Daily Catholic Lectio
Thursday, 23 November 2023
Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Maccabees 2:15-29. Luke 19:41-44
Weeping God
‘When we fail to recognise the things of peace and the time of visitation from God, Jesus weeps over us, as he did for Jerusalem.’
There are three events recorded in the New Testament about Jesus’ weeping. First, he weeps at the tomb of Lazarus at Bethania (cf. Jn 11:35). He shed tears not only for the sake of his lost friend Lazarus but also for the cruelty of death that every family and community had to endure. Second, he weeps at the garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews records that Jesus’ tears were accepted as prayers (cf. Heb 5:7-9).
The event that is described in today’s gospel reading occurs between these two events. Luke describes that as Jesus came near the city of Jerusalem and saw it, he wept over it. And he foretells that Jerusalem will be destroyed soon. We could take this as a prophecy or retrojection (i.e., Luke writes into the Gospel his eyewitnessing of Jerusalem being destroyed during his lifetime).
Jesus points out the two mistakes of Jerusalem: (a) Jerusalem did not recognise the things of peace or the way of people. ‘The way of peace’ refers to Jesus himself. Jesus’ ministry was not accepted in Judea inasmuch as it was accepted in Galilee and Samaria. Jerusalem not only rejected Jesus’ ministry but was also resolved to kill Jesus. (b) Jerusalem did not recognise the time when God came in search of her. God’s favourable time was revealed in the person of Jesus (cf. Lk 4). Both of these instances tell us that Jerusalem was indifferent and stubborn.
What does this weeping God tell us?
(a) Helplessness
Jesus’ tears emerge out of his helplessness. We sit next to a dead person and weep over him. We weep because we miss him and because we are helpless to bring him back to life. Jesus reaches Jerusalem, and his ministry comes to an end. But Jerusalem is dead to Jesus. He feels helpless.
(b) Call to conversion
A weeping wife calls the drunken husband to repent. Jesus, as the weeping prophet, invites Jerusalem to repent.
(c) Warning
The tears of Jesus warn Jerusalem about the impending doom. Jesus renders a warning for its indifference and hard-heartedness.
In Jesus, we have a God who weeps over us.
In the first reading, Mattathias the High Priest burns with zeal for the temple, the Law, and the feasts. He never compromised with his zeal. His courage inspires us.
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church exhorts us on conversion or repentance as follows: ‘Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This endeavour of conversion is not just human work. It is the movement of a contrite heart, drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first’ (cf. n. 1428).
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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