Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 17, 2016 - Thursday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 5:1-10 and Luke 19:41-44]THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2016 ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY [Revelation 5:1-10 and Luke 19:41-44] "As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.....and they will not leave one tone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." [Luke] Jerusalem has known very little peace from the time that King David drove out the Jebusites and established his kingdom and his son, Solomon built the temple. Jesus wept over the city because he could see that his mission would be rejected there. Instead, zealots would attempt to rebel against the Roman Empire less than fifty years after his death. Today's gospel passage describes the Roman military process of a siege. The Gospel of Luke was written after the thorough destruction of the city and the audience would be familiar with what he wrote. The early Christian community began to see itself as a "new Israel" and the church as a "New Jerusalem" (Rev. 21:2). This is something that is still coming into being centuries later. The stubborn failure of Jerusalem to "recognize the time of your visitation" is a message to all of us who may complacently put our ultimate reliance on a civil compact and consider ourselves as "exceptional." The empires of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and Incas/Aztecs probably thought that way, too. History has a way of teaching us why Jesus wept over Jerusalem. AMEN
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