How To Bring Tears To Jesus' Eyes
Sermon
Lent: A Time of Tears
Bill and Judy were traveling across the country with their six children, ages three to thirteen. They made a rest stop, and everyone jumped back into the car, except Becky. Someone shouted, "Let's go!" and without counting the number present as they usually did, they drove off. No one missed the little quiet sister. When she came out of the restroom, she looked around and everyone was gone. No father. No mother. No brothers and sisters. She tried to be brave, but tears streamed down her face. She was abandoned and rejected. Her family brought tears to her eyes - tears of rejection.
God's family, Israel, brought tears to Jesus' eyes also. On a day we now call Passion (Palm) Sunday, Jesus came to Jerusalem to offer himself and his gifts to his people, but he was rejected, and his gift was refused. His sorrow was expressed by his words in our text, "And you would not." You would not have me as Savior, says Jesus. You would not accept the gift I offered. There is no greater sorrow than that which comes from unrequited love - to love and not to be loved in return. The truth of the matter is that today Jesus looks upon our cities and weeps because, as of old, we are still rejecting him and his offer. As we contemplate Jesus' weeping over Jerusalem, it is hard for us to keep back our own tears, because we sense the pathos and tragedy of it all.
Tears of Rejection
The Pennsylvania Dutch, among whom I was raised, have a saying, "Sing before breakfast and cry before supper." To this day I cannot bring myself to sing before breakfast in fear of crying before the day is over. It was something like that for Jesus. The day of his last entry into Jerusalem was a day that began with a parade of joy, singing Alleluias, and of triumph. By the end of the day, Jesus went to a hill over-looking the city and wept because his offer to be their king was rejected. He saw his entry as a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy, "Lo, your king comes to you ... humble and riding on an ass ..." Jesus accepted the song of the Disciples as they marched, "Blessed be the king that comes in the name of the Lord." At his trial before Pilate, the soldiers dressed him up as a king: purple robe, a sceptre of a reed, and a crown of thorns. Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The mob shouted back, "We have no king but Caesar." For all the world to know who he was, Pilate had a superscription written in three languages: INRI - "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews."
Jesus was just not the kind of a king they wanted or expected. They were looking for a military Messiah like David who defeated all his enemies with a mighty army. The Jews wanted to expel the Roman conquerors and have an independent nation. They wanted a regime of pomp and power. But, Jesus was a totally different kind of a king. His kingdom was one of truth and justice. His royal law was to love one another. They wanted pomp, but he came in humility. They wanted military glory, but he came as a suffering servant. To them, Jesus seemed to be too idealistic and impractical for their situation, a world of hard realities and tough situations.
Because he was rejected as king, Jesus wept, not because of hurt feelings over the non-acceptance, but because he foresaw the consequences of that rejection. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." With tears, he addressed the city, "How often would I have gathered our children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings ..." He knew what would happen to the nation: destruction, dispersion, and death - "They will not leave one stone upon another." In AD 70 this happened to Jerusalem: The city and temple were destroyed by the Romans. It was the end of the Jewish nation until recent times.
A similar experience came to the prophet, Elisha. Benhadad, king of Israel, was sick and sent his top general, Hazael, to Elisha to learn whether he would recover. After telling Hazael that the king would die, Elisha stared at him for the longest time until Hazael was embarrassed. Elisha began to weep. Hazael asked why he was crying. Elisha explained, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel; you will set on fire their fortresses and you will slay their young men with the sword, and dash in pieces their little ones and rip up their women with child." This horrible picture of what lay ahead is enough to make anyone cry. Jesus foresaw the terrible suffering that lay ahead for his people. Because he loved them and wanted them to have only the best in life, he felt so sorry that he wept over the capital city.
If we reject Jesus as king, we, too, face a future shock. A world that rejects Christ as Lord has a future only of turmoil, suffering, destruction, and death. Where Christ does not reign, we have racism, imperialism, moral degradation, drug addiction, militarism, hunger, suffering, and tragedy. Without Christ as king, there is nothing worthwhile to look forward to. Well might we weep for what lies ahead.
