READ: Luke 19.41-42 NLT




But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.”




I will never forget my first visit to Jerusalem. A disabled friend of mine asked me if I would take him to Israel as his carer. He needed me to push his wheel chair, drive the hire car and lift him from place to place. We stayed in a hotel on the Mount of Olives and arrived there in the dark. Driving through the chaotic traffic in Jerusalem for the first time was a hair-raising experience! The next morning I pulled open the curtains and was completely overwhelmed by the sight of the golden walls of the old city of Jerusalem set against a deep blue sky. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life and it was so easy to imagine the time when Jesus looked over the city and wept. Indeed not far away from the hotel there is a beautiful modern church in the shape of a tear drop which enables modern pilgrims to reflect on that poignant moment in Jesus’ life.
Jesus longed for peace. That lay at the heart of his mission. He came to bring peace between humankind and God. Of all places, Jerusalem, the holy city, should have been full of God’s peace but it was, then as now, a focus of division and tension. Jesus wept. You only weep when you feel something with great intensity. He desperately longed that people would enter into his peace. And as Jesus looks at our world today I believe that he still weeps, and still reaches out to us with the offer of peace. In this Holy Week of all weeks let us offer to Jesus our pains and struggles and receive his gift of peace.




QUESTION: How would Jesus’ peace change your community?
PRAYER: Loving God, thank you for sending Jesus to be our peace. Help me to welcome his gift of peace today. Amen.

Released on 29 Mar 2021