UPDATE

ST. GEORGE’S COLLEGE JERUSALEM

Good Friday. As our Lord’s steps move inexorably to the Cross through masses of people who had no way of knowing the full meaning of those steps, so now we must wonder what steps our Lord is taking today. Palm Sunday we were a part of the procession from Bethphage to the Old City. Last night we were at Gethsemane, and this morning the Via Dolorosa. We are walking the same steps as Jesus but ultimately as unknowing as those who watched him in the flesh. The importance of our steps is not just devotion, but a reinforcement that God acted in history. God loved his people enough to send his only Son to do for them what they could not do for themselves. We are part of that same history, and God will never abandon us. We just do not know how, and must resist the temptation to try and manipulate God to our own answers. Easter is a triumph over humanity’s misguided confidence that we can handle things ourselves.

Left to human strategies, the whole world will resemble the Holy Land. Military might is used to pursue materialistic ends and to suppress dissent, with terrible results to both occupier and occupied. Palestinians are confined to their towns and often to their own homes for days at a time. Israelis are confined by fear. Poverty and deprivation are growing in both Israel and Palestine, while the powers of this world are allied to ensure that present governments remain in power regardless of effects on people. The exceptions to that, like the invasion of Iraq, are not very satisfying. No one really wants to live like this, but it is the only answer the world can give.

Jesus entered this city two thousand years ago to call us to a better way, but a way that conflicts with the present. The powerful–whether church , state, or business-must voluntarily relinquish power, must “empty themselves” for the sake of the powerless. Institutions must recognize a primary objective of serving humanity, and not just their own constituency. Both institutions and the powerful must model a life where disagreement is tolerated while human life is valued. Ultimately the powerful themselves will benefit from that as well.

Today we call such vision a dream, and sympathetic ancients probably said the same to Jesus before he was crucified. God answers us all with Easter, and now calls us beyond both the Cross and Easter. Jerusalem will one day become a light to the world that peace and justice is possible in Christ, that all may live in harmony and respect. It is just that Jerusalem cannot do it alone in this global community, and God will not ask that Jerusalem do it alone. Perhaps someone in the Garden of Gethsemane last night is soon to lead us into the new world of our Lord. Perhaps someone on the Way of the Cross this morning was moved by God to battle the futility of the present world’s answers. Or perhaps it will be next year before Easter is incarnate. We know only that God will do it in His own time, and we can only spend our days caring those around us.

Happy Easter to you all, and we join our prayers with yours that this Easter may be the beginning of the New Creation.

The Very Revd S. Ross Jones, Dean

Web Page: http://www.stgeorgescollegejeruslem.org