Reflection - Beginning

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061019.cfm
Genesis 3:9-15, 20
John 19:25-34

Urban sprawl has engulfed many of the historic and sacred sites in and around Jerusalem. The place of Jesus’ crucifixion and the Garden of Gethsemane, both of which were outside the city in Jesus’ time, are now part of greater Jerusalem. And since the Garden of Gethsemane is at the foot of Mount Olivet (or the Mount of Olives) it is not surprising that that peak has been overwhelmed as well. The artifacts of society have spread across the hills and valleys surrounding this ancient city to the point that it is difficult to get a meaningful perspective on its appearance in the first century AD. The text from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that Mt Olivet, the place of Jesus’ Ascension, was “a sabbath day's journey away” from Jerusalem. That would place it at about 2000 cubits from ancient Jerusalem. Today, while standing on the Mount of Olives, it is clear that the distance of a Sabbath day’s travel is insufficient to obscure many of the macro-details within the confines of the ancient city.

Centuries before Jesus the prophet Zechariah had foretold that Mount Olivet would be the site where the Messiah would engage in final battle with evil and that the resurrection of the dead would begin there.

“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.” (Zechariah 14:4)

For that reason, many Jews have wanted to be buried on the Mount of Olives since ancient times. Today the graves on the hillside number in the tens of thousands. Quite possibly it is the remembrance of that same prophetic text which prompted the words of the angels to the disciples after Jesus’ Ascension:

"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11)

Life for the disciples during the previous three years had been an extraordinary journey. We might even view it as a roller coaster ride. The unprecedented insightfulness of Jesus’ words, and the marvel of his miracles contended with the opposition of those in power and the frequent challenges to his authority. All this was capped with the shock of the crucifixion and the wonder of the resurrection. At the end of all these events, he remained with them another forty days. I can’t surmise what they must have felt during those six-plus weeks. I can imagine a light-hearted exuberance in the first few days after the resurrection. But by the end of the period, they had settled back into the same comfortable anticipation of the former days. On the very eve of the Ascension, their former mode of thought had once more returned. Just a few verses earlier in the text they had again put the question: "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6)

Now their Lord was gone.

It was a brief journey home, a mere Sabbath day’s walk. This time, for sure, Jesus had finally left them. But what were their thoughts as they returned? What passes through someone’s mind when an extraordinary adventure appears finished and paradise seems to have ended? Is it nostalgia about the journey that informs their memory? Is it a sinking sense of loss that the excitement is done? Or is it just a sense that a new, unexpected and unknown transition is about to seize one’s future? My own thoughts would probably turn to the question: Where do I go from here?

Reading about this brief return to the city, I cannot deny the emptiness the disciples must have experienced. The feeling is common after life changing events — at least it has been so for me. But Jesus’ departure must have brought on a profound hollowness which other experiences could not match.

Nevertheless, Luke tells us, at the end of his gospel, that they: “returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” (Luke 24:52) Such a response would be a difficult fit for me; and the basis for the disciples’ joy is not obvious. Possibly the words of the angels about Jesus’ return was the inspiration for their joy, and they recalled the words of the prophet Habakkuk: “For still the vision [of the Lord’s coming] awaits its time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3) How important is that message for those of us living in this age! In the meantime, God Himself reminds us that “The righteous [man] shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

Consequently, we too must join the disciples in their response to troubled times:

“For though the fig tree blossom not
nor fruit be on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive fail
and the terraces produce no nourishment,
Though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet will I rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my saving God.”
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)