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.’”

Comments

This section forms a bridge between Jesus’ denunciation of official Judaism and the prophecy of judgment that awaited the nation. The mother hen was an Old Testament image of God protecting his people. In this metaphor, Jesus was and is our protecting mother.

The temple’s fate symbolized God’s judgment. Its desolation showed that God had left and departed from it. When God’s relationship with his people broke, the temple was abandoned. Its ultimate destruction by the Romans pointed to a new beginning, a new covenant. Jesus did not promise here to return to his people at which time they would accept him, but that he would abandon his people, and they would long for the Messiah. These were Jesus’ last words to his people.

Prayer

For my deceitful heart and crooked thoughts:

For barbed words spoken deliberately:

For thoughtless words spoken hastily:

For envious and prying eyes:

For ears that rejoice in iniquity and rejoice not in the truth:

For greedy hands:

For wandering and loitering feet:

For haughty looks:

Have mercy upon me, O God.

(John Baillie, 1886-1960)