The only hope and solution to our present predicament and secure future is to crown Jesus king of our lives, our cities and our world. What does it mean for Jesus to be our king? It means that no thing and no one dare be placed on a higher plane than Jesus. All things and all persons must be subordinate to him. Jesus must be Number One in our lives. But, does Jesus come first? Who or what really comes first when it comes to material possessions? If Jesus asked you, as Jesus did the rich young ruler, to sell all you own and give the sum to charity, would you, could you do it? This would indicate whether Jesus is king of your purse.
Is Christ really king when it comes to your family? Once Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Jesus is not saying that to be a Christian one must hate his/her family, but he is saying that he should come first before family. As a parish pastor, I called upon a young mother who was holding a baby. I tried to persuade her to come to church to thank God particularly for giving her this lovely child. Pointing to her baby, she said, "This is my god." Could you be an Abraham whom God ordered to offer his only son as a burnt sacrifice? That tells you who is king of your life.
Do you consider yourself to be Number One? You may not be willing to say it, but do you think it or act as though you are? If you do, you and not Christ are the king of your life. Yet, Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself ..." For him to be king, he must come first in your life. The self can come into Jesus' way that we do not see him. A mother and small daughter spent the night at a friend's home. Over the bed was a head of Christ and on the opposite wall was a mirror. When she was in bed, the child could see the picture of Christ through the mirror. This aroused her curiosity. She got up to get a better look in the mirror, but she saw only herself. She said, "Look, Mommy! When I see myself, I can't see Jesus."
More than anything, Jesus wants to come into your life, your city, as king. To reject him, to shut him out is to bring tears to his eyes. One day the English King, Edward VIII, stopped to visit a family on his way to christen a ship. The family was located in a poor section of the city. When the king knocked, a man called, "Who is it?" The reply was, "I am your king. May I come in?" Thinking it was a joke, the man refused to open the door. Respecting the inviolability of the home, the king turned and left. There were tears of rejection in his heart if not in his eyes. Would you cause Jesus to weep because you would not let him as your king enter the home of your life?
Tears of Refusal
Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last time not only to be king but to offer peace. In our text, Jesus weepingly says, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace!" The people of his day and country caused tears to come to his eyes not only because they rejected him but because they refused his gift of peace. At Cape Canaveral there is a reproduction of Appollo's lunar module with the plaque carrying a message signed by President Richard Nixon and the Astronauts who went to the moon: "We came in peace for all men." Jesus came from heaven to earth and specifically to his nation in peace to give peace to all people. When he was born, the angels sang, "Peace on earth, goodwill to all." Isaiah described the coming Messiah as "the prince of peace." St. Paul referred to Jesus as "He is our peace." Jesus gave peace to his Disciples, "My peace I give to you."
It is a sad occasion when a gift is refused. Once a father gave a beautifully wrapped gift to his rebellious teen-ager. The lad literally threw back the package into his father's lap. Can you identify with the broken heart of the father? Our refusal to accept gifts grieve our Heavenly Father when he offers precious gifts to us. Luther tells about the time when he and other boys sang for food. Jokingly, one man scared them by yelling, "What are you boys up to?" The boys were frightened and ran away. Holding up sausages which he intended to give them, he ran after them, but the faster he ran, the faster they ran. Luther pointed out that this is precisely what happens to us when God comes to us with gifts. Rather, we should be like the boy who stuffed himself with a Thanksgiving dinner and, as he rose from the table still heavily laden with all kinds of good food, prayed, "God, please stretch me!" So that he could eat more! Yes, we need to ask God to stretch our faith and desire for more and more spiritual food such as peace.
Of the many needs the world has, the most desperate need is peace. In this age of nuclear and biological weapons, we are in extreme danger of total destruction. A United Nations report declares, rightfully, "The arms race has finally provided man with the means of putting an end to his species." Consequently, not only are some birds and animals, but man himself is an endangered species. Peace has always been desired, but it never has been more urgent than today with nuclear warheaded missiles. Though it has been sought, the world has had little peace. In the 3,500 years of recorded history, fourteen out of each fifteen years have been drenched in the blood of the battlefield. Since 1900, 100 million men have died in 100 wars. Today 500 billion dollars are spent annually on military preparations. Fifty million people are engaged in the war effort. In America, seventy-five percent of the tax dollar goes for defense. Most agree that war is a terrible, terrible thing that settles no problems but leaves only destruction, disease, and death.
