Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades,
and shut you in, and press on you from every side. And they will dash you to the ground
and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you, for you did not
recognize the time and the visitation of your God.”

Reflect

Jesus wept.” There are two identified events in Jesus’ life when it was explicitly
mentioned that he wept (cf. klaiō). One is in the context of the death of Lazarus
(cf. Jn 11:31). The other is the one we find in today’s Gospel (cf. Lk 19:41). In John’s
Gospel, Jesus wept over the death of a friend. In today’s pericope, Jesus wept
over a people who failed to recognize the time of its visitation by God. We may
remember Jesus’ grief over the stubbornness of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law (cf. Lk 11:42-46). Now, Jesus expressed more than a feeling
of grief. He wept for the entire Jerusalem populace. He wept over the people out
of his love for them. He could only exhort them to change. He could only
show them the way toward the life God intends them to have. He could only help
them recognize the time of God’s visitation. However, in the end, it was for them
to decide accepting or not what God was offering them. Likewise, in this
faith journey, Jesus is more than willing to guide us but the decision is left for us
to make if we are to embrace God’s offer of life.

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