Jerusalem was the center of Jesus’ world. From the time he was an infant and throughout his life, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem with his family for the festival of the Passover.

As Jesus grew into adulthood, he would have become aware of another facet of Jerusalem. It wasn’t just the center of spiritual and religious life for people like him and his family and neighbors. It was also a seat of political power and over the course of decades the home of many Herods – all of them violent bullies. From Herod the Great, who slaughtered the children of Bethlehem to Herod Antipas (the son of Herod the Great), who murdered John and Baptist, and in Luke’s gospel is threatening to kill Jesus. Make no mistake, if Jerusalem was the center of Jesus’ religious and spiritual world, then the politics of Jerusalem were never far away as Jesus went about his mission of liberation and mercy for all people.

At the heart of Luke 13:31-35, we find Jesus still in the wilderness. Not the wilderness of the desert where he was tempted by the devil, but the wilderness that we know better as conflict and contradiction. And what does Jesus do when he realizes the wilderness that surrounds him? He doesn’t disengage. He doesn’t embark on a detour. He doesn’t heed the warnings of the Pharisees. He doesn’t turn away. Just as was the case in the desert wilderness of last week’s gospel, Jesus stays puts and from that wilderness place, Jesus laments.

In his lament, Jesus acknowledges that the people he has come to save would rather protect the status quo — their own safety and status within Herod’s rule — than participate in Jesus’ mission.

I wonder where we experience such places of conflict and contradiction in our lives? Places where the abundant life God intends for a situation or a relationship are not matched by reality. Whether those places are revealed within the confines of our daily life or in the larger political spheres, as they are in today’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t avoid the fray. He laments.

I wonder what laments Jesus would name if he appeared in our midst today. What laments do you long to name? Where are the places where the prophetic truth speakers are still silenced? Where are the places where the machinations of the power-players put innocent people at risk? What are the relationships where God’s intent for abundant life has not yet been revealed?

The good news of today’s gospel is clear: Jesus is present even in the wilderness of conflict and contradiction, like Jerusalem. And if Jesus is present in that wilderness, he is surely present in the wilderness of conflict and contradictions within our own life.

From our present wilderness, we can be bold to name our laments, trusting always that God hears.