This is a study of Jesus as a man who could cry. He cried often for this lost world and lost sinners, but only three times is it specific in the Gospels.

1. JESUS WAS A MAN WHOCOULD CRY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke HYPERLINK"http://www.biblica.com/en-
us/bible/online-bible/niv/luke/19/"19:4141
As he
approachedJerusalemand saw the city, he wept over
it
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Tears Of Christ
Luke HYPERLINK "/luke/19-41.htm"19:41
W. ClarksonWe are touched by the tears of a little child; for they are the sign
of a genuine, if a simple, sorrow. Much more are we affectedby the tears of a
strong and brave man. When a man of vigorous intelligence, accustomedto
command himself, gives way to tears, then we feel that we are in the presence
of a very deep and sad emotion. Such were the tears of Christ. Twice, at least,
he wept; and on this occasionwe understand that he gave free vent to an
overpowering distress. The tears of Christ speak oftwo things more
especially.
I. HIS TENDER SYMPATHYWITH HUMAN SORROW, The grief which
now overwhelmedthe Saviour was (as we shall see)very largely due to his
sense ofits past and its approaching guilt. But it was also due, in part, to his
foreknowledgeofthe sufferings its inhabitants must endure. An intense
sympathy with human woe was and is a very large element in the character
and life of Jesus Christ.
1. It was his compassionfor our race that brought him from above - that we
by his poverty might become rich.

2. 2. It was this which, more than anything else, accounts for the miracles he
wrought. He could not see the blind, and the lame, and the fever-stricken, and
the leprous without tendering them the restoring grace it was in his power to
bestow. He could not see mourning parents and weeping sisters without
healing the heart-wounds he was able to cure.
3. It was this which drew to himself the confidence and affectionof loving
hearts. It was no wonder that pitiful womenand tender-hearted children, and
men whose hearts were unhardened by the world, were drawn in trust and
love to the responsive Sonof man, whose stepwas always stopped by a human
cry, to whose compassionno strickenman or womanever appealedin vain.
4. It is this feature of his characterwhich makes him so dearto us now as our
Divine Friend. For in this world, where sorrow treads so fast on the heels of
joy, and where human comforters so often fail us, of what priceless value is it
to have in that Everlasting One, who is the Ever-present One, a Friend who is
"touched" with our griefs, and who still carries our sorrows by the powerof
his sympathy!
(1) Let us thank God that we have such a Friend in him; and
(2) let us resolve before God that such a friend will we seek andstrive to be.
II. HIS PROFOUND REGRETFOR THOSE WHO ARE IN THE WRONG.
With what eyes do we look upon human sin when we see it at its worst? How
are we affectedby the sight of a drunkard, of a thief, of a foul-mouthed and
fallen woman? Are we filled with contempt? Many bad things are indeed
contemptible; but there is a view to be takenwhich is worthier and more
Christ-like than that; a view which is more humane and more Divine - a
feeling of profound pitifulness and sorrowfulregret. It was this which filled
the heart of Christ when he lookedupon Jerusalem, and that calledforth his
tearful lamentation. Much was there about that city that might well move his
righteous anger, that did calldown his strong, unsparing indignation
(Matthew HYPERLINK "/matthew/23.htm"23.)- its spiritual arrogance, its
religious egotism, its fearful pretentiousness, its deep-seatedhypocrisy, its
heartless cruelty, its whitewashof ceremonywithout with all its corruptness
and selfishness within. But Jesus forebore to denounce; he stopped to weep.
He was most powerfully affectedby the thought that Jerusalemmight have
been so much to God and man, and was - what she was. Jesus Christwas not
so much angeredas he was saddenedby the presence and the sight of sin. He
might have withered it up in his wrath, but he rather wept over it in his pity.
This is the Christian spirit to be cherishedand to be manifestedby ourselves.
We must contemn the contemptible; but we rise to higher ground when we

3. pity the erring because they are in error, when we mourn over the fallen
because they are down so low, when we grieve for those who are afaroff
because they are astray from God and blessedness. Butwe must not only weep
for those who are in the wrong because they are in the wrong. We must do our
utmost to setthem right. "How often" did Christ seek to gather those sons
and daughters of Jerusalemunder the wings of his love! How often and how
earnestlyshould we seek to reclaim and to restore! - C.
Biblical Illustrator
Jesus wept. - The word is different from that used to express weeping in ver.
33; but this latter is used of our Lord in
Luke HYPERLINK "/luke/19-41.htm"19:41
Christ's tears
J. Donne, D. D.(Text, and Luke HYPERLINK "/luke/19-41.htm"19:41;
Hebrews HYPERLINK "/hebrews/5-7.htm"5:7):— It is a commonplace to
speak of tears;would that it were a common practice to shed them. Whoever
divided the New Testamentinto verses seems to have stopped in amazement at
the text, making an entire verse of two words. There is not a shorter verse in
the Bible nor a larger text. Christ wept thrice. The tears of the text are as a
spring belonging to one house. hold; the tears over Jerusalemare as a river,
belonging to a whole country; the tears on the cross (Hebrews HYPERLINK
"/hebrews/5-7.htm"5:7)are as a sea belonging to all the world; and though,
literally, these fall no more into our text than the spring, yet because the
spring flows into the river and the river into the sea, and that wheresoeverwe
find that Jesus weptwe find our text, we shall look upon those heavenly eyes
through this glass ofHis own tears in all these three lines. Christ's tears were
—
I. HUMANE, as here. This being His greatestmiracle, and declaring His
Divinity, He would declare that He was man too.
1. They were not distrustful inordinate tears. Christ might go further than
any other man, both because He had no original sin within to drive Him, and
no inordinate love without to draw Him when His affections were moved.
Christ goes as faras a passionate deprecationin the passion, but all these
passions were sanctifiedin the root by full submission to God's pleasure. And

4. here Christ's affections were vehemently stirred (ver. 33); but as in a clean
glass if waterbe troubled it may conceive a little light froth, yet it contracts no
foulness, the affections of Christ were moved but so as to contractno
inordinateness. But then every Christian is not a Christ, and He who would
fast forty days as Christ did might starve.
2. But Christ came nearer to excess thanto senselessness. Inordinateness may
make men like beasts, but absence ofaffectionmakes them like stones. St.
Petertells us that men will become lovers of themselves, which is bad enough,
but he casts anothersin lower — to be without natural affections. The Jews
argued that saw Christ weep, "Beholdhow He loved him." Without outward
declarations who can conclude inward love? Who then needs to be ashamedof
weeping? As they proceededfrom natural affection, Christ's were tears of
imitation. And when God shall come to that last actin the glorifying of man
— wiping all tears from his eyes — what shall He have to do with that eye that
never wept?
3. Christ wept out of a natural tenderness in general;now out of a particular
occasion— Lazarus was dead. A goodman is not the worse for dying, because
he is establishedin a better world: but yet when he is gone out of this he is
none of us, is no longera man. It is not the soul, but the union of the soul that
makes the man. A man has a natural loathness to lose his friend though God
take him. Lazarus's sisters believedhis soul to be in a goodestate, andthat his
body would be raised, yet they wept. Here in this world we lack those who are
gone:we know they shall never come to us, and we shall not know them again
till we join them.
4. Christ wept though He knew Lazarus was to be restored. He would do a
greatmiracle for him as He was a mighty God; but He would weepfor him as
He was a good-natured man. It is no very charitable disposition if I give all at
my death to others, and keepall my life to myself. I may mean to feasta man
at Christmas, and that man may starve before in Lent. Jesus would not give
this family whom He loved occasionof suspicionthat He neglectedthem; and
therefore though He came not presently to His great work, He left them not
comfortless by the way.
II. PROPHETICAL— over Jerusalem. His former tears had the spirit of
prophecy in them, for He foresaw how little the Jews wouldmake of the
miracle. His prophetical tears were humane too, they rise from goodaffections
to that people.
1. He wept in the midst of the acclamations ofthe people. In the best times
there is ever just occasionoffear of worse, and so of tears. Every man is but a

5. sponge. Whether Godlay His left hand of adversity or His right hand of
prosperity the sponge shall weep. Jesus weptwhen all went wellwith Him to
show the slipperiness of worldly happiness.
2. He wept in denouncing judgments to show with how ill a will He inflicted
them, and that the Jews had drawn them on themselves (Isaiah HYPERLINK
"/isaiah/16-9.htm"16:9). If they were only from His absolute decree, without
any respectto their sins, could He be displeasedwith His own act? Would God
ask that question, "Why will ye die?" etc., if He lay open to the answer,
"Because Thouhastkilled us"?
3. He wept when He came near the city: not till then. If we will not come near
the miseries of our brethren we will never weepover them. It was when Christ
Himself, not when His disciples, who could do Jerusalemno good, took
knowledge ofit. It was not when those judgments drew near; yet Christ did
not ease Himselfon accountof their remoteness, but lamented future
calamities.
III. PONTIFICAL— accompanying His sacrifice. Thesewere expressedby
that inestimable weight, the sins of all the world. And if Christ looking on
Petermade him weep, shall not His looking on us here with such tears make
us weep.
1. I am far from concluding all to be impenitent who do not actually shed
tears. There are constitutions that do not afford them. And yet the worst
epithet that the best poet could fix on Pluto himself was "a person that could
not weep." But to weepfor other things and not for sin, this is a sponge dried
into a pumice stone. Thoughthere be goodtears and bad tears, yet all have
this degree of goodin them that they argue a tender heart; and the Holy
Ghostloves to work in wax not in marble. God made a firmament which He
calledheaven after it had divided the waters:after we have distinguished our
tears worldly from heavenly then is there a firmament establishedin us, and a
heaven openedto us.
2. I might stand long upon the manifold benefits of godly tears, but I contract
all into this, which is all — godly sorrow is joy.
(J. Donne, D. D.)
Christ's tears
W. M. Taylor, D. D.In our recoil from Socinianismwe are apt to go too far to
the other extreme. This accounts for our surprise at reading that Jesus wept.
We are not surprised that Jeremiahwept, or that Paul or Peterwept. Why be
surprised to hear that Jesus wept, except that we do not acknowledgeHis

