RBWords

     I have vivid memories of my one visit to the Holy Land, and especially on seeing Jerusalem for the first time.  The hotel where I was staying was on a high place across from the old city which made for a magnificent view.  In Jesus' time, that view would have included the temple, which had been largely restored by Herod the Great.  Now on that site there are two mosques.  It was an emotional experience (as is much of the Holy Land for a first time visitor like me).  The gospel today tells us that Jesus wept when he saw the city because he could foresee what would be coming in the not distant future.  About forty years later, it would be utterly ruined by the Roman army in response to a rebellion and an entirely new city built on the same site!

     The scene in today's gospel is the beginning of the last chapter in Jesus' earthly life.  He will be preaching in Jerusalem and meeting opposition from the religious authorities who manage to get the Romans to put him to death.  The blindness of the Jewish authorities contrasts with that of the blind man on the road to Jericho, which is on the way to Jerusalem.  He reached out in faith to Jesus.  Such would not be the case in Jerusalem.  He comes as a messiah of peace when others wanted a messiah of war against the Romans.  

     The blindness of the religious authorities in Jerusalem is not limited to them.  Christianity itself has an unfortunate history of violence in attempts to bring the gospel to others.  Are we ever ready to welcome Jesus, the preacher of a non-violent faith, or do we arm ourselves against him and anyone else who doesn't measure up to the messiah of our own designs?  Does Jesus weep over our increasingly secular and indifferent society?  AMEN