NEW JERUSALEM

Luke 13:31-35

Today we begin the second leg of our journey on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus. Jerusalem is a fascinating, complex, beautiful, tense, and prayerful place. It has also been a beacon of hope and spiritual center of gravity for millions of people and considered holy to the three major Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In ancient times the temple in Jerusalem and the palace in Jerusalem was a powerful symbol of the dwelling place of God. Those who identified themselves in the lineage of David were viewed as the human manifestation of God’s reign and considered the temple in Jerusalem their holy home. The people were loyal to the temple. And even when they were forced into exile far away from their temple, their loyalty did not fade. This is important because from this time forward, Jerusalem became even more broadly identified with the people and not only a place. “Jerusalem” was God’s people in every time and place – whether in exile or upon their return – wherever they may be, they were Jerusalem.

Today we hear of prophets. Prophets are truth-tellers. They point to injustices in the world – to where we are off the mark of God’s desire for us and sound the alarm of the consequences of not correcting our course. The prophets of old were passionately engaged with the events of their time. They stood in the gap of living within the tension of their responsibility and loyalty as a messenger of God and their love and compassion for the community in which they preached. They often suffered as a result of their prophetic voices by being rejected, punished, or even killed.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

Amid the struggles of the people Jerusalem – the dire prophetic warnings and forced exile, the people always believed that Jerusalem the city and Jerusalem the people would survive. The hope was that God would create a New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem would be ushered in by the messiah and inaugurate an even more glorious reign of God. And yet he was rejected.

His prophecy was one of judgement toward the abuses of religious and political power, the hypocrites, the charlatans, oppressive military regimes, and those who trampled the most vulnerable under foot. He called a spade a spade and even the faithful people of Jerusalem were not spared from his judgments. Like all prophets, he lived in the tension of love for his community and his fidelity to the truth of God.

Our times are not unlike the times of Jesus and the old Jerusalem. We, like our ancestors, are faced with abuses that stem from patriarchy, hypocrisy, and unbridled aggression within the halls of political power as well as those of the institution of the church. The Herod’s of our own time threaten our sense of safety, stability, and peace. The need is great for leaders who stand for justice, peace, and human dignity to step to the fore and make their prophetic voices heard. The time is now to gather the people together in our common desire for the good of all people regardless of spiritual tradition, denominational stripes, or political affiliation. The time is now for a New Jerusalem of the People.

Now more than ever we need to hear and heed the call of the prophets of our time. Those such as Bishop Mariann Budde who took a prophetic stand within just a few feet of the power-brokers in Washington at the Inaugural Prayer Service held in our own Episcopal National Cathedral on January 20 of this year; Shaun King, who is a prominent voice using social media to promote social justice causes including the Black Lives Matter movement; and The Reverend William Barber III, who is a powerful voice of truth challenging us to bring the Gospel message to bear on issues such as poverty, health care, and equality in our nation and beyond. Bishop Mariann, Shaun, William, and others are all powerful and much needed prophetic voices of our time.

But we the people of the New Jerusalem must not only look to others. We must also discover and claim our own prophetic voice. As Moses said in the Book of Numbers (11:29) “My hope that all of God’s people will be prophets and that God’s Spirit will be upon them.”

As followers of Jesus, we cannot stand idly by when people are being harmed by domination and oppression – whether brought on by political, societal, or even religious interests. Our own baptismal covenant calls for us to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being.

This means that we will need at times to stand against the powers that are unjust and create chaos. In means that we will need to protect the most vulnerable and disenfranchised among us by calling out institutional abuse and demanding accountability and change regardless of the institution, even if, and especially if it is the highest institution in the land and those sitting in power.

In Lent we travel the road to Jerusalem with Jesus. We travel a spiritual journey to our own New Jerusalem, to our own center of power and our place of hope, to hear the word of God spoken to us and through us for the people.

We are all called to be prophets in our own time, and this is our time. The nation and the world need us now.

Let us hear the echo of the prophets of old that will guide and embolden us to speak truth to power and stand firm in our fidelity to the Spirit of God. We are the people of truth, strength, and courage. We are the people of compassion for the least among us. We are those who follow Jesus, the mother hen who desires to gather us under her wings. We are the New Jerusalem.

Brother Dennis