When he stood on the hill facing the city, muddied with his political and religious opponents, knowing that in some 40 years it would be destroyed, Jesus wept 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 were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Matthew 23: 37-39
This is how Jesus regarded those who would count themselves His enemies, politically and religiously. This is how He responded to those who would mock Him, beat Him, crucify Him. Yet. when I look at us, His followers, how many of us are itching for a fight? When a political opponent dies, how many of us say "the world's a better place," or worse, celebrate it? When someone we deem a a thug, or a rioter, or a police officer (depending on which side of the fence you stand on) dies, how many of us say "they got what was coming to them!" while dancing on graves not yet cold? Is this the attitude of the Jesus we claim to follow? Absolutely not!
Jesus wept over the destruction that was coming to Jerusalem. That isn't merely a cry, it is a cry from a broken heart. I remember serving at a funeral for a young woman who lost her fiancé and baby in the same day. her wails of pain, coming from a deep place within her which echoed throughout the graveyard made me think to myself "This is what a broken heart sounds like." Jesus did the same. He wept over Jerusalem: He wailed, and called out for her. He didn't call for its destruction, He didn't want it. He looked at the lost, and what they were coming to and He wept. Instead of gearing up for a fight, instead of itching for battle, instead of celebrating the destruction of those deemed our enemies, will you weep for the lost? And after you've wept, will you, like Jesus die for them?
Romans 9:1-5
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
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