Introit
Remember, O Lord, thy compassions and thy mercies,
which are from the beginning,
lest at any time our enemies rule over us:
deliver us, O God of Israel, from all our tribulations.
To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul:
in thee, O God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed.
Psalm 25:6, 3, 22, 1-2
Luke 13:31-35
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, "Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem."
34 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!
35 See, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
• Overview of Luke's gospel
The Second Sunday in Lent
As we prepare for Easter during the forty day long season of Lent, many of us slow down, become more intentional about study and service, possibly take on a meaningful project or activity and often relinquish a sensual favorite such as chocolate, wine, or desserts.
Today's gospel reading happens after Luke reports Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem—the cross and the empty grave. Does that information help your Lenten considerations?
At That Very Hour
In Luke's gospel, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is particularly focused and incessant. Jesus first "set his face toward Jerusalem" in Luke 9:51.
Immediately before this, Jesus told a series of parables, and he went teaching from town to town. The narrow gate or door as entrance to the reign of heaven was among those teachings, followed by what's sometimes called "the great reversal" when those typically first will be last, the last surprisingly first. "People will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, and recline at table at the banquet of kingdom of God."
Commentaries are divided on the pharisees' warning Jesus about Herod being out to get him. Although we tend to put pharisees and sadducees into a single category, sadducees were the bad guys in collusion with the Roman empire, while the pharisees were serious about being ultra-observant and faithful; Jesus and pharisees dine together at several places in Luke. I'd call it a friendly warning that Jesus is well aware of.
As Luke records this pair of incidents, Jesus still is in Galilee, not yet in Jerusalem. Matthew doesn't include the exchange between Jesus and the pharisees, but he does quote Jesus' lament over Jerusalem: Matthew 23:37-39.
Similar to Jesus giving almost identical talks at many places, he would have grieved over Jerusalem at several – if not many – junctures along the way. In fact, as soon as he reaches and observes the Holy City in Luke 19:41-42, he again weeps and laments, "if only they'd known the things that made for peace."
Jesus took his identity and his calling seriously; from conversation and scripture he would have known many of Israel's prophets didn't fare well. Although saying prophets get killed only in Jerusalem isn't factual, Luke may have been making a broader observation about justice and the nature of raw imperial violence. Martin Buber points out the prophet rather than the priest had religious primacy for Israel, but the Jerusalem temple would have been the center of Jesus' world as an observant Jew, so prophets and priests both belonged to his tradition.
Where We Live
Weeping, hoping, and dreaming over cities. Peering anxiously or with confidence into the future. Weeping, hoping and dreaming over the people that live in the city, that ideally make a city of, by, and for the people, and not for the billionaire elites. Sorrow about broken and comprosmised infrastructure, because no individual or community can function without streets, roads, stock exchanges, air traffic controllers, and internet. Grief over what used to be, what could have been right now.
Jesus took his identity as Son of God and his calling to model and help create a just, compassionate society seriously. As people preparing for baptism or to renew our baptismal promises on Easter, we take our callings and identities seriously, too. God placed the first humans in a garden and charged them to care for it; God promised Abraham a land where people could settle and thrive as they nurtured the agricultural bounty surrounding them.
Jesus wept over cosmopolitan Jerusalem that was the religious, cultural, economic, and political center of his world. We live in a world that has become almost unimaginably flat. For example, very few non-Ukrainian people are not sorrowful, concerned, and prayerful about Russia's invasion and undeclared war on the smaller country. We grieve for places because we celebrate places. We celebrate places and locations because we need them.
Are tears, prayers, and actions for the cities we love, the world we cherish, and the hopes we hold especially appropriate during Lent as we anticipate Easter and the possibility of a new creation?
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