When we hear of the destruction of Jerusalem and the northern kingdom of Judea in the Book of Kings —our reading these last few days — we can’t help but think of the kingdoms of our own time. Can they be destroyed as well? The northern kingdom is described as corrupt through all its history. Judea has some good accomplishments and righteous years, but it too is marked by failures.

We’re celebrating the 250 year of the birth of the United States on July 4th. Is our country built on a rock that lasts forever? Is a world as politically unstable and filled with weapons of mass destruction as ours today safe from falling apart?  The accounts from the Book of Kings point to what we may also face.

The gospel readings don’t spare those who call out “Lord, Lord.” Evidently believers in Jesus who speak in his name are not safe either.

What can we do? 

Our liturgy responds with a psalm to the first readings at Mass. Today’s psalm is a desperate plea.:

“For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple,
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the corpses of your servants
as food to the birds of heaven,
the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.”

Tomorrow’s psalm is the cry of an exile holding on to the promise of a kingdom:

Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.

No clever solutions or sure, certain fixes. The proper response in our present circumstances is a prayer for mercy.