Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
Matthew 23:37-39
37 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you, desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”’
Jesus wept over Jerusalem knowing that tragedy was coming. Jesus was looking ahead to the time when Jerusalem would be captured and the temple be destroyed in 70 AD. Jesus looked towards that day which would be full of destruction and death and he wept over Jerusalem.
In the same way Jesus looks over the world today and Jesus weeps. Weeps over the hostages held by Hamas, weeps over the 13,000 children killed or injured in Gaza, weeps over the children fleeing the fighting in Sudan, weeps over the violence in Haiti, weeps over the unending war in Ukraine, and weeps over the continuing violence in Myanmar.
Jesus weeps over the hunger and food shortages that accompany war and violence, weeps over the lack of medical care available in war zones, weeps over those who have been displaced from their homes and communities by violence and threat. Jesus weeps over humanity’s inhumanity, over our willingness to kill, injure, and threaten one another. Jesus weeps.
Even as we terrible things to one another, even as we hurt one another, Jesus looks at human beings and seeks our good. Jesus seeks for all humanity to be changed and transformed into people who live for peace. Jesus never gives up on us, always hoping that humanity will change.
Jesus desires to gather the hurting and the broken, the displaced and the dispossessed, under his care and compassion. To offer them a place of security and safety, a place to heal and be made whole.
That day of hope – when peace and healing will flow, will happen only when Jesus returns and all of creation will shout alone, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” This Holy Week, we join the weeping Jesus in weeping for the world. This Holy Week, we pray that Jesus will return as the all-powerful prince of peace.
PRAYER:
O Lord, only your Son Jesus Christ can bring peace to this world. We weep with you over the violence and the destruction, the despair and the hopelessness. O Prince of Peace come and transform our world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.