Crying over the City - Luke - pages 40-47
"Jesus saw the city, and wept over it."
There is something powerful about this mental picture. I remember the first time I saw my dad cry. He wept in our living room as he confronted my brother and I about pornography. He didn't even spank us that evening, he just wept. I would have rather been lashed with a horsewhip. Seriously, seeing him cry absolutely crushed me. There is something about watching a grown man weep that seizes your soul.
Thinking about Jesus balling like a baby over the city of Jerusalem moved me. He wasn't just task-driven and results-oreiented. He loved the city. He loved the lives that filled the crowded city streets. His heart has always been moved to tears by cities. Because cities represent people. And people represent souls. And Jesus was about souls.
He wept "over" the city. Looking over the cityscape he burst into tears knowing all that he invested and how little the return currently was on that investment. He mourned the reality that though he did all he could do to explain eternal life and the economy of the kingdom, for most, the concept was still foreign and the meaning still "hidden". He couldn't bear that thought without getting choked up.
I feel God inviting people to cry over their city with him. To drive through the streets and weep for the community and those whom it represents. To shed tears for the ones slipping through the cracks. Every city needs weeping prophets who care enough to cry.
First, do you "see the city"?
Second, will you "weep over it"?
We can't get so busy with the church that we forget about the city. Any church that isn't crying over their city doesn't understand the purpose of the church in the first place. It's time to go out have a good cry.
There is something powerful about this mental picture. I remember the first time I saw my dad cry. He wept in our living room as he confronted my brother and I about pornography. He didn't even spank us that evening, he just wept. I would have rather been lashed with a horsewhip. Seriously, seeing him cry absolutely crushed me. There is something about watching a grown man weep that seizes your soul.
Thinking about Jesus balling like a baby over the city of Jerusalem moved me. He wasn't just task-driven and results-oreiented. He loved the city. He loved the lives that filled the crowded city streets. His heart has always been moved to tears by cities. Because cities represent people. And people represent souls. And Jesus was about souls.
He wept "over" the city. Looking over the cityscape he burst into tears knowing all that he invested and how little the return currently was on that investment. He mourned the reality that though he did all he could do to explain eternal life and the economy of the kingdom, for most, the concept was still foreign and the meaning still "hidden". He couldn't bear that thought without getting choked up.
I feel God inviting people to cry over their city with him. To drive through the streets and weep for the community and those whom it represents. To shed tears for the ones slipping through the cracks. Every city needs weeping prophets who care enough to cry.
First, do you "see the city"?
Second, will you "weep over it"?
We can't get so busy with the church that we forget about the city. Any church that isn't crying over their city doesn't understand the purpose of the church in the first place. It's time to go out have a good cry.
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