Entering Jerusalem, the Savior wept. Not for the Cross He would face, but for the people.

I wonder if tears filled His eyes as He heard the laughter of children playing, laughter that soon would be silenced as Jerusalem would be laid siege.

The people who had rejected Him would face judgment. Judgment would come through the armies of Rome.

So many would die, that their bodies would be thrown over the city walls.

The ancient historian Josephus would write of the destruction of Jerusalem , “All hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devour the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms of women and infants that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also, and the young men wandered about the market places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead wheresoever their misery seized them. For a time the dead were buried; but afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the wall into the valleys beneath.”

Buildings would be leveled. Lives lost. Chances gone. The time of judgment would come.

Knowing what the rejection of the people would bring, Jesus weeps. “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:42)

And we are still a people who look for peace in all the wrong places.

We look for peace to come to this world through a political movement or social justice rather than the Savior, who alone, changes the hearts of men.

There is only one thing that will make for our peace. One Savior.

Jesus.

His peace far surpasses anything this world can bring.

And it’s a strange peace, strange in that we realize the things we used to look for to bring us peace do not last.

One by one we watch them fail.

Political leaders mess up.
Relationships get rocky.
The economy wains.
Health deteriorates.
Bodies grow old.

And though the world around us may in fact, get even harder, our peace to weather the storms stands on nothing less than the Rock Who is Christ the King.

The world hated Him, and there will be times they will hate us too.

And for people who genuinely care about other people that’s a very difficult thing.

How much more so for the Lord? He wept because the people had rejected the peace He offered them. (Luke 19:42)

Jesus came to die in their place. He came to be their peace and they rejected Him.

They still are today. We see it all around us.

The enemy of their soul has blinded them to truth. They are surrounded on every side by the lies of this world. They want peace, but it eludes them because they refuse to surrender their ways to God’s better ways.

It’s hard to watch in our world and gut-wrenching to observe in those we know and love.

But we are to keep loving them. Our Savior did all the way to the Cross.

Is it easy? Not at all.

Jesus told us, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. “ (Luke 6: 27)

As we do, may they see Jesus in us. May they be drawn to the strange, wonderful, lasting peace that we have.

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