Skip to main content

296. Jesus, To the Crowd

Luke 23:27-31
Key Verse: Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters Of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children."
Luke 23:28

Five days before, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He Himself had wept for the people. He was burdened because they didn't recognize Him for who He truly was. They thought that He was coming to conquer Rome and restore Jerusalem to its former glory. They did not understand His mission, or who He truly was and that grieved Him. His people had a history of never understanding His heart, and that grieved Him. The gifts of lands and kings, the words of prophets and priests, after all that He had already done, the majority had rejected His way and had to suffer the consequences and as with any good parent, that had grieved Him.

Now, many in the crowd are weeping, but why? Are some of them professional mourners who would wail at every death? Are there loyal followers weeping over the death of a dream and a hope? Surely there are those in the crowd who truly loved Jesus and knew that what was happening to Him was the epitome of injustice! Of course, mixed into the din are also those, who called out, "crucify Him," and their continued jeers are a part of the whole cacophony of sound and emotion accompanying Him to His death.

Jesus, however, is compelled to issue one more warning to the people before His death. Once again, they are focused on the wrong thing. They are moved to express emotion of one kind or another over His impending death. They should really be grieving for themselves and their own future. Jesus knows that the future of Jerusalem is not a pleasant one. He will go to the cross, but He knows that He will rise again in victory. It will not be the same for the Jews. They will be scattered and abused. Their own children will die before their eyes and they will not be able to stop it. They are the ones in real danger, not Him. He knows who He is. He knows what He came to do. He knows His purpose and mission. The people are lost in the dailiness of life, but they don't know it. To them, He is just another visionary, another crucifixion, another dashed hope, and they don't realize how wrong they are.

"Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me; weep for yourselves and for your children."  Luke 23:28 Wake up and know that your salvation is near at hand and if you reject this time, it will be your doom for all eternity!


Hymn: "Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow" 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more