October 7, 2016
Matthew 23:33-39
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
37 “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. 38 Look, 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.’”
CONSIDER THIS
These excoriatingly painful words from Jesus to the religious leaders do not come from his anger. They come from his pain. It turns out this is not a strident diatribe but a pained lament. He shows us the broken heart of God.
How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
The heart of God is filled with longing for us. From the garden of Eden to the Vineyard of Israel and all the way to the New Creation at the end of the age, the heart of God is filled with longing for us.
How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
Every inspired Word of Scripture, every patriarch and matriarch, and every prophet all testify to the longing of God for a relationship with his people. From the blood of Abel to the blood of the Passover Lamb to the blood of the Son of God, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
How did they miss it so badly? How did they misunderstand so readily?
The same way we do. And you were not willing.
Rather than the prayer and the questions today, let’s examine our own willingness. Are we willing to awaken to his longing? Am I willing? It must come to me. I am willing to soldier on, to beef up my efforts at faithfulness, to double down on my intentions, but am I willing to awaken to his longing? Will I dare to fathom the depths of the longing of God for me? I can imagine it for the whole of the human race. I can imagine it for you. That will not do. Am I willing to awaken to the longing of God for me?
Are you?
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J.D. Walt, is a Bond Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. jd.walt@seedbed.com.