As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.
(Luke 19.41
NRSV)
Jesus was a normal child. Normal children cry. Campbell said: "It would be strange if He did not cry as a child...He did as a man!" And no picture of Jesus is complete without noticing the tear drops on His cheeks.
Palm Sunday should have been the happiest single day in Jesus' life. After all, the crowds had gone after Him. Crowds count for a lot with most ministers. We feel better when church attendance is up. We worry when church attendance is down. In John 12:19 the Pharisees murmur: "Look! The whole world has gone after him!" It seemed that way when Palm Sunday began. It looked as though His preaching ministry was to be crowned with success, after all!
But Jesus knew better. He knew how fickle the crowds were; He knew that, when push came to shove, He couldn't really count on the people; and that when the chips were down and the cross went up, all would forsake Him and flee, says Mark 14:50. The same people who on Palm Sunday, had waved Jesus in, on Good Friday waved Jesus out again. He who rode into town in triumph, was carried out of town on a cross.
How quick were the crowds to shout "Hosanna!" on Palm Sunday--but also how quick they were to shout, "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday, when He didn't fit into their notions of what a respectable Messiah should look and act like. Before the week was out, Jesus had been arrested, tried, whipped, humiliated, spat upon, cursed at, plotted against, crucified, dead, and buried. When He was born, there was no room for him in the Inn. When He died, there was no room for Him in the world.
Is there lots of room in your heart for Jesus?
Dear Jesus, please live with me and may I always have plenty of room in my life for you. Amen.
Ron Newhouse