When Jesus approaches the city of Jerusalem in his last days (according to Matthew) he weeps, "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!" Mt.23.37As we approach the celebration of the Christ child's birth in Bethlehem, we must also keep a picture of Jerusalem in the background, for the import of one is dependent on the events in the other.
In 2012, we are challenged to keep a realistic picture of Jerusalem (in all its political, historic and religious depth) on our mind as well lest we make the incarnation of God in Jesus as sentimental picture of familial warmth.
That is, if Jesus is in fact at the center of God's plan for all creation, then that ancient city of Jerusalem, still wracked by political agendas and religious extremists, continues to be a part of God's plan for the world.
A good friend has been traveling with an official Lutheran delegation and has had as conversation partners speakers from Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, from the far right to the far left on both sides. His trip has drawn to a close and here is his final post, a quote fromYossi Klein Halevi, a journalist in Israel
"When I become too immersed in the political work of a journalist, I sometimes hear
the words of Sheykh Ibrahim: 'There are enough politicians in the land of the prophets.
But where are the prophets in the land of the prophets?' I tell myself that it is precisely
in times like these that the beautiful teachings of faith become either real or mere
sentiment. More than ever, the goal of a spiritual life in the Holy Land is to live with an open heart at the center of unbearable tension."We are called to just such a life, lived on the razor's edge of reason and trust, clarity and mystery, and a hope that passes all understanding. Shalom
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