Knowing The Word in Luke 19:41-44, Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

As Jesus comes near to the city, he wails, bursting into sobbing. Jesus makes a play on words regarding Jerusalem that it would “know the things that make for peace” because “Jerusalem” means “City of Peace/City of Shalom.” “Shalom” means not just any peace but peace with God. Jesus envisions the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. The city failed to see that God had visited it, and the people’s failure to find peace with Jesus means their destruction is now unstoppable. Rejection of the Messiah means rejection of the city by God. This is what brings tears to Jesus’ eyes.

Luke 19:41-44

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Prayer: O thou lover of mankind, send down into our hearts that peace which the world cannot give, and give us peace in this world. O King of Peace, keep us in love and charity; be our God, for we have none other beside thee; grant unto our souls the life of righteousness, that the death of sin may not prevail against us, or against any of thy people.

Walter Farquhar Hook, 1798-1875