1. Jesus weeps
In Luke’s version of the events of ‘Palm Sunday’, we have a narrative concerning how Jesus reacted emotionally when he actually drew near to Jerusalem. Jesus is coming down the path from the Mount of Olives approaching Jerusalem and then sees the city before him. How did Jesus react?? Jesus wept! Why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem?? He must have been gravely disappointed with what was happening there!
When Jesus previously “wept” at the death of Lazarus in John’s Gospel (11:35), we read that Jesus was “greatly disturbed in spirit” ... this is what led to his tears. So, a question for us would be ... are we ‘disturbed in our spirit’ to the extent of tears when we look at various occurrences in our local area?
These tears of Jesus were not tears of judgement, but rather tears of regret. And the words that follow are not a curse, but rather an expression of a dark reality based on the consequences of certain inaction. It was actually because of Jesus’ deep and abiding love for Jerusalem’s citizens, that he was so moved to tears.
We read that Jesus wept because there was a lack of recognition (or acceptance or understanding or appreciation) of the “things that make for peace” (v.42a). What does this mean? “Peace” is a need set deep within each human being. We don’t respond well to turmoil and long for “peace”. Human beings desire “peace” so much, that they often turn to various substances to try to gain what they can’t find naturally. The need to feel at “peace” is a human necessity.
We need “peace” with God that is gained through the spiritual void within us being filled by having a relationship with our loving Creator. We need “peace” within ourselves, so that we can sleep well at night free of guilt and shame, thus being able to pursue the purposes for which we were born. We need “peace” with others (including all of our neighbours) so that there might be some chance of harmonious dealings in our community and fairness and justice in society.
There is a way to experience “peace”, and this comes through Jesus (the ‘Prince of peace’) and through the forgiveness he brings to us. And here, on ‘Palm Sunday’, is Jesus, and there has been some positive response to him, yet as we know, there has also been other responses ranging from insincerity right through to outright opposition. This “peace” that Jerusalem needed that day was available in the Divine gift of Jesus, but this fact had basically been missed altogether.
2. Being deaf and blind
In most people’s minds, Jesus would have been alright if he had just overthrown the Romans and made life more bearable, but not if he expected individuals to actually change their ways – to make for a better Jerusalem. What a lot of the people were cheering for on ‘Palm Sunday’ was not what Jesus was actually going to deliver. They largely wanted a new parochial national leader, not the suffering servant of God that Jesus actually was.
They must’ve had Jeremiah’s century-old catch-cry to the exiles ... “seek the welfare of the city” in their memory banks, but obviously had turned a deaf ear to this. And to not be able or willing to see God in the life and ministry of Jesus was culpable ‘blindness’ – they should have been able to ‘see’! There are consequences when the “things that make for peace” are ignored. Jesus drew on Jerusalem’s previous misadventures and destruction six centuries earlier to predict a similar fate reoccurring. We know that the people of this city (including the religious leaders) remained unrepentant and therefore at risk, and Jerusalem was destroyed (including the temple) by the Romans some 41 years after Jesus spoke these words. In this case, the consequences of ongoing ‘deafness’ and ‘blindness’ were extreme.
As we read here, the solution, that should have been addressed, was to give attention to “the things that [actually] make for peace”. But we go on to read that these were “hidden” from their eyes (v.42b). How were things hidden from their eyes? How are things hidden from our eyes?? How could I miss something that was right in front of me???
Well I guess my eyes can be closed and blissfully oblivious of what’s ahead of me [like, some may say, when I drive]; or I can put a cover over my eyes so I don’t have to face something; or I can be looking in the wrong direction completely; or my vision can be blocked by something else that stands between me and what lies a bit beyond.
In the Pharisees case, it was the power and privilege that they had that they didn’t want to give up. In the case of the ‘Palm Sunday’ crowd, generally speaking, it was their fixation on political change and closed mind toward spiritual transformation. When Jesus didn’t provide precisely what they wanted, their cries changed from ‘Hosanna’ to ... ‘Crucify him’! Hmmm ... ‘Hosanna – Praise the Lord’ ... as long as this makes my life easier and more comfortable, otherwise ‘Crucify him’!!
In our case, we might think self-protection and reducing risk is a good idea, but it won’t necessarily bring the results we would hope for. It is also possible for us to fill our lives with so many other things that we miss ‘seeing’ the most important thing. Jesus was really looking for followers who would ‘take up their own cross’ and participate in bringing in a new type of ‘kingdom’.
3. Direct action
As we see in the incident that follows, the problems in Jerusalem were typified by what was happening in the temple. This was the place where people were supposed to be able to encounter and commune with God. The outer area of the temple was the only area where non-Jews were allowed to pray. But what was happening here? This outer area was taken up by ruthless business types ... selling animals for the required sacrifice at highly inflated prices, or cheating people in exchanging money from one currency to another.
Jesus responded to his own disturbed emotional state by taking direct action. Jesus could not abide this gross misuse of the temple. Even though it was likely that the traders and charlatans would return again by next week, Jesus would take strong prophetic action. He called upon the witness of Isaiah and Jeremiah and swept the temple clean – “My house shall be a house of prayer – but you have made it a den of robbers”.
The church of today indeed needs to be a house of prayer, and have all its internal and external functioning attuned and aligned with the purposes of God and the Holy Spirit’s leading. The church of today needs to function so that faith is developed, discipleship is central and mission is its lifeblood. Our community, largely without knowing it, is depending upon us to inject an appreciation of God through the streets of our neighbourhoods.
4. Lost opportunity
Returning to the scene of Jesus looking down upon Jerusalem, and weeping in compassion and regret, and maybe also in frustration ... Jesus was here lamenting lost opportunity (Morris). People were missing out on this whole “visitation from God”. What a tragedy! There was so much to appreciate – God had not forgotten them after all, far from it.
Even though Jesus doesn’t weep for himself, despite his torturous death being only a few days away, I reckon there might have been some tears shed at the prospect of his sacrifice being in vain!?! The reality of the consequences of unbelief weighed heavily on Jesus. There was so much misery ahead. Things could be so much better ... if only people realised “the things that make for peace”.
We would surely wonder that if Jesus came down from Mount Dandenong or from the top of the Westgate Bridge and approached the neighbourhoods of Melbourne, what his emotions might be. And then as Jesus approached the churches, the places of supposed restoration and transformation, what he would be thinking, and what critique he would bring.
It‘s like back in the 1990’s when Jeff Kennett famously referred to Crown Casino as representing “the true spirit of Victoria”. If that was ever true, we would certainly be showered in Jesus’ tears. It’s like whenever a church organisation tries to cover up its past abuses (rather than confessing its shortcomings) – surely tears would flow.
5. Responding as disciples
Jesus also weeps over those people who just can’t seem to help themselves and break their various addictions; like those who can’t stop gambling themselves and their families into ruin over and over again. While they remain largely responsible for their actions, where there is addiction, we are responsible for helping where we can. Some people may refer to legislation to restrict a person’s capacity to lose at gambling as being the ‘nanny state’, but it is clear from the Bible that we are our brother and sister’s keeper – especially where there is real vulnerability. And we all suffer together as Jerusalem or any other city crumbles under the weight of their citizens’ suffering.
Jesus looked at Jerusalem and wept. As I asked earlier, are we sufficiently drawn to tears at the state of our society and at the hopelessness evidenced in many of the lives of those around us? For the sake of the welfare of the place in which we live, there needs to be an emphasis on Godly, harmonious, just and generous living – all “the things that make for peace”. And this begins with those of us who have already seen the light! Otherwise civic life will crumble around us, and Jesus will weep once again.
Jesus lived and loved, taught great truths and healed broken people. Jesus fully revealed God, died for our sins and rose again. The sad thing is that people are still missing out on this “visitation from God”.
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