The Gospel for Sunday, March 7, 2004 (Second Sunday in Lent)
Luke 13:31-35
Just at this time some Pharisees came up. ‘Go away,’ they said. ‘Leave this place, because Herod means to kill you.’ He replied, ‘You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow I drive out devils and heal, and on the third day I attain my end. But for today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! Look! Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. 1995, c1985. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y.
A Study
Some non-opponent Pharisees try to get Jesus to run for safety. But he is on a mission that only he and the Father understand. Jesus' response to them, "Tell that fox," was a completely left-handed compliment. Foxes are -- and were -- thought to be sly and cunning. But people who raised chickens were well aware of how the fox used his cunning to kill those that the hen wanted to protect under her wings.
One Greek literal translation for a part of verse 32 is "I complete cures today and tomorrow, and on the third I shall be completed." The phrase for "completing" cures (healing) is "epitelio" and that for "I shall be completed" is "teleioo." Both epitelio and teleioo are from the root telos: end, finishing point, completion. Today and tomorrow were certainly metaphorical for the next period of days until he returned to Jerusalem. But the third day -- as we now know -- had an entirely literal meaning, but not the one easily inferred from Jesus' speech. The Jerusalem Bible, for all its heroic translation, misses (I think) a fairly significant point in this translation.
Israel (and Judea) had a tradition of ignoring and/or killing the prophets that God repeately sent to them.
"‘And that is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles; some they will slaughter and persecute, so that this generation will have to answer for every prophet’s blood that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the Temple.” Yes, I tell you, this generation will have to answer for it all." (Luke 11:49-51)
Jesus very accurately foretold his earthly future, relating to his earlier speech on Israel's adamant rejection of God's love.
Deuteronomy 32:11 speaks of God lifting up his chosen "on Eagles' wings." No fewer than five psalms talk about Israel being sheltered or shadowed under God's wings. This was an exceptionally well-known metaphor. There was no doubt that Jesus was aligning himself and his Father to be One Person.
Many of the Anglo-Catholic tradition make a reverential sign of the cross, when during the Eucharist the words, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" are spoken in the preface to the Consecration of the Body and Blood, because Jesus himself said that we will one day see him as we are saying those words.
A Reflection
Friendly Pharisees! I told you they weren't all bad. Up tight, but not all bad. Legalistic and nit-pickers, but not all bad.
I recently concluded that the Jews had gotten it every way but right up until the time of Jesus, and God's last, best shot was to send Himself into the world to rescue us. Jesus, as usual, said it better than we could ever have, as he lamented Jerusalem (as a symbol for Abraham's descendents) as one who rejects God's love.
"He who comes in the name of the Lord" carries far more meaning than it appears at first. Do you remember the angel wrestling with Jacob, who told Jacob "You shall be called Israel."? Naming someone or something carried tremendous weight in the Hebrew Bible. The name Israel, for example, means "struggles with God." And we certainly see that as Jesus struggles with Israel during His time on earth.
But to come in the name of the Lord means that Jesus will carry all the trappings, all the power, and all the significance of God and God's glory, when we say "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."
And don't you know, Jesus is always coming to us in the name of the Lord? He has to keep coming because we keep sending him away. He must be crying, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem" constantly! As soon as we stop pushing, though, he's right back there next to us, arms open, ready to hug us from his infinitely deep reservoir of love. Ready to lift up his chosen on the wings of eagles. Ready to shelter us in the shadow of his wings. He accepts every sin of ours as another stripe from the Roman soldiers' whips. He gladly offered his own earthly life to save our eternal lives.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Amen.
A Postscript: Occasionally, I will use one of these reflections as a homily during a Lay Eucharistic service at a nearby nursing home. Today is such a day. Our parish's rector kindly reviews my offering and sometimes comments. He urged caution not to be so black&white about the entire people of Israel at the time of Jesus, giving the following comment, for which I am grateful:
"There was an ongoing debate amongst the Pharushim regarding how literal
to be about the law. Gamaliel (I think), for example, was once asked to
recite the whole of the Law while standing on one foot. His response:
he raised on foot in the air and said "Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself." And
that was a number of years before Jesus said the same thing.
Apparently, one group (Gamaliel's if I am remembering correctly) wanted
all God's people to be responsible for the fulfulling of the spirit of
the Law, while another was concerned with building a literalistic "fence
around the Law (Torah)" to avoid breaking it (this dichotomy is itself
an oversimplified sterotype, but close enough to make the point). There
are those, myself included, that believe Jesus was a pharisee, tho of
the former mold.
"Perhaps the frustrating thing to God is that the people closest to him
come close to understanding and stop there. Or perhaps that they come
close enough to formulate a symplistic paradygm that permits them to
"fulfill Gods law" while really staying in control. While if they took a
few steps further, they would understand that God is a mystery that can
never fully be understood or fully followed, and so realize the
need to depend radically on God's grace."
11:00:04 PM 
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