It took a village.

Lent 2C - Genesis 15:1-12,17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35

Le Chambon

In the 1940s the village of Le Chambon was the locale of summer homes for the wealthy, a once-vibrant but failing tourist industry and resident farmers who raised cattle and sheep. Hotels and guest houses with unsold rooms became temporary housing for refugees fleeing the nightmares of Franco’s Spain and Nazi Germany.

At first, the locals were ambivalent about the presence of the foreigners. But when it became clear that Jewish refugees who were found there would be sent to death camps, the villagers made a decision.

Between 1940 and 1945, the village of Le Chambon saved 2,000-5,000 Jewish refugees, including many children. A more precise number is hard to come by because all of the villagers practiced disciplined secrecy with respect to who was living in their homes and hotels. One wrong word would have been catastrophic.

There were leaders in the village, to be sure.¹ But Vichy gendarmes and the Gestapo often showed up unannounced looking for Jews and other “illegal aliens” to deport. Protecting the village’s guests was not something that one or two persons could have done alone. It took a village.

In this Sunday’s gospel, the Pharisees warn Jesus that Herod – the same Herod who had John the Baptist killed – was looking for him. “Get away from here,” they said, “for Herod wants to kill you.”

That’s worth remembering the next time someone says that Jesus and the Pharisees were enemies. They were not. Jesus and the Pharisees were members of the same village: the community of religious people who believed that God was gracious and forgiving, that the God of Israel was the one God of the world, that this God had been active in the history of Israel and spoke through the prophets.²

Kind of like the Democrats in Congress are members of the same village. They disagree with one another on strategy, but not on key values. Their disagreements do not make them enemies. I suspect that they are clear about who our Herod is right now: Donald Trump and the enablers of Project 2025.

It will take a village to resist the evils and cruelties we are facing. It will take a commitment to nurture the village wherever we find it: in neighborhoods, churches, synagogues, mosques, volunteer agencies, self-help and special interest groups. Wherever. And a great way to start is with a feeling of gratitude for each of our village’s many and varied members.

Because what’s ahead for us can’t be done by one or two people. It will take a village.

Peace.

1. For example, Andre and Magda Trocme.

2. E.P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, (Fortress Press, Philadelphia 1985) at 280. “[Jewish scholars] do not find any substantial points of disagreement between Jesus and his contemporaries…” (at 55.) Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner thought there were a few minor points on which Jesus disagreed with the Pharisees, but said Jesus was a Pharisee himself. If Jesus was criticized, it was for having chosen such an unconventional group of disciples (at 51.)