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In today’s gospel reading, Jesus prophecies about the temple in Jerusalem with these words,
“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
In 70 AD, the Romans sacked Jerusalem after a long siege that lasted from March until September. Jews were allowed to enter the city to celebrate the high holy days such as Passover, but were not allowed to leave. This put a huge drain on the food and water supplies for Jerusalem. After weakening the Jewish resistance, the Romans were successful in invading the city and killing over one million civilians.
The Roman soldiers destroyed the beautiful Temple of Jerusalem leaving no stone unturned except for one wall which they left standing as a reminder to all of the power of Rome. This wall became known as the Wailing Wall and remains standing to this day. Even today, the beautiful Temple of Jerusalem has not been rebuilt.
This means that there is no place on earth for the Jews to bring sacrifices for the priests to offer to God as atonement for the sins of the people. Instead, for nearly two thousand years, the Jews have had to rely on the faith of their prayers, their good works and their obedience to the Laws of Moses to please God. In the mean time, turmoil, wars, suicide bombers and threatening neighbors have become the norm for life in Jerusalem.
The city that broke Jesus’ heart and caused him to pray,
“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 with you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
Today, we Christians hear those words and some even say in their hearts that the Jews rejected Christ and so that is their just punishment. Yet, Jesus did not say these words out of anger; instead, the scripture we just read is preceded by these words,
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it…”
Jesus said these words with a broken heart, because of his great love for His people the Jews. Even though some Christians want to deny it, Jesus came to earth as a Jew, one of God’s chosen people.
Of the roots of our heritage, St. Paul writes to the Romans concerning the stumbling or rejection of the Jews concerning Christ,
“So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters,* I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,
‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’
‘And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.’
As regards the gospel they are enemies of God* for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; 29for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now* receive mercy. 32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.”
God so loves the world that He wants all peoples to come to Him through His only Begotten Son, Jesus the Christ. In His great wisdom, He temporarily closed the door of belief for a part of Israel. Remember the first believers, the Twelve Apostles, the First Church of Jerusalem were mainly Jews. At first there were only a few Gentiles who came to Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus even told the Canaanite woman, who was a Gentile and asked Jesus to heal her daughter,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Then when the woman continued her pleading, Jesus responded with these words,
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Only when the Gentile woman responds humbly with these words,
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table’’,
does Jesus grant her request and heals her daughter.
The ministry to the Gentiles did not even truly begin until Saul, the Pharisee, who strived to destroy the followers of Jesus, became a believer of Christ. Saul was converted on the road to Damascus when he came face to face with the glorified Christ. This Saul who became known as Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Through his obedience in delivering the message of salvation to the Gentiles, the gospel became known worldwide.
Now most of us here today cannot claim to be of Jewish lineage, which means that most of us here are Gentiles. According to the scriptures, we who are Gentiles have been shown a great favor by God Almighty through the gift of belief in Jesus as the Christ. This favor though is only temporary. The time of the fullness of the Gentiles is already coming to an end in our times.
As this door of belief closes on the Gentiles, the door of belief is opening up to the Jews. This is evidenced in the movement of the ‘Messianic Jews’ or ‘Jews for Christ’. Of fellow Jews who do not yet accept Jesus as the Messiah, Jews for Christ state,
“We believe that Israel exists as a covenant people through whom God continues to accomplish His purposes and that the Church is an elect people in accordance with the New Covenant, comprising both Jews and Gentiles who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah and Redeemer.”
The love of God for all peoples is overwhelming. In our own ways, all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet, in His mercy, God has made it possible for all peoples to come to Christ, both the Gentiles and the Jews. All of this has been made possible so that the mercy of God is shown and He alone is glorified through Jesus the Christ.
As for those of us who came to Christ as Gentiles or mere dogs, when we read passages of scripture pertaining to the destruction of the Jews, we need to realize that but for their disbelief; we would be facing eternal damnation. So let us cherish this gift of belief that has been given to we Gentiles at the cost of many of God’s chosen people, the ones for whom our Lord did weep. As our Lord wept for Jerusalem so too are we called to pray from a broken heart for all peoples to come to know the love of Christ. Only when we too share the broken heart of Christ can we ever fully know His love.
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