“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ – Luke 13:34-35

Have you ever loved someone so much that all you want is to make their life better and do kind things for them? Maybe it’s your kids or spouse, maybe it’s just someone in your life, but you just want to be a positive influence on the things in their life?

How does it make you feel when not only do they not realize it, but they openly reject it? That’s what Jesus is talking about here. Jerusalem’s history was full of rejections of God’s divine and unending love. In this passage, Jesus is basically saying, “All I wanted was to comfort you and love you, and you rejected Me.”

But now they have nothing, He says, predicting elsewhere in the text that they would eventually beg Him for mercy and favor. By then, it will be too late, He says.

When you read this passage, do you hear His longing just to love us as a father loves His children?

How many times do we put off giving God His due because we assume we can just do it later? The thing is that you don’t know when “later” is “now” and you’re out of time.

Look at your history with Christ. Are you killng His prophets? Are you rejecting His love? And then ask yourself why. If you think it’s because you don’t need Him or you don’t have time or you don’t want to toe some line… please rethink that. When your day is here, how will you have lived, and how will you have loved your Savior?

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, … But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 25:14 ❤️