Luke 19:41-44

Cost of Not Converting

Luke 19:41-44 - Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹ As he drew closer, he saw the city

and loudly wept over it,

⁴² saying, “You, if only you knew on this day

what would secure peace –

but now it is hidden from your sight.

⁴³ The time will come upon you

when your enemies will set up earthworks all around you

and blockade you completely

and apply pressure on you from all sides.

⁴⁴ They will raze to the ground

you and your children inside with you,

and will not leave a stone upon a stone.

All this because you did not recognise

the time of God’s intervention on your behalf.”

Luke was writing ten or more years after the actual destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in the year 70. In hindsight he was able to fill in details that Jesus would have known nothing about.

Jesus attributed Jerusalem’s destruction to two factors:

they had failed to knew on this day what would secure peace
they did not recognise the time of God’s intervention on your behalf.

In Jesus’ mind the destruction was not direct punishment from God. It was simply the outcome of their unwillingness to respond to Jesus’ message of universal love and non-violence. The intervention of Rome had been triggered precisely by the armed revolt led by Zealots. (Had Israel recognised and accepted Jesus, its eventual political fate might still have been uncertain. The structures of the world, particularly of Roman imperialism, had little time for a people who took seriously the invitation to love radically and universally – as the Christian communities around the empire eventually found out.)

Israel’s rejection, exemplified by the Pharisees’ opposition to his theatrical entry, was a source of profound sorrow for Jesus. The definitive rejection by the ruling elites would continue during the days that followed.

Why did People not Recognise the Significance of Jesus?

Probably those who rejected Jesus did so because they believed that they had perfectly good reasons to do so, drawn from what they saw as their religious fidelity to Israel.

They were blinded by the power of the religious and cultural system. They gave their allegiance to the system rather than to God, though they mistakenly assumed that the two coincided.

How could they have broken free from the system’s power to brainwash? Jesus had called for repentance, a whole change of mindset from the familiar to the uncertain. What could trigger such a step? Obviously the answer is the Spirit of God. But how do people who already consider themselves religious, indeed who pride themselves on being so, tune in to the Spirit of God that sings a different tune?

Luke’s answer would seem to be

to pursue the inner journey,
to listen to the inner restlessness,
to become familiar with the deepest heart desires,
to be deliberately open always to the gentle breath of the Spirit.

Only in that way can people recognise “the time of God’s intervention on your behalf ... what would secure peace.

Next >> Luke 19:45-48