Message of Abbot Paul - Thursday 27th October 2022

Yesterday I was able to enjoy talking part in further celebrations of the Divine Liturgy and other services for the great feast of St Demetrius from his church in Thessaloniki, thanks to the Internet. I’m deeply grateful for this gift, something I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams when I was a penniless student at the university there in the mid 60s. The things I did to survive, such as selling my blood at the local hospital to the highest bidder, or hanging around the old cemetery near the university waiting for a funeral or anniversary celebration, so that I would be invited to partake of the blessed memorial meal. How I loved that special cake, called koliva, and still do! I can taste it as I write.

 

​Today’s Gospel passage from Luke, (Lk 13: 31-35), consists of two short paragraphs containing a warning to Jesus to beware of Herod, followed by a lament over the city of Jerusalem and her people. “Some Pharisees came up to Jesus. ‘Go away’ they said. ‘Leave this place, because Herod means to kill you.’ He replied, ‘You may go and give that fox this message: Learn that today and tomorrow I cast out devils and on the third day attain my end. But for today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on, since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.” Interesting that the warning should come from a group of Pharisees, but then we know that a number of Jesus’ followers were Pharisees, St Paul for example. They genuinely care for Jesus and don’t want to see him harmed, least of all by Herod. Even Jesus refers to him as ‘that fox’. Yet Jesus speaks of himself as a prophet, and one who is to die in Jerusalem, attaining his end on the third day. Jesus is powerfully aware of his vocation and his duty to give his life that others might be saved and live. This acknowledgement leads him to lament for the holy city.

 

​“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! So be it! Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you say: ‘Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!’” What is it that Jesus laments? The fact that Jerusalem, in the past, often put God’s prophets to death, stoning the very ones that God had sent to preach the message of salvation? Using an Old Testament image, Jesus expresses his own frustrated desire to have gathered her children under his wing as a hen gathers her chicks. What a beautiful yet humble image! Do his last words refer to his Second Coming or to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, what we commonly call Palm Sunday? What do you think? The heart of God, made manifest in Jesus, longs to give refuge under his wing to those who long for salvation.