Holy Week Monday

​Many of us know that the shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” But do you know that this is not the only time the Bible records Jesus weeping?

Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing that he would die within a few days, and he wept over the city and its inhabitants.

      As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes." (Luke 19:41–42)

The inhabitants of Jerusalem had had many opportunities to respond to what God was doing in Jesus during the course of his ministry. He clearly demonstrated that God was at work through him in a way no one had ever seen. His reputation spread throughout the countryside and within the city itself. Most chose to marvel, but few followed. 

When Jesus’ arrived in the city, he was heralded as Messiah from the kingly family of David. The crowds hoped he would begin to put things right politically and economically. Jesus knew that his arrival was not the beginning of a new era of political peace, but the inauguration of a new way to be reconciled to God. He came to win the hearts of Israel back to his Father. He wept because most wanted something far less than God was offering. 

Jesus wept over the inhabitants of Jerusalem because they missed what God was doing among them.

What is God doing among us? What would it take for us to see what he’s up to?

Lord, help us to see what the Israelites did not. Remove our blindness, whatever it might be. Amen.
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