Why Jesus Wept for Jerusalem
by Paul Annala | 2 April 2024 |
There are two occasions in the Gospels where Jesus wept.
The first is in John 11:35, at his friend Lazarus’ tomb. Through our own experiences at funerals, we can relate emotionally to how Jesus might have felt at Lazarus’ tomb.
The second – and maybe somewhat less familiar episode – is on what we call Palm Sunday. Jesus rides a donkey, and the crowds are cheering. Then, rather abruptly, “as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it” (Luke 19:4,1 NIV).
This time, Jesus isn’t weeping over a dead friend, but over Jerusalem. He’s weeping over a system, because the system “did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:44, NIV). Emotionally, that second weeping has been harder for me to relate to. I understand intellectually that Jesus was disappointed, and that made him cry. But emotionally, I wasn’t quite sure what it meant.
Until last week. A series of unplanned and unintentional observations made me catch a glimpse of what Jesus may have been feeling as he cried over Jerusalem.
No Easter at the GC
The current General Conference (GC) president has a Facebook page, and I’ve been following it for some years. I’ve noticed that he publishes a daily “quote of the day,” accompanied by a suitable photo or illustration. These quotes have been mainly from the book of Revelation, or—more often—from Ellen White’s The Great Controversy. A weekly video message, “A Special Message from Pastor Ted Wilson,” is also presented on the page.
I’ve browsed through these quotes and videos rather cursorily. But as we entered Holy Week, I started noticing a pattern—or perhaps I should say, an anti-pattern. On Sunday there was an Ellen White quote, illustrated by four beasts from the book of Revelation. On Monday there was the beast that looked like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. On Tuesday it was about the United States being the second beast of Revelation 13.
A question crossed my mind: we’re approaching Easter, but all Elder Wilson has to share is beasts and apocalyptical ruminations?
On Wednesday during Holy Week the Statue of Liberty glared at me from the president’s page. On Thursday the quote was about “lamblike horns and dragon voice.” On Good Friday the quote was about dragons, leopards, beasts, and persecution.
By now I’m shaking my head in disbelief. About this day, Easter Friday, when Jesus was crucified, about this the General Conference president has nothing to share?
But it got worse. Later the same day the “special message” video was posted. As I watched it, I made notes.
It is a 9-minute-long video. It is almost 6 minutes into the video before “Jesus” is even mentioned. By that time Wilson has already mentioned “the dragon” or “the beast” 19 times, “the papacy,” “the pope,” or “the Roman church” 7 times. Even the “United States of America” had been mentioned twice before Jesus even was mentioned the first time! And even then, it was in the context “the return of Jesus,” seemingly more of a prop in the apocalyptic scenario rather than being at the heart of the message.
What is our Easter message?
The monster gallery in Revelation may be exciting, but at the heart of Revelation are not the monsters and beasts, but the Lamb that was slain.
“‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” (Rev 5:12-13, NIV).
But about this Lamb, Elder Wilson has nothing to say this Easter?
On Friday evening we had a simple celebration of the Lord’s supper at our local Adventist church. My fellow elder and I shared bread and wine with the congregation. As they received the symbols, we told them, individually, “Christ’s body, broken for you. Christ’s blood, shed for you.” That is the essence of the gospel. And as I woke up on Sabbath morning I reflected over Christ, resting in his tomb. The innocent, flawless Lamb that was slain.
It was later that Easter Sabbath that this happened:
Staring at me from the GC president’s “quote of the day” was a black lamb with a red forked tongue of a serpent! The very opposite of the innocent, flawless Lamb!
I was dumbfounded. Is this black beast-lamb our message to the world on Easter Sabbath? Really?
It was then I remembered the passage in Luke 19—Jesus crying over a defunct system.
How can it be that he who claims to be the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church—I say “claims” because no such position exists; he’s the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists—a church that prides itself in “having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth” (Rev 14:6, NKJV)—has nothing to say about the Lamb that was slain this particular time of the year? Isn’t Christ on the cross the gospel?
I understand that the General Conference president is devoted to the great controversy theme. But even within the framework of that theme, there would have been many opportunities to focus on the Lamb that was slain, the Lion of Judah that conquers all evil, as the Christian church celebrates its primary holiday.
But alas, no. The system “did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:44).
No wonder Jesus weeps.
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Paul Annala writes from Linköping, Sweden. He’s married, has two children, earns his living as a senior software designer, and is an elder in his local church.
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