Word to the Wise
Monday, January 27, 2020 - Monday in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Sam 5:1-7, 10 and Mark 3:22-30]Then the king [David] and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, "You cannot enter here: the blind and the lame will drive you away!" which was their way of saying, "David cannot enter here." But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David. [2 Samuel]
I will never forget my first glimpse of Jerusalem and my sense of awe. My father and I were part of a group of pilgrims. We had been to a great number of places earlier in the trip that were associated with Jesus' ministry. Jerusalem was our last stop. The bus seemed to come on it suddenly. I remember looking out the window of the bus and realizing that the city was above us and I remembered some biblical verses about going "up to Jersualem," and realized they were literally true! Jerusalem sits on a mountain ridge. Our hotel was on another mountain across the valley and each morning I could walk and see the Old City stretched out with the temple mount and the mosque with the golden dome! The subsequent visits to the tomb of the resurrection and the place of the crucifixion (both in the same church building) were memorable, but that first sighting of Jerusalem stays with me. What the Second Book of Samuel reminds us all is that the site was once the home of a people who were not Jewish, Christian or Moslem!! The "Holy City" remains a place of controversy 2000+ years later.
David's action in making Jerusalem the site of his capital was a bit of military strategy because of its high location. He had just united all the Jewish tribes in one kingdom, but it would not last a very long time. His own weaknesses and those of his heir, Solomon, would lead to the division of the kingdom and its ultimate loss first to the Assyrians (the "Northern Kingdom") and then to the Babylonians. Later on, the descendants of Alexander the Great would take the city and try ti impose Greek culture, which led to further conflict resulting in a Roman invasion that was still in effect in Jesus' time and would continue until well after the Romans destroyed the city and the temple in 77 AD. Each time, the city has come back and remains a religious flash-point! Christians Jews and Moslems claim it. It is testimony to the power of a place to shape how we live our faith. We are still living with the eviction of the Jebusites from their home! AMEN