Context No. 3407 of 4322 · Luke

Luke 19:37-48: in context

37As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” 39Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.” 41When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. 43For the days will come on you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, 44and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.” 45He entered into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!” 47He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. 48They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.

At the height of the triumphal entry, with the crowds praising God and hailing him as king, Jesus does something unexpected: he sees the city and weeps over it. Even as they cheer, he grieves, saying, if you had only known the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

There is deep pathos here. The King enters to acclaim, yet weeps over the very people cheering him, because they are missing the salvation standing right in front of them. God had come to them, and they did not recognize the day of their visiting. Then he enters the temple and drives out the merchants: my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. His tears and his zeal spring from the same heart, a love that grieves over what his people are missing and refusing. He longs for them to know the things that make for their peace, and weeps that they will not.

Do I recognize the times God is visiting me, receiving what makes for my peace, rather than missing his coming while it stands before me?

Sources

Luke 19:41: "When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it."
Luke 19:42: "If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes."
Luke 19:46: "It is written, My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers!"