Sermon - Trinity X 2023 - Luke 19:41-48

Jesus Weeping Over Jerusalem, 1918

Do we know the things that make for peace?

1. Jerusalem thought they had it perfect, but didn’t.

2. We often think we have it perfect, but we don’t.

3. We must know Christ and His love in order to have peace.

Hindsight, history, is very helpful, since it enables us to look back on past events and see what was done well and what could’ve been improved upon. The trouble is that while it’s easy to judge someone else’s mistakes, it’s much more challenging to apply those historical lessons to our own lives. So we look back on Jerusalem crucifying Jesus, the Son of God, and wonder how stupid could they be?! Jesus was the One who made for peace, and they killed Him! No wonder Jesus wept over Jerusalem, no wonder they were destroyed by the Romans in 70AD; they didn’t know the things that make for peace. But do we know the things that make for peace?

You know, Jerusalem thought that they knew everything and had it perfect. Sure, the first temple which Solomon had built had been destroyed nearly 600 years earlier, but it had been rebuilt. Jerusalem was the city that couldn’t be destroyed, thought the Israelites. They liked to chant “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,” like it was a modern praise song with all of its prideful and vain repetition. They thought that they, the Jews, were God’s people, and therefore they would always win in the end.

This sort of pride continued in Jerusalem even in the years following Jesus’ ascension. In Acts 2 we hear of the last mass conversion to Christianity in the Bible: Peter preached a sermon in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and 3,000 were baptized and saved that day. Never again in the book of Acts is such a mass conversion recorded, and after that it’s always household by household, small and scattered growth. A lot of the other early Christian churches in that first century were likely much smaller than Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the big mega church, thousands of members in that city alone. Numbers tend to puff up a person’s pride, think that they have it all, they’re perfect. But Jerusalem was far from perfect. 

In Jerusalem’s pride they seemed to have forgotten the prophetic curse Jesus laid upon them: “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, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” In 70AD Rome besieged Jerusalem, many people starved to death or resorted to cannibalism, those who survived were taken captives and made slaves. The city, including the temple, was razed to the ground. Literally, not one stone was left upon another. Thankfully, all, or at least the vast majority of Christians had remembered their Lord’s warning and escaped from Jerusalem before it was besieged. Nevertheless, that great city, the City of Peace, which didn’t know the things that make for peace, was utterly destroyed in the end.

In hindsight we know that their pride and self-assurance was ultimately their downfall. Even though they were big and prosperous, that wasn’t a sure sign that they were doing everything well or that God would forever preserve them. We American Christians should learn from their example, so that we might not sin as they did. Jesus wept for and warned not only them, but also us. These words are written for our learning and encouragement.

American Christianity is not that different from ancient Jerusalem. Christianity in America boomed and flourished, especially in the 1950’s and up until the late 80’s. Congregations were all expanding, building larger facilities and hiring more people. Our Synod kept building college after college thinking that we’d barely have enough room for all of our students. We were the USA, on top of the world, we couldn’t lose, we were God’s people!

But, after the past 30 years, it’s bitterly obvious that just because we were on top of the world for a while, doesn’t mean we get to stay there. Now all of a sudden our huge facilities, staff, by-lays, colleges, and synodical bureaucracy are quite burdensome to maintain for so few active Christians. The same is true for our country, mind you. The promise is that nations rise and fall. There’s no promise that the USA will always be on top of the world or that we won’t be conquered by a foreign power. Nation rises against nation; this is just the way of this world. 

But as Christians we’re more resilient than others. While we do love our country, we are patriotic, we love our fatherland, we also recognize that we’re most properly citizens not of this world, but of heaven. We are heirs of God’s heavenly kingdom. Our treasures aren’t here on earth, but awaiting us in paradise. I was keenly reminded of this reality at the Synod Convention when dozens of Lutheran bishops from around the world took the stage. We may live in different lands, speak different languages, have different skin colors, and have different earthly rulers, but ultimately these foreign Christians are our people. It doesn’t matter which country or continent we’re from, because a Christian from Iowa and a Christian from Uganda and a Christian from Russia are all one body in Christ.

What makes us Christians isn’t our earthly citizenship, the size of our congregation, our level of wealth, or whether we worship in a huge sanctuary or a tiny mud hut. What makes us Christians is that we know Christ, He who makes for peace. The peace that Jesus Christ came to give us is what we must know and share with others. 

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday He was welcomed with great fanfare, but His first response was to cry. Jesus only cried twice in the Bible, so this is significant. Jesus shed tears on that day because He knew that so many would not receive the peace which His sacrifice on the cross was meant to bring them. He wept over Jerusalem and over all who do not know His peace.

In Jesus’ day many believed that God was only interested in their sacrifices and making money, as evidenced by the money changers in the temple. In our own day so many people do not know a thing about Christianity. Many today believe it’s just about some holy rollers on TV, or a country-club type thing for the upper-middle class. Many people’s only exposure is through TV shows like Supernatural, which isn’t biblical in the least.

But that’s not Christianity. Christianity is the belief that the Triune God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and was crucified for us that we might have life in His name. Jesus came into a world of chaos in order that we might have peace. He came to a people living in confusion and depravity, and taught them the way of wisdom. The Christian church on earth is therefore those people who know Jesus and have received His peace. It’s not about the big facilities, the social activities, a full bank account, or any of the stuff. It’s just about Jesus and His Word which brings us peace. What a comfort! 

 Dear friends in Christ, on this day when we remember Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, let us be reminded that Jesus is He who makes for peace and that’s the heart of our faith. Of course there’s work to do and bills to pay, but that’s not what the church is about, it’s just about Jesus who loves you. Of course you’re not perfect, none of us are, that’s why Jesus died for us. See in the tears of Jesus His heart towards you and all the world. The heart of Jesus is that you might have peace. In your frustration or loneliness or confusion or tiredness look upon the compassionate face of Christ, with arms outstretched upon the tree, who gives you peace through His blood.