If the world is so deeply concerned about peace, how then is it that the world does not have it and to date has not been successful in getting peace? Like Jerusalem, the world has not learned the things that make for peace. What makes peace is Christ. He came to Jerusalem with a gift of peace, but they turned him down and preferred the methods of violence. Jesus once said, "My peace I give to you, not as the world gives ... Peace is a gift of Christ, not a human achievement.
How is Jesus the source of our peace? Probably the basic problem of the world is that we do not know how to get along with each other. As a result, we do not have peace in our homes, our cities, our nation, and our world. If we had Christ, we would have the spirit of Christ in our hearts. His spirit is one of love, goodness, and kindness. Only when there is goodwill among men, will there be peace. Peace is a by-product of these values. And the sad truth is that we will never have peace until Christ dwells in us.
This peace that Christ offers is not only for people in their relations with each other. He offers peace between God and humanity. Men are estranged from God because of their sins. This makes them afraid of God, and they fear his wrath. On God's side, God is offered by the sins of the world. Jesus came to be the mediator of God and humanity. He paid the price of humankind's disobedience. His blood shed on the cross
was a sacrifice for the sin of the world. Here is the power of the cross: to reconcile humanity to God. For Jesus' sake, God accepts the sinner, forgives, and accepts him/her as a child. Paul put it this way, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
You and I can bring tears to Jesus' eyes by our rejection of him as our king and by our refusal to accept his gift of peace. To resist, reject, and refuse him entrance into our lives and society is to make Jesus weep for us. In a hymn, William Howe expressed it:
O Jesus, thou art standing
Outside the fast-closed door,
In lowly patience waiting
To pass the threshold o'er.
But, we can also turn the tears of Jesus into a smile when we receive him as Lord and accept his gift of peace. Joy fills his heart when we sing:
O Lord, with shame and sorrow
We open now the door;
Dear Savior, enter, enter
And leave us nevermore.
God's family, Israel, brought tears to Jesus' eyes also. On a day we now call Passion (Palm) Sunday, Jesus came to Jerusalem to offer himself and his gifts to his people, but he was rejected, and his gift was refused. His sorrow was expressed by his words in our text, "And you would not." You would not have me as Savior, says Jesus. You would not accept the gift I offered. There is no greater sorrow than that which comes from unrequited love - to love and not to be loved in return. The truth of the matter is that today Jesus looks upon our cities and weeps because, as of old, we are still rejecting him and his offer. As we contemplate Jesus' weeping over Jerusalem, it is hard for us to keep back our own tears, because we sense the pathos and tragedy of it all.
Tears of Rejection
The Pennsylvania Dutch, among whom I was raised, have a saying, "Sing before breakfast and cry before supper." To this day I cannot bring myself to sing before breakfast in fear of crying before the day is over. It was something like that for Jesus. The day of his last entry into Jerusalem was a day that began with a parade of joy, singing Alleluias, and of triumph. By the end of the day, Jesus went to a hill over-looking the city and wept because his offer to be their king was rejected. He saw his entry as a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy, "Lo, your king comes to you ... humble and riding on an ass ..." Jesus accepted the song of the Disciples as they marched, "Blessed be the king that comes in the name of the Lord." At his trial before Pilate, the soldiers dressed him up as a king: purple robe, a sceptre of a reed, and a crown of thorns. Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The mob shouted back, "We have no king but Caesar." For all the world to know who he was, Pilate had a superscription written in three languages: INRI - "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews."
