Jerusalem identifies Jesus with Israel

May 20, 2007 -- Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

Great stories often end where they had begun. Everything comes full circle. In the words of T. S. Elliot, "The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." (Four Quartets, Little Gidding)

Luke draws upon this dramatic device in his gospel. The action of the gospel begins in Jerusalem, where the priest Zechariah, soon to be the father of John the Baptist, is ministering in the Temple. (Luke 1:8,9) Similarly, the gospel ends with the disciples returning to Jerusalem after Jesus' ascension up to heaven, where "they were continually in the temple praising God." We will hear this ending section, Luke 24:46-53, as the gospel reading for Sunday, the feast of the Ascension. These two references to the Temple in Jerusalem frame Luke's gospel and tie it neatly together as one.

But this is not the only way that Luke focuses attention upon Jerusalem. He mentions Jerusalem by name 29 times, more than twice as many times as any of the other gospels. Mark mentions Jerusalem by name only 11 times, Matthew 12 times, and John 13 times. Clearly, Jerusalem holds a higher priority for Luke. He wants to keep it constantly in front of us.

Luke maintains interest in Jerusalem by presenting much of his gospel as a narrative of Jesus' journey towards that city. This so-called travel narrative runs from Luke 9:51-19:27. Of course, along the way, Jesus works miracles, teaches the crowds and engages in controversy with his opponents. But it all happens in context of his journey to Jerusalem. And once in the city of Jerusalem, the gospel reaches its climax in Jesus' death and resurrection. So Jerusalem remains the constant focus of attention, whether as the goal towards which one is headed, or as the setting in which the action takes place.

By focusing upon Jerusalem, Luke is doing much more than making use of a dramatic device, or providing us with interesting scenery. Luke is making a theological statement. He is emphasizing Jesus' Jewishness, his membership to the people of Israel, his roots in the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament.

After all, Jerusalem was not only the political capital of Israel, it was its religious center. It was the location of the Temple, the dwelling place of God, the heart and soul of the Jewish people. Jerusalem stood for Israel as a whole. By associating Jesus with Jerusalem, Luke's gospel identifies Jesus with Israel.

This becomes even clearer when we compare Luke's gospel to its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles. Just as Luke's gospel shows a movement towards Jerusalem, the Acts of the Apostles show a movement away from Jerusalem towards the rest of the world. The new faith in Jesus which began in Jerusalem ends up in the city of Rome, the capital of the known world, through the apostle Paul.

Just as Jerusalem had stood for the people of Israel in Luke's gospel, Rome stands for the people of the entire world. Once again, Luke is making a theological statement. He is proclaiming that the faith in Jesus Christ, which originated from the Jewish people, is not limited to them. It is intended for all people on earth.

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)