6. manhood? On three occasionsJesuswept. To eachof these I wish to callyour
attention.
I. TEARS OF SYMPATHY. Three thoughts are suggested.
1. It is not sinful to weepunder afflictions.
2. The mourner may always counton the sympathy of Jesus. Jesus thought
not of these sisters alone. There sounded in His ears the dirge of the oceanof
human misery. The weeping of Mary and Martha was but the holding of the
shell to His ears. Thattear of love is a legacyto every Christian.
3. When our friends are mourning we should weepwith them. The truest
tenderness is that which distils in tears. When the heart feels most keenly, the
tongue refuses to do its bidding, but the tear expresses all. The tear is never
misunderstood.
II. TEARS OF COMPASSION (Luke HYPERLINK "/luke/19-
41.htm"19:41). He was about to enter JerusalemoverMount of Olives. Before
His vision, insteadof the fair scene, He saw the legions ofRome, etc. "Oh,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem,"etc. It was baffled affection.
1. Observe the privileges which were granted the Jews andneglected. Who
shall say what glory had been Jerusalem's had she heard the prophets and
Jesus? All hearers of the Word have privileges and visitations.
2. Observe the sorrow of Jesus for the lost. He saw. that the chance to save
was past forever. He abandonedthe effort in tears.
III. TEARS OF PERSONALSUFFERING (Hebrews HYPERLINK
"/hebrews/5-7.htm"5:7). The tears Paul speaksofvery probably referred to
Gethsemane.
1. Think not because yousuffer that you are not chosen. As Christ was made
perfect in His work, through His suffering, so are we thus to be led.
2. Norare we to think that we are not Christians because we feel weak. Tears
are liquid emotion pressedfrom the heart. It is not murmuring in you to feel
the sting of suffering. Yet the undercurrent must always be, "Thy will be
done." Patience is not apathy. Restsure of this, the prayer cable is not broken.
The Gethsemane angelhas gone on many a strengthening mission since that
day in Gethsemane.
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The tears of Christ
Cardinal Newman.I. HE WEPT FROM VERY SYMPATHY WITH THE
GRIEF OF OTHERS. It is of the nature of compassionto "rejoice with

7. those," etc. It is so with men, and God tells us that He is compassionate. We
do not well know what this means, for how can God rejoice or grieve? He is
hid from us; but it is the very sight of sympathy that comforts the sufferer.
When Christ took flesh, then, He showedus the Godhead in a new
manifestation. Let us not saythat His tears here are man's love overcome by
natural feeling. It is the love of God, condescending to appearas we are
capable of receiving it, in the form of human nature.
II. HE WEPT AT THE VICTORY OF DEATH. Here was the Creatorseeing
the issue of His ownhandiwork. Would He not revert to the hour of Creation
when He saw that all was very good, and contrastman as He was made.
innocent and immortal, and man as the devil had made him, full of the poison
of sin and the breath of the grave? Why was it allowed? He would not say.
What He has done for all believers, revealing His atoning death, but not
explaining it, this He did for the sisters also, proceeding to the grave in silence,
to raise their brother while they complained that he had been allowedto die.
III. HE WEPT AT HIS OWN IMPENDING DOOM. Josephcouldbring joy
to his brethren at no sacrifice ofhis own. The disciples would have dissuaded
Christ from going into Judaea lestthe Jews shouldkill Him. The
apprehension was fulfilled. The fame of the miracle was the immediate course
of His seizure. He saw the whole prospect — Lazarus raised, the supper, joy
on all sides, many honouring Him, the triumphal entry, the Greeks earnestto
see Him, the Phariseesplotting, Judas betraying, His friends deserting, the
cross receiving. He felt that He was descending into the grave which Lazarus
had left.
(Cardinal Newman.)
The tears of Jesus
F. W. Robertson, M. A.I. CAUSES OF CHRIST'S SORROW.
1. The possessionofa soul. When we speak ofthe Deity joined to humanity we
do not mean to a body, but to manhood, body and soul. With a body only
Jesus might have wept for hunger, but not for sorrow. That is the property
not of Deity or body, but of soul. The humanity of Christ was perfect.
2. The spectacle ofhuman sorrow.(1)Deathofa friend (ver 36). Mysterious!
Jesus knew that He could raise him. This is partly intelligible. Conceptions
strongly presented produce effects like reality, e.g., we wake dreaming, our
eyes suffused with tears — know it is a dream, yet tears flow on. Conception
of a parent's death. Solemn impression produced by the mock funeral of
Charles V. The sadness ofJesus forHis friend is repeatedin us all. Somehow
we twine our hearts round those we love as if forever. Death and they are not

8. thought of in connection. He die!(2) Sorrow of His two friends. Their
characters were diverse:two links bound them together:love to Lazarus,
attachment to the Redeemer. Now one link was gone. His loss was not an
isolatedfact. The family was brokenup; the sun of the systemgone; the
keystone ofthe arch removed, and the stones lose their cohesion. Forthe two
minds held togetheronly at points of contact. They could not understand one
another's different modes of feeling: Martha complains of Mary. Lazarus
gave them a common tie. That removed the points of repulsion would daily
become more sharp. Over the breaking up of a family Jesus wept. And this is
what makes death sad.
II. CHARACTER OF CHRIST'S SORROW:Spirit in which Jesus saw this
death.
1. Calmly. "Lazarus sleepeth" in the world of repose where all is placid.
Struggling men have tried to forgetthis restless world, and slumber like a
babe, tired at heart. Lazarus to his Divine friend's imagination lies calm. The
long day's work is done, the hands are folded. Friends are gathered to praise,
enemies to slander, but make no impression on his ear. Conscious he is, but
not of earthly noise. But "he sleeps well."
2. Sadly. Hence, observe —(1) Permitted sorrow. Greatnature is wiserthan
we. We recommend weeping, or prate about submission, or say all must die:
Nature, God, says, "Letnature rule to weepor not."(2)That grief is no
distrust of God — no selfishness.Sorrow is but love without its object.
3. Hopefully — "I go," etc. (ver. 11). "Thy brother" (ver. 23).
4. In reserve. On the first announcement Jesus speaksnot a word. When He
met the mourners He offered no commonplace consolation. He is less anxious
to exhibit feeling than to soothe. But nature had her wayat last. Yet even then
by act more than word the Jews inferred His love, There is the reserve of
nature and the reserve of grace. We have our own English reserve. We respect
grief when it does not make an exhibition. An Englishman is ashamedof his
goodfeelings as much as of his bad. All this is neither goodnor bad: it is
nature. But let it be sanctifiedand pass into Christian delicacy. Application.
In this there is consolation:but consolationis not the privilege of all sorrow.
Christ is at Lazarus's grave, because Christ had been at the sisters'home,
sanctifying their joys, and their very meals. They had anchoredon the rock in
sunshine, and in the storm the ship held to her moorings. He who has lived
with Christ will find Christ near in death, and will find himself that it is not so
difficult to die.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

9. The import of Jesus'tears
T. E. Hughes.The weeping was precededby groans. After the groans come
tears — a gentle rain after the violent storm. Jesus in this, as in all things,
stands alone.
1. Different from Himself at other times.
2. Very unlike the Jews who came to comfort the two sisters, and —
3. unlike the sisters themselves. Jesus'tears imply —
I. THE RELATION BETWEENTHE BODY AND THE MIND
(Lamentations HYPERLINK "/lamentations/3-51.htm"3:51). Tears are
natural. The relation existing between matter and mind is inexplicable. Yet it
exists. From this fact we can reasonto the relation existing betweenGod and
the material universe.
II. THE RELATION BETWEEN THE HUMAN AND THE DIVINE. Here
we have a proof of His humanity. What more human than weeping? Following
this manifestationof humanity is the manifestationof divinity. We should
guard againstthe old errors concerning the constitution of Christ's person;
for they appear from age to age under new forms:
1. Arianism — denying His proper Divinity.
2. Appolinarianism — denying His proper humanity.
3. Nestorianism— dual personality.
4. Eutychianism — confounding the two natures in His person.
III. THE RELATION BETWEENCHRIST AS MEDIATOR AND
HUMANITY, IN GENERAL, IN ITS MISERY, AND HIS PEOPLE, IN
PARTICULAR, IN THEIR AFFLICTIONS.
1. The question, why He wept? is here answered.(1)He was sorrowful because
of the misery causedby sin. As Jerusalemwas before His eyes when He wept
over it, so here humanity in its sin and all its misery passedin review before
His face.(2)His weeping was a manifestation of His sympathy. No comparison
betweenHis consoling, comforting tears and those of the Jews.
2. The intercessorywork of Christ as our High Priestin heaven is here
implied. He is the same there as when here upon earth (Hebrews
HYPERLINK "/hebrews/13-8.htm"13:8). Has the same heart beating with
ours. He is our sympathizing Friend and Brother there. APPLICATION:
1. Have you wept on accountof your sins? They have caused, and are still
causing, Jesus to weep.

10. 2. Do you realise Christ's friendship for you?
3. Let us learn from His example to sympathise with the sorrows ofour fellow
men.
(T. E. Hughes.)
A unique verse
C. H. Spurgeon.Ihave often felt vexed with the man whoeverhe was, who
chopped up the New Testamentinto verses. He seems to have let the hatchet
drop indiscriminately here and there; but I forgive him a greatdeal of
blundering for his wisdom in letting these two words make a verse by
themselves, "Jesuswept." This is a diamond of the first water, and it cannot
have another gem setwith it, for it is unique. Shortestof verses in words, but
where is there a longerone in sense? Letit stand in solitary, sublimity and
simplicity.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Embodied sympathy powerful
George Eliot."Ideas are oftenpoor ghosts;our sun-filled eyes cannotdiscern
them. They pass athwart us in this vapour and cannotmake themselves felt.
But sometimes they are made flesh, they breathe upon us with warm breath,
they touch us with soft, responsive hands, they look at us with sad, sincere
eyes, and speak to us in appealing tones. They are clothedin a living human
soul, with all its conflicts, its faith, and its love. Then their presence is a power,
and we are drawn after them with a gentle compulsion, as flame is drawn to
flame."
(George Eliot.)
Jesus sympathizes with all who suffer
H. W. Beecher.Ifa man be found weltering by the roadside, wounded, and a
strangercomes along, he will pity him, for the heart of man speaks one
language the world over. But if it were a near neighbour or strong personal
friend how much more tender the pity. That of the man's ownfather far
transcends those. But the noblest heart on earth is but a trickling stream from
a shallow fountain compared with the pity of God, which is wide as the scope
of heaven and abundant as all the air.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Christ satisfying the instinct of sympathy

