Jesus and Jerusalem
Luke 13:31-35
Jerusalem was destined to be the ‘city on a hill’ whose light would enlighten the nations in truth; whose light would attract pilgrims in search of earthly perfection. Isaiah had prophesied a renaissance of faith where all nations shall flow to Jerusalem. And they shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion from Jerusalem shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:2)” It was in this vision that a hymn foretelling its glory was written:
Jerusalem the Golden with milk and honey blest
Beneath your contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed
I know not, oh, I know not what joys await us there;
What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.
But the gold dimmed. Its luster dulled. The shining streets became alleys of corruption. Its bright lights out, darkness descended where the powerless were crushed and the powerful rewarded. Justice perverted. The widow lost her home with no appeal. The hungry child was ignored. The wounded and fallen were passed by. The devotion to God of Abraham deteriorated into a hard, harsh religion. To this city, his city, the Lord in flesh came. He lamented, “O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to her! How often I would gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.” You kill the messengers of God. You shut your ears to the word of recovery. You don’t listen to the saving policy of the Lord. Consequently you are destroying yourself and your future. You have renounced the greatness I would confer upon you. Maybe we could say that Jerusalem had an acceleration problem. When God said to speed up in compassion, they hit the brakes; when God commanded to race for truth in love, they hit the brakes; when God ordered them to turn onto the avenue of justice, they hit the brakes; when God said to stop and receive Jesus Christ for their salvation they jammed the accelerator to the floor. Now God was forced to issue a recall for their future. “Behold your house is left unto you desolate!” What had happen to its promised greatness? What are the truths in this moment?
First, prejudice can slip up on us and cause us to be closed-minded. Jesus warned the Jerusalem religious leaders saying, “Woe to you. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven to people. You neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who wish to enter to go in. Matthew 23:13)” Belief in God can go ‘all wrong.’ What starts well can turn out bad. Haven’t we met people who believe they know all there is to know about God and they also believe they have the right to assess your life as to whether you are worthy of heaven or hell. Judgments sail about freely. Verdicts come too quickly. Lives are unfairly hurt. Law subverts grace. Hearts that may have believed are compelled to harden. When religion refuses kindness something is horribly wrong with it; when it rejects forgiveness something is horribly wrong with it; when it refuses to see the possibility in others something is horribly wrong with it; when it has no humility something is horribly wrong with it; when it shows no forbearance for those unlike it, something is horribly wrong with it. Just as milk can sour and oil can lose its viscosity, prejudice ruins true religion.
Second, giving ‘the benefit of the doubt’ opens us to our salvation. There is a deep, wretched, silent agony inside Jesus as he pled, “How often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, but you would not.” Despite the rejection Jesus is resolute in his grace and love. He does not retreat. He does not turn back. Even if rejection means a cruel death, he treks onward saying, “Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.” Rejection is a hard pill to swallow. In the 1960s when the civil rights struggle reach its peak, five of us from Mississippi colleges were traveling to Idaho where we were to fight fires for the summer. Midway into the trip in northern Oklahoma we stopped for a meal. We wore our Ole Miss and Mississippi State shirts. The waitress stared at us, tossed the menus on the table and left. She never came back. I went up to the cash register and asked if we could be served. She responded that she did not serve people from Mississippi. We were stunned and we put a penny on the table and left. We offended her and she offended us. But Jesus was not offended by Jerusalem’s rejection. He was resolute in his compassion for their hard hearts as he is for the world. He left his life on the table. He served them regardless. He gave them the benefit of the doubt in hopes they would eventually do the same for him. During the Vietnam War, a young captain did a courageous thing for a private. When the enemy tossed a grenade into their midst, he threw his body over it. The blast killed him but the private lived. Back home a mother and father were proud of their hero and only son. Still they grieved deeply. They had hoped he would return home and resume his medical studies and become a physician. Time passed. After the war, the mother suggested that they invite the young man for whom their son died. They found him and he accepted their invitation to supper. He arrived not in the best condition. He was drunk. Through the meal he cursed and told crude jokes. He offered no thanks for the meal and soon left. In tears the distraught lamented, “To think that our dear son died for someone like that!” Isn’t that the gospel truth; that the only begotten Son of God has died for someone like that? For God commended his love unto us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8).
We can waste away so much of our life in ignorance and prejudice. We think we know it all but we know little of anything really. We make quick decisions on others who if treated with hospitality and kindness could become to us a brother and sister in time of need. It is time to give the benefit of doubt. Maybe those other people aren’t against me after all; maybe the church has God’s truth for me after all; maybe my life can shine after all; maybe Jesus Christ is God’s answer for me after all; maybe faith is the way after all; maybe this is the day and time to live as never before. After all Jesus took the blast for us.
Dr. Gerald A. Little
Bainbridge, Georgia
February 28, 2010