Tears #1
It's the Triumphal Entry. People have been praising and rejoicing, recognising, even if only for a moment, that Jesus is the Messiah...But Jesus weeps over the city.
If we search the gospels, this is one of only two occasions where Jesus weeps.
The other gospels tell us that at this occasion Jesus also said "how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing..."
There are no tears quite like a mother's tears as she cries with all her heart for her children. At this point Jesus is looking over the city that represents all He has come to die for and is overwhelmed with deep and wracking emotion. Here Jesus weeps with the same kind of devastating pain that a rejected mother feels.
Imagine these pictures of a mother's grief with me:
- watching a beloved child heading for destruction
- seeing the love she has offered her "chicks" rejected
- knowing that there is a way the pain can be avoided
- seeing the (costly) forgiveness that she offered spurned
- knowing that she gave her best and yet the child chose badly
- trying to comprehend why the child chooses death over life
Flashbulb:Jesus weeps like a mother whose children have inexplicably gone astray. I can picture Him, face contorted with pain and sorrow. He looks over Jerusalem - over us - and His passion, concern, love and longing for us completely WRECKS Him.
I can say no more...
This is just a small picture of how much we are loved...
| 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. (Luke19:41-42) |
