April 19
Tender Hearted Savior

Luke 19:28-48             J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

²⁸ After these words, Jesus walked on ahead of them on his way to Jerusalem.

Jesus arranges his own entrance into Jerusalem

^29-31 Then as he was approaching Bethphage and Bethany, near the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent off two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the village just ahead of you, and there you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. And if anybody asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘the Lord needs it.’”
^32-38 So the messengers went off and found things just as he had told them. In fact, as they were untying the colt, the owners did say, “Why are you untying it?” and they replied, “The Lord needs it.” So they brought it to Jesus and, throwing their cloaks upon it, mounted Jesus on its back. Then as he rode along, people spread out their coats on the roadway. And as he approached the city, where the road slopes down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his disciples shouted praises to God for all the marvellous things that they had seen him do. “‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’” they cried. “There is peace in Heaven and glory on high!”
³⁹ There were some Pharisees in the crowd who said to Jesus, “Master, restrain your disciples!”
⁴⁰ To which he replied, “I tell you that if they kept quiet, the very stones in the road would burst out cheering!”

The sight of the city moves him to tears

^41-44 And as he came still nearer to the city, he caught sight of it and wept over it, saying, “Ah, if you only knew, even at this eleventh hour, on what your peace depends—but you cannot see it. The time is coming when your enemies will encircle you with ramparts, surrounding you and hemming you in on every side. And they will hurl you and all your children to the ground—yes, they will not leave you one stone standing upon another—all because you did not know when God Himself was visiting you!”
⁴⁵ Then he went into the Temple, and proceeded to throw out the traders there.
⁴⁶ “It is written,” he told them, “‘My house is a house of prayer’, but you have turned it into a ‘den of thieves!’”

Jesus teaches daily in the Temple

^47-48 Then day after day he was teaching inside the Temple. The chief priests, the scribes and the national leaders were all the time trying to get rid of him, but they could not find any way to do it since all the people hung upon his words.
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Just think of it!
Jesus is coming close to Jerusalem, knowing that He will be laying down His earthly life within just a few short hours.
Rather than being distraught over his own fate, our Lord WEEPS for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the fate that awaits THEM.....because they would not recognize that He was their Messiah.....the king they had longed for.
He knew that they were blind to His presence as the Son of God, and after having ministered to them for many months, they were unable to truly see who He was.
What deep grief this must have caused the Lord. The very people He came to save, rejected Him and discredited Him at every opportunity.
The Lord Jesus Christ wept over them..... knowing He had done all He could to reveal His divine nature to them...he wept, knowing that they did not know Him.
His heart was so tender toward them....
in another account He speaks of wanting to gather them under His wings as a mother hen gathers her chicks.
Our gentle, tender hearted Savior, loves us with that same tender heart.
Please don't let another day go by without acknowledging Him as Your Lord and Savior....
That SAME tender hearted Savior weeps over you.... wanting nothing more than to rescue YOU and give you HIS precious gift of eternal life!
Welcome Him into your heart TODAY!