11. DeanVaughan.There is a word in our language — the iron Roman had to
arrange many circuitous approaches to it — we borrow it straight from the
plastic, responsive Greek — the word sympathy
I. THE INSTINCT. The wordhas gone through one process since it left its
root "to suffer," which root does not mean suffering in our common sense, but
"being affected." So sympathy does not mean fellow suffering, but community
of affection. It may be —(1) A community of congruity. There is sympathy
betweentwo persons where there is such a likeness ofdisposition that they are
mutually drawn to eachother.(2) A community of contagion. You sympathize
with a person when in some particular sorrow or joy you share the feeling
arising out of circumstances notyour own.
1. As a community of disposition, sympathy is —(1) The spring of all love. We
see in the soul which looks through those eyes, its windows, the very
counterpart and complement of our own. Even beauty acts through sympathy.
It is not the flesh, grace, colour, etc., but the idea or promise of beautiful
qualities which wins the heart. Another may be more comely, but we are not
attractedbecause we read not the disposition which ours craves. We blame
ourselves for not loving. Why do we not love? For the lack of that sympathy of
congruity representedby the word "liking."(2)The inspiration of eloquence.
What is there in that insignificant figure, uncomely countenance, unmusical
voice which nevertheless swaysmultitudes as the oratorlists. An empire has
hung in suspense while one man has talked to 10,000. Why? Becauseofthe
charm of sympathy.(3) The secretofpowerin poetry and fiction. What is it
which draws tears from eyes which know they are Witnessing imaginary
sorrows? Itis the skill with which genius draws upon the resources ofhuman
feeling. The moment the tragicalpassesinto the artificial, the teardries of
itself.(4)The explanation of all magnificent successes.A want of sympathy
accounts for the failure of men possessedof every gift but one. You see it in
oratory: there is learning, industry, etc., but the audience is unimpressed
because there was no heart. You see it in action:there is education, character,
opportunity, etc., but coldness of temperament chilled the touch of
friendship.(5) This sympathy has its excesses. Itis so charming and
remunerative that some men are guilty of practising on good impulses, and
become insincere, and destroyothers by means of the soul's best and tenderest
affections.
2. Sympathy of contagion, too, is an instinct. To feel is human; we calla man
unnatural, unhuman who cannotpity. But some men feel without acting, and
consequentlyfeeling is deadened. Others keepawayfrom them what will
make them feel, and waste the instinct. To this kind of sympathy belong all

12. those efforts by which we throw ourselves into another's life for benevolent
influence. This alone renders possible an education which is worthy of the
name, the teachersharing personally the difficulties, games, weaknesses, etc.,
of the taught.
II. CHRIST SATISFYING THIS INSTINCT.
1. He presented Himself to us in one thrust, as possessing allthat beauty
which has a natural affinity to everything that is noble and true.(1) He appeals
to the instinct in its form of likeness. We must be cautious here, a not confuse
the ruined will, the original temple. Still there is no one who has no response
in him to that which is lovely and of goodreport. The instinct finds not its rest
here below. Some profess to be satisfied: they have what they want. They are
happy — might it but last; were there no storms and eventual death. But for
the restcare, toil, ill-health, bereavementhave forbidden it, or they have not
yet found the haven of sympathy. The first movement of such in hearing of
Christ satisfying the wants of the soulis one of impatience: they want
something substantial. What they really want is community of affection.
There is offeredto them a perfectlove.(2)Christ guides and demands
sympathy. He makes it religion, which is sympathy with God; "liking" the
drawing of spirit to spirit by the magnet of a felt loveliness. "Idrew them with
cords," etc. Without this religion is a burden and bondage.
2. Christ satisfies the sympathy of contact. We might have thought that the
Creatorwould shrink from the ugly thing into which sin has corrupted His
handiwork. But He never heard the lepers cry without making it a reasonfor
drawing nigh. Again and againHe went to the bereaved, and it was to wake
the dead; and this not officially, as though to say, "This proves Me the
Christ." Jesus wept. There was no real peril or want with which He did not
express sympathy. He loved the rich young man; He wept over Jerusalemwith
its unbelief and hypocrisy; He was in all points tempted, and so is able to
sympathize with our infirmities. What He sympathized with was poor sin-
spoilt humanity, and for that He died. Conclusion:What Christ did He bids us
do not in the way of condescension, but as men touching to Him, not loving the
sin, yet loving the sinner. Lonely people cease to be alone. "Rejoicewith them
that rejoice," etc.
(DeanVaughan.)
The tears of the Lord Jesus
WatsonSmith.I. JESUS WEPT;FOR THERE WAS CAUSE WORTHY OF
HIS TEARS. The finest, noblest race of God's creatures dismantled, sunk in
death before Him, all across earthand time from the world's beginning.

13. Tears, we know, show strongestin the strongest. Whenyou see the strong man
broken down beside his sick babe you cannotbut feel there is a cause.
Whateverelse there may be in the man, you see that he has a heart, and that
his heart is the deepest, is the Divine part of him. As the father's tears over his
child testify the father's heart, so the tears of Jesus testify that He has a heart
which beats with infinite love and tenderness towardus men. For we are His,
and in a far more profound and intimate sense belong to Him, than children
can to an earthly parent. And the relation into which the Lord Jesus has come
with our humanity is closerand tenderer than that of earthly parent. We
speak of Him as our Brother, our Elder Brother; but the truth is, Christ's
relation to us is Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Husband, Friend, all in One.
But He knew — further — that a sadderthing than death and its miseries lay
behind, even sin. This touched and affectedHim most, that we were a fallen
and dishonoured race, and therefore death had come upon us and
overshadowedus. Why else should we die? The stars do not wax old and die,
the heavens and the earth remain unto this day, though there is no soul or
spirit in them. Why should the brightness of an immeasurably nobler and
more exalted creature like man waxdim? Stars falling from heaven are
nothing to souls falling from God. The one are but lights going out in God's
house, the other the very children of the house perishing. Jesus weptthen for
the innermost death of all death, the fountain misery of all miseries But while
in His Divine thought and sorrow He penetrated to the root and source ofthat
evil and of all evil, the mighty attendant suffering awoke in Him the truest and
deepestcompassionand sympathy. He wept, then, with eachone of us; for
who has not been called to part with some beloved relative, parent, partner,
companion, guide, or friend? With all sorrowing, desolate hearts and homes
of the children of men He then took part. Again, the Lord Jesus felt how much
the darkness and sorrows ofdeath were intensified and aggravatedby the
state of ignorance and unbelief in which the world lay. How mournful to His
spirit at that hour the realization of the way in which the vast bulk and
majority of the human race enter the world, go through it, leave it 1 for He
knew, better than any other that has been on earth, man's capability of higher
things and of an endless life and blessedness. "Like sheepthey are laid in the
grave," says the writer of the 49th Psalm, What a picture! Like that abject,
unthinking, and helpless animal, driven in flocks by awful forms, cruel
powers, they can neither escape norresist, to a narrow point and bound,
where all is impenetrable darkness.
II. Let us consider"THE TEARS OF JESUS" AS REVEALING THE
DIVINE HEART. Are we to believe that He out of whose heart have come the

14. hearts of all true fathers and mothers, all the simple, pure affections of our
common nature and kinship, of the family and the home; are we to believe, I
say, that God has no heart? Some one may say, There is no doubt God can
love and does love — infinitely; but can He sorrow? Now, my friend, I pray
you, think what is sorrow but love wanting or losing its objects, its desire and
satisfactionin its objects, and going forth earnestlyin its grief to seek and
regainthem? Sorrow, suffering, is one of the grandest, noblest, most self-
denying, and disinterested forms and capabilities of love, apart from which
love could not exist, whether in nature or in name.
III. THE TEARS OF JESUS ARE THOSE OF A MIGHTY ONE
HASTENING TO AVENGE AND DELIVER. They are not the tears of one
whose pity and sympathy canonly be thus expressed, but who has no power
— whatever may be his willingness and desire — to help. The tears of Jesus
are those of a hero over his native country and kingdom laid waste by an
enemy whom he hastens to meet and avenge himself upon. There is hope,
there is help for our world; Jesus Christ weeps overit, and He "will restore all
things" of which we have been robbed and spoiled.
IV. HENCE WE LEARN OUR TRUE SOURCE OF COMFORT, HELP,
AND RESTORATION. He who wept and bled and died for man has proved
Himself to be our greatDeliverer. Do we ever feel we can go anywhere else
but to Him when sicknessand death threaten and invade us and ours?
(WatsonSmith.)
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
The Lamentations Of Jesus BY SPURGEON
“When He had come near, He beheld the city and wept over it.”
Luke 19:41

15. ON three occasions we are told that Jesus wept. You know them well, but it
may be worth while to refresh your memories. The first was when our Lord
was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He saw the sorrow ofthe sisters
and He meditated upon the fruit of sin in the death and corruption of the body
and He groanedin spirit and it is written that “Jesus wept.” Those who
divided the chapters did well to make a separate verse of that simple sentence.
It stands alone, the smallestand yet, in some respects, the greatestverse in the
whole Bible! It shines as a diamond of the first water. It contains a world of
healing balm condensedinto a drop. Here we have much in little–a wealthof
meaning in two words.
The secondoccasionwe have before us and we will make it the theme of our
discourse. At the sight of the beloved but rebellious city, Jesus wept. The third
occasionis mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the fifth chapter of his Epistle to
the Hebrews where he tells us what else we might not have known, that the
Savior, “in the days of His flesh, offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death and
was heard in that He feared.” Thatpassagerelates to the Gethsemane agony
in which a showerof bitter tears was mingled with the bloody sweat. The
strength of His love strove with the anguish of His souland, in the process,
forcedforth the sacredwaters ofHis eyes. Thus our Saviorwept in sympathy
with domestic sorrow and sanctifiedthe tears of the bereaved.
We, too, may weep when brethren and friends lie dead, for Jesus wept. There
need not be rebellion in our mourning, for Jesus fully consentedto the Divine
will and yet He wept. We may weepat the graves ofthose we love and yet be
guiltless of unbelief as to their resurrection, for Jesus knew that Lazarus
would rise againand yet He wept. Our Lord, in weeping over Jerusalem,
showedHis sympathy with national troubles and His distress at the evils
which awaitedHis countrymen. Men should not ceaseto be patriots when they
become Believers–saints should bemoan the ills which come upon the guilty
people among whom they are numbered and do so all the more because they
are saints.
Our Lord’s third weeping was induced by the great burden of human guilt
which pressedupon Him. This shows us how we, too, should look upon the
guilt of men and mourn overit before God. But in this specialweeping Jesus
is alone–there was a something in the tears of Gethsemane to which we cannot
reach, for He who shed them was then beginning to suffer as our Substitute
and in that case He must necessarilytread the winepress alone and of the
people there must be none with Him. Beholdbeneath the olive trees a solitary

16. Weeperenduring a grief which, blessedbe His name, is now impossible to us,
seeing He has takenawaythe transgressions whichcalledfor it!
We will now turn to this secondinstance of our Savior’s weeping and here we
find, when we look at the original words, that it is not exactlyexpressedby the
words used in our admirable English version. We there read, “He beheld the
city and wept overit,” but the Greek means a greatdeal more than tears and
includes sobs and cries. Perhaps it may be best to read it, “He lamented over
it.” He suffered a deep inward anguish and He expressedit by signs of woe
and by words which showedhow bitter was His grief. Our subject will not be
the lamentations of Jeremiah, but the lamentations of Jesus–the lamentations
of Him who could more truly saythan the weeping Prophet, “I am the Man
that has seenaffliction by the rod of His wrath. My eyes run down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of My people. Beholdand see if
there is any sorrow like unto My sorrow which is done unto Me.”
Jesus is here a King by generalacclamation, but King of grief by personal
lamentation. He is the Sovereignof sorrow, weeping while riding in triumph
in the midst of His followers. Did He ever look more kingly than when He
showedthe tenderness of His heart towards His rebellious subjects? The city
which had been the metropolis of the house of David never saw so truly a
royal man before, for He is most fit to rule who is most ready to sympathize!
We shall, this morning, as God shall help us, first, considerour Lord’s inward
grief. And then, secondly, His verbal lamentation. Oh for the powerof the
Spirit to bless the meditation to the melting of all our hearts! O Lord, speak to
the rock and bid the waters flow, or, if it pleases Youbetter, strike it with
Your rod and make it gush with rivers–only in some way make us answerto
the mourning of our Savior–
“Did Christ oversinners weep
And shall our cheeks be dry?
Let floods of penitential grief
Burst forth from every eye.”
1. First, we are to contemplate OUR LORD’S INWARD GRIEF. We note
concerning it that it was so intense that it could not be restrainedby the
occasion. The occasionwas one entirely by itself–a brief gleam of
sunlight in a cloudy day, a glimpse of summer amid a cruel winter. His
disciples had brought the colt and had placedHim on it and He was
riding to the city which was altogethermoved at His coming. The
multitudes were eagerto do Him homage with waving branches and
loud hosannas, while His disciples in the inner circle were exulting in
songs ofpraise which almost emulated the angelic chorales ofHis birth

