When
he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-44
Luke 19 [40.] He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”
Luke 19 [41.] When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19 [45.] He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”
Meaning:
The crowd of disciples had just praised Jesus as “the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38), and Jesus had told the Pharisees that if they were silent the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40). Then, as the road came round the Mount of Olives and the whole city lay before him, Jesus wept. Only Luke records this moment. In the middle of a joyful procession, the King mourns over the city that would reject him.
- “He saw the city and wept over it”
The word Luke uses means loud weeping, not quiet tears. At the tomb of Lazarus “Jesus wept” in sorrow for a friend (John 11:35); here he weeps for a whole city and its people. His tears show the heart of God, who takes no pleasure in judgment. Earlier he had cried, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!” (Luke 13:34).
- “The things which belong to your peace”
The name Jerusalem was understood to contain the word for peace, and the psalmist prayed, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). The disciples had just sung of “Peace in heaven.” Yet the city did not recognise the one who brought true peace, peace with God. “But now, they are hidden from your eyes.” A time of opportunity had come and was passing, and the leaders of the city were blind to it.
- “Your enemies will throw up a barricade against you”
Jesus describes a siege in vivid detail: a barricade around the city, encirclement, and destruction of the people within. About forty years later, in AD 70, Roman armies under Titus built siege works around Jerusalem, starved the city and destroyed it, including the temple. Jesus would warn of this again: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand” (Luke 21:20). On the way to the cross he told the women of Jerusalem to weep not for him but for themselves and their children (Luke 23:28).
- “They will not leave in you one stone on another”
The destruction would be total. Jesus later said the same of the temple’s great stones (Luke 21:6). The reason is given in the last words: “because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.” In the Bible God’s visitation can mean his coming in judgment or in blessing. Zechariah had praised God because “he has visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). In Jesus God had come to save, but the city did not recognise him.
The Significance of Luke 19:41-44
- The tears of Jesus
Jesus weeps over those who reject him. His warnings of judgment come from love, not anger alone. He is a Saviour who can “be touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15).
- Recognising our moment
The verses urge every reader not to miss the time when God draws near. When Jesus comes to us through his word, his people or a time of need, the right response is to welcome him while there is opportunity.
Cross-References:
Luke 13:34-35: Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, which refused to be gathered.
Luke 21:20: "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand." The siege foretold.
Luke 1:68: "he has visited and redeemed his people" The visitation that Jerusalem did not recognise.
Conclusion: As Jesus approached Jerusalem amid the praises of his disciples, he wept over the city because it did not know the things that belonged to its peace. He foretold a siege and complete destruction, because the city had not recognised the time when God visited it in him. His tears reveal God’s love and his warning calls us to welcome him now.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible