Jesus Wept

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!

Romans 9:1-5 New Testament, The Bible.

Palm Sunday. Two thousand years ago, a man stood overlooking Jerusalem and wept. He wept because a people whose history should have led them to the light of God chose, instead, spiritual darkness. They welcomed Jesus as King but then crucified Him as blasphemer. They would not acknowledge the gift of divine grace that was being offered to them.

Today, little has changed. Jerusalem remains the city over which Christ weeps. Its leaders still do not understand the grace to which their inheritance points and they continue to act as if they were children of darkness (1). The Old Testament teaches clearly that the orphan and the widow and the stranger are protected by God, but they kill and destroy the orphan and the widow. They starve a people into submission. They go back on their promises. Such a people, the Old Testament prophets say, will be broken beyond repair because they have turned away from God and done evil (2).

The Jewish people are privileged because they were given the commandments of God and they were taught by Him in intimate and direct relationship. They were destined to be a people of light bringing goodness and blessing to the world. They were prepared to welcome the Son of God. Many Jewish people today live in the light of their inheritance bringing blessing to the world, but Jerusalem and her leaders have turned away from their inheritance. That way leads only to judgement.

1. The Gospel of John 8:42-44, New Testament, The Bible
2. The Book of Jeremiah 18:9-10, Old Testament, The Bible