Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 21, 2024 - Thursday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 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. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." [Luke]
NOVEMBER 21 PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The Gospel According to Luke [and the Acts of the Apostles] is more or less shaped on the theme of a journey. Along the way, Jesus has demonstrated his power over evil and illness and preached a "kingdom" of love and peace. At the same time he met consistent resistance and hostility from Jewish religious authorities, whose idea of a messiah did not include a wonder-working carpenter from Nazareth. In today's gospel, Jesus is reaching the destination of his journey and he weeps over the city because it would eventually try to create a political deliverance by rebelling against the Roman empire. Luke composed his account after the fall of Jerusalem [70 AD] and gives us a snapshot of Roman siege tactics!
The preaching of the gospel has met with resistance from powerful political and social forces from the very beginning in Galilee until the present day. Some of these political and social forces are not so much outside us as inside us. These forces are often grouped under the title of "secularism." Religious faith becomes one more consumer item like choosing an over-the-counter pain reliever. Political and economic power become rivals to Jesus' message. When the desire for this kind of power or chemical deliverance takes over, our security becomes dependent on them and the gospel seems like "pie in the sky, by and by." Jesus wept over the future of Jerusalem. One may justly wonder if the tears are now over a whole planet! AMEN