REFLECTIONS ON JERUSALEM

Jerusalem is a microcosm of the ironic world that Jesus came to save.

Jesus came to save worldly hawkers in a dirty, narrow city, selling baubles and trinkets to spiritual pilgrims-turned-souvenier shoppers, all hardened to the historical holiness of their surroundings.

Jesus came to save people with a prevailing spirit of religion (however well-intentioned) that all but cancels out the simple grace of God by its elaborate embellishments to straightforward truths. In an effort to make a holy spot seem somehow more profound, it becomes obscurred under layers of ritual, tradition and decoration.

But here is truth: This is the very world that Jesus entered, knowing full well what damage they would do to Him and to His message. And He came anyway. And still does.

He came to an elaborate temple, with decorations, drama and festooning that had nearly obscurred the sacrifice that rolled back sin.

He came to the religious leaders, who loved their dress and their positions. They were proud of all they had done for God, of their religious spirit, and of themselves (not necessarily in that order).

He came to those selling their wares and making their money in that Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, hardened to the holiness of their surroundings.

I knelt in the midst of the organized rubble, and kept asking, "What have we done to You, Jesus? Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do."

And yet,

With all of the speculating and profit-taking, the truth remains that Jesus really was here. Right here. Born, lived, suffered, died, rose, and ascended, right here in these streets. It's a powerful experience I want my postmodern friends to have--Jesus is not just a Good Story, but God in the flesh--Emmanuel, God With Us.

And He still is today.