Why did Jesus lament over Jerusalem?
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| Dispute of Jesus and the Pharisees over tribute money (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Today we return to Matthew’s gospel and resume our study of the last week of
Jesus’ life, during which the Jerusalem authorities will crucify the Lord
(chap. 27). Passion week, however, is not the first time Jesus’ countrymen
reject Him as the Christ. Herod would not tolerate any rival and tried to kill
the newborn king (2:16–18). Many Pharisees said He was of the Devil (9:32–34), and the towns of Chorazin, Tyre, and Nazareth did not repent when Jesus
preached the Gospel to them (11:20–24; 13:53–58). Both Sadducee and Pharisee have asked trick questions of Jesus (22:15–40), falsely believing themselves pious when they denied Jesus’ messianic office. Yet those who reject Christ reject God Himself, and they will suffer for their impudence (23:1–36; see Luke 10:16).
Matthew 23:37–39 records Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem after declaring woes on the city’s leaders (vv. 1–36). He expresses sorrow that Israel has continually rejected God’s call for repentance in a metaphor that likens the Godhead to a mother hen, a rare biblical use of a feminine image for deity (see Isa. 42:14). Such imagery reminds us that our Creator is not male, though neither is He female — He is spirit (John 4:24). Nevertheless, we call God “Father,” not “mother,” for that is how He has told us to address Him (Matt. 6:9; Rom. 8:15). God is our head and initiates salvation when He pours out His grace; male images for Him remind us of this fact, for men are given headship in the church and the family and thus, the right and duty to initiate (1 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:12–15).
Jesus’ lament shows us that human suffering, considered in itself, does not
please the Almighty. Although God has ordained Jerusalem’s destruction, His
revealed will in Scripture proves He has “no pleasure in the death of the
wicked (Ezek. 33:11). But, as John Calvin writes, “the will of God is
exhibited to us in two ways,” and there is a sovereign will, unrevealed to us,
that governs all that ever occurs (Deut. 29:29). By this hidden will God may
ordain events that by themselves do not please Him but nonetheless contribute to His glory, which is supremely pleasing to Him (Isa. 48:9–11). God finds pleasure not in the suffering, but in the good He works for His glory through the suffering.
We are not perfectly holy and have no inherent right to execute wrath. How
then can we take pleasure in the death of the sinner if God finds no pleasure
in the death of the wicked? Our hearts should be broken, not gleeful, when we
see someone destroy himself on account of his evil. As you lament the moral
degeneracy of our culture, can others hear sadness in your voice? Are you
grieved when the unrighteous remain impenitent? Author: RC Sproul
