I'm not much of a crier. My husband will tell you that when I do cry, it tends to really scare him because I do it so rarely. As far as I have seen, Jesus cried twice in scripture. Once, over His friends grief about the death of Lazarus, and then here, in our reading today, over the fate of Jerusalem. It's easy for us to breeze past this. We tend to view Jesus through our "Gentile" lens, but Jesus was a Jew, and as such Jerusalem would have had a very special place in His heart.
Jesus would have traveled there often growing up and even as an adult. He would have gone to Jerusalem several times a year for the festivals and to offer sacrifices. At those festivals, He would have enjoyed fellowship with friends and family, visited perhaps with priests, and worshipped with His fellow countrymen. His memories there would have been sweet and poignant. He would have known many people there. The best thing I can relate it to is knowing that your favorite vacation spot was going to be destroyed. The vacation spot you went to year after year and took many friends with you when you went. Imagine knowing that those friends would betray you. Imagine knowing that no matter what you say, no matter what you do, even at the expense of your own life, these people and this town wouldn't listen to you about how to save themselves. Wouldn't you cry? Out of hurt, anger, sadness, frustration...all of the above make a rather potent emotional cocktail. Beyond that, through Jesus we can get an important look at how God feels.
It grieves Him when His people don't know Him. It grieves Him to know His people will have to suffer. It grieves Him to know that we turn away from Him. Do I grieve God? How many small ways do I turn away from His guidance and love on a daily basis? Do I make decisions that will only hurt me, turning away from His life giving wisdom?
It angers Him when we don't show the proper respect for His house of worship. Jesus' anger was due to the fact that the people selling animals for sacrifice there were selling them for outrageously high prices. They were basically extorting people out of money for their own selfish gain. It makes me think of the notorious televangelists who are constantly convincing people to give money in exchange for "blessing" or for "ministry" that never happens. They take advantage of people in the name of God. He has no tolerance for this. He has no tolerance for people who make it harder for others to find Him. Does my life make it easy for people to find Jesus?
God displayed His earnest desire to be in a relationship with us by sending His son to both make that possible, and show us who He is in a way that we can bear it. Today, and in this season especially, I'm reminded to be so thankful for a God who loved us "so much."
Love that picture and your post, Natalie. It made me think, "do I do what God wants and expects from me or do I dishonor Him by going by own way?" To be honest, there are to many times when I say that I don't want to do something the way God wants but I feel I can handle it myself. Not true. I only succeed in making a mess of things when I do that. I am so thankful for His love and His forgiveness. He is always there for us all we have to do is call upon His name.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous picture, indeed! This is what I came away with today: May what breaks His heart, break mine. May what angers Him, angers me. May I handle both in a way that glorifies Him.
ReplyDeleteNatalie - I love the way you helped us see how much Jesus must have loved Jerusalem and all of the emotions that He must have felt during these events we read about today...VERY poignant! I second what Jaybrena said about what we should walk away with today...well said! WONDERFUL post Natalie...thank you!!!
ReplyDelete"Do I grieve God?" This really squeezes my heart. Makes me think about all the things that I think God is just not paying attention to because he has so much to do... He is paying attention!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Mr. Branderud. I have to say that it saddens the Creator even more when we do not recognize the fact that His Son, Jesus Christ, is not for us to evaluate on a "historical" level and change Him to whatever is convenient for our beliefs. The Old Testament is FULL of preincarnate appearances of Jesus Christ, so even if you do not believe in the validity of the New Testament (which is the WORST possible grievance to the Creator), what do you do with all of those appreances in the Old Testament? ALL of the Old Testament was leading up to the events in the New Testament and the mathematical probablity that Jesus was NOT who He says He was based on ALL of the prophecies that He fulfilled is absolutely preposterous. Any mathematical genius would concede to that fact, even if he is an athiest. Jesus Christ was both COMPLETELY human and COMPLETELY divine and to post otherwise on this blog is a HUGE grievance to the Creator. May God have mercy on your soul, because someday VERY soon you will see THE TRUTH!!!!! With all due respect, YOUR post grieves GREATLY our Creator!!!
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