Jesus Weeps for Jerusalem

Second Sunday of Lent

Luke 13: 31 - 35
Matthew 23: 37 - 39

Jesus loved the city of Jerusalem and to worship in the Temple there.

Mary and Joseph took Jesus to be dedicated to God in the Temple as an infant; Jesus studied with the priests in the Temple when he was twelve; and it was the custom of his family to celebrate the Feast of the Passover at the Temple in Jerusalem every year.

In this passage, Jesus knows that his death is coming soon, and that soon after his death, the Temple and the city would be destroyed.

Jerusalem has been rebuilt many times since Jesus' death and some people now would like it to be the capital of modern Israel, but the Temple has not been rebuilt; only the Wailing Wall remains.

Jesus' desire for a beautiful and triumphant City of God, centered around the Temple, with all its citizens praying and worshipping God, has never come to pass.

The Herod in this story is Herod Antipas, the son of the King Herod who wanted to kill Jesus when he was a baby.

1. What does Jerusalem do to prophets?

[It kills them; it stones them to death.]

2. When will Jesus come back?

[Jesus will return twice: once on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before he was killed, and in the Second Coming, when he comes back from heaven to be king on earth.]