Luke 19:41

That He possesses the promised pontifical compassion, He shows through four things. And when he drew near etc. After he described how the Lord showed himself to be the promised Christ with respect to royal power, here secondly he shows the same thing with regard …

(Hom. 39. in Ev.) The merciful Redeemer wept then over the fall of the false city, which that city itself knew not was about to come upon it. As it is added, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou (we may here understand) wouldest weep. Thou who now rejoicest, for thou knowest not what is at hand. It follows, at least in this thy day. For when she gave herself up to carnal pleasures, she had the things which in her day might be her peace. But why she had present goods for her peace, is explained by what follows, But now they are hidden from thy eyes. For if the eyes of her heart had not been hidden from the future evils which were hanging over her, she would not have been joyful in the prosperity of the present. Therefore He shortly added the punishment which was near at hand, saying, For the days shall come upon thee.

(Hom. 39. in Ev.) For our Redeemer does not cease to weep through His elect whenever he perceives any to have departed from a good life to follow evil ways. Who if they had known their own damnation, hanging over them, would together with the elect shed tears over themselves. But the corrupt soul here has its day, rejoicing in the passing time; to whom things present are its peace, seeing that it takes delight in that which is temporal. It shuns the foresight of the future which may disturb its present mirth; and hence it follows, But now are they hid from thine eyes.

That the overthrow of Jerusalem which was accomplished by Vespasian and Titus, the Roman princes, is described while the Lord weeps, no one who has read the history of that destruction is unaware. But first we must ask what it means that is said: "Seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If you had known, even you." For the Redeemer first wept over the ruin of the faithless city, which the city itself did not know was coming upon it. But since we know that Jerusalem has now been destroyed and through its destruction has been changed for the better, we ought to draw some likeness inwardly from external things and fear the ruin of morals from the ruined buildings of walls. For seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If you had known, even you. This he did once, when he announced that the city would perish. This our Redeemer never ceases to do daily through his elect, when he considers that certain people have passed from a good life to wicked ways. For he mourns those who do not know why they are mourned, because, according to the words of Solomon: "They rejoice when they have done evil and exult in the worst things." If they had recognized their damnation which hangs over them, they themselves would mourn with the tears of the elect.

And as He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: If you had known, even you. Because it is written that the Lord wept at this destruction of Jerusalem which was undertaken by the Roman princes Vespasian and Titus, no one who …

The Lord, as the Lover of mankind, weeps over the city, for He did not desire the destruction of its inhabitants for their audacious act against Him. Thus, by His weeping He reveals a compassionate heart. And that He pitied them and thirsted for their …

Probably, it was when he was coming down the descent of the hill from the mount of Olives, where he had a full view of the city, the large extent of it, and the many stately structures in it, and his eye affected his heart, and his heart his eye again. What a tender spirit Christ was of; we never read that he laughed, but we often find him in tears.

ON three occasions we are told that Jesus wept. You know them well, but it may be worth while to refresh your memories. The first was when our Lord was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He saw the sorrow of the sisters and He meditated upon the fruit of sin in the death and corruption of the body and He groaned in spirit and it is written that "Jesus wept." Those who divided the chapters did well to make a separate verse of that simple sentence.

when beheld . . . wept--Compare La 3:51, "Mine eye affecteth mine heart"; the heart again affecting the eye. Under this sympathetic law of the relation of mind and body, Jesus, in His beautiful, tender humanity, was constituted even as we.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

We learn, firstly, from these verses — how great is the tenderness and compassion of Christ towards sinners. We are told that when He came near Jerusalem for the last time, "He beheld the city, and wept over it." He well knew the character of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their cruelty, their self-righteousness, their stubbornness, their obstinate prejudice against the truth, their pride of heart — were not hidden from Him.

We learn, firstly, from these verses — how great is the tenderness and compassion of Christ towards sinners. We are told that when He came near Jerusalem for the last time, "He beheld the city, and wept over it." He well knew the character of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their cruelty, their self-righteousness, their stubbornness, their obstinate prejudice against the truth, their pride of heart — were not hidden from Him. He well knew what they were going to do to Him within a very few days — His unjust judgment, His delivery to the Romans, His sufferings, His crucifixion — were all spread out distinctly before His mind's eye! And yet knowing all this, our Lord pitied Jerusalem! "He beheld the city, and wept over it." We err greatly if we suppose that Christ cares for none but His own believing people. He cares for all. His heart is wide enough to take an interest in all mankind. His compassion extends to every man, woman, and child on earth. He has a love of 'general pity' for the man who is going on still in wickedness — as well as a love of 'special affection' for the sheep who hear His voice and follow Him. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hardened sinners are fond of making excuses for their conduct. But they will never be able to say that Christ was not merciful, and was not ready to save. We know but little of true Christianity, if we do not feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people. A lazy indifference about the spiritual state of others — may doubtless save us much trouble. To have no concern whether our neighbors are going to Heaven or Hell — is no doubt the way of the world. But a man of this spirit is very unlike David, who said, "Rivers of waters run down my eyes — because men do not obey your law."

ON three occasions we are told that Jesus wept. You know them well, but it may be worth while to refresh your memories. The first was when our Lord was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. He saw the sorrow of the sisters and He meditated upon the fruit of sin in the death and corruption of the body and He groaned in spirit and it is written that "Jesus wept." Those who divided the chapters did well to make a separate verse of that simple sentence. It stands alone, the smallest and yet, in some respects, the greatest verse in the whole Bible! It shines as a diamond of the first water. It contains a world of healing balm condensed into a drop. Here we have much in little—a wealth of meaning in two words. The second occasion we have before us and we will make it the theme of our discourse. At the sight of the beloved but rebellious city, Jesus wept. The third occasion is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the fifth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells us what else we might not have known, that the Savior, "in the days of His flesh, offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death and was heard in that He feared." That passage relates to the Gethsemane agony in which a shower of bitter tears was mingled with the bloody sweat. The strength of His love strove with the anguish of His soul and, in the process, forced forth the sacred waters of His eyes. Thus our Savior wept in sympathy with domestic sorrow and sanctified the tears of the bereaved. We, too, may weep when brethren and friends lie dead, for Jesus wept. There need not be rebellion in our mourning, for Jesus fully consented to the Divine will and yet He wept. We may weep at the graves of those we love and yet be guiltless of unbelief as to their resurrection, for Jesus knew that Lazarus would rise again and yet He wept.

He wept over it - Showing his compassion for the guilty city, and his strong sense of the evils that were about to come upon it. See the notes at Mat 23:37-39. As he entered the city he passed over the Mount of Olives. From that mountain there was a full and magnificent view of the city. See the notes at Mat 21:

The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His …