HARD WORDS SPOKEN IN LOVE

Jesus had just finished a lengthy and blistering criticism of Israel’s religious leaders, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. They represented a tradition of hard-hearted rebellion against the word of God, and violence and bloodshed towards the messengers of God, as their later murder of the Messiah proved. They were poisonous snakes, Jesus said (verse 33). When any leadership fails to live up to its responsibilities, the whole body, be it a family or a church or a nation, suffers. Although he was angry at their sin, love was his motive, as the compassion and tenderness of this short parable indicated. The tears of Jesus (“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it” Luke 19:41) remind us that the human will is free to resist the love and grace of God.

JERUSALEM TRAGICALLY REJECTED JESUS CHRIST

While there is severe judgment (“How will you escape being condemned to hell?” verse 33), it is followed by sadness and tender concern for an unrepentant Jerusalem. Israel had a long history of unbelief, disobedience and the persecution of God’s messengers. The Old Testament recorded the deaths of the faithful from A to Z, from Abel (Genesis 4:8) to Zechariah (2 Chronicles 24:21), the beginning and the end of the Hebrew Bible (verse 35). The nation’s unbelief and blindness would climax in the death of the Messiah.

Jesus declared the cumulative righteous judgment and punishment of God on his own nation. The history of Israel was moving toward a climax of judgment that was to fall “upon this generation.” (Verse 36). The temple in Jerusalem, no longer called God’s house (c.f. 21:13) but “your house” (verse 38), would be “desolate” or “forsaken by God” (NEB). Jerusalem, the capital city of God’s people, would be destroyed. Israel’s only hope (and ours today) was to welcome Him “who comes in the name of the Lord.”

A TERRIBLE PROPHECY

“Jerusalem” was used as a term for Israel as a nation and its leaders in the same way we hear on news broadcasts, “Washington says” or “Moscow says.” Israel was slow to realize that the privilege of God’s election could not be presumed without the “obedience that comes from faith.” (Romans 1:5). Israel’s religious leaders ignored Jesus, the greatest and the latest messenger from God. “How often” indicates that he made previous visits and repeated efforts to win Jerusalem but the Holy City rejected the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah.

In Luke’s account of this parable Jesus says ironically, “Surely no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem!” (13:33) The words, “You who kill the prophets” (verse 37) are in the present tense and include the past as well as the future. The deaths of Stephen (Acts 7:60) and James (Acts 12:2) were representative of Jerusalem’s tragic record.

Some 40 years later proud Jerusalem was conquered and its temple, the earthly dwelling place of God, destroyed by Roman legions in A.D. 70. As other parables foretold: “He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” (Luke 20:16); and, “The king sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” (Matthew 22:7) For that generation God’s abandonment was final. Jesus alone could avoid national destruction. (See Luke 19:41-44)

A PARABLE OF COMPASSION

The repetition of the name “Jerusalem” was an expression of deep concern and unfailing love. Compassion lay at the heart of Christ’s closing appeal to the unrepentant nation, represented by its most important city Jerusalem. This parable reveals the depth of love Jesus had for lost people and for his beloved city. It is a lament or a passionate expression of grief. In a maternal image he described himself as a hen wanting to gather and protect her chickens i.e. he was the divinely appointed protector of Jerusalem. In the Bible, the love of a parent is expressed in its fullness in terms of both motherhood and fatherhood.

The image of a mother bird was a reminder of God’s wise and loving care for Israel: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The LORD alone led him.” (Deuteronomy 32:11-12). Jesus longed to overshadow and shelter the defenseless people of Jerusalem with the gentle wings of a mother bird. But the chickens were not interested in the protection offered by the hen. Having refused the Messiah, the nation remained unprotected. God will judge his people but it breaks his heart. There is no vindictiveness here. He mourned the fate their sin had brought upon themselves.

DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AND HUMAN FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

Note the tragic words, “I have longed to…but you were not willing.” On the one hand there is the compassionate saving will of God and on the other hand wilful human rebellion. God is in control but we all have decisions to make. When God’s Son is refused, devastation and ruin are the result. God does not force his salvation on people. Nor does he alter the consequences of that rejection.

Yet the loving grace of God out-maneuvered the evil plans of those godless men who killed the Redeemer, for his death on the cross won for the world a Saviour, who took away its sin. Later Peter boldly preached in Jerusalem: “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 2:23-24). While the cross was part of God’s eternal plan, it did not lessen the responsibility of those who murdered Jesus Christ.

THE PATIENCE OF GOD

No nation had been blessed by God like Israel for it was intended to be his instrument of salvation to other nations, for “salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22). Yet no nation had sinned so much against the goodness of God. Israel had many opportunities to repent but the nation refused them all. Jerusalem consistently killed the prophets and stoned the messengers of God. Finally God sent his Son with tragic results. There is a limit to the patience of God and any nation that rejects God faces unavoidable disaster.

HOPE AND A GRACIOUS INVITATION

Jerusalem’s rejection of Jesus meant her temporary abandonment by God, symbolized by the temple’s destruction. The saving presence of God was withdrawn from the city and the nation. Yet through the tears of Jesus there is hope of restoration and judgment will not have the final word. God has never finally wiped his hands of the Jewish people. God was still concerned for Israel after the destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century BC and the period of exile in Babylon. The rejection of Jesus led to desolation, exile and dispersion of the Jews for centuries, but it will have an end. Remember that God reigns over international affairs. In God’s plan, history has a meaning and a purpose, the salvation of humanity.

When Jesus came to Jerusalem his followers shouted, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” a quotation from Psalm 118:26. However, this reference is not just to Palm Sunday today but also to the end of this age. At the Temple Peter taught that there was forgiveness for repentant individual Israelites now and forgiveness for Israel as a nation when the Messiah returned: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you-even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” (Acts 3:19-21)

Jesus Christ will return at the end of this age to establish the rule or kingdom of God and many Jews will welcome their promised Messiah-King with this greeting: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Let us “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) and long for the time when “all Israel shall be saved.” (Romans 11:26). This invitation is also accepted every time a person finds the Messiah in this present age. [See Appendix D “The relationship between the nation Israel and the Christian Church.”]

FOR REFLECTION

• C. S. Lewis said, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God ‘Thy will be done’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right then, have it your way.’”
• “The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love.” (Psalm 145:8) How have you experienced the love of God?
• Love is the only explanation why the Lord of creation allowed himself to be crucified for those who rejected him.
• As believers we can pay lip service to the authority of the Bible, but are we prepared to obey it with spiritual perception and commitment?
• We have the responsibility of being able to accept or refuse the love of God in Christ. What would you say to a person who refused God’s offer of salvation?
• Are you a person of compassion weeping over your “Jerusalem” or your home city?

PRAYER

Father, forgive us our blindness and our unbelief. May we listen to your appeals of love, and allow you to work out your purposes in our lives. Amen.

Jim Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Education.