IT IS ABOMINABLE FOR THE PROPHET TO DIE OUTSIDE JERUSALEM

IT IS ABOMINABLE FOR THE PROPHET TO DIE OUTSIDE JERUSALEM

By Fr. Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

This passage is full of the destiny of Jesus.

Firstly there is the reminder of John the

Baptist’s death at the hands of Herod Antipas,

and Jesus’ hostile comment on the killer of his

herald and cousin.

The same Greek word indicates both fox and

jackal – better translated here by the latter,

since foxes do not occur in Israel and jackals

do.

A jackal is a notorious scavenger, wild and

uncouth, with none of the attractions of a fox.

More important is the sense that Jesus

controls and faces his destiny. The time is

approaching for him to be perfected, that is,

accomplish the purpose of his Father; he faces

it, but in his own time, and when he is ready.

More agonising is the lament over Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the pivot of Luke’s two books; they

begin in Jerusalem in the very centre, the

Temple.

The Infancy Story ends in Jerusalem also, as

does the Gospel. The resurrection appearances

are in Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem the

gospel spreads. In Jerusalem begins the last

act of the Book of Acts, when Paul is arrested

there.

And yet three times Jesus laments the fate of

Jerusalem and her unwillingness to respond:

here, as he enters the city and as the women of

Jerusalem weep for him (9.41-44).

He must have had a real affection for the city

as the dwelling-place of his Father on earth. –

such affection is touchingly expressed in the

image of the mothering bird.