Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

          And when He approached, he way the city and wept over it saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.”

           Our Gospel reading here comes right on the heals of the account of the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. The gathered crowds were laying palm branches down as they sent their hosannas upward, exclaiming: Blessed is the King Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Despite the exuberance, some of the Pharisees present are angered and command Jesus to rebuke his followers for such enthusiasm. Jesus replies that if they were silent the praises would be sung out by stones. And as Jesus moves further into the city, he weeps . . . for a second time, he weeps concerning it stubborn unbelief according to Luke’s account. Back in chapter 13, when Jesus had set his face to Jerusalem, he told his disciples that he must die, but that it was not fitting for a prophet to die outside of Jerusalem. And then he wept saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I often wanted to gather your children together . . . and you would not have it. First in chapter 13 and now in our Gospel today, you can behold the tears of your gracious God, tears of the One who comes to Jerusalem to accomplish the things that make for peace with God.

           And in both chapters the tears of Jesus are followed by strong words of judgment over Jerusalem. In Chapter 13, Jesus informed his followers that the city will be assaulted and left desolate. Here He proclaims the same thing but adds greater details. The city will come under siege, her people will be killed, her walls torn down . . . with no stone left on top of the another. Why? Because the city could not see or embrace the things of God that made for peace. He then enters the temple and throws out the money changers, condemning the use of the holy temple for profit taking from the people who must offer appropriate sacrifices according to the Law. There are a couple of important questions here. The first one is how are we to understand the combination of Jesus’ tears of regret with words of such strong judgment. The second is closely connected. How should we understand receiving the peace of God in Christ over against what it means to fall under God’s judgment? And then of course, you are invited to reflect on your lot . . . what is it for you? Are you living with His peace or his tears - His reconciliation or his judgment?

           A popular voice today would explain that having God’s peace or His judgment comes down to how you respond to offers of peace through Christ that God offers all sinful human beings. It a choice you have to make: you can have peace with God through Christ, or you can choose to refuse His offer and take your chances with Judgment. The unbelieving Pharisees and the majority of the people in Jerusalem later during Holy Week are representative of a great percentage of sinners in the world who have decided to refuse God’s offer of gracious peach with Him through Christ. These could commit to Jesus but have decided not to. Jesus is seen as One who is weeping over their choices and commitments as if to say to His Father: Father, I have been begging these ancient people of yours to accept me, but they have made other commitments for their own spiritual well-being. If only they would change their minds . . . my hands are tied here. This picture explains a tearful Jesus as a spiritual beggar who is looking for some faith handouts from His countrymen but there are few to give him any.

           But is does this rightly explain the tears and judgment of Jesus here? Has Jesus come to save those who will make the right choices and faith commitments to an offer of salvation and lament those who will not faith commit to him as personal Lord and Savior?  Most do see it that way these days . . . especially in Protestant quarters and, unfortunately, in way too many Lutheran ones also. But the idea that these are tears of a faith/commitment begging Jesus will never do. Jesus told the people, no one comes to the Son, but that the Father draw them. And the apostle Paul taught in I Cor. 12 that none can confess Jesus as Lord accept by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then in Romans 10 he explains that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. We are indeed saved by commitments, but they are God’s commitments to us, not our to him. His commitment to you has made you his child in your baptism, forgiven you all your sins, and brought you eternal salvation. His will, His work here . . . not yours. Jesus is not crying about some lack of human commitments here as He weeps over Jerusalem.

           No, we may not explain the tears of Jesus by some supposed appeal to human commitments that trump the power of God, and moreover, we may not explain the destruction of the wicked by an appeal to a God who really did not wt to save them in the first place. In the tears of Jesus we must see the heart of our gracious God who wishes to save sinners who can do nothing to save themselves. When we look at Jerusalem and those who reveal themselves as enemies of God and His gracious will, must we not see ourselves? Notice how Paul has describe each of us: While we were enemies, Christ died for us . . . he did not say while we were just uncommitted.    No, we were committed all right . . . committed to lives of rebellion and alienation from a problem of sin no different from those of old who killed the prophets in Jerusalem . . . and were about to do the same to Jesus. The love of Jesus is a love for them and a love for us, a love that committed Him to go to the cross for every sinner in Jerusalem, every sinner in Colorado Springs, every sinner here at Shepherd . . . yes, He goes to the cross even for you.

           But then what of those who are lost. Is Jesus shedding tears for them? Yes He is! But we must be clear about them. He sheds tears about those who dies for that they might be saved. However, He sheds tears about the fact that they will have none of it and they will have none of Him. It is not that they have refused to commit to Him, it is that they have rejected His commitment and saving work for them. We can explain how you have been saved by Jesus in your baptism, and we can explain how those are headed for destruction in their rejection of the grace of Christ . . . but we cannot explain why.

           What is important for you, is to see in the tears of Jesus the desire and will of God to save you from your sins. And about that you must see that there is nothing about you that can be counted as a reason why you have been saved over against those of Jerusalem who have come under judgment. Everything about their sinful condition is also yours in spades. You made no commitments nor did you have any virtues that made you privileged in the sight of God. While you were an enemy of God, He died for you. While you were in rebellion against Him, He baptized you, gave you a new heart, and made you a righteous citizen of his Kingdom. And about that He has shed tears of joy, not those of regret. Our text reveals the tears of Jesus who out of love desires to save sinners like you . . . but it is his cross and your baptism that reveal his tears of joy in doing just that. And this morning you are privileged to see them also in His words of absolution and in His body and blood, given and shed for you. Come now, and let his tears of joy be yours . . . He has gathered you unto Himself and He is not going to let go. . . .not ever!

          In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, A-men.