Why was Jesus Weeping?

Luke 19:41-44 and Matthew 23:37-39.
Why was Jesus weeping?
This is a very important question to ask ourselves.  Finding the answer may give us insight into the heart of God and what has been unfolding in front of us for many years.

In Luke 19:37-38 right before Jesus started to weep over Jerusalem, He was greeted and praised while riding a donkey throughout the city and then on the Mt. of Olives by a great multitude singing the Messianic song from Ps. 118. We may read this and not think it was very important but if you were Jewish and present on that day you might begin to understand what was happening.  Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Zech. 9:9 by lowly and humbly coming to Jerusalem as their King.  When the crowd started singing the Messianic Psalm 118 "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" and that person they were singing about was arriving on a donkey, those two things combined to equal "the day" (Ps. 118:24) that the Lord had made, Israel's day to receive their Messiah.  That exact day was told to Daniel by the Angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:25 and the Pharisees recognized it as an important event as well.  That is why the Pharisees are in the back row of the crowd complaining to Jesus about what is going on, they don't believe Jesus is the Messiah, but they recognize that what the people are doing is declaring that He is the Messiah.  That's why they ask Jesus to rebuke His disciples for singing that Psalm and in their eyes, stop blaspheming.  Jesus' response to them is that this must happen (He is the Messiah) and if these people don't cry out these things the rocks around them will.

So, what we have here is a very important day that was long awaited for by Israel when their King would come to them and bring them peace.  It started to slip away and bring behind it a darkness that would linger a very long time over them.  Israel did not on this day receive their Messiah, instead He was crushed for man's sins and lifted up on the cross to become our curse (Gal. 3:13).  At this moment Jesus turns away from His own people and is instead opening Himself up to all who would receive Him (Jn. 1:11-12).
This is why Jesus is weeping.

Jesus declares after He is finished weeping (or maybe declares this while He is weeping) "But now the things that would bring your peace are hidden from your eyes" (Lk. 19:42).  Meaning Israel will be blind for a while, but only until Romans 11:25 is finished (the church is complete).  There is a very important "until" placed here by Paul. "Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in".  Then Israel will be saved.


Matthew 23:37-39 continues Jesus' lamenting over Jerusalem but also gives us the purpose, tragedy, and triumph of all history.

The Purpose
(vs. 37) - "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,

The Tragedy
but you were not willing!  (vs. 38) See! Your house is left to you desolate:  (vs. 39) For I say to you, you shall see me no more

The Triumph
until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

And this "until" is what the world is waiting for Israel to do today.  According to Hosea 5:15 in order for the second coming of Jesus to happen (not the rapture), Israel must repent and acknowledge their rejection of their Messiah "until" He can return to them.  The "affliction" that Israel will go through according to this verse is the same "great tribulation" that Jesus labels in Matthew 24:21, Jesus quoting Daniel 12:1. "For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."  This is given to Israel to go through so that they will call on the name of the Lord and recognize and acknowledge their offense of rejecting the Messiah.

Hosea 5:15 starts out with an interesting statement about the Messiah returning to His place.  That implies that He must have left His place in order to be returning to it.  This of course is the promise in John 14:2-3,12 that Jesus tells His church, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may also be, because I go to My Father".  At this very moment Jesus is on His Father's throne right now in the role of High Priest for His church preparing a place for His bride (Rev. 3:21/Heb. 4:14).

No matter what you believe about the rapture happening before or after or not at all, when Jesus returns to the earth for His second visit, He will be in the role of King and will be coming back to the earth to sit on His throne, the throne of David.  His kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness on the earth, ruling the nations from Jerusalem on His throne (Jer. 3:17,1 Cor. 15:25, Dan. 2:44,7:13-14, Psa. 2:8-9, Amos 9:11, Mic. 4:3-5, Zech. 14:16-17).  In order for this to happen Israel must first acknowledge their offense of rejecting Him, this is what the great tribulation time will be for (Rev. 6-19), but most importantly this is what the church is doing now.  We are to be giving Israel an example of how to worship the Lord God and not run after false gods.  When Israel "earnestly seeks Jesus"(Hos. 5:15b), they will find Him, coming on the clouds of heaven to be their long awaited for King and Messiah to bring them the peace they have so long waited for.

This is the Triumph of all history and one of the reasons the church is here on the earth at this time.  Let us pray for Israel today and help them see what we see.  There is a blessing in helping Israel and a curse in going against them.  Isaiah 60 tells of Israel being a future light to the Gentiles living in dark times.  This is very easy to see happening in our day, Israel has taken a deserted land of wilderness and turned it into an oasis of beauty and rich worth.  Israel is the only nation on the earth that has a truly prospering and stable economy and which their government is not full of crooks and robbers.  Isaiah 60:12 tells us that "the nation and kingdom which will not serve Israel shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined".  Jesus is getting His people and land ready for Him to come back to.  When He does He will judge the nations that went against Israel and will reward those who helped her.  Thats what the parable of the sheep and goats is about in Matthew 25:31-46.  We need to be a people and nation that helps Israel see who her Messiah is when they welcome Him back the second time, not on a donkey but riding on a great white horse with authority and power as King of the world (Rev. 19:11-16).

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