Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Title: "Pardon My Tears"

From the Old Testament of the Day: "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, "We are delivered!' â?" only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I Myself have seen it," declares the Lord.  [Jeremiah 7.8-11]

From the Holy Gospel: And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this your day, the things that make for peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes"  [Luke 19.42; ESV]

This 10th Sunday after Trinity brings to you the picture of your Lord Jesus on the day of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which we call "Palm Sunday" He begins this day  at Bethany on the Mount of Olives, and as He approaches Jerusalem from the hills to the East, He stops, looks upon the city, and He begins to weep over this, the holy city of God.

What a strange picture you see here. Jesus is surrounded by a host of followers and well-wishers and just fellow travelers from the North to Jerusalem for the Passover. Things are abuzz in the crowd, which will soon enter the holy city as they shout, "Hosanna to the Highest!

In the midst of this joy, this happiness, this activity, this bubbly worship, Jesus stops and cries. How out of place this is! Or is it? Today, you are invited to give attention to our Lord's approach to holy things and holy times, as through these texts He says to you, "Pardon My Tears"

I.

"Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that made for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes!" But, they think they know! They think they know right well what are the things that make for spiritual peace! The people of Jerusalem are those special ones, out of all the Jewish nation, who weekly, even daily, are involved in church! They see the glorious temple of God towering over their city, their homes, their work, their lives. These are indeed the "involved ones" of God. They celebrate what they believe to be their peace with God. They are God's folk, in God's town, active in God's church, and this is the way it should be. Or so they think!

"Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes" What are earth does Jesus have in mind when He says these things about these active church-goers? To understand this mind of Christ, we need to turn back to the Old Testament of the Day.

II.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks to God's people, in God's holy city, active in God's temple. And they, too, are abuzz in their church life. The temple is continually filled with activity. And they believe that this is just the way God wants things, this is just the way church people and church life should be.

Jeremiah knows that this is not so. This is not what God wants. And he says so. And through him, God says so. "Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words, "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord"

Yes, there is wrong doing here in this apparent happy and busy church life. God's warning continues: "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail" then the Lord God of Israel turns their thoughts back to the Ten Commandments, which still speak rightly to us today. "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, "We are delivered!" only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I Myself have seen it," declares the Lord.

You see, it is a matter of what you see! What they saw, in Jeremiah's day, as they considered their temple and their church life, was a happy place. In answer to God's question, "has this become a den of robbers in your eyes?" their answer would be an astonished, "Why no!" But God sees it differently "Behold, I Myself have seen it," declares the Lord. It is as God sees it.

And so God says them, "Go now to My place that was in Shiloh, where I made My name to dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called to you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by My name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out of My sight"
The point for this day from that Old Testament reading is this: God has an attitude about the attitude of His people, His church. If it turns to what is people-pleasing instead of God-pleasing, God is not pleased. And where God is not pleased, God brings destruction.

III.

This brings us back to the Holy Gospel, and to the picture of Jesus in tears. He looks over the same city to which Jeremiah spoke. He looks upon the now third temple built in Jerusalem. Herod's magnificent, Roman-looking, temple. He sees the same bustle of activity that Jeremiah saw. And He sees the same behaviors and the same hearts against which Jeremiah prophesied. His tears flow! "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!"

But they don't, and so He proceeds into the city, with the crowd shouting "Hosanna!" and He goes to the temple, and He throws out the merchants, and He brings Jeremiah's prophecy to its ultimate fulfillment with the words, "You have made it a den of robbers!" The same charge that brought down the first temple at the hands of the Babylonians, but more surely at the judgment of God!

Now, this same judgment is about to fall upon the people over whom He sheds tears and the temple that He forcibly cleanses. And that judgment does come. The temple of Herod is destroyed. And it has yet to be rebuilt, to this very day and hour!

Mind you, this judgment of God still comes, this against the celebration of religiousness instead of the humble reception of grace. Humble worship, grateful worship, â?" yes, solemn worship â?" is what God desires, because it puts the worshipers' attention on God's mercy, God's patience with sinners, and God's forgiveness.

Where that attitude is absent, God would sooner see empty pews! Listen to this section of Jeremiah, just prior to the reading of the day: "This says, the Lord: Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they say, "We will not walk in it.' I set watchmen over you, saying, "Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!' But they say, "We will pay attention!' Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to My words; and as for My law, they have rejected it".

At the blessed time of the salvation of the world, the week we call "Holy," Jesus speaks the same thing to the supposed members of God's church. He is there for the ultimate action of God on behalf of sinful mankind â?" the ultimate Love, the ultimate Mercy, the ultimate Forgiveness. And those for whom it is first intended, God's Old Testament Church, will not benefit from it, except for what is called the remnant.

What made the remnant the remnant? They asked for the ancient paths, where the good way is; the true good way, God's good way of walking humbly with Him - and they walked in it, despite the fact that most of the Old Testament Church scoffed at them.

Now, in our day, things have not changed. They have not changed because people have not changed. Sin still clings to the center of every human mind, will, and emotion. This spiritual disease is our greatest threat and dealing with it our greatest need. Over this threat, Jesus sheds tears! Even today.

This is startling news! For are we not taught by every voice that speaks of church, both from church goers and from church non-goers, that church is for happiness, and that the going occurs if and only if the happiness occurs, as judged by the eyes of the individual? But then comes Jesus, into our midst, and He interrupts our happiness with tears, His tears!

"Let me show you My church," He says, with streaky cheeks and moist eyes. "Church is where you come because of your sins! Yes, they are a big deal to Me, for you?" not just once, but continually! My church is the ancient path, where the good way is; where you come to walk in that path and find rest for your souls"

You see, Jesus sheds tears over that which is in me, over which, in sinfulness, I do not shed tears. Jesus sheds tears over that which is in you, over which, in sinfulness, you do not shed tears. And His tears mark the true distinction between unbelief and faith. His tears mark the true distinction between false Christianity and true Christianity. His tears mark the real distinction between false church life and true church life. His tears mark the distinction between modern ways â?" that lead everywhere and no where â?" and the ancient paths that lead to rest for your souls. Jesus is here today; He interrupts the normal church ways to say: "Pardon my tears!"