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.
Jesus sees their catastrophic future! In a few short years a Roman army will surround this city and the suffering will be monumental!
Here we see into the heart of the Teacher. His love and tender compassion for people! He would rescue them...
But religion opposes Him!
Now we understand why Jesus spoke such blistering words of condemnation to the religious leaders. They didn’t love the people. They only sought to control them for their own advantages.
Their false-hearted religion could offer nothing but a false hope. So now Jesus speaks the most scathing indictment yet – How will you escape being condemned to hell?
But Jesus looks out on a city of more than a million souls and feels the futility of their situation. They’re misled and His heart goes out to them - even as they say no to Him!
In a few days, these people will join their leaders’ call for His death!
And yet even then, He will be dying for them!
It’s just as He said. He longs to gather them together under His sheltering wing. Lead them to God!
Here is heart and purpose of the Teacher we will follow! He would rescue!
The Teacher knows what they were doing - leading men astray, acting more righteous than they were, saying they wouldn't have killed the prophets before hand (yet knowing what they would do next.)
ReplyDeleteIt brings new thoughts about "Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
Something Jesus taught, and something he modeled.
When you think of what would happen, when you think of how they would treat Jesus, when you consider that although he was God, he was also man, and consider how men usually act when someone unjustly mistreats them... this is pretty amazing! What an incredible Teacher we have!