March 7th
JESUS’ FINAL WEEK
How often I have wanted to gather your people together, as a mother hen gathers her little ones under her wings. But you would not come! I tell you this. You will not see me again until the time when you say, "God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord."
Action: These are the last recorded public words that come at the end to his blistering condemnation of the Jewish religious system. He reveals his heart for people. He is the One who sent prophets to Jerusalem over the centuries, the One always longing to gather Israel in his arms of parental love (Jer 13:17; Deut 32:11). Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because he has always wept over Jerusalem, even as he did again earlier in the week (Luke 19:41). As he stands before these snakes, killers, and white-washed tombs, he does not write them off individually, but likens them to scattered chicks. Grace is his final word!
How much he wanted them to come to him personally, not just go through the motions of ‘doing Christ-like stuff.’ Jesus tells them one day you will reverse your attitude about me. In modern Hebrew, the terminology Jesus used, ‘Baruk haba’, is literally translated “Blessed is he who comes,” and is the everyday phrase in Israel for saying “Welcome!” At his first coming Israel posted a “Not Welcome” sign for their Messiah. When they change that sign to “Welcome!”, Jesus will return to them in power and glory (Rom 11:26-27).
Application: The issue for them and for us is not whether we improve our morality or gather with a church group but whether we gather to Jesus. Beware, for example, that we do not become avid Bible readers, revelling in a knowledge of its stories and the intricacies of its original languages, but miss the Saviour.
JESUS’ FINAL WEEK
TUESDAY – Temple Controversies (c)
TUESDAY – Temple Controversies (c)
How often I have wanted to gather your people together, as a mother hen gathers her little ones under her wings. But you would not come! I tell you this. You will not see me again until the time when you say, "God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord."
Matthew 23:37,39, World English Bible
Action: These are the last recorded public words that come at the end to his blistering condemnation of the Jewish religious system. He reveals his heart for people. He is the One who sent prophets to Jerusalem over the centuries, the One always longing to gather Israel in his arms of parental love (Jer 13:17; Deut 32:11). Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because he has always wept over Jerusalem, even as he did again earlier in the week (Luke 19:41). As he stands before these snakes, killers, and white-washed tombs, he does not write them off individually, but likens them to scattered chicks. Grace is his final word!
How much he wanted them to come to him personally, not just go through the motions of ‘doing Christ-like stuff.’ Jesus tells them one day you will reverse your attitude about me. In modern Hebrew, the terminology Jesus used, ‘Baruk haba’, is literally translated “Blessed is he who comes,” and is the everyday phrase in Israel for saying “Welcome!” At his first coming Israel posted a “Not Welcome” sign for their Messiah. When they change that sign to “Welcome!”, Jesus will return to them in power and glory (Rom 11:26-27).
Application: The issue for them and for us is not whether we improve our morality or gather with a church group but whether we gather to Jesus. Beware, for example, that we do not become avid Bible readers, revelling in a knowledge of its stories and the intricacies of its original languages, but miss the Saviour.
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God’s anger is the response of love to willful children who refuse his grace.
God’s anger is the response of love to willful children who refuse his grace.