Jesus was just not the kind of a king they wanted or expected. They were looking for a military Messiah like David who defeated all his enemies with a mighty army. The Jews wanted to expel the Roman conquerors and have an independent nation. They wanted a regime of pomp and power. But, Jesus was a totally different kind of a king. His kingdom was one of truth and justice. His royal law was to love one another. They wanted pomp, but he came in humility. They wanted military glory, but he came as a suffering servant. To them, Jesus seemed to be too idealistic and impractical for their situation, a world of hard realities and tough situations.
Because he was rejected as king, Jesus wept, not because of hurt feelings over the non-acceptance, but because he foresaw the consequences of that rejection. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." With tears, he addressed the city, "How often would I have gathered our children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings ..." He knew what would happen to the nation: destruction, dispersion, and death - "They will not leave one stone upon another." In AD 70 this happened to Jerusalem: The city and temple were destroyed by the Romans. It was the end of the Jewish nation until recent times.
A similar experience came to the prophet, Elisha. Benhadad, king of Israel, was sick and sent his top general, Hazael, to Elisha to learn whether he would recover. After telling Hazael that the king would die, Elisha stared at him for the longest time until Hazael was embarrassed. Elisha began to weep. Hazael asked why he was crying. Elisha explained, "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel; you will set on fire their fortresses and you will slay their young men with the sword, and dash in pieces their little ones and rip up their women with child." This horrible picture of what lay ahead is enough to make anyone cry. Jesus foresaw the terrible suffering that lay ahead for his people. Because he loved them and wanted them to have only the best in life, he felt so sorry that he wept over the capital city.
If we reject Jesus as king, we, too, face a future shock. A world that rejects Christ as Lord has a future only of turmoil, suffering, destruction, and death. Where Christ does not reign, we have racism, imperialism, moral degradation, drug addiction, militarism, hunger, suffering, and tragedy. Without Christ as king, there is nothing worthwhile to look forward to. Well might we weep for what lies ahead.
The only hope and solution to our present predicament and secure future is to crown Jesus king of our lives, our cities and our world. What does it mean for Jesus to be our king? It means that no thing and no one dare be placed on a higher plane than Jesus. All things and all persons must be subordinate to him. Jesus must be Number One in our lives. But, does Jesus come first? Who or what really comes first when it comes to material possessions? If Jesus asked you, as Jesus did the rich young ruler, to sell all you own and give the sum to charity, would you, could you do it? This would indicate whether Jesus is king of your purse.
Is Christ really king when it comes to your family? Once Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Jesus is not saying that to be a Christian one must hate his/her family, but he is saying that he should come first before family. As a parish pastor, I called upon a young mother who was holding a baby. I tried to persuade her to come to church to thank God particularly for giving her this lovely child. Pointing to her baby, she said, "This is my god." Could you be an Abraham whom God ordered to offer his only son as a burnt sacrifice? That tells you who is king of your life.
Do you consider yourself to be Number One? You may not be willing to say it, but do you think it or act as though you are? If you do, you and not Christ are the king of your life. Yet, Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself ..." For him to be king, he must come first in your life. The self can come into Jesus' way that we do not see him. A mother and small daughter spent the night at a friend's home. Over the bed was a head of Christ and on the opposite wall was a mirror. When she was in bed, the child could see the picture of Christ through the mirror. This aroused her curiosity. She got up to get a better look in the mirror, but she saw only herself. She said, "Look, Mommy! When I see myself, I can't see Jesus."
More than anything, Jesus wants to come into your life, your city, as king. To reject him, to shut him out is to bring tears to his eyes. One day the English King, Edward VIII, stopped to visit a family on his way to christen a ship. The family was located in a poor section of the city. When the king knocked, a man called, "Who is it?" The reply was, "I am your king. May I come in?" Thinking it was a joke, the man refused to open the door. Respecting the inviolability of the home, the king turned and left. There were tears of rejection in his heart if not in his eyes. Would you cause Jesus to weep because you would not let him as your king enter the home of your life?
