Weeping over Jerusalem
15/05/21 03:28
One of my beloved professors used to say frequently that our faith is rooted in history, not in place. “Our God is the God of history, not the god of a place.” While his teaching is true, there is a place that figures prominently in the story of our people. We know a place with a history. The most ancient stories of the origins of our people speaks of Abraham and Sarah as “wandering Arameans.” Deuteronomy 26:5 starts, “A wandering Aramean was my father . . .” As long as we can remember, we have told the story of our coming from a people who had no country - no land of our own. The earliest story of land ownership is when Abraham purchases a field as a burial place for Sarah when she died. They had believed the promise of God that they would come into a land of their own. They probably did not understand that it was a promise not just to them, but to their children and grandchildren. The first five books of the Bible tell the stories of their descendants and the quest for a place to call home. When, after enduring great hardship and suffering as slaves in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness for a generation, and experiencing the death of the great leader Moses, our people finally entered the promised land, it was a place where other people lived. Israel found a home only through a process of displacement and assimilation. In the time of the United Monarchy under David and Solomon, Jerusalem was established as the capitol of Israel and the temple built there arose from a vision of a city of heavenly peace, where all would be welcomed and would live in peace and faithfulness to God.
The pivotal event of Hebrew History occurred in 597 BCE, when Jerusalem fell to invaders from Babylon and many of the citizens were carried off into exile. The loss of the city and the story of the survival of the people living amidst their captors shaped the identify of the people of Israel and continues to be a story that is told with intensity and passion. It wasn’t the only time the city fell. Centuries after the return, Jerusalem was once again besieged and its temple destroyed.
Before that happened, however, the Christian faith was born in that place. Jesus was crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem. His followers formed the faith and the church in that place. Among the stories we have we tell is about the time when Jesus wept over Jerusalem. It is reported in Matthew 23 and Luke 19. Matthew reports the story this way:
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’”
People have been weeping over Jerusalem ever since. Today, as I write, the weeping continues.
The story of modern Israel is shaped by the events of the 20th century. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled in the region known as Palestine, was defeated in World War I. As part of the settlement of that war, Britain was given control of the government of the area, inhabited by an Arab majority and a Jewish minority. the international community gave Britain the mandate to establish a “national homeland” in the region for the Jewish people. Both Jews and Palestinian Arabs claimed the land as their ancestral home.
In the wake of World War I, anti-semitism forced many Jews to flee from Europe and Palestine became a place where they sought refuge. The Holocaust and the near genocide of European Jews by the Nazi empire increased the flow of refugees. The trauma of the Holocaust was not limited to the victims and first generation survivors. It continues to deeply shape the identity of their children and grandchildren. After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The plan was accepted by Jewish leaders, but rejected by Arab states and non-Jewish citizens of Palestine. A year later Britain, unable to solve the problem, left the region. Jewish leaders declared the creation of the state of Israel. A war followed. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes. When the fighting subsided, Israel controlled most of the land. Jordan controlled the land which became known as the West Bank. Egypt occupied Gaza. Jerusalem was divided with Israeli forces controlling the West and Jordanian forces controlling the East. But there never was a formal peace agreement. A nearly constant state of war has followed, with another major military conflict in 1967 when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, most of the Golan Heights in Syria, and the Sinai peninsula in Egypt.
Many people have lived as refugees as the displaced people and their descendants have not been allowed by Israel to return to their homes. Israel believes that it is fighting for its very existence and that the militant leaders of the Palestinians would seek to destroy the country completely. The events of 20th century Europe give weight to their argument that their very survival is at stake. In the past 50 years Israel has built settlements in the occupied areas. More than 600,000 Jews now live in settlements on land obtained through war. Palestinians displaced by those settlements claim that the land was illegally seized and that the settlements threaten peace.
With the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-April of this year, tensions once again erupted into violence. Nightly clashes between police and the Palestinians have resulted in the death of hundreds. Rockets fired from the Palestinian side are largely ineffective as Israel has effective missile defense systems. Israeli shelling of the West Bank has been far more deadly with combatants and innocents perishing.
We can describe what is happening. We can understand the complexity of the issues. We can understand that the situation isn’t going to be sorted out any time soon. Meanwhile the tragedy continues and number of victims mounts.
And so we weep.
The pivotal event of Hebrew History occurred in 597 BCE, when Jerusalem fell to invaders from Babylon and many of the citizens were carried off into exile. The loss of the city and the story of the survival of the people living amidst their captors shaped the identify of the people of Israel and continues to be a story that is told with intensity and passion. It wasn’t the only time the city fell. Centuries after the return, Jerusalem was once again besieged and its temple destroyed.
Before that happened, however, the Christian faith was born in that place. Jesus was crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem. His followers formed the faith and the church in that place. Among the stories we have we tell is about the time when Jesus wept over Jerusalem. It is reported in Matthew 23 and Luke 19. Matthew reports the story this way:
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’”
People have been weeping over Jerusalem ever since. Today, as I write, the weeping continues.
The story of modern Israel is shaped by the events of the 20th century. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled in the region known as Palestine, was defeated in World War I. As part of the settlement of that war, Britain was given control of the government of the area, inhabited by an Arab majority and a Jewish minority. the international community gave Britain the mandate to establish a “national homeland” in the region for the Jewish people. Both Jews and Palestinian Arabs claimed the land as their ancestral home.
In the wake of World War I, anti-semitism forced many Jews to flee from Europe and Palestine became a place where they sought refuge. The Holocaust and the near genocide of European Jews by the Nazi empire increased the flow of refugees. The trauma of the Holocaust was not limited to the victims and first generation survivors. It continues to deeply shape the identity of their children and grandchildren. After World War II, in 1947, the United Nations voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The plan was accepted by Jewish leaders, but rejected by Arab states and non-Jewish citizens of Palestine. A year later Britain, unable to solve the problem, left the region. Jewish leaders declared the creation of the state of Israel. A war followed. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes. When the fighting subsided, Israel controlled most of the land. Jordan controlled the land which became known as the West Bank. Egypt occupied Gaza. Jerusalem was divided with Israeli forces controlling the West and Jordanian forces controlling the East. But there never was a formal peace agreement. A nearly constant state of war has followed, with another major military conflict in 1967 when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, most of the Golan Heights in Syria, and the Sinai peninsula in Egypt.
Many people have lived as refugees as the displaced people and their descendants have not been allowed by Israel to return to their homes. Israel believes that it is fighting for its very existence and that the militant leaders of the Palestinians would seek to destroy the country completely. The events of 20th century Europe give weight to their argument that their very survival is at stake. In the past 50 years Israel has built settlements in the occupied areas. More than 600,000 Jews now live in settlements on land obtained through war. Palestinians displaced by those settlements claim that the land was illegally seized and that the settlements threaten peace.
With the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in mid-April of this year, tensions once again erupted into violence. Nightly clashes between police and the Palestinians have resulted in the death of hundreds. Rockets fired from the Palestinian side are largely ineffective as Israel has effective missile defense systems. Israeli shelling of the West Bank has been far more deadly with combatants and innocents perishing.
We can describe what is happening. We can understand the complexity of the issues. We can understand that the situation isn’t going to be sorted out any time soon. Meanwhile the tragedy continues and number of victims mounts.
And so we weep.
