Luke 19_41_44 Palm Sunday Notes

D. The Glory’s Results: Death of a Blind City (19:41–44)

SUPPORTING IDEA: Jerusalem’s blindness to God’s Messiah means absolute destruction for the city, bringing pain and tears to the Messiah who loves the blind city.

19:41. Luke has begun the Jerusalem story (19:28), but he has not yet let Jesus reach Jerusalem. The recognition and praise of Messiah comes from disciples outside the city, not from the religious crowds or religious power brokers inside the city. Jesus knew that the city of Jerusalem and its power structure—both Jewish and Roman—would reject him. They would take him to the cross. So he wept, not for his immediate fate but for the stubborn, sinful blindness of the city. The city God loves had no love for him.

19:42. He had come with peace from heaven. They could not see or understand. They did not act responsibly and intelligently, just as the parable described. Why? It was hidden from their eyes. Here is the biblical teaching on hardening in another guise. Irresponsible use of religious power finally separated the Jerusalem establishment from God. Thus, his revelation no longer came to them. He hid his plans from their eyes. As in the parable, they would rise up in outrage: unfair! No, God was just giving them what they deserved, taking away responsibility and privilege from those who misused it because they could not learn to recognize him and how he acted.

19:43–44. Hidden revelation was only the beginning of Jerusalem’s troubles. Jesus looked ahead to a.d. 70, when the Roman government would have enough of Jewish rebellions and would destroy the city. The inhabitants would not escape. Jesus made special mention of the children, since caring for the helpless was the center of his ministry. God had visited his people as he had promised. Messiah had come to seek and to save the lost. They refused to recognize they were lost. They refused to see God’s glory in Jesus or to give God glory for sending Jesus. Their beloved temple and all the glorious architecture of Jerusalem would fall, not one stone attached to another, no hope for rebuilding and renewal.

B.The Son of Man Weeps Over Jerusalem (19:41–44)

19:41, 42 As Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, He uttered a lamentation over the city that had missed its golden opportunity. If the people had only received Him as Messiah, it would have meant peace for them. But they didn’t recognize that He was the source of peace. Now it was too late. They had already determined what they would do with the Son of God. Because of their rejection of Him, their eyes were blinded. Because they would not see Him, they could no longer see Him.

Pause here to reflect on the wonder of the Savior’s tears. As W. H. Griffith Thomas has said, “Let us sit at Christ’s feet until we learn the secret of His tears, and beholding the sins and sorrows of city and countryside, weep over them too.”

19:43, 44 Jesus gave a solemn preview of the siege of Titus—how that Roman general would surround the city, trap the inhabitants, massacre both young and old, and level the walls and buildings. Not one stone would be left upon another. And it was all because Jerusalem did not know the time of its visitation. The Lord had visited the city with the offer of salvation. But the people did not want Him. They had no room for Him in their scheme of things.

Titus, Emperor Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus (ad 39–81). Roman emperor, 79–81. Titus was the second Flavian emperor of Rome. Destroyed Jerusalem and the temple during the First Jewish War.

In ad 70, Roman soldiers led by Titus sacked Jerusalem and burned down the temple, ending the First Jewish War. This war had begun four years earlier during the reign of Nero, when the Jews revolted against the Romans because of religious tensions and taxation. Thousands of Jews starved to death during the siege of Jerusalem. Josephus claimed that 1,100,000 Jews died in the siege (Josephus, Jewish War, 6.9.3). During the attack, Roman soldiers looted and burned the temple, though Josephus makes the improbable claim that Titus ordered for the temple to be preserved and his soldiers disobeyed (Josephus, Jewish War, 6.4.3). The victorious legions carried many of the temple’s treasures back to Rome—the Arch of Titus in Rome preserves a depiction of Titus’ conquest, along with the looting itself.