Do Your Eyes See Jesus?
Luke 19:41-48
August 13, 2023 anno Domini
Jesus wept three times in the New Testament. He wept over Lazarus grave. He wept over Jerusalem and He wept on the cross. Jesus wept over death, over sin, and over damnation, which means He wept over you, and all that you would suffer without Him.
That He wept means Jesus is a man. He saw the city of Jerusalem with His own human eyes, but it was His heart that led Him to weep. He loved Jerusalem as He loves you. His love caused those tears to flow from His eyes, because He saw what Jerusalem did not see.
The Lord told the prophet Ezekiel, “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live?” This is why Jesus weeps. The Son of God became a man because God saw your future. He saw your rebellion and disobedience. He sees that you have set your eyes on earthly things. Should your eyes not be open to the love of God then you will face the same judgment as Jerusalem.
Last week we heard the parable of the unjust manager who cooked the books of his rich master for one reason. He was looking toward his own future and he wanted it to be the best future possible. Today it is Jesus looking at you with your future in mind. These Bible texts are eschatological – that’s big church speak for “words about the last things.” Judgement day is coming, and Jesus has His eyes set on you and that prompts me to ask, “What are your eyes set on?”
We know what Jesus wanted Jerusalem to see. He wanted her to see Him. He wanted her to look to Him as the fulfillment of all God’s promises. He came as the final Paschal lamb to take away the sin of the world. He came to be the final Priest offer the final Sacrifice for sin. He came to be the final Prophet to speak the last Word of God, “Your sins are forgiven.” He came to be the final David, the King who would put your enemies under His foot and rule over you with His righteousness.
But what did Jerusalem see? She did not see Jesus. “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Jerusalem has cataracts. Macular degeneration. She doesn’t see the things that make for peace.
Where are you looking for peace? What do your eyes see? Ever since Eve saw how the fruit was pleasing to her sight and looked good for food, we have been blind to reality. Before she sinned, all Eve saw was Adam and lived for him. After she ate the fruit all she saw was herself and she was ashamed. The first thing she did was try to hide herself from her own eyes and from God’s eyes.
What do your eyes see? Are you like Eve simply covering yourself with your own brand of fig leaves? Hiding from the reality that you have sinned and you’re dying? Are you like Jerusalem and you see Jesus as fine until He upsets your way of life, your plans, your peace. What are the things of peace that you see in your life? Is Jesus on the list? Or is your peace your health, the success of your children, your cash flow? Are your eyes looking only here and now, or are they on the eschaton? (If I use those big church words more than once in sermon I sound really smart).
Sadly, Jerusalem was not going to see Jesus as the One who makes for peace. While individual Jews believed in Christ, the people as a whole would reject Him. The Pharisees and Sadduccees, the chief priest, and the Scribes – the very people whose eyes should have been wide open for the Messiah were set on destroying the Messiah.
A custom of the Missouri Synod, which none of us likely have seen in our lifetime, was that every August 10 pastors were instructed to read the account of the destruction of Jerusalem to their congregation. Emperor Titus blockaded the city with hundreds of thousands of people inside. On August 10, 70 AD Titus’ troops breached the walls and his soldiers burned the temple. Between 150,000 and 600,000 Jews died of starvation or at the end of Rome’s sword. The account is gross and grizzly. Perhaps that is why we don’t read it anymore because we don’t want to see the eschaton of Jerusalem, which was written down for us.
The last words of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem tell us what they did not see. “You did not know the time of your visitation.”
The Greeks had two words for time. One was Chronos and we still use that word – a chronograph is an instrument for measuring time. A chronology is a list of when events took place. The other word is Kairos and that word has a much deeper meaning. It is more like a break in time, a significant moment, a moment when everything changes. Kairos is the word used here by Jesus. The time that Jerusalem did not recognize was the time when the Son of God became man, the time when God Himself entered into space and time, when the infinite became finite flesh. They did not see Jesus as God in the flesh, but rather as a thorn in the flesh who needed to be excised. The birth, death, and resurrection changed not only the course of history, but changed humanity. Now your days aren’t just marked off by the calendar and the days and years gone by. Now, because of Jesus’ visitation eternity has broken into your time. Your sins are forgiven and now death isn’t the end of your days, but the dawn of an eternal day. As odd as it may sound, you look forward to the eschaton because it isn’t the end. It isn’t even the beginning. It is forever.
So maybe that’s why I need to ask, “What do you see?” Do you just see your calendar, your weeks of work, your days of retirement, your appointments, your deadlines, your birthdays and anniversaries, your busy days or your long dreadful days? Is that all that you see? Or do you see the time of Jesus’ visitation? Do you see that every Lord’s Day the Son of God comes down from heaven and breaks in upon your days with His day? Do you see that day when the Spirit descends as He did in the days of Noah, at the Baptism of Jesus, and on the Day of Pentecost to signal that God is not angry, but forgiving. God does not demand your life for your sin, but has given His Son’s life for you. God does not invite you to His house to demonstrate your goodness, but to receive His righteousness.
Do you see the day of your visitation? If not, all you have is your calendar and it’s counting down until your own 70 AD and not one thing you have built will stand. That’s why Jesus weeps. He has visited you so that you can see the things that make for peace. That’s why in a few minutes I’ll hold His body and blood before your eyes and declare, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” The time of your visitation is now. The things that make for peace are here for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.