Jesus Weeps

JESUS WEEPS
LUKE 19:41-48

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For 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 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
In the name of Jesus:
Those of you who have known me for a while know that I am, at times, prone to tears. I have cried tears of joy at my children’s baptisms and confirmations, at their graduations, and I have cried tears of sorrow at the death of my parents. The last time I had a good cry was two years ago at the death of my father. Exhausted from being up with him all night and present when he died, I collapsed in our hotel room in tears later that night, my heart overcome with emotion.
When was the last time you had a good cry? Was it when the kids left the house for the last time and you were faced with an empty nest? Was your last good cry when you tried to balance your checkbook and realized that you can’t make it to the end of the month? Have you had a good cry at the death of a family member, or at the news of an unexpected diagnosis? When did you last have a good cry?
Jesus was known for having a good cry. He was the Son of God in human flesh, exposed to our travails and He experienced the full range of human emotions. He cried at the tomb of Lazarus. That instance records probably one of the best-known verses in the Bible, at least it is best known because it is the shortest: Jesus wept. He felt the pain of death in Lazarus’ death and the Scriptures records Jesus’ emotions. In our text for today, Luke 19, we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It is a most misunderstood passage today. Why would Jesus weep over Jerusalem? Why not Lancaster, or Detroit or Cleveland? Those are cities to weep over, with the high unemployment rates and drug use which has become prevalent. Why weep over Jerusalem?
Many people misinterpret Jesus’ tears. He isn’t weeping over a physical city, He isn’t weeping over Jerusalem because of the beauty of the city or because of its locale or name. A great many people misinterpret Jesus’ tears today, thinking that Jesus is crying over a physical city, and then they translate Jesus’ tears into how Americans or the Church today should support Israel and the city of Jerusalem. Certainly Jesus weeps because Jerusalem is about to be destroyed in 70 AD but there in an underlying reason, if we would only listen! For in Jesus’ tears He weeps for the people of His day and our day as well. If we would just listen to the Scriptures, and let the Scriptures explain the situation, we would have a better understanding as to why Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
The religious situation at this time was in dire straights. Yes, even though Jesus was present, the religious situation was dire. How so, if Jesus was present? Only because the people would not listen to Jesus, they would not listen to God! The city of Jerusalem was the foundation of the religious life of the Jewish people. The Temple, God’s House, was located in the city. People came to Jerusalem to worship and to offer their sacrifices to God. You could say that Jerusalem represented the Church at that time. People would look to Jerusalem in reverence because this is the city where God chose to dwell in His Temple. This is the city where the people would meet God. But the situation deteriorated to such an extent, that Jerusalem became more known for its religious corruption and its hypocrisy.
You know the saying, that the more things change the more they stay the same? That could be said of Jerusalem, for this religious hypocrisy had been going on for centuries. Just note how Jeremiah describes the situation in his day, and how he prophesies about the impending doom and demise of Jerusalem: “5 Why then has this people turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7 my people know not
the rules of the Lord.
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.: (Jeremiah 8:5-12, selected verses).”
The people worshiped God with their lips, but their lives told different stories. The Scribes and Pharisees preached one thing and did another. They sought to establish their own man made rules instead of following the Lord. The Church was corrupt, more interested in selling merchandise and buying and selling for sacrifices for use in the Temple rather than devoting their lives to the Lord. There was no repentance, no sorrow for sin, no turning to the Lord in faith, no mercy, no peace, only man made righteousness and man made regulations to follow. The sin soaked religion of the Jewish people sickened God to the point that He promised to pour out His wrath on the sinner and destroy what Jerusalem, the Church, had become. And so Jesus, knowing all things, and knowing that the destruction of Jerusalem was imminent, wept over a people He had chosen and nurtured, who had willfully chosen to forsake God. They had rejected and forsaken God in the past, and they had rejected Jesus and His message and ministry. “. 43 For 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 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” They did not recognize God incarnate in their very midst! When God was physically present, they rejected Him out of hand, seeking His death and demise.
It should come as no surprise then that Jesus took action after His tears. Note what Luke records: “And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him.” Some commentators suggest that Jesus, in this act, spent the entire afternoon at the Temple, teaching leading people to a right understanding of God’s Word. If it is true that the Temple at that time stood on 35 acres of land, then it stands to reason that Jesus didn’t just overthrow one table of sacrificial merchandise. Jesus overthrew those who bought and sold throughout the Temple grounds, blocking entry and exit ways, causing even the casual observer to recognize that Jesus was none too pleased and that Temple worship at that time needed to change for the better.
How would Jesus look at your worship? Would He be pleased, or would He weep? That is an interesting question! Does your worship show a living faith in Christ, or is it based in hypocrisy? Do you trust in Christ or your own right way of doing things? Consider where you are today. Church, a sanctuary, a place that is called God’s house. You came to church today to meet God. Is that the reason why you came? Have you ever thought about not coming to church, to the place where God is? Has your church attendance been hit and miss? Why is that? Have you thought your schedule, your interests, your life more important that coming and meeting God? Has your worship been half hearted, your singing of the hymns lackluster, your presence more an attempt to be seen by others?
Yes, Jesus wept over the cold heartedness that was evident in the worship and lives of the people, but more than that, Jesus lived and died for the sins of the people. Jesus loved the sinner so much that He set His face to go to Jerusalem, to change the hearts and lives of sinners by suffering and dying for them. And Jesus has come to shed His blood for you! The Son of God who came to cleanse the Temple came also to cleanse you of your sin. He did this by offering the Temple of His Body on the cross. His very life and shed blood on the cross cleanses you and every sinner from all sin.
Today Jesus comes to visit you and give you comfort and peace in your life. This is the place where God dwells, Jesus comes in fullness to give you His gifts. In Baptism He has claimed you to be His own. In His Word He calls you to turn from your sins, your lifeless worship, and your halfhearted attempts to serve God to serve Him with the life He now gives you. You were bought with a price, not with silver or gold but with the very blood of Christ shed on the cross for you. He calls you to repent of your sins, to turn to Christ and receive His gifts of forgiveness and peace. Jesus visits you this day in Word and Sacrament to bless you. He says: “Come to Me all you are burdened by your sins and I will forgive you and give you rest.” Learn of God’s judgment for sinners: that you are judged forgiven and saved by a free gift of His grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ offered the Temple of His Body on the cross so that your bodies might become temples of the living God!
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. God now lives with you in Christ. So honor God in the life that you live. Seek first God’s will in all you do. Seek to serve the Lord with joy! Do not neglect the assembly of the saints on Sunday, but come to the house of the Lord to meet Christ and receive His gifts. Use the life that God now has given to you to share His gifts with others. Jesus’ heart breaks for those who do not know Him, for He came to seek and save the lost. Pray for your family, friends, and neighbors, that they may come to faith in Christ. Ask God to use you and this congregation to proclaim the love of Christ to others. For God’s good and gracious will is this: that sinners repent, come to faith in Christ, and live their lives to the glory of God. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. May God enable you to spread that joy for Christ has come to save sinners.
Amen