And when He drew near and He saw the city, He wept over it (English Standard Bible, Luke 19:41).
The accolades of honor in announcing the coming of the Messiah, the acts of honor in the waving of branches and in the laying down of their cloaks on the rough ground and the proclamations of praise were still a vivid conversational event of the King coming into the holy city. The celebratory event was still being noted by the masses with true joy and delight.
Yet the One, on whom all the accolades had fallen, who had been honored so highly and had heard the thousands of proclamations of Messiahship and Kingship had stopped his journey into the city. Did He stop to bask in the moment? Did He stop to record the words of praise? Did He look back and the crowd to smile and savor the joy expressed by the throngs of admirers?
No, this One on whom all the admiration had been given, stopped to weep! Why? Why at this spectacular moment of climax and triumph, did this Savior King, now become overwhelmed with empathy, emotion and compassion? He knew the accolades that poured forth would feign and fade in the days ahead. He knew He would suffer and die for these same masses and He knew that this glorious city with its magnificent structures would in a few decades be reduced to rubble. He wept because He cared! He wept because He knew the heartbreak and sorrow that was ahead and He wept because of who He was and is.
Jesus lived out the compassion of God in the flesh as He both saw the needs those around him and lovingly and miraculously brought redeeming action to every situation he saw, felt and encountered. Jesus was the compassion of God as He loved and lived. He lived to feed the tired and hungry, both physical and spiritual food. He lived to bring healing to the needy while lifting up the broken and liberating the captive of sin and despair. Jesus was the compassion of God in the flesh addressing every need as He loved with the love of God and died to save the world.
The compassion of Christ, still moves Him to intercede for us. He comes to us, comforting and walking beside us through His Spirit, alive in us through all times and things we go through. He is tender towards us as He sees our heartbreaks, sorrows and the tragedies in the world around us and cares about us. There are tremendous and incredible victories in the death and resurrection of Christ but there is also an indescribable gift in our knowing we have such a compassionate, understanding Christ as our Savior and Shepherd!