Sermon - Trinity X 2022 - Luke 19:41-48

Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple, Caravaggio, 1610

Why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem? It’s kind of a strange look, especially given the context for His weeping. Just prior to this was the triumphal entry. Twice during the church year we hear the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry, once in Advent and once in Lent, both times are quite celebratory. Jesus rides in on a donkey with loud fanfare, people shouting out “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” People lay down their cloaks and branches to greet Jesus as their King! But then what’s the first thing Jesus does? He weeps. How bizarre.

“When He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, 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…you did not know the time of your visitation.”” So today we learn of Jesus’ visitation of peace. We will consider first, that (I.) Jesus wept over Jerusalem since the people didn’t know His peace; second, that (II.) there’s cause to weep over our own nation, churches, and families since many of them often don’t know His peace; and third, that (III.) the time of Jesus’ visitation is now, so let us know His peace.

When I say that the people of Jerusalem didn’t know His peace, that doesn’t mean that the people were always quarreling with each other, or that they were living in terrible poverty, or that no one went to church, or that they were very anxious people. It’s actually mostly the opposite. The Israelites were behaving as if everything was just peachy and everything was gonna be alright. He entered the temple and it was full! Commotion and people everywhere! Activities constantly going on! It looked like a healthy vibrant community.

But what did the Prince of Peace do when He saw it? “He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold.” He flipped over tables and chased everyone who was buying and selling out of the temple! What’s the rationale for this radical behavior? He explains: “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” God’s house is meant to be a place where you seek refuge in the Lord from sin and evil, but the people were making God’s house into a place of refuge for evildoers, where they felt comfortable and secure in their sins.

Our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah gives us some good context to help us understand what was going on. Jeremiah was to stand at the gate of the temple, the Lord’s house, and proclaim: “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.” But what the people were doing instead was living in their sins, without repentance, without amending their lives, and then going to the temple and saying “We are delivered!” 

They’d cry out: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” The Israelites were trusting in the fact that they had the temple and that they were called by God’s name, that they were God’s people, without trusting in God. They’d honor God with their lips but their heart was far from Him. Like Jesus said of the pharisees, they were whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside but dead inside. The Israelites were using their religion as a cover for their evil. “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?”

So when Jesus says that His house has been made a den of robbers, it doesn’t mean that it outwardly looks like a place where robbers go, it just means that robbers are fleeing to the temple like a den, a hiding place, a refuge, where they can feel secure in their evil. But that’s not what God’s house is meant to be. It’s meant to be a house of prayer. It’s meant to be a place where we go to seek refuge in God from our sin and evil. When we pray we are imploring God for help, to save us from the evil one and all evil deeds, even those which are done with our own hands. We come to God on bended knee, with repentant hearts, begging God’s forgiveness and compassion.

So the Israelites didn’t know the things that make for peace since they didn’t know the time of their visitation, they didn’t realize that Jesus was their Visitor from above who came to give them peace. They thought that since they had the temple and were called Israelites they could do whatever they wanted and would still be saved. They had a false sense of security and peace.

Jesus wept for them since He knew what was coming. He even prophesied it: “For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you.” Jesus was referring to the destruction of Jerusalem which would take place in the year 70AD. Josephus described this event in much gory detail, you can read about it yourself. Jesus wept because He knew what was coming for those who rejected Him and His peace, both in this life and in the life to come.

Jesus wept over those who didn’t know His peace then, and He wept over those who still don’t know His peace today.  There’s also cause to weep over our own nation, churches, and families since many of them often don’t know His peace. I’d guess we all have some friends or family who have fallen away from the faith, or who at the least seem to have lost their way. Over half the country claims to be Christian, but it’s a rather smaller percentage that practices their faith in any meaningful way. This means that there are many people in America who use Christianity as a den of robbers, as a cloak for their evil. They presume to have peace and security, yet they don’t have the peace which only Jesus can give. 

If this makes you sad and causes you much distress, know that you’re in good company. Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and so it’s okay if we’re also upset. Jesus knows your sorrows, in fact He feels them too. We worry about our kids and siblings, our friends and neighbors. So take comfort to know that Jesus weeps with us. We want our loved ones to have Jesus’ peace, and Jesus wants that too. 

So in the meantime, while we’re surrounded by so many problems, what do we do? It’s important for us to remember that the time of Jesus’ visitation is now, so let us know His peace. “My house shall be a house of prayer,” says our Lord. God dwells in His holy temple, and Jesus is seated on His throne at the right of God the Father almighty! He hears our pleas for pardon and grace, and He mercifully answers us. He has come to take away our sins and be a place of refuge for us.

Remember what it is that Jesus came to do in Jerusalem: He came to be the sacrifice for sin, for all sin, for your sin. He came to give you peace. Through the blood of Jesus Christ you have that peace. Salvation is yours, life everlasting belongs to you. This earthly Jerusalem was destroyed, but Christ has gone to prepare a place for us in the new heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem means the city of peace, and so Jesus is preparing an eternal city of peace for you His people.

Though there is much tribulation in this life, Jesus spends His time in the temple teaching His people of peace. So let us learn from our Lord. Instead of treating Christinaity as a cloak for our sins, instead of trusting in our membership in a congregation to save us, instead of presuming we can do whatever we want without consequence, let us flee to Jesus with repentant hearts and amend our ways while there is still time. He has come to forgive sins, so let us receive forgiveness from Him. 

Jesus is our visitor of peace. He doesn’t neglect us and ignore us, but He comes right down into our messy human lives. He sees everything going on for what it is and He doesn’t pretend that’s all okay, instead He does the only natural thing a human can do: He weeps. He wept for Jerusalem, He weeps for our nation today, and He offers true peace and life through His sacrifice on the cross. Though today He’s a visitor, one day He will make one final visitation when He shall bring His little Christians into their new city of peace. In that day there will be no need for visitors anymore, since we will all be home and dwelling in safety.