“Sorrow Over Jerusalem”
(Luke 13:31-35)
Many a parent has been deeply hurt by rejection from
their children. A toddler frowns and
pouts because he was disciplined. A
teenager shouts “I hate you” because she was told she could not stay out late
with their friends. An adult child stops
coming to visit or call because of some long held grudge. Any parent would be full of sorrow over
rejection no matter how old their child may be.
Our Heavenly Father is full of sorrow when the people he
has created reject him. Like a faithful
parent, he gives us his love … and yes, his discipline, too. Too often, his creatures ignore him and are
unwilling to receive him. But for the
sake of his Son who died for the sin of our creaturely rejection, he continues
to hold out his offer of mercy and forgiveness.
Today’s Gospel is another step along the road that Jesus
walked to the cross, the path that we are following during this season of
Lent. Jesus knew where he was
headed. His life and ministry would end
in Jerusalem where he would be crucified.
As we sing in the Gradual for Lent, it was for the joy that was set
before him that Jesus endured the cross.
As Jesus set his face toward his destination – Jerusalem, the cross –
the joy of knowing that he was earning forgiveness and eternal life for all who
would receive him by faith caused Jesus to willingly endure suffering and death
for us.
But the Bible also describes Jesus as “a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3).
When his friend Lazarus died, Jesus wept. Jesus was a man of sorrows because he knew
what awful consequences sin had brought into the world. He was moved with compassion when he saw the
evidence of those consequences … suffering, death, unbelief.
And so, God’s Son in
today’s Gospel lesson has sorrow over 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 would not! 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!’” (Luke 13:34-35).
Some
Pharisees came to Jesus to warn him that Herod wanted to kill him. Whether this was a serious threat or not,
Herod’s intent was to scare Jesus from his territory. It seems as though he didn’t want to be
bothered with all the commotion surrounding Jesus. Jesus recognizes Herod’s crafty plan and
replies, “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’” (Luke 13:32-33).
Jesus
says all this to make it clear that it’s not Herod who will determine the time
and place of his death. Jesus is
absolutely in control. His ministry
would continue “today and tomorrow, and the third day.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “Herod will
not be the one to put me to death. Nor
will it happen here … away from Jerusalem.
I will go to Jerusalem to die when it is my time.” It’s also hard not to think of Jesus’ time
spent in the tomb when we hear those words “today and tomorrow, and the third
day I finish my course.” Jesus was in
the tomb on Friday and Saturday, and on the third day he finished his course of
rising to life again in victory over death.
After
responding to Herod’s threat, Jesus spoke about his sorrow over Jerusalem, the
city which was unwilling to receive him and his Word … the city in which he
would be rejected, despised, and killed.
The stubbornness and unbelieving hearts of the people of Jerusalem were
nothing new, of course. The history of
Israel in the Bible provides many examples where they rejected God’s Word and
persecuted the prophets who sent to bring God’s message.
Jeremiah
was one of those prophets. We heard
about him in today’s Old Testament lesson.
Through the mouth of Jeremiah, God warned the city of Jerusalem that
destruction would soon come because the people were continually
disobedient. The priests and the false
prophets called for Jeremiah’s death.
But Jeremiah stood his ground and said, “I am in your hands. Do with me as
seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death,
you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its
inhabitants” (Jer. 26:14-15).
There
are other accounts in the Scriptures of child sacrifice, murder of prophets,
and the despising of God’s messengers within the walls of Jerusalem. Take King Manasseh, for example, who offered
children as burnt offerings to a pagan god and who, according to tradition, got
tired of hearing Isaiah preach and ordered him to be put inside a hollow log
and sawn in two.
Knowing
all this, we can understand our Lord’s sorrow over the city and his
declaration, “Behold, your house is forsaken!”
Chilling words. As judgment over
their persistent unbelief, God’s presence left the temple in Jerusalem. The gracious presence of God now dwelt fully in
Jesus, God’s Son, the Incarnate God, God in the Flesh. And God’s former “house” would be destroyed by
the Romans about 40 years later.
Does
Jesus have sorrow over us? When we
neglect him and are unwilling to hear his Word … yes, Jesus has sorrow over
us. When we fight and kick against his
call to repent of our sins and believe in him … yes, Jesus has sorrow over
us. When we reject him like the people
of Jerusalem … yes, Jesus has sorrow over us.
Certainly, we have not engaged in child sacrifice or murdered any
prophets … but any sin – however big or small it may seem to us – is ultimately
a rejection of God and his good purposes for us. When we disobey God’s Word, we are
essentially saying, “I know better than God.
I know what’s good and right for my life, not him.”
Jesus
has sorrow over our sin because of his great love for us. And this leads us to have sorrow over our
sins, as St. Paul writes in Romans 2, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to
repentance” (Rom. 2:4). Jesus’ desire
for us is the same desire he had for Jerusalem: to gather us together as a hen
gathers her precious baby chicks under her wings.
What
a beautiful picture of God’s love and care.
A mother hen lovingly keeps an eye out for her precious little
babies. She takes them under her wings
to protect them from predators such as hawks or other birds diving out of the
sky. Likewise, God puts himself on the
line to guard us and keep us. David said
in Psalm 32, “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround
me with songs of deliverance” (Ps. 32:7).
In the same way, we can come to God with repentant hearts, knowing that
for Jesus’ sake, he will forgive us and keep us safe in the hiding place of his
grace. He will protect us from our
predators that seek to take our lives … sin, death, and the devil.
It
was too late for Jerusalem. Its fate had
been sealed. But in light of the death
and resurrection of Jesus, it’s never too late for us. Jesus continues to hold out his promises to
you. He doesn’t give up on you. He continues to hold out his promise of
love. He continues to hold out his promise
of forgiveness … even for our sins of rejecting him or neglecting him in any
way in our life. He was forsaken at the
cross so that we will never be forsaken.
Our house here will never be left forsaken or desolate, but he fills it
with his presence whenever his Word is preached, whenever Baptism is given, whenever
we eat and drink his Body and Blood at this altar.
Jesus
had sorrow over the earthly city of Jerusalem and its desolation. But God’s intention was to create a new
Jerusalem … a city not made with hands, but built by the Holy Spirit who works
faith in our hearts through the Gospel.
The Church is the Holy City in which dwell all those who trust in Christ
for the forgiveness of their sins. In
this Church, we have sorrow over our sins, especially during Lent. But we also believe that because of Good Friday
and Easter, what the prophet Zephaniah foretold has come to pass: “The LORD has taken away the judgments
against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is
in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to
Jerusalem: ‘Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God
is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with
gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud
singing’” (Zeph. 3:15-17).
The
Lord has indeed taken away the judgments against you. He is in your midst. He delights in you and rejoices over you for
the sake of Jesus.
Amen.
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