Luke 19:41-44

Luke 19:41-44 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

Jesus wept because the city of peace did not receive the giver of peace. Instead, throughout history, the Jewish elite rejected God's authority and his messengers. The above passages reveal God's great love for the Jewish people. He loved them as a mother loves her child, but they refused to obey his commandments and to come under his authority. This rebellious nature led to their demise. In the Luke verses, Jesus reveals the future of Jerusalem, and it was not a pretty picture. He knew the Romans would crush Jerusalem; He knew the Jewish people would be scattered throughout the world. He knew the complete devastation of Jerusalem was going to happen in the immediate future, and it did in 73AD.

Jesus did not preach rebellion, He preached peace. The people of Jerusalem wanted a king to throw off the yoke of the Romans. Jesus was not the administrator of this kingdom but of the kingdom of heaven. His kingdom was one of the spirit where He would reign forever. Jesus said this kingdom is within you if you abide in him and He in you. The Jewish people could not accept that kingdom because their reality was slavery to the Romans. The diabolical Romans could request anything they desired from them, and they had to obey or pay the consequences, punishment or even death. Jesus did not promise them earthly deliverance; He promised deliverance from sin and life with God, eternal life. The majority of the Jewish people would not accept his nebulous kingdom. They could not stretch their minds around faith, around a spiritual kingdom. The Zealots among them wanted rebellion against the Roman rules, and Simon the disciple was from this group. They wanted force, they wanted retribution, they wanted the sword. But Jesus was not that leader. He brought freedom from sin, peace for the soul, and eternal life with God. What a great disappointment He was to the Jewish elite, to the Zealots amongst them. They wanted a leader of men, not a servant of men, a sacrificial lamb.

Today, as many Christians frequently lament current events, they often shackle their spirits with fear and hatred toward what they oppose or reject in this world. Vocal leaders predict terrible things will happen because of certain elections and governmental policies. This kind of spirit must make Jesus weep for we seek earthly solutions rather than his wisdom through the Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. As we try to establish an earthly domain to our liking, we act like the Jewish Zealots who rebelled against the Romans, causing the Romans to wipe out the Jewish nation. Jesus brings everlasting peace and inexpressible joy. He alone provides the answers for our souls, bringing contentment to the inner man. He holds the answers to life.

If our souls are stirred to anger and fear by other people's ideas or actions, we should examine our thinking, guard our spirits. Are we loving, caring, peaceable, and long suffering or are we angry, disturbed, bitter, and volatile? Do we really love our enemies or do we make ourselves liars, hypocrites, by saying we love, but not really loving with God's unconditional love? What kind of fruit do we bear? Jesus wept over Jerusalem when they did not know their day of peace and deliverance had come. He wept because He knew through their own efforts, they would try to establish peace and freedom. He wept because they were unwilling to come under his kingdom authority, obtaining eternal peace and true security. What does Jesus do when He looks at our lives and our choices?