Sermon: What Jesus’ Grief over Jerusalem Reveals
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Introduction: In Matthew 23, Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy. He tells his followers that, while they are obliged to follow the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees by virtue of their authority from Moses, the scribes and Pharisees themselves do not provide good examples. The people should follow what they say but not what they do, because the scribes and Pharisees do not practice their word.
So far as the gospel of Matthew is concerned, these are the last words Jesus will speak to Jerusalem in a public setting. He has more yet to teach, and the next two chapters will contain extensive records of those words. This, however, is the point where Jesus' public ministry ends (Matthew 23:39).
Prior to this, Jesus has been condemning Israel's failed religious leadership who were given the best privileges but did not profit by them. The words of Matthew 23 are strong, cutting, and direct. Jesus is speaking to the disciples, the scribes, the pharisees and the religious leaders. You can hear the bitter, mournful attitude of Christ. Looking ahead to the disaster that will come on the city, Jesus speaks with a tender and longing tone. God’s desire was to gather them, protect them and cover them. God had faithfully sent messengers to enlighten, warn and alert them for their good, but they choose to kill the messengers. Like many today, the religious leaders were angered by God’s message and choose to “kill the messenger”. There seems to be an inherent need to blame others for bad or unpredictable situations. People also can't help but try to ascribe bad motives to such messengers or see them as incompetent, even if that makes little logical sense. When you read Matthew 23, you find list several indictments against the religious leaders and seven deadly woes. Despite being the chief city of God's chosen people, Jerusalem has earned a sad legacy over the generations,
Acts 7:51-53 “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers; 53 ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.”
This city of David has become known as the city that kills prophets and stones the messengers God sends to her. That legacy will be emphasized eternally within the week as Jesus Himself will be condemned and killed in Jerusalem. Our Lord concludes this chapter with a pathetical lamentation over Jerusalem. Jesus reiterates his disappointment with the words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Jesus feels a sense of loss. Loss is an inevitable part of life, and grief is a natural part of the healing process. The reasons for grief are many, such as the loss of a loved one, the loss of health, or the letting go of a long-held dream. Dealing with a significant loss can be one of the most difficult times in a person's life. Jesus sees God’s dream for Jerusalem slipping away. Like a faithful parent weeping over a wayward child who betrayed their trust and destroyed their future. These few word shews the passionate affection of Christ towards them, and His sincere desire for their salvation.
This kind of grief is not new to us. We can hear it almost every time listen to the news report of another shooting. We hear as mothers and fathers address the media weeping over their children. Proverbs 29:1, 2 “A man who hardens his neck when reproved shall be suddenly broken, and there will be no healing. 2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.”
Notice that a person who is often rebuked or warned and hardens his neck will be destroyed. As in many places in the Bible, the hard neck is used as a figure of speech to speak of the stubborn attitude that resists and disobeys God. This proverb speaks about the man who is often rebuked but doesn't listen to the rebuke; instead, he hardens his neck. Righteous obedience and faithful warnings are a blessing, wickedness always leads to mourning.
No nation had been blessed like Israel; no city was more favored than Jerusalem, yet she harden her neck, resist God and kill his messengers. Jesus had come fulfilling the Scriptures, preaching good news saying, Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Yet the religious leaders were plotting to kill him.
Our key verse shows the compassion of our Lord. Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
1. Reveals the great kindness and compassion of God in Christ. Some may accuse our God for being hard and judgmental yet this text shows God’s compassion and kindness to the Jews in general, and Jerusalem in particular. It is set forth by a lively metaphor and similitude; that of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings. As the hen doth tenderly cherish, and carefully hide and cover her young from the eye of the destroyer; so would Christ have shrouded and sheltered his people from all those enemies seeking to devour them. As the hen continually calls her young-ones from morning to night, and holds out her wings for shelter to them all the day long; so did Christ wait for his people's repentance and conversion. The hen’s clucking is not to annoy the chick but alert to her presence. God delayed the destruction of Jerusalem for more than forty years after they had killed his prophets, and murdered Christ, before they met with a final overthrow. God is kinder and more compassionate than we deserve!
2. Reveals the amazing stubbornness and willfulness in people. How could many resist the love of Christ, reject his grace and favor, and ignore his kindness and his willingness to condescend to meet us where we are. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I would have gathered you, but ye would not.” Even though the hen clucked constantly, her chicks ignored her and would not respond or come to safety. The door of grace was closing for the holy city. Jerusalem was destined to fall. Proverbs 29:1, 2 “A man who hardens his neck when reproved shall be suddenly broken, and there will be no healing. 2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.” Like Jerusalem of old, many ignore God’s call and refuse to come to safety.
Isa 55:6-7 “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In this Jesus’ last public discourse we first, the great kindness and compassion of Christ. Then we see the amazing stubbornness and willfulness of the people. Finally, we observe,
3. Reveals the fatal Penalty of stubbornness and rebellion. Matthew 23:38 “And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Behold your house is left unto you desolate. Is left, that’s final, certain and sudden. The present tense denotes both the certainty and nearness of this people's ruin. Sin and rebellion have consequences. Jerusalem was destroyed by her own actions. We should all learn that the ruin and destruction of sinners is entirely chargeable upon themselves; that is, on their own willful rebellion and stubbornness. Everyday Jesus is calling and would gladly gathered them, but they will not.
How appalling and inexcusable it is for any to perish. The door of the Gospel is open and safety is available, yet choose to perish. God desires their salvation and makes provision for them. God's desire of a people's repentance and longs for a people's salvation: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee? Christ did very seriously desire the conversion of the Jews, who continued still in their impenitency and unbelief. And consequently, they whom he so seriously desired to convert, might have been converted, but they would not be so: I would have gathered you, but ye would not.
So far as the gospel of Matthew is concerned, these are the last words Jesus will speak to Jerusalem in a public setting. He has more yet to teach, and the two chapters will contain extensive records of those words. This, however, is the point where Jesus' public ministry ends (Matthew 23:39). Jesus describes the role He would have rather held in relationship to Jerusalem and the people of Israel. Speaking from the perspective of God, as a member of the Trinity, Jesus notes how often He would have stepped in to protect Jerusalem and her children. The symbolism here is unique in Scripture and carries an almost maternal sense. Jesus, the Son of God, describes His heart motive to protect His people.
Of course, since God is omnipotent, that raises the question of why God did not, in fact, offer that level of protection. Why did they suffer so much judgment and death? Why will the city be exposed to the destruction yet to come (Matthew 24:1–2)? The answer is not complex, though it can be hard to accept: the people were not willing to receive His protection. They rejected God, and His messengers, and His message (John 5:39–40). And so, judgment fell, and would soon fall again.
The reason why men are not saved is not that Christ is not able and willing to save them, nor that they are not under obligation to be saved, but that they will not come to him, or comply with the needful terms of salvation. Of course, if they perish, they will be their own destroyers, and the guilt will rest for ever on themselves.