17. night. “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward
men,” found its echo when the disciples said, “Blessedbe the King that
comes in the name of the Lord: peace in Heaven and glory in the
highest.”
Yet amidst the hosannas ofthe multitude, while the palm branches were yet in
many hands, the Savior stoppedto weep!On the very spot where David had
gone centuries before weeping, the Son of David stayed awhile to look upon
the city and to pour out His lamentation! That must have been deep grief
which ran counter to all the demands of the seasonand violated, as it were, all
the decorum of the occasion. Itturned a festival into a mourning, a triumph
into a lament. Ah, He knew the hollowness ofall the praises which were
ringing in His ears!He knew that they who shouted hosanna today would,
before many suns had risen, cry, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” He knew that
His joyous entrance into Jerusalemwould be followedby a mournful
processionoutof it when they would take Him to the Cross that He might die.
He saw amid all the effervescenceofthe moment the small residue of sincerity
that there was in it and He acceptedit–but He lamented the abundance of
mere outward excitement which would disappearlike the froth of the sea–and
so He stoodand wept. It was a great sorrow, surely, which turned such a day
of hopefulness into a seasonofanguish. It strikes me that all that day the
Savior fastedand, if so, it is singular that He should have purposely kept for
Himself a fast while others on His accountheld a festival! The reasonwhy He
did so, I think, is this–Mark says, “And now the eventide was come, He went
out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come
from Bethany, He was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He
came, if haply He might find anything thereon.”
Such hunger had not come upon Him if it had not been precededby a fastthe
day before. See, then, your Lord surrounded, as it were, with billows of praise
in the midst of a tumultuous sea of exultation, Himself standing as a lone rock,
unmoved by all the excitementaround Him. Deepwas the grief which could
not be concealedor controlledon such a day when the sincere congratulations
of His disciples, the happy songs ofchildren and the loud hosannas ofthe
multitude everywhere welcomedHim.
The greatnessofHis grief may be seen, again, by the factthat it overshadowed
other very natural feelings which might have been and, perhaps, were, excited
by the occasion. Our Lord stoodon the brow of the hill where He could see
Jerusalembefore Him in all its beauty. What thoughts it awakenedin Him!
His memory was strongerand quicker than ours, for His mental powers were
unimpaired by sin and He could remember all the greatand glorious things

18. which had been spokenof Zion, the city of God. Yet, as He remembered them
all, no joy came into His soulbecause of the victories of David or the pomp of
Solomon–Temple andtower had lostall charm for Him–“the joy of the earth”
brought no joy to Him. And at the sight of the venerable city and its holy and
beautiful house He wept.
Modern travelers who have any soul in them are always moved by the
sublimity of the spectacle fromthe Mount of Olives. DeanStanley wrote,
“Nothing at Rome, Memphis, Thebes, Constantinople, orAthens can
approachit in beauty or interest.” And yet this is the poor, mean Jerusalemof
modern times–by no means to be comparedwith the Jerusalemof our
Savior’s day! Yet the Lord Jesus says nothing about this city, “Beautifulfor
situation,” except to lament overit. If He counts the towers there and marks
well her bulwarks, it is only to bemoan their total overthrow. All the
memories of the past did but swell the torrent of His anguish in the foresight
of her doom!
Something of admiration may have entered the Savior’s holy breast, for
before Him stood His Father’s house, of which He still thought so much that
even though He knew it would be left desolate, yetHe took pains to purge it
once againof the buyers and sellers who polluted it. That Temple was built of
white marble and much of it, the roofespecially, coveredwith slabs of gold. It
must have been one of the fairestobjects that everhuman eye restedupon as
it glittered in the sun before Him. But what were those greatand costly
stones? Whatwere those curious carvings to Him? His heart was saying
within itself, “There shall not be one stone left upon anotherthat shall not be
thrown down.”
His sadness atthe foresight of the city’s desolationmasteredHis natural
feeling of admiration for its presentglory. His sorrow found no alleviation
either in the past or the present of the city’s history–the dreadful future threw
a pall over all. It mastered, too, the sympathy which He usually felt for those
who were about Him. He would not stop His disciples from rejoicing, though
the PhariseesaskedHim, but He, Himself, took no share in the joy. Usually
He was the most sensitive of men to all who were around Him, sorrowing with
their sorrow and joying in their joy. But on this occasionthey may wave their
palms and cut down branches of trees and strew them in the wayand the
children may shout, Hosanna, but He who was the center of it all did not enter
into the feeling of the hour–they celebrate–He weeps.
More striking, still, is the fact that His grief for others prevented all
apprehension for Himself. As He beheld that city, knowing that within a week
He would die outside its gates, He might naturally have begun to feel the

19. shadow of His sufferings, but no trace of such emotion is discoverable. You
and I, in such a case,with the certainty of a speedy and ignominious death
before us, would have been heavy about it, but Jesus was not. In all that flood
of tears there was not one for His own death! The tears were all for
Jerusalem’s doom, even as He said afterwards, “DaughtersofJerusalem,
weepnot for Me, but for yourselves and for your children.”
It is not “Woe is Me, the holy city will become an Aceldama, a field of blood
by My slaughter,” but, “Oh, if you had known, even you, in this, your day.”
He grieves for others, not for Himself! Yet it must have been a very intense
emotion which thus swept away, as with a torrent, everything else so that He
had neither joy for joy, nor sorrow for sorrow, but His whole strength of
feeling was poured forth from one sluice and ran in one channel towards the
devoted city which had rejectedHim and was about to put Him to death! This
greatsorrow of His reveals to us the Nature of our Lord. How complex is the
Personof Christ! He foresaw that the city would be destroyedand though He
was Divine, He wept! He knew every single event and detail of the dreadful
tragedy and used words about it of specialhistoricalaccuracywhichbring out
His prophetic Characterand yet the eyes so clearin seeing the future were
almost blinded with tears!
He speaks ofHimself as willing and able to have averted this doom by
gathering the guilty ones under His wings and thus He intimates His Godhead.
While His Nature on the one side of it sees the certainty of the doom, the same
Nature, from another side, laments the dread necessity!I will not say that His
Godheadforesaw and His Manhoodlamented, for so mysteriously is the
Manhoodjoined to the Godheadthat it makes but one Personand it were
better to assertthat the entire Nature of Christ lamented over Jerusalem. I
have never been able to believe in an impassive God, though many theologians
lay it down as an axiom that God cannotsuffer. It seems to me that He can do
or endure anything He wills to do or endure and I, for one, cannotsee that
there is any specialglorifying of God in the notion that He is incapable in any
direction whatever. We can only speak of Him after the manner of men and
after that manner He speaks ofHimself and, therefore, there is no wrong in so
doing.
It brings the greatFather nearer when we see Him lamenting the wanderings
of His children and joying in their penitent return. What but sorrow canbe
meant by such expressions as these? “How shallI give you up, Ephraim? How
shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set
you as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me; My repentings are kindled
together.” “Hear, O heavens and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, I

20. have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled againstMe.
The ox knows his owner and the ass his master’s crib: but Israeldoes not
know, My people do not consider.” Are these the utterances of an unfeeling
God? I believe it is the Christ, the entire Christ that both foretells the doom of
Jerusalemand laments it.
Some have even been staggeredatthe statement that Jesus wept. Certain of
the early Christians, I am sorry to say, even went the length of striking the
passageout of the Gospelbecause they thought that weeping would dishonor
their Lord. They ought to have had more reverence for the Inspired Word
and a truer knowledge oftheir Masterand never to have wished to obliterate
a record which reflects the highest honor upon man’s Redeemer. Our Lord’s
lament gives us an insight into the great tenderness of His Character–He is so
tender that He not only weeps while weeping would be of no use–but He
laments when lamentation must be fruitless! He reminds me of a judge who,
having before been a friend by warning, persuading, pleading with the
prisoner, at last has the unutterable pain of condemning him–he puts on the
black cap and, with many a sighand tear, pronounces sentence–feeling the
dreadful nature of the occasionfar more than the criminal at the bar.
He is overcome with emotion while he declares that the condemned must be
takento the place from where he came and there die a felon’s death. Oh the
tender heart of Christ, that when it comes to pronouncing the inevitable
sentence, “Yourhouse is left unto you desolate,”yet He cannot utter the
righteous words without lamentation! In this our Lord reveals the very heart
of God! Did He not say, “He that has seenMe has seenthe Father”? Here,
then, you see the Father, Himself, even He who saidof old, “As I live, says the
Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;but that the wicked
turn from his wayand live.” The doom must be pronounced, for infinite
Justice demands it, but Mercy laments what she was not permitted to prevent.
Tears fall amid the thunders and though the doom is sealedby obstinate
impenitence, yet judgment is evidently strange work to the patient Judge. This
anguish showedhow dreadful was the sentence, forwhat could stir the Savior
so if the doom of sinners is a small affair? If the doom of guilt is such a trifle
as some dream, I understand not why these tears!The whole Nature of Christ
is convulsed as He thinks, first of Jerusalemplowedas a field and her children
slaughteredtill their blood runs in rivers of gore and, next, as He beholds the
doom of the ungodly who must be driven from His Presenceand from the
Glory of His power to be the awful witnesses ofDivine Justice and of God’s
hatred of evil. Thus standing on the brow of Olivet, the weeping Sonof Man

