He Wept

He Wept
March 1, 2013 4:30 AM -0600
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Outline
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Jesus bawled over the lost people of Jerusalem, and if we're going to call ourselves Christians, we had better be bawling over the lost people of our city.
Thesis: Christ followers must be broken by the notion of people lost in sin and resolved to bring them to real, everlasting peace.
Objective: Challenge believers to be broken by the lost in our community and resolved to save them.


  1. Intro
    1. To the Cross
      1. Third act of Luke
        1. First act: Introduction of Jesus, ministry
        2. Second act: Fleshed out the bulk of teachings for His disciples through a predictable cycle:
          1. Teach
          2. Commission
          3. Debrief
          4. Refine
        3. Fourth act: Resurrection of Jesus
        4. Third act
          1. At the height of His popularity, Jesus sets His eyes - and feet - toward the cross
          2. Marked by dramatic shift in message
          3. More difficult to chew
          4. Less about me, more about how believers relate to the world
      2. So far, we’ve seen
        1. Luke 14: Jesus needs to be most important in our lives.
        2. Luke 15: We need to make the finding lost our second priority.
        3. Luke 19:1-10: Jesus meets Zacchaeus: We find the lost by engaging them, and when they’re finally saved, we affirm their salvation and them.
      3. Today, Luke 19:41-44: Why?
        1. Why would we leave everything to find the lost?
        2. Why would we go to all the trouble to engage the lost where they are?
        3. Why would we do this?
    2. But first, the story:
      1. After Jesus met Zacchaeus at the sycamore tree in Jericho
        1. Zacchaeus hosted a feast, invited all his friends, repented publicly
        2. Jesus embraced Him, affirmed His salvation
        3. While all the Pharisees and friends were standing around, horrified that Jesus would say such things about a tax collector, Jesus told the Parable of the Ten Minas, the point of which is that we should be using what God has entrusted to us to expand His kingdom rather than just sit on it as they did.
        4. Stayed overnight, possibly two nights because Jews didn’t travel long distances (e.g., 17 miles from Jericho to Jerusalem) on the Sabbath, and the next thing we know, Jesus is entering Bethany, Bethphage late on the first day of the week
        5. As He came into these suburbs of Jerusalem, sent two disciples to get a donkey
        6. News of His arrival spread instantly
        7. Everyone came out, assuming He was there to assume throne
        8. Waved palm branches, threw cloaks and branches on the road, shouted Hosanna! and more
        9. Wild party!
        10. Hundreds, thousands poured into streets to welcome JEsus, their would-be King.
      2. And then...
        1. Just like we saw when this third act began
        2. Jesus at height of popularity, does something completely contrary to the crowd and celebration going on around Him.
      3. He wept.
    3. While I don’t necessarily want you to weep - literally -  today, by the time we’re done, it is my hope - my earnest prayer - that your heart will be broken for the same reason Jesus’ was.
    4. Luke 19:41-44: As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
  2. We must weep (41).
    1. Luke 19:41: As He approached and saw the city, He wept over it
    2. The crowd is going wild.
      1. Trumpeting His arrival.
      2. Hailing Him as King.
      3. Ready to follow Jesus to the temple and the gates of the governor’s palace to overthrow the Romans
    3. You would think Jesus would be basking in the attention.
    4. Instead, as He came around the Mt of Olives, finally saw the city that was supposed to be His new capital, Jesus wept
      1. Strong’s: sob, wail aloud
      2. IMPORTANT: If this was “crying softly or silently,” Luke would have used a different word.
      3. One of only two places in the Gospels where Jesus is found weeping.
      4. The other place is John 11:35, after his dear friend Lazarus had died, but there, we see that other word, meaning “crying softly or silently.”
    5. So here is Jesus, the presumed King, bawling hysterically
    6. The first - and only - time anyone has ever seen Him doing anything remotely like this.
    7. And He’s doing it even as the crowd would coronate Him as King!
    8. Imagine what the news commentators were saying, how the people were reacting.
    9. This was quite possibly the single most undignified thing Jesus could have done!
    10. I don’t know about you, but I usually try not to do things that would be considered undignified. Well...
    11. But the point is, why, at what would seem to be the very climax of His life, does Jesus instead stop and weep?
    12. The answer is not really profound: Jesus was heartbroken, and so He wept.
    13. And if we’re going to call ourselves Christians, Christ followers, and like Christ, then maybe we should - no, maybe we must - because you don’t just cry because it would be nice; you cry because you have to - weep, too.
    14. We must weep.
    15. Because our hearts are broken.
  3. We must weep over the city (42-44).
    1. Luke 19:42-44: He wept over it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
    2. But it’s not enough for us just to walk around with broken hearts.
    3. It’s not enough for us to just weep because the truth is, Jesus didn’t weep all the time.
    4. And the fact that Jesus is recorded as weeping only twice implies that maybe, just maybe, He had a specific reason to be so upset.
    5. So we must weep, but we need to weep for the same reasons Jesus was weeping.
    6. There are lots of things we could weep over.
      1. Lost job
      2. Dog dies
      3. Kid sick
      4. Relationship ends
    7. Let me be clear: all of these are important. And given the right circumstances, crying is understood, even expected.
    8. But none of those things was why Jesus was weeping here in Luke 19:41.
    9. Luke tells us that Jesus started weeping only after He saw the city, and at the end of vs 1, he says explicitly: “He wept over [Jerusalem.]”
    10. Such was the intensity of Jesus’ love for Jerusalem that, when He saw her in her present state, He broke down and bawled.
    11. We must weep over the city.
    12. Not talking about weeping over the buildings, businesses, government or political leanings, traffic congestion, pollution, etc.
    13. But over the people.
    14. It’s significant that Jesus would weep over the people of Jerusalem.
      1. Compared to the rest of ancient Palestine, they were wealthy.
      2. More, Jerusalem was the spiritual epicenter of Palestine
    15. If anyone on the whole planet had it together, it was the people of Jerusalem.
    16. And yet Jesus wept because He knew that the people of Jerusalem were oppressed
      1. by Romans
      2. by abusive spiritual authorities
      3. by sin
    17. And that was why Jesus was so heartbroken that He wept.
    18. Jesus was broken to the point of weeping loudly by the spiritual condition of the people of Jerusalem.
    19. And if Jesus was that broken up by the sin which dominated the people of Jerusalem, I have to ask: When was the last time your heart broke as you looked upon the spiritual oppression of the people of Des Moines?
    20. When was the last time you sat down and bawled because our neighbors - yours and mine - are stuck in sin and bound for Hell?
    21. When was the last time you wept over Des Moines?
    22. Have you ever wept over Des Moines?
    23. I dare say that, until we have the kind of compassion by which we are driven to tears over the lost people of our neighborhood, our community, our city, we cannot call ourselves Christ-like or Christian!
    24. And you know, that is a big deal! Because too often, weeping is not what we do.
      1. We point our fingers and look down our noses.
      2. We isolate and insulate ourselves.
      3. We ignore the reality and gravity of sin.
      4. We jump right in.
    25. See, the fact that Jesus wept over the people of Jerusalem, stuck in sin, implies
      1. Sin is bad.
      2. It’s not okay for our neighbors to be stuck in the stuff and headed to Hell.
      3. And we don’t accept it, much less like it at all.
    26. We must weep over the city.
  4. We must weep for peace (42-44).
    1. Luke 19:42-44: He wept over it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
    2. But you know, that brings up another important point.
    3. It’s essential that we weep over the lost of our city because it’s not okay that they’re lost.
    4. That’s the reason Jesus wept.
    5. But the fact that Jesus is only recorded weeping twice in the Bible also suggests something more than just specific reason: it suggests specific purpose.
    6. The distinction between reason and purpose: Reason is why you do something. Purpose is what you do.
    7. When Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus in John 11, I believe He did so to show us how deeply He knew our pain, how intensely He felt our sharp words and distrust.
      1. The reason was Lazarus had died.
      2. The purpose was to sympathize.
    8. In this case of Luke 19
      1. The reason was the lost of Jerusalem
      2. The purpose was peace.
    9. Luke 19:42: “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
    10. Do you hear the longing in Jesus’ words?
    11. Jesus wanted, desperately for the people of Jerusalem to know peace.
    12. That’s funny because the people of Jerusalem thought they knew all about peace.
      1. in the midst of Pax Romana - the peace of Rome
      2. looking for the Messiah: God-sent human general who would overthrow swiftly, miraculously overthrow Rome and restore Israel’s sovereignty and precedence over the world
    13. It was the pursuit of that kind of peace which led the Jews to revolt against Rome in 66 AD.
    14. Four years later, AD 70, the Roman army returned under General Titus - who would eventually become emperor
      1. They besieged the city, building an earthen barricade or embankment all around the outer wall, cutting it off from the outside
      2. When the city finally fell, they ransacked everything, running over anything and anyone who got in their way and destroying much of the city.
      3. They literally tore down the temple, making sure that no stone remained on another
      4. Just as Jesus predicted here.
    15. Here’s the thing, we all have ideas about what will bring peace
      1. New job, more pay
      2. Bigger house, nicer car
      3. This last week, former pastor, now author, Rob Bell suggested we should just get over this whole sin thing and go along with whatever people want to do.
    16. Jesus’ point in longingly saying, “If you knew this day what would bring you peace” was that there was, is, and can be only one solution.
      1. God sent His Son
      2. To die on a cross and so pay the penalty of sin
      3. To rise from the grave and so pave the way for eternal life and peace with God and men.
      4. Jesus was that Son, and He was even then on His way to the cross.
    17. It’s not enough for us to weep over our sin-stuck city. We must then rise and commit ourselves to the one and only solution: the life-saving, life-changing, life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again, so that we can have real, lasting peace.
    18. We must weep for peace.
    19. So weep because you’re heartbroken by the sin which is strangling the people of Des Moines.
    20. Weep to renew and redouble your commitment to proclaiming to the lost of Des Moines the love and grace and peace of Jesus.
    21. We must weep for peace.
  5. Conclusion
    1. Jesus, Friend of Sinners
      1. Casting Crowns
      2. Chorus: Oh Jesus, friend of sinners // Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers // Let our hearts be led by mercy // Help us reach with open hearts and open doors // Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
      3. Nicole is going to play this song.
      4. As she’s playing, I want you to listen to those words, make them your prayer
      5. Be broken for the lost of our city.
      6. Be broken for the name you wrote down two weeks ago.
    2. Special Music
    3. Pray

Ryrie

  • (43) “enemies” = “The Romans under Titus in AD 70.”


PNT


  • (41-44) “This lament over the wicked city is given only by Luke. In that moment when the multitude is shouting his praises, [Jesus’] heart is breaking over the woes of the city that he knew would slay him.”

  • (41-44) “Only in one other place are we told that Jesus wept (John 11:35), each time over human sorrow.”

  • (42) “this day” = “The day of opportunity and mercy. But their eyes were blinded by unbelief.”

  • (42) “The acceptance of Christ would have prevented the rebellion against Rome, the destruction of the city, and would have secured heavenly as well as earthly peace.”

  • (43) “The Romans threw a wll around the city outside of the walls fo defence in order to hem in all the population and to starve them out.”

  • (44) “The city was utterly destroyed.”

  • (44) “time of visitation” = “When Christ came to save them from their awful fate.”


Reflecting God


  • (43) The wraning here was “fulfiled when the Romans took Jerusalem in AD 70, using an embankment to besiege the city. The description is reminiscent of OT predictions (Isa 29:3; 37:33; Eze 4:1-3).”

  • (44) “God came to the Jews in the person of Jesus the Messiah, but they failed to recognize him and rejected him.”


ESV Study Bible


  • (41 vi 13:34)

  • (41 via 11:35)

  • (41) “Though the rejection of Jesus by many of the Jews was predicted in the OT (see note on John 12:37–40), Jesus still feels great sorrow over their rejection, surely reflecting the heart of God as he contemplates the Jewish people rejecting his prophets and his Son.”

  • (41-44) This account is unique to Luke.

  • (42) “this day” = “the day when the true Messiah and King came, “the time of your visitation” (v. 44). Broadly speaking, this refers to the coming of the kingdom; more narrowly, it means the coming of Jesus as Israel’s King.”

  • (42) “The things that make for peace are the things that would lead the Jewish people to salvation (see note on John 14:27). But now they (the things that make for peace) are hidden (see note on John 12:37–40).”

  • (43-44 via 21:5-6)

  • (43-44) “barricade” = “Earthworks constructed by the Romans.”

  • (43-44) The barricades would be torn down as a result of the siege.

  • (43-44) “Because explains the reason for this divine judgment.”


HCSB Study Bible


  • (41-44) “Jesus wept before Lazarus's tomb (Jn 11:35), and here He wept at the thought of His rejection by the city of Jerusalem.”

  • (41-44) “True, lasting peace with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ (Rm 5:1). The Jews enjoyed a temporal though imperfect peace under Roman rule, but such a peace cannot be secured forever, as the destructive events of a.d. 70 proved.”

  • (41-44) “Due to their unbelief, many Jews did not open their eyes to see Christ as Messiah (2Co 4:4) or recognize His coming as the time (Gk kairos; "opportune time") of God's visitation and offer of salvation.”


FaithLife Study Bible


  • (41-44) “As Jesus enters the city, He weeps over Jerusalem. His prophetic utterance foreshadows the events of ad 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Compare 13:33–34; 23:27–31.”

  • (43) “enemies” probably refers to the Romans.

  • (43) “surround you and press you hard” “Likely referring to the activities of Titus’ army in ad 70 during the destruction of Jerusalem.”

  • (44) “The “you” is Jerusalem (vv. 41, 42), and “your children” refers to the city’s inhabitants—the Jews. The language is reminiscent of 2 Kgs 8:12; Psa 137:9; Hos 10:14; 13:16; Nah 3:10.”

  • Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
  • Johnson, Barton Warren. The People's New Testament. The Christian Publishing Company, 1891.
  • Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
  • The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
  • The HCSB Study Bible. http://www.mystudybible.com
  • Faithlife Study Bible.
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4025 Lower Beaver Rd
Des Moines, IA
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