Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem
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Introduction
Introduction
Bert and John Jacobs grew up as the youngest of six children in a lower middle-income family in Boston. When the boys were in elementary school, their parents were in a near-death car accident. Their mom only had a few broken bones while their dad lost the use of his right hand.
In the years after the wreck, Mr. Jacobs became a harsh man, yelling at his family constantly, and the dynamic in the home greatly changed over time. The brothers would say that many difficult things were happening around the house.
However, their mom continued to believe that Life was Good.” Every night, she sat around the dinner table and asked her kids to tell her something good that had happened that day. As simple as her words were, they changed the energy in the room. Before long, her kiddos were telling the funniest, craziest, and most bizarre stories. One question changed their day. Their mom sang in the kitchen, told wild stories, and acted out children’s books for them no matter how bad their situation was.
These two boys went on to found the company, “Life is Good.” Life Is Good is a clothing company valued at 100 million dollars today, and the premise of the company is these questions from their mom.
I own several of their shirts. One of the shirts I like the most says, “Life isn’t easy. Life isn’t perfect. Life is good.”
So often, moms bring out the best in the world.
Today is a beautiful day as we celebrate mothers. If you are a mother here today, we love you, and we thank you. We would not be who we are and what we are without our mothers. My mom comforted and guided me in incredible ways. I know you have done the same for your family. Be encouraged this morning… being a mother is a great, beautiful, and difficult work. The Lord heard the cries of mothers throughout the Scriptures, and he hears your cries for your babies. We love you.
Where the greatest love resides is also the greatest opportunity for a deep wound.
There are many of you who are mothers or not mothers who are struggling this morning.
Your child may be going through something difficult or making bad decision.
You may greatly desire to be a mother, and you don’t have children. And that reality is a great burden to you.
You may have lost your mother in the last year or your mom is sick.
I am so thankful that the Lord heart the cries of mothers throughout the Old Testament, and some of the greatest works of God came through women who cried out to God in their pain. He sees you today.
Read Luke 13:31-35.
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Explanation
Explanation
What is a lament? A lament is a crying out to God over something that is wrong in the world or in your life. “God, why is this happening?” “God, what are you doing?” “God, I don’t understand how you could allow this to happen?”
Humanity has lamented many things, and the Scriptures are full of the laments of God’s people. David lamented his sin and the horrible situations he found himself in constantly. Jeremiah lamented his situations but more-so the lack of spiritual empathy of the people he had been called to. Habakkuk lamented the tyranny of the nations around him.
But what did Jesus lament? This text actually shows us a lament of Jesus. It is a lament of the absence of Jerusalem’s desire for Him.
Because our God’s love towards us is greater than our love towards Him, so his pain over our lack of interest in Him is greater than our pain. Because God is pure and infinite love and faithfulness and goodness, He knows them deeper than we do. But God also experiences the pain of loss at a greater level than we do. Jesus lament shows his pain.
What is Jesus lament? Jesus laments the broken relationship that God has with His people.
However, this lament is rife with His love. These entire sections of verses are in the context of a mother’s love. We cannot read this without hearing a mother’s hurt voice of a neglectful son, “I have’t heard from you in awhile.”
Like a mother’s love, Jesus’ love His people even though they are full of imperfections.
Like a mother’s love, Jesus’ love His people even though they are full of imperfections.
Luke 13:34 (A) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”
Jesus acknowledges the imperfections of Jerusalem. What was the imperfection of the people of Jerusalem? Every time a prophet had come to Jerusalem with a word from God, the city spurned or killed or stoned the prophet.
Israel was not receptive of the messengers of God, which means that Israel was not receptive to God, Himself.
A mother sees your imperfections and loves you anyway. And any small mundane thing that you do for them they love greatly.
Illustration of this point:
When I was a little boy, I would play outside often, and my mom would watch me from her kitchen window.
I would often see rocks in the driveway, find one I thought mom would like, and take it to her.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized that she kept all of those rocks. She put them in a jar on the same window that she use to watch me play.
Long after I had given my mom those rocks, she still cherished them and wanted to remember the moment.
Only a momma would love so paltry a gift as rocks from the backyard, and only a momma can make something so beautiful out of gravel.
Except, that is exactly the way Jesus loves you.
Jesus does not love Jerusalem because He has ignored their sins and problems. His continual movement towards Jerusalem is the perfect show of His love.
I hear people say all the time, I am just not enough. I cannot be enough for God. The whole point of the gospel is that you will never be enough, but HE IS.
Like a mother’s love, Jesus’ love for His people is simply that he could be near them and care for them.
Like a mother’s love, Jesus’ love for His people is simply that he could be near them and care for them.
Luke 13:34 (B) “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Have you ever stopped and thought about how much Jesus simply wants to be near you?
If you only knew how much Jesus wants you.
It isn’t an economical decision in the slightest. It isn’t transactional. It is the deep, unconditional, self-sacrificing love of a mother for her child.
Mother’s Day is the third highest attended day in churches. After Easter and Christmas, Mother’s Day comes in third on attendance. Why? Because mom’s just want their babies to come to church. They want to be around their family. Fathers, you are gonna catch a stray this morning from me… is one of the notoriously lowest attended day of the year. Because dad’s want to go fishing, hiking, play video games, etc. Model for your kids a great faith. Let’s have a high attendance Father’s Day this year.
How many of you have mommas that the only thing they really want is to see/hear from you on Mother’s Day? That is the love of God towards you.
What a beautiful thought - that of Jesus fussing over you. Making sure you have everything you need and you are right next to him. What a compelling vision for the God of the universe.
Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,”
Psalm 61:4 “Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah”
Like a mother’s love, Jesus moves towards us even when we move away from Him.
Like a mother’s love, Jesus moves towards us even when we move away from Him.
Luke 13:35 “Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ””
A better word for forsaken would be “abandoned” or “desolate.” Jesus is saying, “Your house is empty of me.”
But what does Jesus say, “You have forsaken yourselves, and your house, Jerusalem is desolate.”
But I will not make you live in the consequences of your actions forever.
Now, scholars debate what this means, “you will not see me again until…” Some say Palm Sunday. Others say Pentecost. Other say his final return. I tend to think it is Palm Sunday. That language is just to close to what the people said as Jesus rode into town on a donkey to be tried.
It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that one day Jesus tells Isreal, “I will come and get you. I will make an end to the emptiness that you have wrought on yourselves.”
Invitation
Invitation
Brennan Manning summarizes this thought in saying, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”
Such is the love of a mother, and if it can even be imagined… to an even greater extent, such is the love of our Savior.