21. reveals to us the heart of God–slow to anger, of greatmercy, waiting to be
gracious and tardy in executing His wrath.
For a practicallesson, we may remark that this weeping of the Saviorshould
much encourage men to trust Him. Those who desire His salvationmay
approachHim without hesitation, for His tears prove His hearty desires for
our good. When a man who is not given to sentimental tears, as some
effeminate beings are, is seento weep, we are convincedof his sincerity. When
a strong man is passionatelyconvulsedfrom head to footand pours out
lamentations, you feelthat he is in downright earnestand if that earnestnessis
manifested on your behalf you can commit yourself to him. Oh, weeping
Sinner, fear not to come to a weeping Savior! If you will not come to Jesus, it
grieves Him! That you have not come long ago has wrung His heart! That you
are still awayfrom Him is His daily sorrow–come, then, to Him without delay!
Let His tears banish your fears, yes, He gives you better encouragementthan
tears, for He has shed for sinners not drops from His eyes, alone, but from His
heart! He died that sinners who believe in Him might live! His whole body was
coveredwith bloody sweatwhen He agonized for you–how can you doubt His
readiness to receive you? The five scars that still remain upon His blessed
Person, up there at the Father’s right hand, all invite you to approach Him!
These dumb mouths most eloquently entreat you to draw near and trust in
Him whom God has setforth as the Propitiation for sin! How shall He that
wept and bled and died for sinners repulse a sinner who comes to Him at His
bidding? Oh, come, come, come, I pray you, even now, to the weeping sinner’s
Friend.
This, too, I think is an admonishment to Christian workers. Some ofus, long
ago, came to Jesus and we now occupy ourselves with endeavoring to bring
others to Him. In this blessedwork our Lord instructs us by His example.
Brothers and Sisters, if we would have others come to Jesus we must be like
Jesus in tenderness. We must be meek, lowly, gentle and sympathetic and we
must be moved to deep emotion at the thought that any should perish. Never
let us speak harshly of the doom of the wicked. Neverlet us speak flippantly,
or without holy grief–the loss of Heaven and the endurance of Hell must
always be themes for tears!That men should live without Christ is grief
enough–but that they should DIE without Christ is an overwhelming horror
which should grind our hearts to powder before God and make us fall on our
faces and cry, “O God, have mercy upon them and save them, for Your Grace
and for Your love’s sake.”
The deepesttenderness, it may be, some of us have yet to learn. Perhaps we
are passing through a schoolin which we shall be taught it and if we do but

22. learn it we need not care how severe the instructive discipline may be. We
ought not to look upon this city of London without tears, nor even upon a
single sinner without sorrow. We must preachtenderly and teachtenderly if
we would win souls. We are not to weep continually, for even Jesus did not do
that, yet are we always to feel a tender love towards men so that we would be
ready to die for them if we might but save them from the wrath to come and
bring them into the haven of the Savior’s rest!
Let me add that I think the lament of Jesus should instruct all those who
would now come to Him as to the manner of their approach. While I appealed
to you, just now, were there any who said, “I would gladly come to Jesus, but
how shall I come?” The answeris–comewith sorrow and with prayer, even as
it is written, “they shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead
them.” As Jesus meets you, so meet Him. He shows you in what fashion to
return, in what array to draw near to your Redeemer, for He comes to you
clothed in no robes but those of mourning, adorned with no jewels but the
pearls of His tears. Come to Him in the garments of humiliation, mourning for
your sin. “Blessedare they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Penitential sorrow works life into men. Only come to Jesus and tell Him you
have sinned and are ashamedand gladly would ceaseto do evil and learn to
do well. Come in all your misery and degradation, in all your consciousness of
your Hell-deservedness. Come in sorrow to the Man of Sorrows who is even
now on the road to meet you! He has said, “Him that comes to Me I will in no
wise castout,” and He will not forfeit His Word. God bless these feeble words
concerning the inner emotions of my Lord and may the Holy Spirit again rest
upon us while we further pursue the subject into another field.
II. We are now to considerOUR LORD’S VERBAL LAMENTATIONS.
These are recordedin the following words–“Ohthat you had known, even
you, at least in this, your day, the things which belong unto your peace!But
now they are hid from your eyes.” First, notice He laments over the fault by
which they perished–“Ohthat you had known.” Ignorance, willful ignorance,
was their ruin. “Oh that you had known.” Theydid not know what they might
have known–whatthey ought to have known–theydid not know their God.
“The ox knows his ownerand the ass his master’s crib, but Israeldoes not
know, My people do not consider.”
They knew not God! They knew not God’s only Son! They knew not Him who
came in mercy to them with nothing but love upon His lips! Oh, but this is the
pity, that the Light of God is come into the world and men will not have it, but
love darkness rather than Light. Alas, I fear that some of my hearers live in
the Light and will not see. There are none so deaf as those that will not hear

23. and none so blind as those that will not see–andyet there are such in all
Christian congregations–who do not know and will not know. God says, “Oh
that you had hearkenedto My Commandments, then had your peace beenas
a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Our Lord lamented
over the inhabitants of Jerusalembecause theyhated knowledge and did not
choose the fear of the Lord–they would have none of His counsel–they
despisedHis reproof.
Willful ignorance led to obstinate unbelief. They chose to die in the dark
rather than acceptthe Light of the Sonof God! The Lord laments the bliss
which they had lost, the peace which could not be theirs, “Oh that you had
known the things that belong unto your peace.” The name of that city was, as
we know, Jerusalem, which, being interpreted, signifies a vision of peace.
They that lookedupon it saw before them a vision of peace. But, alas,
Jerusalemhad lost its “salem,” orpeace, and become only a vision because she
did not know and would not know her God! Oh men and womenthat know
not God, you have lost peace!Even now you are like the troubled sea that
cannot rest, whose waters castup mire and dirt!
“There is no peace, says my God, unto the wicked.” Ohwhat joys you might
have had! The delights of pardoned sin, the bliss of conscious safety, the joy of
communion with God–the rapture of fellowship with Christ Jesus, the
heavenly expectationof infinite Glory–all might have been yours! But you
have put them awayfrom you. The Lord says of you, as of Israel of old, “O
that My people had hearkenedunto Me and Israelhad walkedin My ways!I
would soonhave subdued their enemies and turned My hand upon their
adversaries.”Godwould have revealedto you, by His Spirit, brighter things
than eyes have seenand sweeterjoys than ears have heard–for if you had been
willing and obedient you would have eatenthe fat of the land of His promises!
You are losers!You are awful losers by not being reconciledto God and you
will be worse losers yet, for that false peace which now stands in the place of
true peace and beguiles and fascinatesyou will depart like the mirage of the
desertand leave you on the arid sands of despair to seek restand find it not!
Soonshall a terrible sound be in your ears of the approaching vengeance of
God and there shall be for you no placeofrefuge. When the Lord thought of
what they had lost, He cried, “Oh that you had known!” I feelashamed to
repeatHis Words because I cannotrepeat them in the tone He used. Oh, to
hear Jesus saythese words! I think it might melt a heart of stone!But no, I am
mistaken, even that would not do it, for those who did hear Him were not
melted nor reclaimed, but went on their wayto their doom as they had done
before! How hardened are the men who can trample on a Redeemer’s tears!

24. What wonder that they find a Hell where not a drop of watercan ever cool
their parched tongues tormented in the flames! If men are resolvedto be
damned, it is evident that the tears of the best, the most perfect of men cannot
stop them! Woe is me! This is deeper cause for tears than all else besides, that
men should be so desperatelyset on mischief that nothing but Omnipotence
will stop them from eternalsuicide!
But our Lord also lamented over they who had lost peace. Observe that He
says–“Ohthat you had known, even you. You are Jerusalem, the favored city.
It is little that Egypt did not know, that Tyre and Sidon did not know, but that
you should not know!” Ah, Friends, if Jesus were here this morning, He might
weepover some of you and say–“Ohthat you had known, even you.” You
were a lovely child! Even in your earliestdays you were fond of everything
goodand gracious!You were takento the place of worship and sat on your
mother’s knee, pleasedto be there. Do you remember the minister’s name
that you used to lisp with delight, the texts you repeatedand the hymns you
sang? You grew up to be a lad right full of promise and all felt sure that you
would be a Christian.
What exhortations your father, who is now in Heaven, gave you! And she that
bore you and loved you till she passedaway!How she prayed and pleaded for
you! Some of you have been sitting here, or in some other place where Christ
is preached, for a very long time and you have often been very near to the
Kingdom and yet you are not in it. You have come right up to the edge of the
border, but you have not crossedthe line. You are not far from the Kingdom
of God, but you lack one thing–the one essentialpoint of decisionfor Christ–
“Oh that you had known, even you!” You are always ready to help the cause
of God with your purse, for you take an interestin every goodwork–you
cannot bear blasphemy or infidelity–and yet you are not saved!
There are a thousand things that are hopeful about you, but there is one thing
which dampens our hope, for you always procrastinate and know not how to
use your presentopportunity. Jesus bids you use “this your day,” but you
linger and delay. Today is God’s acceptedtime! Postpone no longer the hour
of decision!Alas that you should perish! Shall the child of such a mother be
lost? Shall the sonof such a father be driven down to Hell? I cannotbear it!
God have mercy on you, sons and daughters of Christian parents! You that
have been enriched with Christian privileges, why will you die? Young man,
so promising but yet so undecided, it makes the Savior, Himself, weepthat
you, even you, should still refuse to know the things that make for your peace!
Our Lord wept because ofthe opportunity which they had neglected. He said,
“At leastin this, your day.” It was such a favored day–they had been warned

25. by holy men, but now they had the Sonof God, Himself, to preach to them! It
was a day of miracles of mercy, a day of the unveiling of GospelGrace!And
yet they would not have Christ though He had come so near to them and it
was a day of merciful visitation such as other nations had not known. Perhaps
today, also, may be a day of visitation for some of you. Shall we have to
lament, “Oh that you had known, even you, at leastin this, your day”–onthis
Lord’s-Day, this day of power, this day of the Spirit? Oh, by His Grace, you
now weepand I perceive you feel some tender touches of the Spirit’s power!
Do not resistHim and cause this day, also, to pass awayunimproved!
“The harvest is passed, the summer is ended and you are not saved.” And has
the autumn closedand shall the winter come and go and shall these days in
which the Spirit visits men all depart till God shall declare that it does not
become the dignity of His Spirit to always strive with flesh and, therefore, He
shall cease His operations and leave men to their owndevices? Oh, souls, I
pray you think of Christ weeping because revivaldays and Sundays are being
wastedby you! Do not, in these best of days, commit the worst of sins by still
refusing to receive the Gospelof God! The Lord Jesus mourned, again,
because He saw the blindness which had stolen over them. They had shut their
eyes so fast that now they could not see–theirears which they had stopped had
become dull and heavy–their hearts which they had hardened had waxen
gross so that they could not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor
feel in their hearts, nor be converted that He should healthem.
Why, the Truth of God was as plain as the sun in the heavens and yet they
could not see it! And so is the Gospelatthis hour to many of you and yet you
perceive it not. There is nothing plainer than the plan of salvation by looking
unto Jesus and yet many men have gone on so long resisting the sweetness and
Light of the Spirit of God that they cannot, now, see the Lord Jesus who is as
the sun in the heavens!The kindest friends have put the Gospelbefore them
in a way that has enlightened others, but it has not affectedthem. They still
say, “I cannotsee it!” O you blind ones, take heed lest this has come upon you,
“Behold, you despisers and wonderand perish.” Christ groans because the
timings which belongedto the peace of Jerusalemwere hid from their eyes as
a punishment for refusing to see.
Lastly, we know that the greatfloodgates ofChrist’s grief were pulled up
because ofthe ruin which He foresaw.It is worth any man’s while to read the
story of the destruction of Jerusalemas it is told by Josephus–itis the most
harrowing of all records written by human pen! It remains the tragedy of
tragedies!There never was and there never will be anything comparable to it.
The people died of famine and of pestilence and fell by thousands beneath the

