Seeing Jesus: In His Sorrow
Reading: Matthew 23:37-39
“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
The Holy City, Jerusalem, held a special place in Jesus’ heart. His first trip to the Temple at age twelve was a memorable one for his whole family. Over the succeeding years, he had made many visits to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feasts and to teach in the Temple precincts.
This passage shows the sorrow of Jesus over a city that refused to acknowledge its need for God’s offer of salvation. This is the word from a broken heart. Rejected love always causes deep sadness. Yet Jesus never tries to force us to love him.
God’s maternal feelings are highlighted by the description of a mother hen gathering her brood of chicks under her body for warmth and protection. God wants to do this for us, but we pride ourselves on our own strength and independence. We think we do not need God’s care.
God’s love and patience are never-ending. Even constant refusal to accept God’s gift of forgiveness will not end the gracious offer. A new Jerusalem will someday see the One she has rejected, and will recognize her true King.
For Reflection: Am I making God feel sorrowful because of my insistence on doing things “my way?”
Prayer Seed:
Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest,
Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not, what joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.
Bernard of Cluny, 12th century
