“This City Makes God Cry” Luke 19:41
We come today in our Lenten Journey to the point where Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem triumphantly. His ministry and life has been prophecy fulfilled. Jesus ascends the Mount of Olives, a mountain range on the eastern boundary of Jerusalem. Jerusalem sits at the base of the Mount and from the crest of the Mount you can see one of the most beautiful break taking views in the world – the City of Jerusalem and the surrounding hills and valley.
Jewish tradition would say that the Messiah would descend upon the Mount of Olives and proceed from there to Jerusalem.
The City of Jerusalem had taken on a festive air. The City was heavy with expectancy. You could feel it in the air – the anxious waiting of the Messiah – the deliverance of God.
The Prophet Isaiah had said a king would reign in righteousness. The lyrics of Isaiah were a part of their history. The foreboding of Jeremiah was a part of their heritage. The condemnation of Amos was in their national memory. Such was the hope of the Holy City.
Jerusalem was the natural place for God to come and offer his love. The Hebrews had heard his thunder at Mount Sinai. One of their ancestors had wrestled with God. It was the City of David. It was the place of rest for the Ark of the Covenant. The Temple was built there.
Upon the Mount, Jesus directs his disciples to borrow a colt for him to ride into the City. They obtain a colt and tell the owner the Lord has need of it.
It’s interesting to note that Matthew and Mark in the retelling of this story miss an aspect that Luke records. Both Matthew and Mark have Jesus descending the Mount and going into the City. But Luke sees Jesus pause for a moment after the crowds have finished shouting, after the applause dies down, after the moment of euphoric exhilaration is gone. And, we witness Jesus, the Son of God, beholding the city and weeping over it.
What does he see? What going on? What’s happening that This City makes God Cry!
Jesus looks over the City. He sees the buildings on Mt. Zion, the bronze doors of the temple, and the shining dome blazing in the morning sun. He sees the place of Herod. He sees the Damascus road in the distance – the place where Paul will meet Jesus for himself. He sees the pool of Siloam in the valley – the healing pool. He sees the people in the marketplace and realizes they are selling in the temple. He sees the City of Jerusalem, but he sees more.
Jesus sees a city that abuses its poor. They are exploited by unfair weights and measures. In a City of plenty they are left to beg for crumbs from the table. In a City with growing housing development they are abandoned to live on the streets and alleyways. Jesus sees a city that neglects its children. Children at the point of their greatest need are neglected, miseducated, their potential stifled by practices and policies that place more value on things than on people. Jesus sees a city that abuses women. They are used for pleasure and exploitation by men as temple prostitutes. They are relegated to thankless and meaningless jobs. Not only are women physically abused, they are mentally abused. Jesus sees a city where the resources that God has provided equally to everyone are hoarded by the few to the detriment of the many.
This is a City that makes God cry!
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Jesus sees the people.
People who call his name, but are not loyal to him.
People going through the motions of religion, but lacking the power of God.
People who sing the songs of Zion, but lack a commitment of spirit.
People who are mere performers, but not really participants.
People who talk ethical behavior, but don’t practice the presence of God.
People who know the law, but don’t obey the spirit of the soul.
People who are materialist, but not spiritualist.
Jesus beholds the City, but he sees more.
Downtown development, but uptown despair.
Stadiums aplenty, but schools alacking.
Inner Harbor mariners, but outer harbor nightmares.
Property safety zones, but people danger zones.
Young men drifting, young women lost.
Political promises with corruption in high places.
Religious leaders, but no religious leadership.
Jesus draws near the City, stops and he weeps.
He weeps because as he draws near we don’t feel the thrill of his presence.
He weeps because as he draws near he sees our pious words but knows we reject him in our hearts.
He weeps because he knows we live by our wits, and not by faith.
He weeps because he knows we are motivated by our dislikes and not by love.
He weeps because we are anxious and fretful, instead of confident in his love.
He weeps because of our sinfulness.
He weeps, but yet he rides on!
“If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and then turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Thank God he didn’t stop and turn around.
“Surely he hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him’ and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone unto his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Thank God he rides into the City.
That’s where ministry is – to the least the last and the lost. Where need is greatest is where you find Jesus.
Thank God he rides into the City.
Jesus visits the people who are homeless.
Jesus comforts the people who are hopeless.
Jesus encourages the people who are hapless.
Thank God he rides into the City.
That’s the kind of God we serve. One who will go into the city for you and me because it’s through the City that leads to the Cross.
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Ride on King Jesus! Ride on King Jesus!
“Until every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Yes this City makes God Cry, but Jesus goes through the City to get to the Cross for you and for me.
What makes a city great and strong?
Not architecture’s grateful strength,
Not factories extended length,
But men who see the civic wrong,
And give their lives to make it right,
And turn its darkness into light.
What makes a city men can love?
Not things that charm the outward sense,
Not gross displays of opulence.
But right that wrong cannot remove,
And truth, that faces civic fraud,
And smites it, in the name of God.
This is a city that shall stand,
A light upon a nation’s hill
A voice that evil cannot still,
A source of blessing to the land;
Its strength not brick, nor stone, nor wood,
But justice, Love and brotherhood.
God goes to the City that makes Him cry because of you and I.