26. swords of their own countrymen. Women devoured the flesh of their own
children and men ragedagainsteachother with the fury of beasts. All ills
seemedto meet in that doomed city! It was filled within with horrors and
surrounded without by terrors. There was no escape, neitherwould the
frenzied people acceptmercy.
The city itself was the banqueting hall of death. Josephus says, “All hope of
escaping was now cut off from the Jews, togetherwith their liberty of going
out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress anddevour the people
by whole houses and families. The upper rooms were full of women and
infants that were dying by famine and the lanes of the city were full of the
dead bodies of the aged. The children, also, and the young men wandered
about the market places like shadows, allswelledwith the famine and fell
down dead wherever their misery seized them. For a time the dead were
buried, but afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them castdown
from the wall into the valleys beneath. When Titus, on going his rounds along
these valleys, saw them full of dead bodies and the thick putrefaction running
about them, he gave a groan and, spreading out his hands to Heaven, called
God to witness this was not his doing.”
There is nothing in history to exceedthis horror! But even this is nothing
compared with the destruction of a soul. A man might look with complacency
upon a dying body if he knew that within it was a soul that would live
eternally in bliss and cause the body to rise againto equal joy. But for a soul
to die is a catastrophe so terrible that the heavens might be clothed with
sackclothfor its funeral! There is a death which never ends! The separationof
the soulfrom God–whichis the most complete of all deaths! The separationof
the soulfrom the body is but, as it were, a prelude and type of the far more
dreadful death–the separationof the soul from God. Banishedfrom hope,
existing but not living and that forever! What a condition this must be!
I shall draw no picture. Words fail but, oh, my Hearers, shall it be that anyone
among you shall always know the meaning of the Savior’s words–“Theseshall
go away into everlasting punishment”? Will it ever be your lot to hear Him
say–youwho hear me this day, I mean–“Depart, you cursed, into everlasting
fire in Hell, prepared for the devil and his angels”? Ifwe could mark any here
to whom this doom will happen, we might make a ring around them and bring
them home tearing our garments and tearing our hair, for it would be a far
greatergrief than if we knew that they would die by the sword or by famine in
a foreign land! All ills are trifles comparedwith the seconddeath!
Bearwith me just a moment while, in conclusion, I setforth our Savior’s grief
as it expresseditself in other words, for those other words may help us to

27. fresh light. You remember the passagein the 23 rd of Matthew which I read
in yourhearing, where the Lord said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill
the Prophets and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have
gatheredyour children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings and you would not!”? Do you see His Grace and grief? These people
killed the Prophets and yet the Lord of Prophets would have gatheredthem!
His love had gone so far that even Prophet-killers He would have gathered!Is
not this amazing that there should be Grace enough in Christ to gather
adulterers, thieves, liars and to forgive and change them and yet they will not
be gathered? That Jesus should be willing, even, to gather such base ones into
a place of salvation and yet should be refused?
The pith of it lies in this–“How often would I have gatheredyour children
together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you would
not.” See, here, the case stands thus–I would, but you would not. This is a
grief to love. If it had been a factthat Christ would not, then I could not
understand His tears, but when He says “I would, but you would not,” then I
see the deep reasonof His anguish! The failure of will is in you that perish, not
in Christ who cries, “I would, but you would not.” Yes and He adds, “How
often would I.” Notonce was He in a merciful mood and pitiful to sinners for
that time, alone, but He cries, “How often would I have gathered.”
Every Prophet that had come to them had indicated an opportunity for their
being gatheredand every time that Jesus preachedthere was a door setopen
for their salvation, but they would not be gathered and so He foretells their
fate in these words–“Yourhouse shall be left unto you desolate.”Here is a
painful sentence. Setthe two words in contrast–“Gathered,” thatis what you
might have been! “Desolate,”that is what you shall be–and Jesus weeps
because ofit! “Gathered”–itis such a beautiful picture! You see the little
chicks fleeing from danger when they hear the cluck of the mother hen. They
gather togetherand they come under her wings.
Did you ever hear that little, pretty cry they make when they are all together
with their heads buried in the feathers? How warm and comfortable they are!
This is where you might have been, gathered under the warm breastof the
eternal God, feeling His love with the rest of the people–joying and rejoicing
in a communion of complete security! But inasmuch as you would not be
gathered, see whatyou will be–“desolate,” withouta friend, without a helper.
Then you will callto the saints, but they will not be able to help you. Say to
them, “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out”–but they must refuse
you. Unto which of the holy ones will you turn? What angelwill have pity
upon you? Eachcherub waves his fiery swordto keepyou from the gate of

28. Paradise. There is no help for you in God when once you die without Him! No
help for you anywhere.
Desolate!Desolate!Desolate!Becauseyou would not be gathered!Well does
the tender Savior weepover men since they will perversely choose sucha
doom! I do not feel as if I should close in gloom. I must flash before you a
brighter light, though it is but for the last minute. The day hastens on when
Christ will come a secondtime and then He shall behold a new Jerusalem, a
spiritual Jerusalem, built by Divine hands. The foundations thereof are of
jewels and the gates thereofare of pearl. How He will rejoice over it! He shall
rest in His love and He shall rejoice overit with singing! He will shed no tears,
then, but He will see in the Jerusalemfrom above the travail of His soul and
He shall be satisfied. When Zion shall be built up, the Lord shall appear in His
Glory and the marriage of the Lamb will have come.
Meanwhile, if any one of you who are not yet savedwill come to Jesus, He will
rejoice overyou, for He takes pleasure in the stones of Zion and favors the
dust, there, and if you are as little as Zion’s dust and as mean as her rubbish,
He will rejoice over you! It is written that, “There is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repents.” Now, angels standin the Presence
of the Lord Jesus and there is joy in His heart over a single penitent! If only
one sinner shall repent because ofthis sermon, my Lord will rejoice over Him!
I, His servant, am, in my measure, intensely glad when a soul repents, but He
shall have the chief joy, for His is the chief love!
Who will now come to Jesus? Wouldto God it might be the beloved sonof a
godly mother! Would to God it might be you, my long hesitating Hearer, for
years a hearer but not a doer of the Word. May the Holy Spirit decide you at
this very moment! Amen.
BRUCE HURT MD
Luke 19:41 When He approachedJerusalem, He saw the city and wept over
it,
wept over it Ps 119:53,136,158;Jeremiah9:1; 13:17;17:16; Hosea 11:8;John
11:35;Romans 9:2,3

29. Parallelaccounts ofTriumphal Entry - Mt 21:1-11;Mk 11:1-11;Lk 19:29-44,
John 12:12-19
Luke 19 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Luke 19:28-44 Why You Should Follow Jesus - StevenCole
Luke 19:28-40 Jesus'Humble Coronation, Part1 - John MacArthur
Luke 19:28-44 Jesus'Humble Coronation, Part2 - John MacArthur
WEEPING OVER REJECTION WHICH
WOULD BRING RETRIBUTION!
Luke 19:41-44 is only found in the GospelofLuke, neither Matthew or
Mark's versions prophesying in this sectionof the coming destruction of
Jerusalem.
Spurgeon- What a contrast!The King’s courtiers shouting for joy, and the
King himself weeping over the guilty city where the greatesttragedyin the
history of the whole universe was about to take place. The King saw, in the
near and more remote future, what no one else could see, so, “whenhe was
come near, and beheld the city, he wept over it.”
When He approachedJerusalem- As he ascendedfrom the other side of the
Mount of Olives from Bethphage and Bethany the city would come into view
as He reachedthe top of the mountain and could see the Temple on Temple
Mount (His Own House!).
Now take a moment and image this incredible scene. The crowdis rejoicing
and shouting the words from the MessianicPsalm118:26, evenproclaiming
Him as the "King of Israel" and yet Jesus, as He sees the city, begins sobbing,
a visible show of emotion which would have been obvious to all who could see
Him. One wonders what went through their minds at this "strange moment?"
This has to be one of the most tragic, ironic contrasts in all of human history.
On one hand, the Jews are expressing unbridled jubilance, while on the other
hand, Jesus was expressing profound sorrow (an emotion of great sadness
associatedwith loss or bereavementcoming from deep within His Holy
Being)! Let me apply this picture of Jesus seeing His sinful, rebellious city, for
it makes me wonder whether Jesus weeps deeplynow in Heaven when He sees
us, His very ownpossession, (and He does see us) willfully turning awayfrom
His holy law and commiting heinous sin? Oh my! May our prayer frequently
be that of God's choice servantDavid who sinned woefully againstGod and
yet who God later declaredto be "a man after My heart who will do all My

30. will." (Acts 13:22). Let us pray "Keep back Your servant from presumptuous
sins. Let them not rule over (Lxx = katakurieuo = bring into subjection , gain
dominion over, become masterover, overpower)me. Then I will be
blameless,andI shall be acquitted of greattransgression."(Ps 19:13-note).
Amen!
A C Gaebelein- Before He utters the greatprophecy announcing the doom of
the city, He weeps. What a glimpse it gives of the loving heart of the Saviour-
King, the friend of sinners!
He saw the city and wept over it - In John 11:35 when Lazarus died "Jesus
wept," but wept there is the a different Greek verb dakruo (root word of
English "tears")whichmeans "He shed a tear," speaking ofa quiet
expressionof grief. Now in His final approach to the Holy City He is in deep
agonyweeping and sobbing over the "death" (and coming destruction) of the
city and the entire nation of Israel, for in His omniscience, He knows they will
soonrejectHim as their Messiah and King, even though for a brief moment
they put on an external show of acceptance. The Englishword that comes to
mind is "fickle" which is defined as "markedby erratic changeableness in
affections or attachments."
Jerusalemwas the same city of which the psalmist had penned such an
eloquent description
Greatis the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy
mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in
the far north, The city of the greatKing. God, in her palaces, Has made
Himself known as a stronghold. (Ps 48:1-3)
The writer of Hebrews records that "In the days of His flesh, He (JESUS)
offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the
One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because ofHis piety."
(Heb 5:7-note, cf Lk 22:44-45-note)
Brian Bell tells this story - Finding his newly-appointed pastorstanding at his
study window in the church weeping as he lookedover the inner city's tragic
conditions, a layman sought to console him: "Don'tworry. After you've been
here a while, you'll get used to it." Respondedthe minister, "Yes, I know.
That's why I am crying." The question for us is "Have we gotten used to it?"
Jesus criedout a similar plaintive lament "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem" twice in
the Gospels (althoughwe are not told He actually wept)....
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent
to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen

31. gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! 35 “Behold,
your house is left to you desolate (PROPHECYFULFILLED WHEN
TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED IN 70 A.D.); and I sayto you, you will not see
Me UNTIL the time comes when you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES
IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” (Lk 13:34-35-note)
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are
sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 “Behold,
your house (INTERESTING- HE DOES NOT CALL IT "GOD'S HOUSE!")
is being left to you desolate!39 “For I say to you, from now on you will not see
Me UNTIL you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF
THE LORD!’” (Mt 23:37-39)
Comment: Jesus uttered this lament with a peculiar poignancy and pathos for
the Holy City so near and dear to God's heart. But notice that while He uses
the name Jerusalem, the city of God, it was a symbol of the entire Jewish
nation, the majority of which refusedto receive Him (Jn 1:11-note). Jesus'
double declarationof the name Jerusalemis indicative of His deep sorrow.
And so Yeshua with broken heart, sorrowfully laments over His beloved city.
As you ponder these words from the lips of our King Who was soonto be
rejectedby the very city in which He would one day reign as King of kings,
take a moment of respite from your study to play this beautiful but sad song
Yerushalayim.
Is is not fascinating that Jesus quotes the very same Psalm(Psalm 118:26)
which the Jews criedout as He made His "Triumphal Entry" into Jerusalem
at which time He acceptedtheir praises to Him as their King. Of course before
the week was outthey would say He was not their King and would demand
His crucifixion. And so in both Luke and Matthew Jesus gives a prophecy to
Israel(the prophecy in Matthew 23:39 was the LAST public prophecy given
to the nation (the Olivet Discoursewas spokento His disciples). In this final
prophecy Jesus warnedthat Israel would not see Him againuntil the
pressures of the Great Tribulation (the Time of Jacob's Distress)causedthem
(see especiallyZechariah12:10-14-note)to welcome Him as the BlessedOne
Who comes in the Name of the Lord.
And don't miss the time sensitive word UNTIL, as it is filled with Messiah's
love and mercy, for it speaks ofsomething happening (Israel's Temple
desolate)up to a future point in time, in this case Messiah's SecondComing
which is more accuratelycalled the real TRIUMPHAL ENTRYand the
believing Jewishremnant cries out "Blessedis He Who comes in the Name of
the Lord!"

32. Spurgeon- “As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it.” On three
occasions we are told that Jesus wept. The first was when our Lord was about
to raise Lazarus from the dead. He saw the sorrow of the sisters and
meditated on the fruit of sin in the death and corruption of the body, and he
groanedin spirit, and it is written that “Jesus wept” (Jn11:35). The third
occasionwas in the Gethsemane agonywhen a showerofbitter tears was
mingled with the bloody sweat(Heb 5:7). The secondoccasionwas here at the
sight of the beloved but rebellious city. Our Lord, in weeping over Jerusalem,
showedhis sympathy with national troubles and his distress at the evils which
awaitedhis countrymen. He suffered a deep inward anguishand expressedit
by signs of woe and by words that showedhow bitter was his grief. He is the
Sovereignof sorrow, weeping while riding in triumph in the midst of his
followers. Did he ever look more kingly than when he showedthe tenderness
of his heart toward his rebellious subjects? The city that had been the
metropolis of the house of David never saw so truly a royal man before, for he
is most fit to rule who is most ready to sympathize. Jesus knew the hollowness
of all the praises ringing in his ears. He knew that those who shoutedhosanna
today would, before many suns had risen, cry, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
He knew his joyous entrance into Jerusalemwould be followedby a mournful
processionoutof it when they would take him to the cross to die. Yet in all
that flood of tears, there was not one for his own death. The tears were all for
Jerusalem’s doom, even as he saidafterwards, “Daughters ofJerusalem, do
not weepfor me, but weepfor yourselves and your children” (Lk 23:28).
Wept (2799)(klaio)refers to a loud expressionof grief which can even include
wailing out loud. So klaio candescribe not only the shedding of tears, but also
all manner of external expressionofgrief. This describes Peter's experience
after denying His Lord three times and going out where he "weptbitterly."
(Mt 26:75;Mk 14:72). Klaio is used especiallyto describe the wailing and
lamenting for the dead and indeed Jerusalemwas in a sense "dead" andwill
remain "dead" until the King returns. Why? BecauseJesus haddone miracles
and clearlyshown the Jews of JerusalemWho He was and yet they steadfastly
refused to hear, to see and to believe He was their Messiah. Jesuswas also
sobbing because He knew their rejectionof Him as Messiahwould bring
about intense suffering and tragedy. In 70 AD after a siege of143 days the
Romans would kill (by some reports) up to a million Jews and take thousands
more captive.
Luke's uses of klaio - Lk. 6:21; Lk. 6:25; Lk. 7:13; Lk. 7:32; Lk. 7:38; Lk.
8:52; Lk. 19:41; Lk. 22:62;Lk. 23:28;Acts 9:39; Acts 21:13;

33. Brian Bill - Jonahlookedon Nineveh and hoped it would be destroyed, while
Jesus lookedatJerusalemand wept because it had destroyed itself. The
parade suddenly stops. People see His shoulders shaking. Maybe He’s
laughing. Everyone else is throwing up cheers while Jesus is shedding tears.
These were chest-heaving sobs. This same word is used in Mark 5:38 to
describe how family members were crying over the death of a young daughter
when it says they were “crying and wailing loudly.” Jesus was not weeping
because He was going to suffer and die. No, He was lamenting the lostand
their hard hearts. He breaks out into loud wailing when people will to go their
own way. I like how the Bible ExpositionCommentary puts it: “No matter
where Jesus looked, He found cause for weeping. If He lookedback, He saw
how the nation had wastedopportunities. If He lookedwithin, He saw
spiritual ignorance and blindness…as He lookedaround, Jesus saw religious
activity that accomplishedvery little…as Jesus lookedahead, He wept as He
saw the terrible judgment that was coming to the nation, the city, and the
temple.” I wonderhow much He weeps for the things that are happening in
our country? Do you feel what Jesus feels – even when others don’t? Are you
willing to let your heart be broken for those who are hurting and wandering?
Ask God to help you feelwhat Jesus feels about their lostness and then
determine this week to invite him or her to our GoodFriday and Easter
services. Surveys indicate that the majority of people who don’t attend church
give the same reasonwhenthey’re askedwhy they don’t: “No one ever
asked.” Your missionthis week is to make the Easter ask!...His tears reveal
His heart of compassiontowardyou. Romans 2:4 says that God’s kindness
can lead you to repentance. As you focus on his tears, allow His kind heart to
melt awayyour hardness and turn to Him. In Matthew 21:10-11, we readthat
the whole city was “stirredand asked, ‘Who is this?’” The word stirred is
where we getour word seismic. I cantell you this. When you totally submit
and surrender to the Savior, allowing Him to make a triumphal entry into
your own heart, seismic changes willtake place. Friend, don’t put off the
decisionany longer. Welcome the King into your life today and worship Him.
When you die, you may be askedjust one question. The question will go
something like this: Why should I let you into heaven? Any answerother than
because you have put your faith in Jesus and allowedHim to triumph over
your sins, is the wrong answer. (Sermon)
Spurgeon- There will be no true glory for Jerusalemuntil the Jews are
converted; there will be no return of Christ to that royal city until they shall
welcome him with louder hosannas than they gave when he rode in triumph
through the streets, and enteredinto the temple. The Lord grant that we may

34. never reject Christ! Let us run, even now, like little chicks, and hide beneath
the wings of the Eternal.
Steven Cole - On Palm Sunday, Jesus fulfilled severalOld Testament
prophecies, which I canonly touch on here.
(1) Psalm 118:22-27.This psalm, sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalemfor
the feasts, refers to Jesus, the cornerstone rejectedby the Jewishleaders, and
to the day of MessiahwhichGod has made. In Hebrew, “do save” (Ps 118:25)
is “Hosanna,” whichthe crowds calledout to Jesus (Matt. 21:9). Luke omits
that word, but he reports that they quote Psalm 118:26 as Jesus passes by
(Luke 19:38).
(2) Zechariah 9:9 (see Matt. 21:5; John 12:14-15). Zechariahproclaims,
“Rejoicegreatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!Behold, your king is coming to
you; He is just and endowedwith salvation, humble, and mounted on a
donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This prophecy refers especially
to Messiahin His humiliation. The word “humble” (Zech. 9:9) points to one
who is not only humble, but also oppressedorafflicted by evil men. After the
time of Solomon, a donkey was considereda lowly animal ridden only by
persons of no rank or position. Kings, warriors, and people of importance
after Solomon’s time rode on horses. The donkey was considereda burden-
bearer, an animal of peace, notan animal of war. By riding a donkey, Jesus
was showing Himself to be Messiah, in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, but not
the exaltedpolitical Messiahof warthat the people expected. In His first
coming, Jesus was the suffering Messiahoffering peace and salvation.
(3) Daniel 9:24-27. I do not have time to demonstrate the calculations, but the
19th century British scholar, Sir Robert Anderson, showedthat Jesus’
triumphal entry fulfilled to the very day Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks
concerning the appearance of Messiahthe prince (see Alva McClain, Daniel’s
Prophecyof the Seventy Weeks [Zondervanl p. 20). Note Jesus’words in Luke
19:42, “If you had known in this day ....” What day? The precise day that God
had fixed in Daniel’s prophecy. Before this time, Jesus would not allow His
followers to proclaim Him as Messiah. Butnow (Luke 19:40)He accepts their
acclaimbecause the day had come for Messiahthe prince (cf "until Messiah
the Prince" - Da 9:25) to be proclaimed.
RelatedResources:
Jesus wept - why did Jesus weep?
The Temple--Its Ministry and Services:Chapter 1 By Alfred Edersheim - A
First View of Jerusalem, and of the Temple - And when He was come near,
He beheld the city, and wept over it.' Luke 19:41

35. JERUSALEM - The name Jerusalemmeans "city of peace" or"foundation of
peace";and the people were hoping that Jesus would bring them the peace
that they needed. However, He wept because He saw what lay ahead of the
nation-war, suffering, destruction, and a scatteredpeople. At His birth, the
angels announced"peace onearth" (Luke 2:13-14-note);but in His ministry
Jesus announced"waron earth" (division) (Luke 12:51ff-note). It is
significant that the crowds shouted "peace in heaven" (Luke 19:38), because
that is the only place where there is peace today! The nation had wastedits
opportunities; their leaders did not know the time of God's visitation. They
were ignorant of their own Scriptures. The next time Israel sees the King, the
scene will be radically different! (Rev. 19:11ff-note)
The MoodyBible Commentary has very interesting comment regarding Jesus'
weeping over Jerusalemin light of their coming judgment for rejecting their
Messiah- The judgment of Jerusalemclarifies two issues regarding the
history of anti-Semitism: First, the judgment was caused by the Jewish
leadership’s rejectionof Jesus as Messiah, notfor being uniquely and
perpetually guilty of crucifying Jesus. This contradicts the historic “Christ-
killer” accusationagainstthe Jewishpeople. Second, the judgment was
fulfilled by the devastating events of the destruction of Jerusalemin AD 70,
not through the oppressionof the Jewishpeople in their perpetual wanderings
and persecutions. Beginning with Justin Martyr (who wrote of the Jewish
people “tribulations were justly imposed on you, for you have murdered the
Just One,” Dialogue with Trypho, 16), the church has frequently leveled both
these false charges againstthe Jewishpeople, misunderstanding the clear
teaching of Lk 19:41–44.
Heartaches
Read:Luke 19:28-41
As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it. —Luke 19:41
Heartaches—the worldis full of them! A boy is mockedat schoolbecause he
has an underdeveloped arm. A widow painfully remembers the day her
husband committed suicide. Parents grieve overa rebellious son. A man
tenderly cares for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease and doesn’t even
know him. A minister resigns because ofvicious lies told about him. A wife
anguishes overher husband’s unfaithfulness.

36. Such heartaches have causedsome people to drop out of life. Other hurting
folks have gone to the opposite extreme, trying to lose themselves in a flurry of
activity.
We canlearn how to handle our heartaches by looking at the life of Jesus. His
heart was breaking as He contemplated what would happen to Jerusalem. He
let Himself cry (Luke 19:41). Then He continued the work He came to do—
confronting sin, teaching the people, and instructing His disciples.
If your heart is aching, admit your hurt to yourself, to others, and to God.
This will open the door to receiving the help you need from the Lord and from
people who care. Then choose to getinvolved in life by worshiping, loving,
caring, and working. As you do, your deep hurt will lessenand your joy will
increase.
God wants to bind the broken heart
And wipe eachteardrop dry;
He'll calm and soothe the troubled soul
Who looks to God on high. —Brandt
Serving others helps to heal your grief.
By Herbert Vander Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries,
Grand Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Through The Eyes Of Jesus
Read:Matthew 9:35-38
As [Jesus]drew near, He saw the city and wept over it. —Luke 19:41
Actor Bruce Marchiano wantedto see the world through the eyes of the
characterhe was playing. So as he prepared for the role of Jesus in a
presentationof Matthew’s Gospel, he prayed, “Lord, show me what it all
looks like through Your eyes.”
That prayer was answeredone day while Marchiano was filming the Lord’s
heartbrokendenunciation of the unrepentant cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida
(Mt. 11:20-22). The actorbegan to weepuncontrollably as he lookedatthe
people around him. He said that he “saw people living their lives in ways that
God didn’t plan.” He likened his reactionto what parents might feelif they
saw their toddler walking into the streetas a truck was coming. Marchiano
realized that compassionis not just feeling sorry for people;it’s a heartache so
intense that it moves us to action.

37. As Jesus walkedamong people, He saw them as shepherdless sheep—
spiritually ignorant, without hope, eternally lost. Movedwith compassion, He
taught them and used His supernatural powerto meet their needs (Mt. 9:35).
Do we see people through the eyes of Jesus? Are we moved with compassion,
not with just a passing twinge of pity but a profound reactionthat motivates
action?
Beautiful lives have they who bear
The burdens of those heavy laden with care;
Earnestare they who daily show
Compassionateservice whereverthey go.
—Anon.
Compassionis love in action.
By Vernon Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
The NeedFor Tears
Read:Luke 19:37-44
As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it. —Luke 19:41
Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, we were all overwhelmedby the
images of devastationand hardship endured by the people of that tiny nation.
Of the many heartbreaking pictures, one captured my attention. It showeda
woman staring at the massive destruction—and weeping. Her mind could not
process the suffering of her people, and as her heart was crushed, tears
poured from her eyes. Her reactionwas understandable. Sometimes crying is
the only appropriate response to the suffering we encounter.
As I examined that picture, I thought of the compassionofour Lord. Jesus
understood the need for tears, and He too wept. But He wept over a different
kind of devastation—the destruction brought on by sin. As He approached
Jerusalem, markedby corruption and injustice and the pain they create, His
response was tears. “Nowas He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it”
(Luke 19:41). Jesus weptout of compassionandgrief.
As we encounterthe inhumanity, suffering, and sin that wreak havoc in our
world, how do we respond? If the heart of Christ breaks overthe broken
condition of our world, shouldn’t ours? And shouldn’t we then do everything
we can to make a difference for those in need, both spiritually and physically?

38. Lord, when I learn that someone is hurting,
Help me know what to do and to say;
Speak to my heart and give me compassion,
Let Your greatlove flow through me today.
—K. De Haan
Compassionoffers whateveris necessaryto healthe hurts of others.
By Bill Crowder(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids,
MI. — Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
Luke 19:42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which
make for peace!But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
But now they have been hidden from your eyesDeuteronomy5:29;32:29; Ps
81:13;Isaiah 48:18;Ezekiel18:31,32;33:11
in this day Lk 19:44; Ps 32:6; 95:7,8;Isaiah 55:6; John 12:35,36;2
Corinthians 6:1,2
But now they have been hidden from your eyes Lk 1:77-79;2:10-14;10:5,6;
Acts 10:36;13:46; Hebrews 3:7,13,15;10:26-29;Hebrews 12:24-26
But now they have been hidden from your eyesIsaiah6:9,10;29:10-14;44:18;
Matthew 13:14,15;John 12:38-41;Acts 28:25-27;Romans 11:7-10;2
Corinthians 3:14-16;4:3,4; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
Luke 19 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Luke 19:28-44 Why You Should Follow Jesus - StevenCole
Luke 19:28-40 Jesus'Humble Coronation, Part1 - John MacArthur
Luke 19:28-44 Jesus'Humble Coronation, Part2 - John MacArthur
"THIS DAY" MARKED A
TURNING POINT FOR THE JEWS
Saying, "If you had known -- The "IF" here is the "if" of a secondclass
conditional statementwhich is determined as unfulfilled. The Jews could have
known, but they did not know. Had they studied and believed their prophet
Daniel 9:24-25-note they could have known that this was the very day about
which he had prophesiedalmost 500 years earlier.
In this day (cf to the parallel phrase "the time" below) - When is this day?
The Greek text is even more striking because it has the definitive article
before day (te hemera), which identifies this as not just any day but as a very

39. specific, unique day, a day the Jews couldhave and should have known!This
is the very day about Danielhad prophesied, the day on which the Messiah
would come into Jerusalemand proclaim (by His actions that fulfilled OT
prophecies like Zechariah9:9 by His willing reception of the Messianic
adulation of the crowd) that He was indeed Israel's long awaitedand longed
for Messiah!
Henry Morris on "this thy day" (Lk 19:42KJV) - "This thy day" was the day
when the Scriptures had said that Messiahwouldpresent Himself to Judah
and Jerusalemas their promised King. The time of His coming had been
foretold in Daniel 9:25, and the manner of His coming in Zechariah 9:9. A
believing remnant had recognizedHim, but the leaders and most of the people
did not. On the very day when they should have crowned Him King, they set
about to destroyHim (Lk 19:47-note). (Defender's Study Bible)
David Guzik adds "Jesus mourned over the fact they did not know the time of
the Messiah’scoming, the day prophesied by Daniel: this your day. This your
day was so important because it was likely the day prophesied by Danielthat
Messiahthe Prince would come unto Jerusalem. Danielsaidthat it would be
483 years on the Jewishcalendarfrom the day of the decree to restore and
rebuild Jerusalemto the day the Messiahwould come to Jerusalem. By the
reckoning of Sir Robert Anderson, this was fulfilled 483 years laterto the day
(by the Jewishreckoning of 360 day years, as in Daniel 9:25). This is the day
mentioned in Psalm118:24:This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice
and be glad in it. (Henry Morris adds this comment on Ps 118:24 - This
particular "day" was acknowledgedas suchby Christ when He wept over
Jerusalemafter its leaders had rejectedHim. "If thou hadst known," He
lamented, "at leastin this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!"
(Luke 19:42).") (Enduring Word Bible Commentary – Luke 19)
Stein on this day - This refers to “the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke
19:44), which refers broadly to the coming of God’s kingdom but more
narrowly to the coming of Israel’s King in 19:28–40.
As Adrian Rogers saidcommenting on Lk 19:42 "Jesus came ontime; He died
on time; He was buried on time; He rose on time; and He is coming on time.
You can just bank on it."
So where is this day prophesied in the book of Daniel? This greatprophecy is
given to godly Danielas an answerto his great prayer in Daniel 9:3-18, 19.
While there is debate over the interpretation of this great prophecy, this
debate stems largelyfrom the fact that many interpreters refuse to accept
Daniel's words literally, but insteadchoose to spiritualize, allegorize orin

40. some other way obscure the plain, normative sense one gleans from a literal
reading of the text. That said, here is the greatprophecy, in my estimation one
of the greatestin the entire Old Testament...
Seventy weeks (70 seven's = 490)have been decreedfor your people and your
holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,to sealup vision and
prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 “So you are to know and
discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until Messiah(Lxx = Christos) the Prince there will be sevenweeks andsixty-
two weeks(483);it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of
distress. 26 “Thenafter the sixty-two weeks (62 weeks + 7 weeks= 483)the
Messiahwill be cut off (karath = violent death) and have nothing, and the
people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war;
desolations are determined. 27 “And he will make a firm covenantwith the
many for one week (7), but in the middle of the week he will put a stopto
sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one
who makes desolate,evenuntil a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is
poured out on the one who makes desolate.” (ED:IT IS TO THIS
PROPHECYTO WHICH JESUS REFERS IN Mt 24:15-see commentary
WHICH SETS IN MOTION THE LAST 3.5 YEARS HE CALLED THE
GREAT TRIBULATION, JEREMIAH CALLED "THE TIME OF JACOB'S
DISTRESS" in Jer30:7-note AND DANIEL CALLED "A TIME OF
DISTRESS" in Da 12:1-note) (Daniel9:24-27-note)
Notice that Daniel 9:25-note says virtually the same thing twice - (1) You are
to know and (2) discernwhich is somewhatsynonymous with "know" but
expresses the idea of knowing the reasonfor something by looking at it or
giving attention to it. In the Greek Septuagintthe Hebrew word for discern is
translated with the Greek verb suniemi which entails the assembling of
individual facts into an organizedwhole, as collecting the pieces ofa puzzle
and putting them together. To be sure Daniel's prophecy is somewhatlike a
puzzle, but puzzles are meant to be put together. Putting togetherthe pieces of
this prophecy does require one to do some work, but God is in the business of
revelation not in hiding His ways from His people. And so His people, the
Jews couldhave known down to the very day when their Messiahwas coming.
Even if they could not discern the exactday they could have determined the
generaltime and that knowledge combined with the fulfillment of Zechariah
9:9 should have "nailed" this one down. They could have and should have
recognizedthe very day of Messiah's visitation.