Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Sermon for Trinity 10, August 25, 2019

Grace to you, and peace.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  Amen.

Luke 19:41–48  ⁴¹As he came near, he saw the city and wept over it.  ⁴²He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day the things that would bring peace to you.  But now, it is hidden from your eyes.  ⁴³In fact, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.  ⁴⁴Within your walls, they will dash you and your children to the ground.  And within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to help you.”  ⁴⁵Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there.  ⁴⁶He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”  ⁴⁷Every day he was teaching in the temple courts, but the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the leaders of the people continued to look for a way to put him to death.  ⁴⁸They could not find any way to do it, because all the people were clinging to him and listening.

Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Dear fellow travelers in a world of hatred and violence,

            About thirty-four hundred years ago, the Children of Israel were massed just outside the Promised Land, poised to enter the inheritance long promised to their forefathers.  The man who led them to that point, however, would not be allowed to enter.  For his transgressions, Moses would die. Still, God took him up a high mountain and allowed Moses to see the Promised Land from a distance. 

I sometimes wonder, how much was Moses allowed to see?  Could he see just the rich land that would be his relatives’ new home?  Or, was he allowed to look into the future and see the great victories God planned to give His chosen people?  Did Moses shed tears of joy upon seeing the land of prosperity and peace his people would enjoy?  Or, did Moses suffer the heartbreak of seeing the weakness of faith among future Israelites and the consequences of their unfaithfulness? 

Moses died on top of that mountain without having entered the Promised Land.  Then, taking Moses’ soul to heaven, God buried his body, so no one will ever be able to know just what Moses saw, and no one can build a shrine at his tomb.

About fourteen hundred and fifty years after Moses led Israel to the edge of their inheritance, Jesus led a vast crowd of followers to the edge of Jerusalem, a city whose name means, “Foundation of peace.”  But, as Jesus came to the top of the hills overlooking the city, He was moved to great sadness because He could see the future of those people He was gladly giving His life to save.  Considering what Jesus saw, we see that Jesus weeps for those who refuse to see.

Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.  The city is personified to represent the people within.  Jerusalem was the center of Israel’s worship and governing authorities.  There stood the temple with all it’s glory.  In that city, especially, the people should have known the holy scriptures that foretold the coming of God’s Son.  Yet, it was primarily the leaders and teachers, charged with proclaiming God’s Word, who refused to recognize Jesus for who He truly is. 

The book of Deuteronomy ends with this solemn praise for Moses, “No other prophet ever displayed all the mighty power, and the great, awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” (Deuteronomy 34:12)  Yet, here in their presence was the One who had empowered Moses, who in a pillar of fire and cloud had been the real Leader of Israel through the sea and the wilderness.  Here was the Son of God incarnate in human flesh, teaching, healing, providing food from heaven, and raising the dead.  In their presence was The One who gave Moses eternal life.  Yet, the teachers of Israel blinded their own eyes to Jesus’ greatness.  In their self-inflicted blindness, they rejected the humble Christ and sought for a way to destroy Him as an enemy.

Earlier, outside the tomb of His friend, Lazarus, Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" (John 11:35-36)  Here, outside of Jerusalem, we see how Jesus loved even those who hated Him.  Jesus wept not because He was afraid to suffer and die for sinners.  Rather, Jesus wept because He hated to see how those who didn’t believe would suffer because they rejected His perfect offering and sacrifice for their souls.  He wept because He loved them enough to die for them, and for all, and it grieved Jesus that some would refuse to see the salvation He brings.

In our times, too, there are many who refuse to see Jesus as the true Son of God come down to earth inhabiting human flesh.  There are many who refuse to see their need for a Savior.  There are even many who, again, would gladly try to destroy Jesus by getting rid of His book, the Bible. 

All those who refuse to see Jesus and His mission of mercy should take heed of Jesus’ next words.  He said, “If you, yes you, had only known on this day the things that would bring peace to you.  But now, it is hidden from your eyes.  In fact, the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.  Within your walls, they will dash you and your children to the ground.  And within your walls, they will not leave one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time when God came to help you.” 

The Son of God came into this world to do everything necessary to give the whole human race peace with God.  The people living in Jerusalem were God’s chosen people.  They had Moses’ law.  They had the prophets and the writings.  All of those scriptures pointed to Jesus, and only Jesus fulfilled every prophecy concerning the Savior God promised to send.  The people who rejected Him, did so only because of the hardness of their own sinful hearts and their refusal to believe they needed help.  They refused to believe the evidence right in front of their eyes.  The truth was hidden from their eyes by their own foolish arrogance.

