First thoughts on Jesus and Jerusalem (Luke 2)

Bill Loader is always good.  This week especially so.  My notes below are cribbed from his site.

• It’s completely predictable for political-power-people like Herod to be nervous about social-power-people like Jesus—and to want to ‘tame’ them.
• Jesus replies to ‘that fox’ Herod that he has just been dealing with ‘powers’.  Casting out demons and curing sick people.
• The trouble is that this is not the only ‘power’ will Jesus will confront as he embodies ‘setting the captives free.’
• Jerusalem is the power center in Israel.  Prophets die there trying to set captives free.  Mother hens go there to protect their babies.  Wisdom (Sophia embodied)  and mother hens will always long to protect and comfort their beloved.  Prophets, Jesus, Sophia, we, all of us do this embodying.  The various ‘Powers’ will always draw a response that combines compassion and action from the braver of us.

One verse of the psalm brings this together for me personally

• What if I had not believed
  that I should see the goodness of the LORD *
  in the land of the living! (Psalm 27.17)

I answer—Well, if I hadn’t believed and seen the goodness of God myself  I wouldn’t have been set free and healed.  Nor would I have this meddlesome-get-involved  mother-hen feeling from time to time.