Tears of Refusal
Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last time not only to be king but to offer peace. In our text, Jesus weepingly says, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace!" The people of his day and country caused tears to come to his eyes not only because they rejected him but because they refused his gift of peace. At Cape Canaveral there is a reproduction of Appollo's lunar module with the plaque carrying a message signed by President Richard Nixon and the Astronauts who went to the moon: "We came in peace for all men." Jesus came from heaven to earth and specifically to his nation in peace to give peace to all people. When he was born, the angels sang, "Peace on earth, goodwill to all." Isaiah described the coming Messiah as "the prince of peace." St. Paul referred to Jesus as "He is our peace." Jesus gave peace to his Disciples, "My peace I give to you."
It is a sad occasion when a gift is refused. Once a father gave a beautifully wrapped gift to his rebellious teen-ager. The lad literally threw back the package into his father's lap. Can you identify with the broken heart of the father? Our refusal to accept gifts grieve our Heavenly Father when he offers precious gifts to us. Luther tells about the time when he and other boys sang for food. Jokingly, one man scared them by yelling, "What are you boys up to?" The boys were frightened and ran away. Holding up sausages which he intended to give them, he ran after them, but the faster he ran, the faster they ran. Luther pointed out that this is precisely what happens to us when God comes to us with gifts. Rather, we should be like the boy who stuffed himself with a Thanksgiving dinner and, as he rose from the table still heavily laden with all kinds of good food, prayed, "God, please stretch me!" So that he could eat more! Yes, we need to ask God to stretch our faith and desire for more and more spiritual food such as peace.
Of the many needs the world has, the most desperate need is peace. In this age of nuclear and biological weapons, we are in extreme danger of total destruction. A United Nations report declares, rightfully, "The arms race has finally provided man with the means of putting an end to his species." Consequently, not only are some birds and animals, but man himself is an endangered species. Peace has always been desired, but it never has been more urgent than today with nuclear warheaded missiles. Though it has been sought, the world has had little peace. In the 3,500 years of recorded history, fourteen out of each fifteen years have been drenched in the blood of the battlefield. Since 1900, 100 million men have died in 100 wars. Today 500 billion dollars are spent annually on military preparations. Fifty million people are engaged in the war effort. In America, seventy-five percent of the tax dollar goes for defense. Most agree that war is a terrible, terrible thing that settles no problems but leaves only destruction, disease, and death.
If the world is so deeply concerned about peace, how then is it that the world does not have it and to date has not been successful in getting peace? Like Jerusalem, the world has not learned the things that make for peace. What makes peace is Christ. He came to Jerusalem with a gift of peace, but they turned him down and preferred the methods of violence. Jesus once said, "My peace I give to you, not as the world gives ... Peace is a gift of Christ, not a human achievement.
How is Jesus the source of our peace? Probably the basic problem of the world is that we do not know how to get along with each other. As a result, we do not have peace in our homes, our cities, our nation, and our world. If we had Christ, we would have the spirit of Christ in our hearts. His spirit is one of love, goodness, and kindness. Only when there is goodwill among men, will there be peace. Peace is a by-product of these values. And the sad truth is that we will never have peace until Christ dwells in us.
This peace that Christ offers is not only for people in their relations with each other. He offers peace between God and humanity. Men are estranged from God because of their sins. This makes them afraid of God, and they fear his wrath. On God's side, God is offered by the sins of the world. Jesus came to be the mediator of God and humanity. He paid the price of humankind's disobedience. His blood shed on the cross
was a sacrifice for the sin of the world. Here is the power of the cross: to reconcile humanity to God. For Jesus' sake, God accepts the sinner, forgives, and accepts him/her as a child. Paul put it this way, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
You and I can bring tears to Jesus' eyes by our rejection of him as our king and by our refusal to accept his gift of peace. To resist, reject, and refuse him entrance into our lives and society is to make Jesus weep for us. In a hymn, William Howe expressed it:
O Jesus, thou art standing
Outside the fast-closed door,
In lowly patience waiting
To pass the threshold o'er.
But, we can also turn the tears of Jesus into a smile when we receive him as Lord and accept his gift of peace. Joy fills his heart when we sing:
O Lord, with shame and sorrow
We open now the door;
Dear Savior, enter, enter
And leave us nevermore.
