Matthew 23:37-39
Lament over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
Just days before His sacrificial death for all people, Jesus laments the fact that so many of His people reject Him and the gift of
eternal life. In the end, those who reject Jesus and refuse His offer of eternal life will be judged. Even when hated and rejected by many, Jesus never stopped loving and sincerely reaching out to them. He does the same with us.
I pray: Fill us with Your unbounded love, O Lord, that we never cease to love and long for the salvation of all, even for those who revile You and hate us as Your disciples. Amen.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1635.