33rd week in Ordinary Time, Lectionary #500, November 22, 2007

Scripture: I Macc.2:15-29. Psalm 50:1b-2, 5-6,14-15. Luke 19:41-44.
Lectionary #500:

Jesus' eyes look upon the beautiful city of Jerusalem as he approaches it
for the last time. In Luke we have read about his being in the Temple when
he was at the age of twelve, now some fifteen to twenty years later we have
his last approach. We celebrate the joyful entrance of Jesus upon a mule
and name it Palm Sunday. Luke is careful not to have Jesus express his
deepest emotions throughout his Gospel but his weeping is one of those
occasions where he does; this will also happen in the Garden of Olives when
his sweat causes him to be so terrified that his drops of tears were
likened to blood. The verb used by Greek indicates the deepest of
sorrowful emotions as he weeps over the beloved city of Jerusalem. There
is also great joy as the people will strew palms once he does enter the
portals of the holy city and approach the Temple area. The shadow of the
Cross starts to loom over him but his disciples and the crowd seem to be
oblivious of his impending doomful death. For us today, the city of
Jerusalem is the sacred city of Jews (especially the Western Wall),
Christians (The Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and Muslims (the mosgue's
great beautiful blue, white, and and then crowned with its golden dome).
The word shalom or peace is the last part of the city's name and symbolizes
the hope for universal peace for all peoples. It is a holy city a city
that cries out as Jesus did and weeps for peace. We easily can identify
with our own feelings of sorrow and those of joy as we meditate on this
short passage that Luke alone offers us. We realize that our own struggles
will come to an end as we finish our journey towards God, towards the
Trinity, towards Allah. The holy city of Jerusalem is the ideal symbol for
the heavenly Jerusalem whieh will descend from above like a bride.
T.S.Eliot helps us in our meditation upon our journeys in life, " We shall
not cease from exploraration. And the end of our exploring will be to
arrive where we started. And know the place for the first time." (Little
Gilding, Four Quartets, IV). One brave man died of Lou Gehrig's disease
and wrote this in his excellent book, Learning to Fall:"Only when we accept
our present condition can we set aside fear and discover the love and
compassion that are our highest endowments. And out of our compassion we
deal justly with those about us. Not just on our good days, not just when
it is convenient, but everwhere and at all times we are free to act
according to that which is highest in us. And in such action we find
peace....But it is with acceptance that we must begin." (p.21) Amen.