Lenten blog | March 15, 2025

Ides of March, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," etc.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 15th:  Psalm 27; Psalm 118:26-29; and Matthew 23:37-39.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is the Ides of March, it’s mid-point.  March is the month named after the war-god Mars and every monthly Ides was dedicated to Jupiter, the supreme god of the Roman pantheon. In 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate on this day.  He had weakened the Roman Republic, but his death brought about the end of the Republic.  An emperor would soon rule Rome.

Respect for the law and the ordinary citizen is always going to be threatened by the desire for and abuse of power.  It is argued that the first civilizations began so that individuals could cooperate and harness their shared abilities.  In one place it may have been the draining of swamps, in another the building of irrigation canals, and I would imagine other reasons as well, but all for cooperative purpose, all for a shared benefit.  However, once people gathered in such ways, divisions emerged.  Some would rise to the top and others fall to the bottom.  Hierarchies were born and hierarchies gave rise to the forces that would protect them.  And the communities that began to serve its members were soon subjugating them.

Israel’s story of its birth as a nation begins with the Exodus from Egyptian slavery.  As such, there are constant reminders in the Hebrew Bible to protect the alien and the poor because you were once slaves in Egypt.  The Book of Joshua offers an idealized portrayal of conquest that does not match well with the archaeological evidence.  That book is followed by Judges, which presents a more gradual and difficult move into the Promised Land.  Judges are charismatic figures. They are called by God to free Israel from a specific danger and then their divine commission ends.  There is no hereditary lineage of power.

When Israel begins to clamour for a king like the surrounding nations, the last Judge, Samuel, warns them otherwise.  Samuel warns them that a king will take the best of their people and their resources for himself, but the people insist.  It is not a glorious introduction to monarchy.  The story, and this impresses me, was written during monarchy.

The account is tamed in biblical history, but it seems as if David led a revolt against the first king, Saul.  The revolt gathers strength among David’s kin in Judah, but David the warrior eventually takes the entire nation of Israel, and then is powerful enough to build a minor empire during a rare period where the major empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia are in retreat.  David establishes his capital in the neutral city of Jerusalem. 

David’s reign was so violent that the prophet Nathan reveals God would prefer David’s son Solomon build a Jerusalem temple.  During Solomon’s reign monumental architecture is erected and a bureaucratic state built.  Undergirding this opulence is a heavy taxation of the people and mandatory service to the nation.  When Solomon dies, civil war erupts immediately, weakening both sides.  Eventually Israel falls, then Judah, and neither will reemerge in biblical history.

It's easy and maybe natural to focus on the impressive displays of powerful states.  In the verses following today’s Gospel, this is exactly what Jesus’ disciples do.  However, such imperialism does not impress Jesus.  As a matter of fact, this accumulation of worldly power will execute Jesus under the titulus “King of the Jews,” a political agitator, a revolutionary.  The reign of God will always be challenged by worldly power, and sometimes quite ingeniously.  Sometimes worldly power can take on the language and the approbation of religion and fool the people into thinking that it is a beneficial union of God and state.  Such a chimera is never healthy and is never the reign of God. 

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel are not meant for Jerusalem alone.  Jerusalem stands-in for all centers of enforced rule.  Jesus will always stand-up for the dignity and the needs of each person, especially the disenfranchised, rather than the power and the powerful of the state.  Jesus seems to recoil from the title of Son of David, questioning it and receiving the people’s approval in a pericope repeated in each of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:35-37; Matthew 22:41-46; Luke 20:41-44).  Jesus’ reign has no human pedigree.

It would be convenient to imagine the cross’ titulus as springing from Pilate’s protest, but it is actually the worldly power of the state executing the Saviour of all people.  Lent also leads us to consider how Jesus crucified, and our faith in Jesus crucified, should affect not only our spiritual lives, but our public ones.  If you would like to spend more time with this, I invite you to our Lenten Retreat “Christ and the State / Christians and the State” on the afternoon of Sunday, April 6th.

In the meantime, if you would like to join us for worship tomorrow, the Service begins at 9:30am and all are welcome.  If you would prefer to join us online, send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom login.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.