Therefore, Jesus prophesied a bitter end to that great city.  His prophecy came true within forty years when the Roman armies surrounded the city and built up a barricade so no one could go in or out.  The people gradually began to starve, even to the point of turning against each other, and it is reported that some even resorted to eating their own children.  At the end, Rome showed no mercy.  That great city was torn down like few others in history.  Every portion was demolished just as Jesus had foretold, and the majority of the people were slaughtered with cruel efficiency.  The few remaining were carted off to cruel slavery as conquered symbols of Rome’s earthly dominance.  But, just as Moses was a foreshadowing of Jesus leading people to the Holy Land, so Jerusalem’s destruction foreshadows the demise of those of every place and time who reject the Lord of salvation.

What Jesus saw in Jerusalem was teachers who believed in their own righteousness, and supposedly righteous individuals who were far more concerned about earthly riches than faithfully sharing God’s message of salvation, which we see when Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there.  He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!” 

The elite, of the city that Jesus wept over, showed no sign of faithfulness to the Lord of salvation.  In fact, Jerusalem’s rulers and priests plotted in the shadows to kill this miracle worker they thought endangered their status and power.  We might compare them to pastors, today, who preach a so-called prosperity gospel—teaching that people can motivate God’s grace by their self-promoting efforts and pleadings, or to politicians who seek authority to rule based on self-promoting, godless morality and government largess, or yet again, to those who declare themselves above God’s authority all together.

But, we needn’t spend our time pointing to the faults of others.  Rather, we should examine ourselves to see how often we fail to honor the Lord of life.  How often do we willingly break the commandments God gave through Moses on tablets of stone?  How often do we give more attention to our own supposed good efforts than to the shame of our disobedience?  How often do we allow our day to day lives to take precedence over listening eagerly to Jesus’ teaching?

No, there is no one who can boast of his own righteousness before the Lord of glory.  We each have failures enough to keep us out of the Promised Land of heaven.  But then, let us sit with those who eagerly clung to Jesus even as the leaders of Jerusalem assailed Him.  While those wicked men sought to kill Jesus in secret, “They could not find any way to do it, because all the people were clinging to him and listening.”  The humble masses clung to Jesus knowing that they couldn’t enter God’s heaven on their own.  They understood that Jesus is the source of life and hope. 

And, this is our hope and confidence—that Jesus is the Friend of sinners.  He came into this world in humble means because God didn’t win our reconciliation by defeating the powers of earth in a physical war.  He won the battle for our eternal, spiritual lives by taking on the forces of evil on their own turf.  Jesus came into this world taking on human flesh to live among us in poverty and meekness, so that what the devil had corrupted and ruined in the fall might be made holy once again.  In Jesus, holiness before God is reestablished.  In Jesus, we have peace with our Creator and Lord.

With His perfect obedience to all law and to all His Father’s will, Jesus gave an offering of perfect righteousness to His Father in our place.  On an altar of a wooden cross, the Lamb of God gave His life in exchange for ours—His holiness credited to us—our sins put on Jesus.  His life laid down in death as full payment for the sins of all mankind so that when the time is right our lives can be lifted up to the Father in heaven.

Dear friends, Jesus wept for you that day.  He wept for those times we can’t see straight.  He wept for the cruel pain inflicted on us by enemies who would lead us astray.  Jesus wept because He loved you in spite of your sin, loved you enough to suffer and die in your place.  Then, Jesus went resolutely forward on the path to His death so that His teachings and sacrifice could give you life. 

The Jews who hated Jesus at that time couldn’t see the full picture of God’s salvation plan.  They knew the law and the prophecies, but they had a hard time seeing them fulfilled in Jesus.  You and I, however, have no excuse.  We heard God the Father’s approval of all that Jesus lived.  We know that Jesus died but didn’t stay dead.  We are blessed with the eyewitness accounts of those who saw Jesus risen victorious from the grave, men who received the outpouring of His Spirit and wrote down all that Jesus did so that you and I can live, and we know that together with His Father, Jesus sent His Spirit to us in Word and Sacrament to give us hope and a future. 

It is the Spirit of Almighty God who gave you faith in Jesus.  Through the Spirit’s work in Baptism and the proclamation of the Gospel, you were rescued from the delusion of self-righteousness and the curse of sin.  In that holy washing, you were washed clean and set free from the power of Satan and the death of his hell.  Connected to Christ Jesus by faith, we too now live victorious over sin, Satan, and the grave.  God grant that none of us ever again turn against the Lord of Life, and may He also empower us to continue telling the Good News of the living Savior who wept for those who hated Him while refusing His mercy.  All glory to His holy name.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.