“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”
The root meaning of “Jerusalem” is “cornerstone of Peace”. God choose this place as the location for the death of Jesus. It is as if that one act would become the cornerstone upon which the peace of the world would be built.
Isn’t that interesting! That God would choose Jerusalem, the crossroads of many cultures, empires and religions; here Jesus will die. It is a festival city, occupied throughout all time by one foreign occupation force after another, and a home for the three monotheistic religions.
This chief cornerstone is also the crossroads of so many struggles. It is tragically the altar upon which a great deal of human bloodshed occurs. Not only does Jesus die there, so too we find ourselves in conflict, hateful and violent. Countless prophets and people die there throughout the centuries and into the present.
But we needn't look that far away to see hateful conflict. Cast your eyes upon Washington, DC. You may be a Republican or a Democrat, a Conservative or a Liberal. Sooner or later we come to January 6th.
Perhaps you are a mainstream Christian, or a born again Evangelical right wing extremist. Or you may wish too have nothing to do with organized religion. For you the intelligent option is secular humanism or outright atheism.
Truth be told the organized churches have not always distinguished themselves in the struggles for racial justice and freedom for all. In fact too many of our churches harbor superstition and prejudice and are racked with one scandal after another. Like many of our institutions, we question everything.
The nations are in an uproar. Peace has shaken us to the core in the Ukraine. Putin’s invasion has laid waste to one city after another. The whole world is anxiously watching as we ask ourselves how we can contain the conflict or how can we intervene without making matters worse?
The litany of conflict is endless. Race, religion and politics. Too many lives lost.
Jesus does not mince words as he surveys the history of the City.
“Jerusalem, 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, and you were not willing!”
Using the image of a mother hen, our Lord aches to bring us under his/her/their pinions. It is a stunning image as I see it; the transgendered image of Jesus. As she spreads her wings over her chicks or as he stretches out his arms upon a cross; this is God’s vision of obedience.
Throughout salvation history the vision of expansiveness is beyond human telling. When Abram contemplated being childless, God told him to look up at the stars in the heavens. “Count them if you can. So shall your descents be!” And Abram believed in God and God counted that belief as righteousness. When we have the kind of belief that is able to see things as God does, then we can begin to see the expansiveness of God’s love. It is that faith that becomes the source of our righteousness. This is the rock our our faith upon which God builds the foundation of Peace.
But the Pharisees warn Jesus, “Herod wants to kill you.”
Jesus is nonplussed in the face of raw power, “You go and tell that fox for me. ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’”
I wish there were something we could do about the Herods of this world. There’s something in me that wants to pray for a celestial being to slip something into Herod’s borscht when he’s not looking. But perish that thought right now.
God’s eyes and ours must wait and watch as the children and the elderly, their moms and dads lay awake in the night, bombs and missiles strike their homes. God’s eyes and ours must watch and wait as Jesus dies on the cross. The mother hen hides her brood under her wings but what is she against the might of Herod’s weaponry?
The prayer of St. Francis begins “Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me.” I wonder how can we hope for a negotiated settlement in the Ukraine when our own Congressional representatives cannot even speak to one with a civil tongue in their heads? How can we hope for a negotiated peace with Russia when we cannot even sit at our family gatherings and manage civil and substantive conversations over things that matter to us like civil policy?
The world we live in is desperately broken. We are divided and enslaved by sin. We have forgotten how to listen and to hear the hearts of one another. There is too much contempt in the human heart.
If this nation cannot find what it means to be one nation under God or if our families cannot come together at Thanksgiving or Easter to Bless God and each other then we have no idea what the Cross of Christ stands for.
The vertical dimension of that cross describes the first commandment; “You shall love the lord your God with all you heart, mind, soul and strength”. And the horizontal dimension of that cross is Jesus’ commandment; “love one another”.
She/he/they stands brooding over Jerusalem as a hen seeks to gather her chicks, but they would not! This is the first and fundamental fact of human and salvation history.
When all else fails, we turn to Jesus because it is in only him that we find unity, faith, love, forgiveness and most difficult of all, reconciliation. What Churchill said of Americans can be said of all humankind; “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else first!”
St Paul surveys the human condition in today’s Epistle; “look at them, the enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.”
Jesus is the cornerstone of Peace. It is on his death and moreover his Resurrection that we find our Peace and our Hope. “Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me. “
In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.
Fr Paul
Below are the readings for the Second Sunday in Lent highlighted by with words and thoughts that speak to my heart and mind.
Second Sunday in Lent
The Collect:
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Lesson: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.
Psalm 27
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? *
the Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?
When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, *
it was they, my foes and my adversaries, who
stumbled and fell.
Though an army should encamp against me, *
yet my heart shall not be afraid;
And though war should rise up against me, *
yet will I put my trust in him.
One thing have I asked of the Lord;
one thing I seek; *
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life;
To behold the fair beauty of the Lord *
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe
in his shelter; *
he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling
and set me high upon a rock.
Even now he lifts up my head *
above my enemies round about me.
Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation
with sounds of great gladness; *
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; *
have mercy on me and answer me.
You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” *
Your face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not your face from me, *
nor turn away your servant in displeasure.
You have been my helper;
cast me not away; *
do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Though my father and my mother forsake me, *
the Lord will sustain me.
Show me your way, O Lord; *
lead me on a level path, because of my enemies.
Deliver me not into the hand of my adversaries, *
for false witnesses have risen up against me,
and also those who speak malice.
What if I had not believed
that I should see the goodness of the Lord *
in the land of the living!
O tarry and await the Lord’s pleasure;
be strong, and he shall comfort your heart; *
wait patiently for the Lord.
Epistle: Philippians 3:17-4:1
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, 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, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
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