Six months of remotely watching the bombing, displacing, and starving of Palestinians in Gaza has been exhausting: How much more can they survive? How can the whole world watch this horror and not stop it? And when it ends, how can life, and eventually hope, be restored? It’s an unfathomable challenge.
Yet people of all faiths and cultures throughout millenia learn that hope is necessary for life to continue.
In the aftermath of the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah witnessed the terror he had warned of: the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem destroyed, the Israelites crushed and removed from their home. Generations would suffer the impacts of this trauma and disorientation.
But neither God nor Jeremiah would abandon Israel in its profound grief. Jeremiah’s Lamentations gave voice to it: not only a dirges but pleas, and a promise of future fidelity to God.
Excerpts from Lamentation:
“The tongue of the baby at the breast sticks to his palate for thirst, little children go begging for bread; no one spares a scrap for them. Those who used to eat in their homes now lie dying in the streets…
Holy One remember what has happened to us; look on our degradation,
Our inheritance has passed to aliens, Our homes to barbarians…
We hold out our hands to Egypt, or to Assyria, just to get enough bread…
But you, Holy One, you remain forever; your throne endures from age to age.
You cannot mean to forget us forever? You cannot mean to abandon us for good?
Make us come back to you, our God, and we will come back. You will renew us.
These verses -some very graphic, eerily mirror current events. They may have helped the Israelites a way to set them in behind.
God had made a covenant with the Israelites to unite and focus them as they wandered through the desert; but it was no longer enough.
Jeremiah, their prophet, would have seen how little capacity humankind has to heal itself. He also recognized that focusing on the study of the law and the enforcement of its demands could not heal this bruised people. The heart of Israel needed renewal.
This new Covenant God promises will provide for the people, as a community, Not because of their purity, but because of God’s faithfulness.
Jeremiah writes of a world in which people who had lost everything were, over time, saved and made whole. They no longer needed anyone to teach them about God, because they would never forget their own experience of God’s care; it was etched on their hearts.
One commentator said of this passage:
“The book of Jeremiah does not so much predict Jesus, as it renders a portrait of the God whom Jesus incarnates.”
The Jews who came to know Jesus, those who accepted his invitation to follow, would have known Jeremiah’s writing.
Jesus’ words and his focus on healing those he encountered would have resonated with them.
This ‘portrait’ was crafted to draw us into an encounter with Jesus, his life and its movement to the Cross.
Today we heard “some Greeks” state their wish to see Jesus: to gain personal access to him. “Knowing Jesus” is a basic theological definition of Salvation.
Following Jesus has the power to make us whole, and to free us from all that would diminish or compromise our human existence.
These “outsiders” who approach him represent the spread of this message, and
signal that the community of John was by this time moving toward the inclusion Jesus had modeled.
We move toward Holy Week with this passage. It is John’s alternative to other gospels’ scenes of his agony in the garden. As Jesus faces the necessity of dying, he understands that it will be the fulfillment of his mission.
He gifts us the image of the grain of wheat that must die to produce fruit.
He will face death with trust in the One.who sent him, and thus Glorify the Creator. Sensing that they are really in the presence of God, the apostles begin to understand that Jesus’ death is imminent and they must continue his mission.
Now in his 100th year- as in my childhood- my dad’s daily ‘parting of the kitchen curtains’ is something I enjoy. Each morning he opens them, and exclaims to the sun, rain or snow : “Look at the day God gave us today!”
I was not taught to hate my life, and hope you weren’t either.
Happily, scholars found the Semitic use of the phrase “hate your life” better
translates as “love your life less”.
So we are to wear this life lightly, to be unafraid to take risks to meet the challenges and needs of the gospel in our day. We can trust that God accompanies us.
We can trust that our whole life, in its joys, sorrows, and all our efforts please God, as did Jesus’ whole life, not just his death. Savor that thought. Let death catch us doing our best to love well:not resigned or afraid, not preoccupied by protecting our assets, our time, or anything else. Being open to the Spirit.
The lives and deaths of Jesus, the apostles and disciples, and ancient martyrs
continue to bear fruit and call us forward. As do all of those beloved in our time for their bold and unflagging witness, they continue to bear fruit. They call us on. Sometimes, we feel called in too many directions!
These days It’s difficult to know how to ally with the besieged people of Haiti, Ukraine and Gaza. Fortunately there are many reliable options to help keep humans and hope alive from afar:
We can support efforts like The World Central Kitchen, which is providing 50 meals for 70 dollars during Ramadan. They have already served 35 million meals in 60 sites in Gaza,and continue to serve across Ukraine, Haiti, and elsewhere.
We can sponsor olive trees being planted now in the West Bank to help Palenstinians keep their homes. The occupying regime made a law that allows them to expropriate empty land after 3 years. Together for Palestine has planted 6500 olive trees since January for a total of 40,000, @ 22 US dollars each.to prevent such seizures.
Continuing to engage as informed citizens and acts of charity can be active prayer, solidarity, protest against injustice – and an antidote to despair.
We also build up our lives, community, and hope through our attentive presence to one another, in our shared worship, and in the fellowship of mutual support- here and outside this monastery.
May all of us be open to Wonder and Gratitude in each of the days we are given.
Let us pray: For all those we know or know of who risk their comfort and safety to provide protection and support for people made vulnerable by war, famine, homelessness, disease,…
For all our beloved dead, and especially today for Dominican Sr. Mary Ellen Grevelinger who died Friday, and for the members of her community, her family, friends and former students, let us pray
For all who mourn around the world, especially those who lost loved ones to violence, preventable illness or medical emergencies, addiction or lack of basic healthcare.
For all listed in our book of intentions, and those whose names we raise quietly or in our hearts: