“Christ’s Constant Visitation – Our Peace”
Luke 19:41When [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43For 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 44and 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.”
There is a part of me that is really enjoying this hot and dry summer.
It’s mostly the lazy part of me that cuts the grass.
No rain, no growing grass means more times with my family and my church family.
But that’s a pretty selfish and shallow perspective from me.
Eventually, no rain means no life for plants, animals, and eventually us.
If rain doesn’t visit the earth and water it, death will eventually follow.
Perhaps you could saved a little time if you didn’t say your prayers.
Perhaps you could get a little more sleep, have a little more freetime or avoid seeing someone you don’t like if you didn’t come to church.
I know for certain you would say yourself a lot present trouble from the devil and demons as well as some friends and family if gave up on caring about God’s Word and truth and what Jesus says makes for peace,
and it seems like you have a much easier life if you didn’t keep trying to love your neighbor as yourself,
but that would be a pretty lazy and selfish and shallow perspective from you
Faith must be constantly watered by Jesus and His Word and Sacrament or it will die.
Love must be constantly received from Jesus or our love for others will completely fail.
Our Gospel reading for today will reveals that not only does our faith and love dye apart from Christ. We are warned against our rebellion.
Christians have used the picture of two magnets that are either pulling each other together or pushing each other apart.
According to our sinful nature, we not only do not want to come to Jesus. We want to run away from Him.
Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned, they didn’t stay put.
Scripture says while we were yet ungodly, sinner, enemies, Christ died for us.
Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem because most in the city have rejected Him.
It’s more than that they have ignored Him – you couldn’t and you can’t ultimately ignore Jesus.
He raised the dead, fed thousands, and taught with authority, unlike the scribes and Pharisees.
You couldn’t ignore Jesus.
It is that they have rebelled against Him, pushed against Him, even hated Him.
The text ends with –
The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him.
Jesus says that we are either for Him or against Him.
Jesus says you can’t serve two masters – you will love one and hate the other.
We either love His Word and want to gladly hear and learn and obey or we despise preaching and His Word want to rebel against Him. Neutrality and apathy do not last for long.
This texts stands as a our warning against our rebellion.
We are baptized. We have been pulled into Christ,
the magnet of our souls has been flipped and we love the Lord who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light,
we want to draw near to God as He draws near to us,
but the devil, the world, and sinful nature is pushing against Christ.
Without Christ’s constant visitation and watering our faith and love of Him through His Word and Sacrament,
we will continue to push against Christ until we no longer want Him to reach us and might even become angry when He and His Christians try.
We are sinner and saint – a sinner who doesn’t trust Jesus for nothing,
and a saint who loves Jesus and is sad that we still have unbelief dwelling in us.
Jesus weeps today in our text. It’s a word that means “crying out, a wailing, a loud cry.”
You can’t ignore Him. You are either sympathetic and want to weep with Him because of your rebellion and others rebellion as well.
You want yourself and others to clearly know and have no doubts about the things that make for peace or don’t recognize Jesus’ visitation as you should,
or you are annoyed and think He’s overreacting a bit.
God reveals His peace to you and visits you today.
We can’t ignore it. We need it.
You can’t live long on yesterdays forgiveness and life and salvation, we are too sinful, and dying, and rebellious.
Grass doesn’t grow on last year’s rain, but needs constant watering.
The members of our bodies will die without constant blood flowing to them.
And the blood that Jesus shed for me will never lose its power.
Jesus draws near to you today to pull you back to Himself, because all we like sheep have gone astray.
Our Father prunes as us as branches to the vine, because we because we aren’t producing the fruit we ought.
The text we have for today stands as a warning that we, who are not blind to the truth that Jesus died for,
we aren’t blind to that – we know it.
We know that He who wept over Jerusalem, cried out from the cross right outside Jerusalem.
We know that He who warned Jerusalem of the time when her temple would be destroyed, had the temple of His body destroyed.
We aren’t blind to that. We don’t always ignore it, but that’s a shallow perspective.
Because Jesus is also here and lives for us and is ascended for us and is interceding for us and visiting us now with His peace.
He visits us today. Our Introit for today is emphatic on the present activity happening right now.
He redeems.
He hears.
We calls.
We cast our burdens on the Lord.
We are in danger because our heart is in anquish, the terrors of death have fallen upon me,
fear and trembling come upon me and horror overwhelms me.
We have Jesus now. He is enlightening our eyes again so we see that He is the One who makes for peace in our life.
He visits and refreshes and forgives and rescues and comforts and gives wisdom now.
Jesus isn’t lazy or selfish or absent.
And He in His visitation helps pull us toward Him and away from our laziness and selfishness and unbelief and fear.
Draw near to Him as He draws near to you.