AFTER THE PARADE

 

Monday, April 3, 2023

 

AFTER THE PARADE

Luke 19:41-44

41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. KJV

 

          On the day we call Palm Sunday, Jesus paused to look at the city that had just welcomed him as King. As he did so, he wept over it. Here the Greek word is klaio which means “to wail aloud” rather than dakruo which means simply “to shed tears.” What Jesus saw was the future destruction of Jerusalem. It would be surrounded with trenches and battlements so that none could come into it or go from it. Thus, weakened by siege, Jerusalem would be overrun and none, not even the children, would be spared.

 

          Jesus explained that this would happen because they had not genuinely recognized “the time” that they had been visited. Here the word “time” means “occasion” and indicates that it was an appointment which they failed to recognize.  

 

          After the parade, or riot, of exciting or disturbing circumstances, it is important to ask, “What just happened?” In your excitement did you commit yourself to follow a path that you would quickly abandon? In your disappointment, did you fail to recognize God’s answer and solution to a problem? Praising or pouting, it is important to keep your wits about you.

 

Dear Lord, protect me from the ignorance of unbridled emotion. Prod me along the way that I do not stray from right thinking and right actions. AMEN