"As he approached Jerusalem, and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.'" John 19:41-42
This Palm Sunday I was reminded of Luke's triumphal entry account. Jesus is getting all the worship and praise as he approaches Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, yet he weeps over the city. The gospels gives us two instances of Jesus weeping - first over the grief of Lazarus death in John 11 and now here in Luke 19 the week before his crucifixion. One commentator compares the two Greek words for weep here...
"I mention that because here again we see Christ weeping. What is not so clear from our English translation is the two words for weeping are different. In John's Gospel, the word refers to 'shedding tears'. If there are students of Greek here, it is the word 'dakruo': to shed tears. Silent tears: tears which well up in your eyes and overflow and course down your cheeks. Silent weeping, that is what we have in John's Gospel chapter eleven. Here it is a different word. It is the word 'klaio' which means audible weeping. The weeping which so suddenly seizes you that you lose your control and you cry out aloud: weeping together with visible, audible emotion. Indeed, you could translate this verb at verse forty-one like this - "He broke out with crying - He broke out with it." It seems to have been a sudden violent passion that gripped our Lord."
More then palm branches, this is the image that sticks with me today. Imagine Jesus' visible and uncontrollable weeping in the midst of or following all the joyful praise from the crowds. Probably not the response his closest friends and the disciples expected.
Yesterday I attended a memorial service for Grace Ogawa, who went home with the Lord at age 41 after a six-month battle with cancer. Grace was an encouraging friend who shared in the Journey Retreats I participated in the past two years. Jesus called Grace home the same day as my Uncle Don. So, tears are something I am freshly aware of this past week and yesterday.
I know Jesus weeps and walks with us in our sorrow and grief. But, his tears on Palm Sunday were about something else. He knew what the week ahead would hold for him. He wept over the city of Jerusalem because they did not grasp and understand what would bring true and ultimate peace. In the same passage, Jesus goes on to say, ... you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." My translation..."They just didn't get it."
Today I take pause in considering what I have yet "to get" about Jesus, His Kingdom, and His priorities for His Bride (the Church)! This Passion Week I pray that I may recognize more fully His reign and the Kingdom of God fulfilled in Jesus coming, death, resurrection, and promised return.
