Luke 19:39-44

Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”

When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”

As predicted by the Prophets, the King had arrived in Jerusalem but the whole thing was “hidden” from the eyes of the Jews. Instead of welcoming Him, the leadership actually scolded the King. They clearly had no idea what was really going on; they had completely missed the time of the visit of the King of Israel. We see here that on this day, God the Father demanded that Jesus be praised. Jesus says that even if the people were forced to be quiet, God would cause the stones to start shouting. The Jewish leadership was way outside of the will of God!

God created the earth and He is not bound by physics. There are some things that are more important than physics to God. This physical world is only a part of the world that God knows. His ways are higher than ours and we can’t understand what He knows. Causing rocks to start shouting would be easy for Him. After all, we were made out of dirt and we can talk. It’s just a matter of what He wants to do.

This is one of the few places where we read that Jesus cried. He loves Israel and He didn’t want them to suffer. Just as Jesus said, their enemies have surrounded them and not long after Jesus said this, men, women and children were cruelly killed by the Romans. Jesus said this happened because they “didn’t know the time” of their visitation.

I am sure Jesus could see what was going to happen to the Jews in His mind and it was horrible! Let us not forget that Jesus dearly loves Israel to this very day and has a future for her. He didn’t rejoice that punishment had come but “wept over it” and so should we. We should be seeking the salvation of Israel and the Jews just as Jesus would. Only the King of the Jews has the authority to punish them. If we act as an authority over the Jews, we are disregarding the authority of the One True King and we must repent or be punished as well! May God have mercy on us.