Matthew 23:37-39 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, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
Jerusalem, the city on earth to honor the God of all creation, the place of God’s temple, rejected Jesus as the Messiah. The people soon would gather together, shouting for Jesus to be crucified. They would choose Barabbas, a revolutionary, over Jesus, the man of peace. Barabbas would escape death, Jesus would be crucified. Jesus had been dishonored by the Roman legions. He had been disgraced; He represented weakness. At least Barabbas gave the people of Israel some optimism: he would fight the Romans; he would war against Caesar. Jesus preached loving your enemies, doing good to those who persecute you. What victory is there in that message? Jesus had no answer for their self-interest. CRUCIFY HIM was their answer to Jesus’ teaching. Only Barabbas has the answer to life, not Jesus. Their call for Jesus’ death was ill-informed, for Jesus not Barabbas loved them. Jesus would die for them. Barabbas would live for his own selfishness as all flesh, maybe for aggrandizement or wealth. Jesus, as the Father God of all creation, loved Jerusalem, a place of death for the Anointed One. 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 19:41-44) They rejected Jesus, chose not peace but violence. True, eternal peace was hidden from their eyes, for Jesus had to go to the cross, murdered by the chosen people. They chose faith in the laws and regulations over the grace and mercy of God. They rejected peace when they killed Jesus. They thought the peace they desired would not come through Jesus, the man who said you must be born again to have real peace. No, they assumed peace would come only to those who would fight for it. Warring for good, fighting against evil would accomplish what they wanted: peace. But Jesus said, They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. From generation to generation, you and your children will be slaughtered as helpless sheep. Barabbus’ way will never deliver peace to you. And that is the story of the history of the Jews. Jesus as He entered Jerusalem knew the consequences of rejecting him as the Messiah. He knew the future of the people of Jerusalem for the future centuries; he wept over it (Jerusalem). He had come to announce that He was the fulfillment of the law, that He, the Perfect One, would usher the chosen people into the kingdom of God. But they would not hear him; their religious leaders did not want to lose their place of honor and deference in Israel, so they led the people away from Jesus, the Messiah. They brought in the rejection of the Messiah, the only one who completely satisfied the law of Moses, making him the eternal gate to the kingdom of God.
We see Jesus in mourning as we saw David in mourning over his son, Absalom. Absalom would have been the king of Israel. He needed only to wait for that wonderful day when he would inherit the throne of Israel. But Absalom rebelled, attempting to take the throne before his time. David mourned over the heart of his lovely son, Absalom. The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son! (2 Samuel 18:33) He sorrowed over a son whose heart was not right with God, a son who would take his throne by force. Jesus mourned over the hearts of the Jerusalem people who would kill him. Jerusalem believed Jesus had no right to rule over them. They saw a man of weakness, not a man like Saul who was head and shoulders above any other man in Israel. They wanted a warrior king, not a man of peace. Rome was a thorn in their flesh. However, Jesus’ mission was always to them first. His teaching and miracles exposed them explicitly to the truth of who He was, the Messiah. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. (Matthew 15:29-31) They were as Absalom, the son of the inheritance. They were God’s first son, the one He delivered from the captivity of the Evil One. This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” (Exodus 22:21-23) God delivered Israel out of Egypt by performing mighty miracles. Jesus before the Israelites’ eyes performed mighty miracles, so many that no man from the beginning of time had done so many marvelous deeds. However, the Israelites were blind to the reality of the Messiah being in their midst. Barabbus and his violence would save them, so they killed the King of kings. As with Absalom their hearts were wicked, with little or no allegiance to the Creator of all things, the One who delivered them from slavery to the evil one. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, he became angry with them. (Judges 10:6-7) Notice, they served every god, every authority, but the God who made them and who took care of them. Their hearts were dark, unthankful; as the first son, they went their own way, gaining their inheritance by their own efforts.
The Israelites in Jesus’ time were once again in a time of repentance. John the Baptist and Jesus called their spiritual leaders vipers, hypocrites. John was busy baptizing the people for repentance. Jesus also was baptized, identifying with the people and the need to turn to God. In that experience, God commissioned Jesus for a redemptive mission to the Israelites. As the Son of God, He taught people that the kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus was with them to usher in this kingdom. He was focused on the Israelites like a laser beam. His intentions were for the salvation of the children of Israel. We also see him in a Gentile land, exclaiming to a Gentile woman that He has come for the first born of God. Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 15:21-24) In this scene, Jesus affirms that he has come only for the chosen. His mission was exclusively to the land of Israel, yet He is now in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile land. Not surprisingly a Gentile woman who had heard of his great exploits in Israel comes to him to ask him to deliver her daughter from demon possession. Jesus at first does not say a word to her. Finally, the disciples step in, asking Jesus to send her away. Her presence and the commotion she is causing by begging Jesus to heal her daughter is an embarrassment to them. Then Jesus reacts to the Gentile woman coldly, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, the chosen by my Father God. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (26) This statement does not deter the woman. She reacts to his words by saying, maybe that is true, but the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table. Of course, Jesus is referring to himself as being the bread of life. The Jews would be given the chance first to eat of this bread. They, even though they failed miserably many times, still lived by a modicum of faith, attempting to obey the law, sacrificing animals and birds to God. They had the right to sit at the table. Jesus came to them to show a more excellent way to God. Jesus, the bread of life, was sent to be given to them first. Then the Gentile woman speaks a truism about the bread of life, even the crumbs have life in them. The dogs are revived by these crumbs. Jesus looks at her and says, your faith is great; your child has been delivered from the evil one. Her continued begging, her belief in Jesus as the bread of life, caused her to receive her request. This story reveals the love of God for the world. Jesus is now in a Gentile world. He is ministering to a Gentile woman. He spends only a short time in this Gentile area, but his purpose was God ordained. As with Lazarus, going belatedly to Lazarus after he died, his hesitancy to respond quickly to the Gentile woman was to elevate faith in God. He wanted to show that God will answer the needs of those who seek him, even in a Gentile world. Jesus met the need. By accentuating the Gentile’s faith, her persistence, Jesus highlighted the faithfulness of God to Jew and Gentile alike. In both situations, a miracle of great proportions happened: a man dead raised, a Gentile dead to God’s blessing receives her answer. In this healing of a Gentile, God was revealing He would work in the land of the lost Gentiles if they would place their faith in God’s firstborn from death, Jesus Christ. Belatedly or not, Jesus’ intentions were to heal this woman’s daughter. Today as we struggle with faith, the bread of life has been given to us, Jew and Gentile alike. The crumbs are powerful, but we are not dogs, seeking crumbs. Jesus revealed his plan in the Last Supper, freely breaking bread for each one of us and for the whole world. He breaks the bread of life and holds it out to each of us, “Partake of this and you will have life forevermore.” Sadly, Jerusalem would not partake of that bread of life that was freely given to them. Today, receive the bread and share with those you meet. Amen!
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