And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it (English Standard Bible, Luke 19:41).
The human heart in this perfect and godly man started to tear even as the thunderous proclamations of the throngs of admirers were still echoing along the roadway. The boisterous crowd had offered up thousands of thunderous accolades while waving branches of palms and countless joyous aspirations of hope while laying down their cloaks to honor him as their Messiah and King. He had passed through this mass of both the hostile and devoted and now stopped to see the Holy City before Him. He saw the massive temple glistening in the light of the setting sun, standing so tall that dozens of men were required to even open the doors to the places of sacrifice and God’s presence. Here at this moment, this man like all men, could not restrain his humanity while seeing in His divinity and knowing of destruction, upheaval, betrayal, anguish, sacrifice, and death that lay ahead for himself, the people, and the city. The tear in his heart ripped ever deeper and an abundant flow of tears came forth from his eyes.
Here he was, this Jesus, as a man, just leaving the peak of a celebratory joyous time of elation and hope while in His divinity knowing what was ahead. He was weeping for all the city contained. For all that He was weeping over, we cannot fully know. It would seem for sure; this Prophet would weep over this beautiful city that would be totally smashed and destroyed in a few decades. It would seem for sure; the Lamb of God would weep for He knew the people who so fervently had just proclaimed Him King, would turn into the crowd calling for his very death on a cross. It would seem plausible: that Jesus would weep over the hardened hearts and closed-off minds that would not see Him as their suffering Savior, dying for their very sins to bring them in full acceptance to the God of their covenant. It would seem completely reasonable: that Jesus would simply weep for the city that represented the world at large who might walk away from the love that overflowed out of heaven in His coming to earth to connect all unrighteous people to their righteous heavenly Father.
We cannot know all that Jesus felt as his heart tore apart and the tears flowed from his eyes but we can know this: the love of Christ is eternal, steadfast, and incomprehensible in its reach and its power. The eyes of Christ and his very heart were focused at that moment so long ago on all who were in the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding hills, but those same eyes are now upon the whole world. He longs for the same things. That we would know, all He has for us and all He wants to can give us.