Why is That Man Crying?

Why would He be crying? His entry into Jerusalem was the first-century equivalent of a ticker-tape parade. He was surrounded by adoring multitudes, many thousands who accompanied Him on the two-mile trek from Bethany into the holy city, and many more thousands who streamed out of the city to welcome Him.

They cheered and worshiped and sang Scripture songs to Him: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Mark 11:9). They paved His way into the city with palm branches and cloaks, just as their ancestors did nearly 200 years before in honor of the Jewish hero Judas Maccabeus.

So why the tears? And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it (Luke 19:41). Sure, Jesus had wept before, actually only weeks before, at the tomb of His friend Lazarus. But that had been quieter, self-contained. This time the sobs wracked His body, this time He wailed in anguish.

 

But why? Why, when He was, at that moment, the most popular man in Palestine?

Jesus knew that the adulation of the crowd might have been a mile wide, but it was only an inch deep. The cheering multitudes wanted free food—loaves and fishes multiplied —but not the Bread of Life. They wanted free healthcare—diseases healed and demons cast out—but not the healing of their souls. They wanted Rome off their backs, but didn’t want to bend the knee to the one true King.

Jesus the Suffering Servant wept for their lost opportunities. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes (Luke 19:42).  But Jesus the righteous Judge pronounced a sentence on the city and the people who rejected Him: For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. (Luke 19:43-44).

Only forty years later, Titus’ army finally overran the city, and Jerusalem was destroyed. The Jewish historian Josephus says over a million people died in the slaughter.

When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, He had a lot on His mind. He is no shallow King, buoyed by the fickle praise of a rebellious people. He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and He had His work to do.