Sharon Swain - God laments

Thursday, 23rd November 2023: God laments

Death Luke 19 War God Jesus funeral

Reading : Verses from Luke, Chapter 19

* Jerusalem 21st century

As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I stood on the Mount of Olives just after the Six-Day War of 5-10th June 1967 in Israel. I had already been surprised by the burnt out tanks piled high on roundabouts, and the number of places we couldn't go. We could see the whole of Jerusalem including the western wall of the Second Temple re-built by Herod often called the 'Wailing wall', and above it the golden dome of the Al-Aqsa mosque. For Jews this was the site where Abraham was tested by God (Genesis 22.1-19), and was close to where the Holy of Holies had stood in the Temple. We gazed in awe at the scene across the valley until suddenly I noticed groups of men and women working below us on the hill-side where marble and stone lay jumbled everywhere. Our guide informed us that in the recent times the tombs of their loved ones had been destroyed. Distraught families were trying to restore normality to the site.

The First Temple built by King Solomon was destroyed in 605 BCE by the Babylonians and the people taken captive to Babylon. Later they returned to rebuild it. When Jesus laments over the fate of Jerusalem, it is the Second Temple rebuilt by Herod that he is predicting will destroyed, as was to happen by the Romans in 70 CE after the Jews rebelled.

Surely, though, Christ is still lamenting today over the Ukraine-Russian and the Israel-Hamas wars (as well as all the other wars in our world); at the loss of innocent lives; and at the destruction of His world. Surely he is still saying "‘If you had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!"

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,
You want only peace for the people of Your world,
yet just as the people refused to listen
to You 2,000 years ago,
so they do not heed Your words today.
You give us free will but we abuse this,
determined to get our way.
We may not be involved in fighting a war
but nevertheless we have the seeds
of aggression within us.
Help us to seek the path of peace
in all that we do.
Amen.

Follow Up Thoughts

A Christian Prayer for Peace in Our Time

O God, author and giver of peace,
in whose image and likeness each of us has been created
with a human dignity worthy of respect on earth
and destined for eternal glory,
Listen to the cry that rises from every corner of this fragile earth,
from our human family torn by violent conflict:

Give peace in our time, O good and gracious God,
that peace which, as your son Jesus Christ told us
and as we have experienced in these days,
is a peace which the world cannot give.

To world leaders grant the wisdom
to see beyond the boundaries of race, religion, and nation
to that common humanity that makes us all your children
and brothers and sisters to one another.

To those who have taken up arms in anger or revenge
or even in the cause of justice
grant the grace of conversion to the path of peaceful dialogue
and constructive collaboration.

To the innocent who live in the shadow of war and terror,
especially the frightened children,
be a shelter and strength, their haven and hope.

And to those who have already lost their lives
as victims of human cruelty and chemical warfare,
open wide your arms and enfold them all
in the embrace of your compassion, healing, and everlasting life.

Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.
(Peter J. Scagnelli)