The Holy Prophet Haggai (6th c. BC)
Nativity Fast.
Read
2 Timothy 2:20-26; Luke 19:37-44
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus laments over Jerusalem because it failed to acknowledge him. He said, “They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” This is a thunderclap, a shock, a highly subversive thing to say. And this is precisely what Jesus does here. One of the truths revealed here which belongs to the heart of the Gospel and it is repeated by Jesus over and over again: nothing in this world lasts. Nothing in this world should, therefore, be the object of our deepest longings or of our most powerful commitments.
The temple represented all of the glitter and glamour of this world, the best it can offer; and the people standing there, entranced by it, stand for all of us down through the ages who stand to stare at the goods of this world. So we must free ourselves from worldly attachments and live for God alone.