For me, today’s thoughts started with a verse from the closing hymn.
Alleluia, thou resoundest, / True Jerusalem and free;
Alleluia, joyful mother, / All thy children sing with thee,
But by Babylon’s sad waters / Mourning exiles now are we.
(Lutheran Service Book, 417:2)
“Mourning exiles” put a picture in my mind, the long lines of Ukrainians fleeing to Poland and Romania for safety, almost 400,000 now, mostly women and children. Exile is a sad biblical fact. Jacob and his children exiled to Egypt because of famine. When earthly Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 B.C., the people of Judah were carried off to Babylon, hence the hymn’s line, “But by Babylon’s sad waters / Mourning exiles now are we.” But what are we exiled from? Look back at the hymn. “True Jerusalem and free; Alleluia, joyful mother.”
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).
The Transfiguration of Jesus is told in Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36. A glimpse of glory to give us hope, but then Jesus leads disciples down to the plain, down to wars and rumors of war, down to long lines of exiles, down to victims of abuse and addiction, down to where injustice and suffering are found. Where is Jesus now? “At the right hand of the Father, and He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom will have no end” (Nicene Creed). Does the church see itself in exile? “Alleluia, thou resoundest, / True Jerusalem and free; Alleluia, joyful mother, / All thy children sing with thee.” What thoughts are filling your mind this morning?