Proper 8 C - Isaiah 66:10-14

Isaiah 66:10-14

Isaiah might be enamored by Jerusalem’s anatomy but I’d rather be consoled in Paris. On the other hand no city in the world seems to attract as much attention as Jerusalem, which sadly to say, has not been the source of much rejoicing. Jerusalem, which means the city of peace, has more often been a city of sorrow. Isaiah’s vision of the exile’s return to Jerusalem to be nursed and carried on her arm and dangled on her knees was not realized in his day and even the rejoicing of Zionist exiles reclaiming the Promised Land was short lived because of the violence and bloodshed that greeted their return. In our time devout Jews gather at the Wailing Wall to pray for the restoration of the temple as Palestinian Christians weep at walls that surround and separate them from the part of the Promised Land that is their home and all the while God weeps over the plight of all people who love Jerusalem. But in the dream of God’s design those who rejoice in her and those who mourn because of her will both be comforted by her. In the dream of God’s design Jerusalem is a place of peace for all people where the feast that never ends will finally begin. It may be that we have to do more than pray for the peace of Jerusalem for the dream of God’s design to come true. It will not come true by denying the right of Jewish people to live in safety. It will not come true by denying the real plight of the Palestinian people imprisoned in their own land. The hatred that exists and is the cause of such suffering will only be overcome when each side sees in each other the dream of God’s design. And when God’s dream comes true it will be Paris that will play second fiddle to Jerusalem, the real city of amour.