ニューイングランドの母校から、２０１７年イースターへ向け旅の導き その2

ニューイングランドの母校から、２０１７年イースターへ向け旅の導き　その2
Gordon-Conwell's Holy Week Devotional 2017
Day 2: Monday, April 10

A Poignant Moment
Luke 19:41-44
ニューイングランドの母校から、２０１７年イースターへ向け旅の導き　その2
Gordon-Conwell's Holy Week Devotional 2017

All four gospels record how, on Palm Sunday, Jesus rode toward Jerusalem on a donkey. But Luke alone tells us what happened when Jesus reached the ridge that overlooks the city. Superimposed on that sight of Jerusalem--beautiful, complacent and unbelieving—he saw coming disaster. It happened, in fact, 40 years later when the Romans laid siege to the city. They leveled it, leaving “not one stone on another” (Lk.19:44). Jesus saw the bodies lying in the rubble, the desolation of death. He saw God’s judgment.

And yet, as terrible as this was, there was an even greater tragedy that had happened. Because of it, Jesus “wept” (19:41).

He had longed to gather the city’s inhabitants to himself, “as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Lk. 13:34), but they had refused. Their leaders looked down on him for his humble origins. They saw him as untutored. They despised him for the company he kept. Of course, they should have seen that when Jesus welcomed those on the fringes, the broken and wasted, he was showing how great is the grace that is extended to sinners. But they had decided he was no prophet and certainly not the Messiah. You, Jesus said, “did not know the time of your visitation” (19:44). They had missed it because of their unbelief.

In this poignant moment, this moment when Jesus sobbed, we see both God’s deep tenderness and his awesome judgment, his “kindness” and his “severity” (Rom. 11:22). In fact, we never encounter his love except in the context of his holiness. His love shines so brightly because of his holiness. So it was that at the cross a little later, in love, Jesus bore our sin as if it were his own. And he bore God’s wrath as if he had deserved it. Because of his work of grace, we are granted acceptance with God.

David Wells, Ph.D.
Distinguished Senior Research Professor