Weeping for the Lost
Luke 19:41–44
And when he drew near and saw [Jerusalem], he wept over it. Luke 19:41

Is this not an insight into the very heart of God? God wants the wicked to repent. He wants you to repent. Jesus would have been pleased by the conversion of Jerusalem. Can you not then weep for others, as your Master did? Doesn’t the fact of the final judgment move you? Or if not that, how about the mess unbelievers are currently making of their lives?

Jesus wept for Jerusalem. Should we not weep for our cities? Is there nothing about Philadelphia that might cause us to weep? Or New York? Or any place? Can you not weep for just one who is perishing?

Perhaps you are not yet a Christian and perhaps you say, “No one has ever wept for me.” You cannot be sure that is true. There may be many who have prayed for you with tears that you do not know about. But even if your claim is true, there is still the picture of Jesus weeping that I leave you.

Christians are not what their Master is. They fall short. They do not weep or love as he does. But there is one thing they do. They point to Jesus, as I point to him now. See him sitting on that dry hill overlooking the great city of Jerusalem. He has not come in triumph, a warrior riding upon some great steed. He has come humbly, a king riding on a donkey. He has come to save you, to die in your place. The crowd is cheering him. They want a king who will drive out the Romans and resurrect the fallen throne of King David. But he is not thinking of that. He is thinking of you, and he is crying. He is saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

Ah, but it may not be hidden long. It has been. That has been true of us all. But Jesus comes to bring light. It may be that he is bringing light to you at this moment. What will you do with the light now beginning to shine into the dark recesses of your heart and mind? Will you repress it? Do you prefer the darkness?

Never let that be said of you. Embrace the light! Run to it! God will illuminate the path, and he will draw you to the One who died for you and bind you to him with ties that can never be broken either in this life or eternity. And one day, when he comes to that new Jerusalem spoken about in Revelation, the city of the saints in which there will be no crying and in which all tears will be wiped away, you will be with him.

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.