Resistant to Jesus

As Jesus neared the cross, His warnings seemed to increase. He never wasted words, but He seemed to turn up the heat as the time got closer. While in Jerusalem the week of His death, He overlooked the city and mourned the people’s spiritual condition. 

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 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’!”

Matthew 23:37-39.

He cried out, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” (Matt. 23:37). Even the way He repeated the capital’s name indicated a sorrowful pleading. His heart seemed broken over the situation. Their spiritual blindness was unnecessary. Through centuries, that city had heard numerous prophets and experienced astounding deliverances, and they still reverted to stubborn defiance. They were now even able to behold the Messiah come for them and were missing Him right before their eyes. 

Throughout history, Jerusalem had killed God’s prophets; they were days away from doing it again. When they killed Jesus, it would even be worse than the ones before it. Before that time, they killed the ones who spoke about the Messiah, but they were about to kill the Messiah right in the heart of the nation. The city had stoned those sent to her. God had sent many people through the years to warn them, and they didn’t want to listen. Jesus was in the midst of warning them even within the temple, and they rejected His message repeatedly. The past was repeating itself and intensifying in severity.

Jesus described His love for them as a hen trying to gather and cover her chicks under her wings. These babies were unaware of the looming dangers, and they needed someone stronger and wiser, someone more alert to the enemy’s tactics, to keep them safe. Jesus wanted to care for them in this way. Why didn’t He? They were unwilling. Instead of experiencing the protection only He could provide, they exposed and endangered themselves.

Does Jesus want to gather you in a different scenario? How willing are you to accept His direction? Don’t go against His wise and protective guidance and presence. Don’t resist His best interest for you.