Trinity 10 2021
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Luke 19:41-48
Trinity 10
August 8/12, 2021
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had “set His face toward Jerusalem.” He had raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead by transforming death into a mere sleep. He had healed a young boy with an unclean spirit, and fed the 5000 with only five bread loaves and two fish. But performing miracles, performing these miracles, was not primarily why Jesus had come. He did not descend to earth from His heavenly throne in order to become a bread king or a miracle doctor. He became man so that He might enter Jerusalem, so that He might visit this Holy City in peace and goodness. But the Jews who resided there did not desire the things that make for peace. Thus, they cast Jesus out of the City and nailed Him to a cross.
Ironically, this is precisely why Jesus came. He had set His face toward Jerusalem, to His end, to His telos, to His fulfillment, in order to reconcile all men to His Father. All of those miracles were behind Him as signs, revealing who He is. And everyone who believes in Him as the Son of God, will enter into the Father’s presence as adopted children by grace.
Jesus had set His face toward Jerusalem. His desire was to fulfill all that the Prophets had spoken about Him—that He would take up His place as the stone to be rejected so that He might become our cornerstone and our sure foundation.
The Gospel reading for today shows us three things. First, is shows us Christ’s deep sympathy over the impending destruction of Jerusalem. Second, Jesus foretells the form and manner of this destruction. And third, the reason why Jerusalem would be destroyed and also why this matters for us today.
The beginning of Luke 19 record’s Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it 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.”
Jesus offers Himself for free. There are no prerequisites, no prior works or good deeds that must be done, no debt that we need to personally pay off, nothing that men must do in order to receive Him or to earn His love. He offers mercy, salvation, and forgiveness for free. The unfortunate thing is that this perfect love is rejected by many. Because of this, and because Jesus is also a man, He experiences the same emotions we experience. His sadness and disappointment He experiences and shows and what’s recorded in the Bible is not comparable, for example, if our favorite football team loses to their rivals or if the cook messes up our order and the food comes out cold at our favorite restaurant.
Jesus takes this seriously. He takes this stuff seriously because it deals with life and death. His love is so great, so all-encompassing that no one is left out. No one is left to question whether or not He is saved. Jesus is going to the cross to shed His blood, which covers all people. This is what St. John describes in his vision in Revelation 7. He sees a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Then John is asked by one of the elders, “Who are these people? Who are these people clothed in white robes?” John’s response is, “Sir, you know who they are.” The elder then says, “These—this great multitude form every nation, tribe, and language—are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” These are the saints from all time and places who have come out of the great affliction, they have come out of their death and have washed their robes in Jesus’ blood. They have been cleansed from their guilt and shame. But even though they have been washed with His blood, they are not stained red. Their robes are made white. This means that they themselves are made pure and holy as He is because the blood of His cross cleanses them from all their sin.
This is what makes for peace. Jesus visits His people. He visits the Holy City to redeem it by His blood. But Jesus weeps in deep sorrow because not all people will be saved. Some will reject Him. Unfortunately, many who hear the Gospel reject it. This is why St. John doesn’t say, in His vision, “After this I saw all people who ever lived from all time and from all places, every human being who ever lived, come out of the great tribulation.” John says that he saw a great multitude. Now of course, this is a great number of people. All people who have died in the faith, all Christians are included in this great multitude. This is what the great multitude encompasses. It is made up of Christians. But the language of a great multitude, while meaning “a big number of people,” doesn’t mean “every person who ever lived.” Some people—those who reject and pay no attention to Christ’s visitation—are not included in this great multitude.
What is meant by “Christ’s Visitation” is His act of laying down His own life and shedding His own blood for all people and through this, heavenly gifts are bestowed in abundance to people who do not deserve them. Even though Jesus loves everyone, not everyone receives this love with joy or in faith. This is why Jesus weeps. He paid the ultimate sacrifice, He was mocked, ridiculed, spat upon, stripped and nailed to a cross because of His great love for His own creation.
He weeps also, because of the form and manner in which those who reject Him will be destroyed. Jesus here predicts what will happen with perfect precision in the year 70 A.D. The Roman General Titus with his counterpart Tiberius Julius Alexander would march into Israel and lay siege to Jerusalem. They would set up a barricade around the city and surround it and hem it in on every side. No one could get in and no one would escape. And they tore down the city as well as the Temple. They razed Jerusalem to the ground with all her inhabitants inside. No stone was left upon another because Jerusalem and the Jews who lived there did not know the time of their visitation or the things that make for peace.
Luke records this event in his Gospel as an obvious warning. The destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem is also a foreshadowing of the destruction that awaits unbelievers. Those who reject Jesus and His Gospel will be cast into a place prepared for the devil and his angels. There, in hell, the devil and his angels will surround them, hem them in on every side and tear them down to the ground eternally. An eternal, never ending punishment of destruction awaits those who reject and despise this visitation. Let everyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
But even still, God desires not the death of a sinner. He is postponing this final judgement so that all of us might learn to repent and learn to desire the things that make for peace. In fact, Jesus coming to us in peace was one of the main points of one of our lessons during VBS this week. The children learned that the Disciples gathered in the upper room with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Their teacher had been murdered. Maybe they were next. But even though the doors were locked, Jesus appeared in the midst of them. They all had failed Him on Good Friday. Most of the disciples had abandoned Him, Peter denied Jesus three times, and all of them fled in fear. But Jesus didn’t write them off as a lost cause or as failures. He came to them once more and said, “Peace to you.” He restored them into fellowship with Him.
So also does He come to us in the Divine Service in the same manner. He is not angry with us but speaks peace. He speaks of love and forgiveness and He not only speaks this to us and tells us that it will one day be ours but until then we must wait. He shows us what that peace is: it is His very Self, His very Body, which was cast out of the City. What makes for peace is His very Blood that dripped from His body and fertilized the ground. But now it enters your mouth and gives you eternal peace. God be praised that He’s still postponing that last judgment and graces us with His visitation every worship service. This is what truly makes for peace. This will sustain us beyond the Judgment Day into eternal life.
In +Jesus’ name.
