Tenth Sunday after Trinity

As a parent have you ever watched your adult children start down a path that you know will lead to heartbreak and sorrow. What can you do? You can warn, you can plead, you can try to show them reason, but when these things fail, what is left? You can’t physically restrain your grown children, even though your heart might want to. You can only weep. This is what love looks like.

When Jesus drew near and saw the City, he wept over it (Luke 19:41). Jerusalem, that most holy place where God had chosen to establish his presence among men. The Psalmists sang, “Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!” (Ps 135:21; 128:5; 137:5–6). Jerusalem, the home of God’s chosen people, whom he redeemed from the house of bondage in Egypt, whom he fed with manna from heaven in the wilderness, the people to whom God had shown more tender care than any loving mother. Thus says the Lord God, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even she may forget, yet I will not forget you, O Jerusalem. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” (Is 49:15; 66:13).

Jesus looked down upon this ancient and beloved City of God, and he wept over her. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gather her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Mt 23:37; Lk 19:41). This day was Monday. And in four days’ time, on Friday, Jerusalem, the City of Peace, would crucify her king, the Prince of Peace.

Jesus had come to redeem his children once again out of bondage – not the bondage of forced labor under Pharaoh, but the spiritual bondage of sin, death, and eternal damnation. He came to gather his people under the outstretched arms of his cross. He came to make peace between God and man. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him (Jn 1:11). What could Jesus do but weep, and then continue on his way to the cross? This is what love looks like.

Here we see the heart of God toward every man, woman, and child. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). God does not want there to be even one soul lost in hell on the Day of Judgment. He wants to gather all people to himself, but many are not willing. Jesus said, “I am the only way to the Father.” Many people refuse him, and look for another way. Jesus comes to take away the sins of the whole world, but many refuse to let their sins go. What can our Lord do as he watches his children continue down a path that leads only to death and damnation? He sends his prophets, his pastors, to warn and to plead and to try to show reason. “Why should you be lost for eternity? Turn from your sin and be saved. Jesus receives every sinner. Come and be made clean. Come and find peace.”

But what did Jerusalem do? She killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to her. So it is today. Every year I hear about another brother in the ministry who is being run out of his parish because he spoke the truth – another faithful man who is being persecuted for teaching the Word of Christ. But this is no surprise. Thus it has ever been from the time of the prophets until now. But blessed are the ears that hear and believe the Word of God. Blessed are you when you heed the call to repentance and faith. There is no other path that leads to life. The way is narrow – it leads through Jesus and no one else.

As Jesus’ own path brought him to the hill overlooking the Holy City, he wept over it, saying, “The days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. Brother will rise up against brother, father against son, and mother against daughter. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be again. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Lk 19:43; Mt 10:21; 24:21, 34).

These terrible words describe the judgment that came upon God’s own people, who turned away from Christ, and refused their Savior, a judgment unlike anything that had happened in the history of the world. No wonder Jesus wept as he looked out upon the city, knowing what would soon come to pass. And that day of judgment did come. Less than forty years later, before that generation passed away, every word that Jesus spoke concerning Jerusalem was fulfilled. You may read the account of Josephus, a Jewish historian, as found in the bulletin insert, but be warned: it is terrible. This is why Jesus weeps. His heart of love and mercy does not want to see this destruction come upon anyone, yet be warned: the judgment of Jerusalem does not compare to the final judgment that is coming upon this world.

And then, though his heart was breaking, what did Jesus do? He went down among the people who would call for his death, and entered the city of Jerusalem. Knowing that he would be scourged, mocked, beaten, and crucified, he went anyway. For the joy that was set before him he endured his cross. What joy could that possible be? The joy of gathering all who would receive him into his arms. From his cross he had every right to hurl down condemnation and judgment against us. Instead, he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know no what they do” (Lk 23:34).

Here is the love of God for the world, for me, and for you. While we were his enemies, he died for us. Even though we rejected him, he chose us. He chose you, called you out of the darkness of unbelief and sin, washed you clean with his blood, gathered you into his arms through holy baptism, and placed you into the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God, that is, the Holy Church. By the power of his Spirit he has made known to you the things that make for peace. And what things are these? Nothing other than his own Body and Blood, given and shed for you. These things were hidden from our eyes, but by faith, they have now been revealed to you and to all who believe the words of Jesus. O heavenly Jerusalem, beloved bride of Christ, how blessed you are to know and be known by Jesus. How blessed you are to hear and believe his words. For he is our peace, and in his arms, we will not fear the coming judgment. Amen.