Week 9 … Going Up to Jerusalem!

In many ways, much of Israel's story reaches its climax in the same way that our journey ends: in Jerusalem. It is the final destination of the Ark and the God who journeyed with his people in the wilderness. David wished to build a temple for the Ark in his newly acquired capital city of Jerusalem, but God said it was not to be so during his time. David instead erected a tent and celebrated the bringing of the Ark to Jerusalem amid great jubilation. Later, during Solomon's time the Temple would be built. This was the crowning achievement of the promises made to the house of David. As Solomon declares: "I have truly built you a princely dwelling where you may abide forever" (1 Kn 8:13). Jerusalem, the Temple, the dynastic promises made to the house of David all are gathered together around this most holy place.

In the Book of Sirach, found in the collection of Wisdom writings, Wisdom is personified as a feminine being who came forth from the mouth of God, who is at home in heaven and yet holds sway over all the earth. She traverses the vault of heaven, the sea and its depths and all the earth and finally makes her abode in Zion. "In the holy tent I ministered before him, in Zion I pitched my abode. In the chosen city he has given me rest, in Jerusalem is my domain." (Sir 24:10-11).

The Ancestral narratives do not make frequent mention of Jerusalem. Until David conquered it from the Jebusites, it was home to other peoples. Remember that Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob were resident aliens in the land, owning no property of their own. God had made them a promise but it was not to be fulfilled in their lifetime (this is how God often works in the Bible!) Yet, in the story of Abraham twice Jerusalem is mentioned: 1st when he is received by the mysterious Melchizedek, King of Salem (Gen 14) and 2nd when he is told by God (or thinks God tells him) to "go to Moriah" and there sacrifice his son, Isaac (Gen 22). Many have found in the mention of Moriah a reference to Jerusalem. Abraham then, is the first to demonstrate the right spirit required of one offering sacrifice: a willingness to accept and submit to God's will first.

Rather than speak of the many places to be visited while in Jerusalem (we might do that next week in our final reflection), perhaps it would serve us well to consider the ideal and the real. In one respect, there is much that we said about the Desert in last week's reflection that poses a sharp contrast with Jerusalem. Desert is the place of wandering, of poverty, of owning nothing, of relying on nothing except God and having no place to call "home" other than the sheltering presence of God. It is a place of fragility and the surprising, daily presence of God, so the story goes. It is a place of failure, but a place for Israel and us to learn the faithfulness and mercy of God. It is a place to be formed in the ways of this God.

By contrast, Jerusalem represents 'having arrived'! Success, prosperity, wealth accomplishment, conquest and dominance are all part of the caption to summarize this snapshot. When we are successful, when all is going well with us, do we feel the need for God? There is much that gets lost as Israel takes its place on the world stage, becoming prosperous and powerful. Kings forget they are servants of TORAH and manipulate it to their own interests, priests and prophets speak what those in power wish to hear, the compassion demanded of the Law is overshadowed by the splendor of the kingdom which rests on the backs of the poor. The prophets who speak for God react and attribute every turn of fortune to the fact that Israel and Judah forget who it was who called them into being. These same prophets manage to keep alive in their words the great hope and ideal that God intended from the beginning.

What happens when the Ark is securely put into its place in the Holy of Holies of the Temple? It almost seems as though God is forgotten! There is an interesting text that reveals some miscalculation in the building of the Temple. The final building did not provide for the poles that were part of the design of the Ark, to fit within the confined space of the Holy of Holies. The text says that these poles protrude even to this day (1Kn 8:8). What might this word of God say to us? Is it all too easy to confine God in a space of our making, effectively silencing his voice, forgetting that God wishes to be among us, making his rounds in our midst, having free access to challenge us on a daily basis as God did with the Desert generation? The poles may be God's reminder that he still wishes to journey with us. Perhaps Solomon lost the ability to hear. We read that his heart was turned from God! As great an accomplishment as the temple building was, attached to this story is the account of Solomon's rejection of God.

David was told he is not to build a temple. God speaks to David through the prophet Nathan: "I never asked for a house of cedar, I have been going about under a tent cloth since I led the Israelites out of Egypt". (2 Sam 7:6-7). Again there is something to consider here: There are "tent dwellers" and there are "temple builders". I think I would call them "niche seekers". God seems to demonstrate the propensity to be a "tent dweller". Our Ancestors were tent dwellers. The prophets were constantly reminding Israel of the 'good old days' in the desert. "Niche seekers", as I am using the term, are those who close God up in the narrow confines of their own mind and understanding, often hiding behind even noble institutions and not letting God challenge them to be wide open to the infinite possibilities God invites us to experience. Jerusalem was not expected to become so diminished, but that is what happened as control was exercised by niche seekers and God relegated to a dark corner, no longer going about in a tent.

There are two distinct spiritualities evident here in the comparison between Desert and City (Jerusalem). Both have a place and both have strong associations with Israel's story and both have lessons to teach us. In the story of the Bible, each one becomes the ground for teaching us. We often discover just how far God's great hope for us gets lost sight of in the midst of the human condition. This is never more true than when we ponder the paradox of Jerusalem.

In the Gospels, Jerusalem continues to be a mix of these paradoxical images. In the beginning of Luke's Gospel, it is in the Temple that Zechariah receives the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist. Here also, the venerable figures, Simeon and Anna recognize the light of the world in Jesus, brought there by his parents to fulfill the requirements of the Law. In Matthew's Gospel, Jerusalem is Herod's domain and the city is in "turmoil" at the inquiry of the Magi just as it will later be in "turmoil" over Jesus' entry into the city as he prepares for his final days. Jesus did what we will do, spend his early days in the Galilee then he sets his face resolutely toward Jerusalem. Coming within sight of the city, Jesus weeps over it in much the same way the prophets of Israel wept over the impending doom of the city and the future of the people who fail to recognize the tremendous opportunity awaiting then to know and embrace with honesty, the God in their midst. Jerusalem will be reduced to poverty as she has so many times before and after. But the visionary of Patmos breathes new hope and speaks of a New Jerusalem whose gates will never be closed and whose light will never set. The Lord God will be its light and joy will reign there. Tears will be wiped away from all faces and at last the plan of God will be realized.

We will spend the last full day of our tour, Ash Wednesday, in the city of Jerusalem, tracing a familiar way. We will begin with Mass at Dominus Flevit Church on the Mount of Olives (The name means "and the Lord wept"). From here, we will walk down the steep hill that leads us to the Church of All Nations, the site of the Garden of Gethsemane in the Kidron Valley. From here we will make our way into the city through St. Stephen's Gate and trace the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross, ending in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

We have considered the city and the ideal of Jerusalem as setting before us a sense of conflict. And for sure, the time we spend there will leave us with a similar sense of conflict. Norman used to say that the closer you are to the hub of the wheel, the greater is the tension. Jerusalem is a hub and the air is rife with tension. Not for safety, but because we know or we feel that what God wishes for us is far from what is the reality. Indeed, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem!