Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem—Luke 13:31-35

(Image courtesy of http://www.prophecyupdate.com/)

Please read today’s passage here: Luke 13:31-35

It is always interesting to try to fathom the reasons of the gospel writers for placing the various events and sayings of Jesus in a particular sequence. The fact that they frequently differ from each other tips us off that they are not following a strictly chronological order, but are rather influenced by the flow of thought. Yet each writer sees connections where the others do not.

This is no weakness in the gospel writings. On the contrary, it enriches them. For we can see Jesus and his teachings from four points of view: united in the essentials, but rich in variety in areas where the exact interpretation is not a fixed one, but admits of alternative and equally helpful points of view.

Why does Luke follow the parable about the narrow gate with this account of Jesus lamenting the fate of Jerusalem? The narrow gate was about the exclusive way to God through his Son and Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. It proclaimed the only way to eternal life through an entrance that many would find difficult and unpersuasive, and only a few comparatively speaking would enter and find Life. This is one of the mysteries of God’s plan. He does not decree anyone’s damnation or exclusion from Life: it is offered freely to all people. But given the nature of human beings, God knows in advance that most who have heard it will not accept the offer. And so, the parable warns Jesus’ hearers not to casually reject him and his message, for there is no “Plan B” available. It is this or nothing, so far as God is concerned.

But how do you think God feels, when his creatures reject him and his Son? Do you think he delights in punishing? No, the Scripture says again and again, in both Old Testament and New, that God wants people to heed his warnings and accept his offers of forgiveness and life. But as a just God and Creator he will not overrule the free will that he has given his human creatures. They must freely choose him. He will not force them.

And so, perhaps one of the reasons Luke follows that parable of the narrow gate with this narrative was to show how Jesus—who reflects God’s own mind and heart more than any human does—reacted to the foresight that most people, and especially most of his own people, the Jews, would refuse God’s offer given by him and bring upon themselves a terrible judgment. Did he laugh? No. He wept. He bared his soul with heartrending words.

But wait. Let’s backtrack for just a minute to see how Luke introduces this lament of Jesus over Jerusalem. The scene is Galilee, for the threat Jesus is warned of—arrest and possible execution by Herod Antipas—would only apply in the north, within the boundaries of Herod Antipas’ kingdom. A warning is brought to Jesus by some Pharisees. Not all Pharisees were critics of Jesus. From John’s gospel we learn that both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were well-to-do Pharisees, who believed in Jesus. Perhaps these who warned Jesus were also true friends. Perhaps not: maybe they thought it would be fun to see him scared and running to escape Herod. We cannot be sure.

Jesus replied (v. 32) that they should go tell Herod, whom he called “that fox”, that he was not afraid of him. Instead, he had a schedule for his ministry that he would keep without any distraction from Herod’s own possible intentions: two more “days” (if those are literal 24-hour days) of teaching and healing, then finishing on the third day and leaving the territory. Utter composure and courageous faith in God’s protection.

But that is not all. Verse 33 is usually marked in modern translation as part of the quoted speech the Pharisees are instructed to tell Herod. But the Greek language, which is what the New Testament is written in, does not have any formal mark like a quotation mark. Only context can indicate when a quote stops. It is possible that v. 33 was spoken only to the Pharisees and the others standing by. Either way, it gives another reason for the schedule and for the lack of fearing Herod. The word “nevertheless” shows that despite being unafraid of Herod, there is a reason why Jesus needed to move on southward toward his final goal of Jerusalem: that no true prophet of God could avoid martyrdom in Jerusalem!

Obviously, when one considers the many Old Testament prophets who did not suffer martyrdom as well as ones who suffered it in the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), there is sarcasm (and therefore overstatement) in Jesus’ words. But it shows again his foreknowledge of his own fate, to be tried and executed in the spiritual center of the Jewish people.

This thought, then, is what leads to the moving scene of Jesus’ lament (v. 34-35).

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’’”

The traditional site where Jesus stood and wept over Jerusalem is now occupied by the church called Dominus flevit, which in Latin means "Jesus wept". It is a lovely location on the Mount of Olives east of the site of the Jerusalem Temple (see photos here), although no one really knows precisely where Jesus stood when this event occurred.

Although Jesus clearly has in view his own coming death in the literal city of Jerusalem, in this lament the word “Jerusalem” really intends not just a physical city, but a people—God’s chosen people—who throughout their history prior to the arrival of Jesus had shown BOTH the heights of courage, faith and obedience, AND the depths of obstinacy, unbelief and rebellion against God’s laws. In other words, they were like you and me.

But the tragedy was that as God’s chosen people, endowed with his special revelation and truth and privileged to witness his many miracles in their history, they didn’t have to settle for being just like you and me.

Israel in ancient times was not worse than the surrounding nations, but all too often she was not better, not the bright and shining light of God’s presence and mediator of his love and righteousness that God had planned. At times when their messages from God did not please them or fit with their plans, they abused the prophets of God, rejecting their messages, and even killed some of them.

And now, at the climax of their history, when God was sending to them their promised Messiah and Savior, they were heading toward an awful moment of decision, a huge crisis, when they would emphatically reject God’s Messiah. At the very thought of that, Jesus cried out in lament.

With the words “how often I have longed to gather your children together” Jesus’ claims that long before his physical birth, as God he had often longed to gather all Israel to himself in a protective, loving embrace—like a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. But each loving gesture was snubbed. Now, her house (perhaps primarily referring to the Temple which God will leave after the rejection of his Messiah) will become desolate.

Today the site of the ancient temple built by Solomon and rebuilt by Herod the Great has no temple of God on it, but a mosque. No Jew or Christian may worship on that site. It has been left desolate. But even more tragic, the Jewish people themselves were left with a religion without a sacrifice for sins. The final sacrifice for sin was made in Jerusalem on a Roman cross: the sacrifice of the Messiah himself. And for as long as that sacrifice is not claimed and believed in, the "house" — meaning God's ancient people themselves remain just like the rest of the Gentile unbelieving world, "desolate"—empty of God's presence with all the peace and joy that that presence brings.

But then Jesus made a final offer: “you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’”. When will Israel see Jesus again after not seeing her for a long time? When will they say to him “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”? They will say this, when they come to the full realization of who Jesus was and is.

As individuals they will say it, when the light dawns and individuals change their minds about him and receive him. Some examples of this are recorded in Luke’s next book, the Acts of the Apostles. There we read of Jews both in Judea and Samaria and Syria to the north, and Asia Minor, and in Rome, who hear the message of the disciples of Jesus and believe.

But if a corporate (or national) repentance and acceptance is in view, which I personally hold to be likely, it anticipates a massive turning to Jesus by Jewish people near the end of God’s timetable for history. In other words, this is something future for you and me. I see this as a fulfillment of such Old Testament prophecies as Zechariah 12:10, and I see the great Suffering Servant poem of Isaiah 53 as the libretto, the very words that many will use in their contrition at that time.

The Hebrew phrase that lies at the base of v. 35 is found in Psalm 118:26. An abbreviated form of it, “Blessed is he who comes/arrives” is used as a standard Hebrew greeting to guests entering a Jewish home: בָּר֣וּךְ הַ֭בָּא barukh ha-bah! It should be our prayer that many who are descended from God’s chosen people will be able to say these words to Jesus: “Welcome, Savior! Welcome to my life!” But, of course, not just these people, but you and I and all our friends and family.