestinian Authority or the Israeli Knessett or the U.S. Congress, or our President, we would surely despair. “Jerusalem….the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings….” Today, as Palestinian youth, express their desperation and frustration at their own powerlessness by throwing rocks, Jesus reminds us of God’s plan to nurture us into new life, and gives hope for the future.

Mothering God, you have loved us since you birthed your creation. When we forgot your covenant, you sent your son to reclaim us. Nurture in us the courage to be messengers of your love for all the world. Help us find ways to bring hope—to the people who live in the shadows of despair, both here at home and in your troubled homeland. Amen.