Luke 19:41-44

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This evening’s passage is Luke 19:41-44:

⁴¹ And when [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴ and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you.”

A week earlier, Jesus had wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Now, as he rides down toward Jerusalem on a donkey, he stops at a point where he can see the city spread out before him, and weeps again. The crowd has been greeting him with loud acclaim, shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” (Lk. 19:38). Jesus weeps because their ideas of the way to peace are so different from his own.

The crowd is waving palms, greeting Jesus as a triumphant warrior. They expect him to overthrow the occupying power of Rome. Forty years or so after Jesus’s death, in 70 AD, the Jewish people will rise up in rebellion against Rome. The powerful Roman army will destroy Jerusalem and its temple, bringing the Jewish religion, as it was then practiced, to an end. Jesus sees this devastation coming (vv. 43-44) and he weeps.

Less than two months after Jesus sheds these tears, and after his death, resurrection, and ascension, he will pour out the Holy Spirit. Pentecost will begin the spread of the gospel, not just to Jews but to all nations. Soldiers in the Roman army will welcome the gospel (see Cornelius in Acts 10). Paul will personally take the gospel to Rome. His longest letter will be written to the church already established there. The Roman Empire will eventually become officially Christian.

The crowd on Palm Sunday worshiped Jesus because they thought he was the warrior who would bring peace through force of arms. They were wrong. For Jesus, “the things that make for peace” were the spread of the gospel.

It’s always tempting to worship Christ for what we want him to be, rather than for what he truly is. When he fails to live up to our expectations, we further tempted to feel frustrated: the Jewish crowd turned on Christ within less than a week. To worship Christ for who he truly is leads not to frustration but to peace. May we spend this Easter season getting to know better the Christ who died and rose for us and so enjoy the peace that comes from knowing him well.

Your brother in Christ,

Max