Lesson 83: Lamenting Jerusalem (Luke 13:31-35)

The singular focus of Jesus exemplifies for us a kind of purposefulness in life that we could only hope to imitate in some small measure. Death was both chasing Him and standing before Him as Herod sought His life and the religious leaders and fickle crowd in Jerusalem would soon call for the end of the same. With these things in mind, Jesus’s compassion is stunning. His longing to embrace and shelter Israel’s capital, in spite of her bloody history (and future), is positively stunning and challenging. Helping us to understand this, Pastor Daniel brings to light the following truths from this passage, emphasizing the central message, “The right way to respond to hostility is with compassion.” We find this to be the case in that 1) God does not allow opposition to His work to prevent its accomplishment, 2) God weeps over those who oppose Him, 3) God allows people to reject Him, and 4) God allows those who reject Him time to repent.

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff