27 November 2010
Psalm 137, 144; Zech 14.12-21; Phil 2.1-11; Luke 19.41-48

What a way to begin the day, the image of the opponents of Jerusalem standing while their flesh, eyes and tongues rot. Welcome to Advent tomorrow. Why the feast of Booths? That particular feast commemorates the exodus and the time in the wilderness, the time of humbling and the nations who have made Jerusalem their enemy will have their own time of humbling and devastation and the feast of booths is the perfect occasion to remember all the Lord has done, the utter dependence on Him for all things. In that day, everything will be holy to the Lord, there will be nothing that is not devoted to Him and used for His purposes and there will be nothing unclean in the land, so complete will be the people’s devotion to Him that sin will not tarnish anything.

Jesus weeping over Jerusalem is one of the saddest vignettes in the Bible. The Lord of all, the One who chose them, gave them the land and established them has come to redeem them, to be their Lord and King, to fulfill all prophecy, to usher in the everlasting kingdom, and He weeps because He knows that they will reject all that is offered, their inheritance, their hope. It is impossible for us to truly imagine the sadness which this must have brought to Him to see what might have been and to know what will follow. During the week, Jesus, God, enters the temple and teaches the people Himself and makes Himself available to them. The people were hanging on His words yet the leaders were plotting against Him. Those who were supposed to be the guardians of Torah were plotting to destroy the God of Torah and His anointed.

Paul’s admonition is to emulate Jesus in utter humility. Zechariah sees the feast of booths as the model of humility but Paul knows a greater example, Jesus Himself, God became man. Jesus taught the disciples at the last supper to humble themselves as servants and he taught it by an acted out parable, becoming a servant to them, washing their feet, an act of greatest humility. Let us this day bow the knee and confess with our tongues that Jesus is Lord and let us praise Him in all that we do.

Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down!
Touch the mountains so that they smoke!