The traditional Gospel for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity comes from Luke 19:41-47. This passage is right after Luke’s account of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and it emphasizes our Lord’s concern for the city and its people. St. Luke 19:41 says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it…”
It may be hard for us to grasp Jerusalem’s importance in first-century Jewish life and consciousness. It was more significant to Jews than modern London (or Canterbury), Washington, Ottawa, Canberra, Paris, or Berlin are to their nations. A first-century Jew could not ignore Jerusalem. It was the center of Jewish political, economic, educational, and religious life. It was the place of pilgrimage and the center of religious worship. Even daily prayers in homes or synagogues were said facing toward Jerusalem.
Jesus spent a lot of time in Jerusalem, and He acknowledged its importance. So His comments in our Gospel are especially notable. His sadness over the city has great significance, not only about ancient Jerusalem itself, but also about those aspects of human life that Jerusalem represented.
One aspect of Jerusalem that Jesus Christ wept over was political and economic corruption. Several groups competed for power, wealth, and influence. Some wanted to cooperate with Rome; some wanted reform; some wanted political or religious revolution. These groups would keep bickering and struggling. Thirty years later, politics led the city to rebel against Rome, and Jerusalem and its people were devastated by pagan Roman might.
A second aspect was Jerusalem’s role as the intellectual and educational center for all Jews. Most of the educated people of Jerusalem were convinced that they already knew what they needed to know. They scorned and rejected Jesus as a teacher from a backward area who threatened stability. They rejected His spiritual approach. Over the coming decades, these educated people would become more and more politicized, and many would join the doomed rebellion against Rome.
A third characteristic of the city was Jerusalem's role as the heart of the Jewish religion. The city was the place where the whole Jewish people focused their relationship with God. The people usually honored the religious establishment, but many religious leaders lacked living faith. As long as the forms continued, such leaders thought all was well. For them, Jesus was a troublesome outsider to be neutralized. Then the official religious leaders could continue their domination until they too were swept up in the rebellion which destroyed the city, the Temple, and their power.
Such then was the city over which Jesus wept. He wept because He loved His people, and He still honored the values which Jerusalem symbolized. He wept because of the corruption, spiritual blindness, and sin that endangered the city- physically, culturally, and spiritually.
Of course, this Gospel selection is about first-century Jerusalem, but it is also about us, and sadly it seems to have many applications to present-day Western societies. Like first-century Jerusalem, our societies do not know the things that bring true peace. Even many who profess Christ do not follow Him, and the problem is more than personal weakness and individual sins. Our political, intellectual, and religious institutions are permeated by many types of moral and spiritual corruption. So-called Christendom does have a great heritage, but so did ancient Jerusalem. The issue is whether we (both individually and corporately) will heed Christ and His values or continue on the route to destruction.
On the positive side, Jesus Christ offers us a different way. He offers true peace, peace with God. He offers new life through divine grace and living faith. The question that faces supposed Christians is whether we really accept Him and His peace or we refuse Him and continue on the way to destruction.
