Jesus Laments Over Jerusalem

Luke 13:31–35 NRSV

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 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.’ 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! See, your house is left to you. 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.’ ”

I’ve had a harder time with this text than I expected. How do we find the good news hear, amidst this lament and threat of violence from the powers?

How is this good news to the oppressed, the poor? Where is God’s liberation?

Maybe we, like Jesus and his disciples, need to step back a bit to see a bit more. Do you ever feel that need, to step back up to the hillside and look out over your life? I have a few places that come to mind.

I love standing on the footbridge of Alabama Hill and looking back to the West over Bellingham. From here, you can see Sehome Hill, with Fairhaven and the bay extending beyond in the distance. You can see downtown, with it’s high-rises. I was noticing, just this week, how from up top Alabama Hill, looking back, you can see the way the city drops down the hill into the Bay, the slow decrease in elevation that is less noticeable close up.

I think back to other vantage points around town and elsewhere. I think of Freshmen year at Western Washington University, climbing to the top of the lookout tower in the Sehome Arboretum to see the Canadian Rockies and Mount Baker. Or standing on the PAC Plaza, just outside the Viking Union, surveying Bellingham Bay, the waterfront, and Lummi Island in the distance.

This year, we’ve been fortunate to stand in some pretty epic views. Days before the Olympics began, we stood on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Montmartre. It was a misty afternoon, but the view was still fantastic, looking back over the city of Paris in all it’s splendor. Or riding the London Eye, almost 450 feet above the Thames River, looking out over that great, ancient city.

This week, I hope to find a similar vantage point in San Salvador, a place to see the city and reflect upon its history, its sorrows, its witness in the world.

Jesus and his disciples stand at a distance from Jerusalem and survey the city. Set apart, able to look upon the city from a distance, allows Jesus to speak the words of lament that he offers.

You see, he knows his trajectory.

As we’ve journeyed with Jesus from his birth at Advent, his rise into ministry during Epiphany, and his early miracles and teachings — now he pivots, he turns his eyes to Jerusalem.

Jesus’ ministry has been in the periphery to Jerusalem, so far. He’s been in the country, his own hometown, and the surrounding area, teaching, healing, and preparing.

To turn to Jerusalem is to turn attention to the heart of the matter. This is the religious center of life, yes. And it is the political, social, economic hub of life, as well. Jerusalem, the city of peace. Jesus knows the city is anything but peaceful, especially to prophets, teachers, and this movement of liberation that Jesus is bringing with him.

Jesus sees the disorder of Jerusalem, even as he knows what the city is meant to be.

Jeru-salem: House of peace, the place of peace.

Names are what we hope things to be, not what they are.

Ok, we can go a lot of important directions with this text today, especially as it speaks to the historical moment of Jesus’ ministry, this vantage point where he looks upon the city with beloved lament for the ways the people have gone astray.

Of course, we have to note Herod, the ruler. Herod, the one who feels threatened by the rising tide of Jesus’ movement. Herod, who would seek to end Jesus’ uprising by killing him, silencing him. Herod, the one who holds power that no one would dare question. Herod, the strong man.

And as we note Herod, we come to one of the themes of our lenten studies, this concept of God’s preferential option for the poor. How does Herod contrast with the God of freedom and liberation?

When we are able to step back, we can begin to see the ways the world is moving around us a bit more clearly. And this is one of the invitations of the season of Lent — to step back and take stock.

What in our lives must be lamented, cried over, railed against? What is hurting? What do you wish you could say to God in honest critique and pain?

Who do you lament for? Who do you long to see healed?

What systems do we lament, what structures do we long to see healed?

Perhaps the question is even more basic — can you lament? Have you been able to set free the tears and angst that sits inside? Of course, we know grief, we know sorrow. But have we been able to lament, to speak these words of struggle?

In this season of Lent, can we welcome this invitation to lamentation? Could we let it be a faithful response to how we’re experiencing the world?

Jesus laments over Jerusalem because he loves the city and loves the people. They are his kin, members of the kin-dom he is establishing on earth. Jerusalem, the city that was meant to be a refuge for the people, now is a state under siege. Jerusalem, the city of peace, is now a broken city of conflict.

We lament with Jesus when we acknowledge that things are not as they should be, not as they were promised.

For me, this is where I find good news of liberation in this text. It is in Jesus’ willingness to bare his anger and lament towards his own people that speaks of taking common cause with the poor. Jesus, the teacher, rabbi, man of God and coming Messiah — Jesus is willing to critique and examine the faults of the powers of the world. Jesus criticizes Herod — subverting the powers. When Jesus, the righteous one, does this, the poor see him standing in solidarity with them. To challenge the powerful is to take the side of the poor.

I will leave us with these wonders today.

How do you need to step back and take stock of the world around you?

Where do you go to get clear about what God is speaking to you?

What would it mean for you to step outside the systems that benefit you to speak truth with the poor?

Can you find the place of lament in this season and truly acknowledge it, name it, speak it, and entrust it to the God the mother hen, who broods over our sorrows and would sweep us into loving arms, if we only ask for it.

Oh Jerusalem. Oh Bellingham. Oh people of God. May our lament rise up and be the foundation we stand upon as we resist such cycles and systems of death and oppression in our world.

Lord, in your mercy, come quickly to our aide. Lord, liberate our hearts from this sorrow, set our eyes upon you. Amen.

Take away: Now may be the time for us to step back, to survey our surroundings, and both lament and praise to God for what is broken and God’s faithfulness nonetheless.