Today’s text

Luke 13:34-35

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

Reflection

The tenderness and longing in Jesus words cannot be overestimated.

He imagines the city, its peoples and places, the broken bodies of those in need, and the lostness of those seeking a sign that God is near and has not forgotten.

He sees those who care nothing for knowledge of God yet wonder about the inner gnawing they cannot name.

He imagines the hungry and those burdened by poverty and the oppression of Roman occupation. He sees people who need leaders who will lift their spirits with God’s loving presence. He imagines the rulers and bureaucrats who care less about justice than about keeping Rome happy and protecting their privilege and pay.

Jesus sees their struggle for bread and their hunger for Spirit. They live aimlessly for want of the Love who comes and fills them; so that they feel their dignity and live truly human lives of grace, beauty and holy purpose.

He sees … and is moved. His words bear the fullness of God’s holy heart.

“If only … . If only you would come to me. If only you would taste the wonder that is in me. If only you would once be filled with the substance of Spirit I would awaken and pour into you.

“If only you knew me, you would know your dignity, your beauty and the purpose of God in you. If you knew me, no suffering or oppression would steal your dignity, your strength, your beauty or your hope.”

Jesus sees … and longs … for us.

But it is our longing for wholeness and peace, for grace and holy purpose that moves us to cry our, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Longing for life, we open our hearts and allow ourselves to be drawn into the heart of Jesus. In him, we feel the holy longing of God for each of us, a yearning echoed in our longing for that Love that is so hungry to come and complete us.

Blessed is he who comes … .

Pr. David L. Miller