Tears for the Cities
So, he came to the city he loved and he cried.
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God." Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, "It is written,'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. - Luke 19:41-48
The people were amazed. What Jesus was saying caused them to stop and think. Who is this man?
What is he doing here? Why is he acting this way?
He seems to have some authority, speaking for God like a prophet, and yet he is more than that.
It reminds me of the public service announcement from the seventies of the native American man shedding a tear for the land of his people now strewn with garbage.
Luke has painted a picture of despair to touch the souls of the people who see and hear of it.
Like a PSA from Jesus' day, this story makes people stop and take notice.
What will become of us, they may ask? What if he is right and the temple is destroyed and all the people will be crushed?
What is so telling is that they couldn't do anything to stop what was to come.
It was already too late for them and that may be the message we need to focus on here.
When we get to the point where we have tears for our cities, we may be too far down the road to change things.
More to come...