Psalm 109
Zephaniah 3:8-13
Revelation 17:1-18
Luke 13:31-35
The Dominus Flevit Church is a small chapel on the side of the Mount of Olives with the above pictured very striking view of the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock. It is supposed to be on the spot where Jesus stood looking at the Temple and more generally at Jerusalem and spoke the following words of lament: "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!"(v34)
The spot is truly striking and one of my favorite locations in the Holy Land. I can remember being there with our tour group in 2001, when I traveled there with a good friend as part of a group of clergy. What I can remember most vividly is the person who led the devotional talked about how they were having a wonderful experience, but very much missing their family and how their words brought tears to my eyes as I realized how much the words hit home with me and how much I was missing my wife and our two children that particular moment. Something about that quite visceral moment overlooking the Old City has stayed with me and whenever I read the story of Jesus lament over Jerusalem I remember that feeling of being struck by the absolute beauty of what I was seeing and at the same time the absolute sadness of missing the people who were so far away and so important to me.
How hard must it had been for Jesus to look at a city teeming with people, people he loved so much and who he knew would summarily reject him and seek to take his life. How hard especially when he could look across that valley and literally see the ground he would have to cover in order to set in motion the events of Holy Week, the events that would lead to his arrest and crucifixion.
Don't miss the words of v.31. As I read them they are a bit of a bright spot and point to something that we should factor in to our thinking about the Pharisees. Often times the Pharisees are the bad guys in the gospel stories. They are out to get Jesus, to trick him, to trip him up. And yet he hangs around with them regularly and discusses faith with them regularly. They are his nemisis at times, yes, but they are also, I suspect, his friends at times as well. "At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, 'Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.'"(v.31) These words can be interpreted perhaps in a variety of ways, but they sound to me like words of warning from one friend to another. Take care - you are in danger. The Pharisees are not two dimensional villains in a set piece. They are living, breathing folks who have some very bad moments in the gospel accounts, but who also undoubtedly have some good moments as well and who I also would say undoubtedly are represented in the group that Jesus would have counted as his companions and friends.
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