Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

JERUSALEM

            Jerusalem becomes the central point of reference for Luke in his Gospel account for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). Jesus decided to employ the prophetic tone to addressed issues directly and indirectly. Directly, he spoke on the impending destruction of the beautiful Temple in Jerusalem and the persecution of the disciples. Indirectly, in addressing the destruction of the Temple, he spoke of his death and resurrection. Firstly, let us take a look at Jerusalem before we tackle the prophesy the Lord directly and indirectly made concerning her and the Temple that was central to her identity; then we will conclude with the persecution that awaited the disciples.

            In her day, Jerusalem was a city without equals. Its political, economic, social, and religious importance was felt in every culture. Jerusalem was the very definition of a splendid city; the best from the architectural craftmanship of man. Jerusalem was idealized as a holy place of revelations, miracles and spiritual intensity. During the first century CE Jerusalem was expanded and transformed by Herod, to make it, as a Roman observer, the elder Pliny, proclaimed after its destruction in 70CE, “by far the most famous city in the East.” Some Romans visited Jerusalem as soldiers, politicians, tourists and pilgrims. This city passed through different eras. King David conquered it in about 1000 BCE to make the capital of his two realms, which stretched from the borders of Egypt to the Euphrates. The most important feature of the city was the Temple which served as a fitting place for the Ark to rest permanently and as the sole sacred site for the people of Israel to come together in communal worship through the performance of sacrifice. With the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple, Jerusalem as a focus for religious cult, was sealed. It is clear that the authorities in Jerusalem believed themselves to be living in an independent and distinctive Jewish state centered on the Temple, for which the catchwords were “freedom” and “holiness.”

            The inspired writer wrote: “While some people were speaking about how the temple was adored with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, ‘All that you see here – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.’” It was a comment on the splendor of the Temple that moved Jesus to prophesy. In the Temple the pillars of the porches and of the cloisters were columns of white marbles, forty feet high, each made of one single block of stone. Of the ornaments, the most famous was the great vine made of solid gold, each of whose clusters was as tall as a man. The finest description of the Temple as it stood in the time of Jesus is in Josephus’ “The Jewish Wars”. At one point he writes, ‘The outward face of the Temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely  to surprise either men’s minds or their eyes, for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But the Temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for, as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. To the Jews it was unthinkable that the glory of the Temple should be shattered to dust.

            There are three issues the Lord sought to address in today’s Gospel. Firstly, though the Temple received praise from the people, Jesus predicted on its destruction to the dismay of the Jews. Secondly, he spoke on cosmic upheavals that some false prophets may use to declare the end of time; and thirdly, Jesus spoke on the persecution of his disciples.

            The first and most obvious thing to observe is that Luke portrays Jesus as a prophet. In this instance, being a prophet means not only being God’s spokesperson, but one who predicts the future. Luke is about to show in his narrative how Jesus’ predictions about his own fate were coming true in his rejection by the leadership and his being handed over to death. But in this discourse the words of Jesus embrace a more public drama.

            Jesus’ prophesy was not false. In 69/70 AD the great city of Jerusalem, one of the most magnificent and renowned of its day, and, for Jews, the center of all their aspirations, both religious and national, was devastated by Roman forces after a terrible siege. The destruction was not a year’s event. In May 66 AD, on 16 Iyyar, the Roman governor of Judaea, Gessius Florus, who had been appointed to his post some two years earlier by the emperor Nero, let loose his troops onto the upper market in Jerusalem with instructions to kill all they met. The description of the ensuing mayhem, written just a few years later by Josephus, is chilling: “The troops…not only plundered the quarter which they were sent to attack but plunged into every house and slaughtered the inmates. There followed a stampede through the narrow alleys, massacre of all who were caught, every variety of pillage…The total number of that day’s victims, including women and children – for they did not even abstain from infants – amounted to about three thousand six hundred.” It was the beginning of a cycle of increasing violence that would end, just over four years later, in the destruction of the whole city in AD 70. This is what happened in AD 70. Titus finally arrived outside the walls of Jerusalem. He attacked with exceptional speed and vigor. The force deployed by the Roman was huge. Josephus, from his vantage point in the Roman camp, was able to describe the siege of Jerusalem in gory detail. He told of many horrific incidents but to me the worst was this: “The most appalling story of all involved a woman named Mary, daughter of Eleazar, who had fled to Jerusalem with the rest of the people from her home village of Bethezuba in Transjordan. Impelled by hunger and rage, she killed her son, ‘an infant at the breast,’ and roasted him. She had eaten part of the body and stored the rest for later consumption when she was betrayed by the smell of roasted meat…” Many horrific incidents happened either directly from the Roman soldiers’ siege or the effects of the siege. The authorities of Jerusalem and the citizens should have paid attention to the warnings of Jesus.

            No matter how beautiful and splendid the works of men may be, man should not define his eternity or timelessness with them. Though Jesus addressed the Temple’s issues directly; he spoke figuratively because he was speaking of the paschal mystery (his sufferings, death and resurrection). As Luke closes the first session, he come in to introduce the second session on the “eschatological discourse.” How does Luke accomplish this restructuring of the “eschatological discourse” that he inherited from Mark? Very subtly, indeed. He first eliminates much of the explicitly “eschatological” language; leaving out Mark’s language about the “birth pangs” and the “abomination of desolation,” and certainly not heightening this element as Matthew does by referring to the time “of your parousia (coming).” He then carefully shades the language he does take over from Mark in the direction of specific historical incidents rather than the end time.

            In all this one thing Luke seem to say, is the warning of Jesus of how some false prophets may use these cosmic upheavals to mislead people about the end-time. These false prophets are with us. They are using the “climate change” to predict the end-time and have succeeded in getting hundred to thousands of people in their Churches. In the process, they are raking-in millions in Church offering/collections. False pastors/prophets are using end-time message to threaten people – do not fall prey to their message.

            Thirdly Luke addresses the issue of persecution. The persecution will not merely be an occasional episode, rather, it will be an “existential reality” for the Church of Christ and for individual Christians. Jesus speaks of it with formality. Persecution will affect “you” - the representatives of the Church who were present – and thus the entire Church. The places where Christians will have to make their witness (martyrion) include synagogues and Gentile courts. Arrest, imprisonment, betrayal by one’s own family, and hatred are all announced without any attempt to sugar-coat the pill. Yet only “some” among these “witnesses” “will be put to death”, which is important to remember in regard to the idea of martyrdom. (In the book of Revelation, we find a similar point: what is required is that one bear witness with his entire life and at the risk of his life – but not necessarily as a blood witness.)

            What should a Christian do? In the second reading Paul gives an Iaconic answer: Work. And work like he works – in both the Church and the world. He has “worked day and night”, he has not “depended on anyone else for his food”. All that is required of a Christian is that he be engaged in both Church and world. In light of God’s providence, “not a hair of your head will be harmed.