Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Before our arrival to Dayton four years ago, I had heard of the strong military presence here, centered on something called “the Base.” In college, I had a friend “Rob” from Belmont who was a so-called “army brat.” His dad was a “career air force” and Rob was actually born in the Canal Zone. His father wasn’t a general except on the home front. He would call periodical inspections of his son’s “quarters,” bouncing a quarter off of their perfectly made beds. Jesus is presented as an inspecting general of sorts in today’s gospel.
Until Jesus of Nazareth, all the so-called messiahs prior preached a violent overthrow of Israel’s enemies. But Jesus came to bring shalom. Shalom is the expression of God setting everything right. In a world of injustice, earthquakes, cruelty, and cancer, God's shalom is the one place necessary for all these broken parts to be restored.
What the Kingdom of God movement offered was non-violent but never “passive.” To the contrary the Reign of God was subversive to the domination system of those times and anytime. The priorities of power shifted dramatically in a Kingdom where the hierarchy consisted of the destitute, the unloved, and those who dwelled in the shadows.
Jesus, like all good generals, could read the signs of the times. Violent overthrow is never the way. Not in the Reign of God. And it was proven so when in the next generation, Roman General Titus would swoop down and surround the city, waiting for the Jews to be starved out. Then, they rushed in and slaughtered thousands. The Great Siege of 70 CE scattered the chosen people from the Promised Land. Not one stone was left upon another, and the city was burned to the ground. The Temple was no more. No greater trauma happened to the Jewish people until the holocaust.
Today Jesus looks upon the city and weeps. He told them a future judgment was coming, warning that, "you did not know the time of your visitation." He was the “inspecting general” and they failed to prepare for his visitation.
The word “visitation” in Greek is episcopas. It comes from ancient military communities where from time to time, the General would drop in unannounced and inspect the troops to see if they were “battle-ready.” If the troops were prepared, they received the praise of the General. If they were not prepared, the General would bring a hard fist of judgment down upon them, imposing harsh discipline.
Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because they weren't ready when the General came to town. They were not prepared and missed following Him.
In this brief time before Advent are we likewise ready for the inspecting General’s arrival?
-Timothy J. Cronin