Daily Scripture
Luke 19:
37 and as he came near Yerushalayim, where the road descends from the Mount of Olives, the entire band of talmidim began to sing and praise God at the top of their voices for all the powerful works they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the King who is coming in the name of Adonai!”[
Luke 19:38 Psalm 118:26
]
“Shalom in heaven!”
and
“Glory in the highest places!”
39 Some of the P’rushim in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi! Reprimand your talmidim!” 40 But he answered them, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones will shout!”
41 When Yeshua had come closer and could see the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for shalom! But for now it is hidden from your sight. 43 For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, encircle you, hem you in on every side, 44 and dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, leaving not one stone standing on another — and all because you did not recognize your opportunity when God offered it!”(Complete Jewish Bible).
***Reflection Questions:
Jesus entered Jerusalem in a way that fulfilled God’s promise to return to his people in peace (cf. Zechariah 9:9-16). His followers rejoiced, but verse 39 showed his enemies still insisting that he stop. Jesus knew forces of deep tragedy and disaster were at work. They would kill him, but in the longer view the city’s people and religious leaders, fixated on violent ways to seek freedom, faced doom at Rome’s hands. Jesus wept over heedless Jerusalem.
- Jesus wept because, he said, the people in Jerusalem did not know “the things that lead to peace.” As we heard Dr. Clarence Jones share on April 8 (click here for his talk), principled non-violence often outrages those who believe violence is a solution, not a problem. How good are you at listening to God’s voice in your life? Are you resisting or denying anything that would bring you peace? If so, will you open yourself to Jesus' message?
- N. T. Wright wrote, “Jesus’ tears are at the core of the Christian gospel…. He had warned of God’s impending judgment on the city and Temple, because they… had resisted his call for peace, for the gospel of God’s grace which would reach out in love to the Gentile world…. Remember, with awe, that if Luke 19:11–27 is indeed about Jesus embodying the long-awaited return of God to Zion, those tears are not just the human reaction to a sad and frustrating situation. They are the tears of the God of love.”* Do you believe mass shootings today, like Jerusalem of old’s fate, bring the God of love to tears?
Lord Jesus, you yearned for your people to accept the things that lead to peace. Make me a person who shares your yearning, who is a messenger of peace. Amen.
* N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, pp. 231-233.
Read today's Insight by Wendy ConnellyWendy Connelly is a wife and mom earning her Masters of Divinity in May 2018. She podcasts on spirituality at TheLiftPodcast.organd serves on the Board of Advisors for Miracle of Innocence, a non-profit dedicated to helping the falsely imprisoned find justice.
“If only you knew…the things that lead to peace”
Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not know the things that led to peace. They could not foresee their own downfall, the sacking of the temple forty years later. Societies and nations can be so very blind.
Even our feeble attempts at peace and utopia have been the impetus for disaster, from Mao’s China to Stalin’s Russia to the killing fields of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. We strive after some noble aim, some faux pax, and disastrously miss the mark. And many suffer for it.
Our tendencies to defend, to slice off the ear of the enemy, destroy our peace, too. As Byron Katie writes, “Defense is the first act of war.” I know this. I wear my armor thick.
How do we grasp at false peace? Some of us are doormats--superficial peacemakers--while resentment collects like dust beneath our well-swept surface. Others of us seek to defend ourselves from violence and in so doing become the perpetrators of it. Many of us wage war upon ourselves, using tactics far more destructive and effective than any external enemy. My dear Wormwood, would Jesus not weep over us?
We do not know the things that lead to lasting peace until we learn to transcend our own base tendencies and look to the Prince of Peace, who knows us intimately enough to save us from ourselves.
“Be thou our vision. Lord, make us instruments of your peace.”
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You might also like:
- Pray for your enemies
- Jesus' way did not depend on armed conflict
- Prayer Tip: What Would Jesus Say About School Violence?
- Choose life eternal over any and all possessions
- The rich should pay heed to the prophets
- Or download this week's printable GPS.
©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
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