Jerusalem, Jerusalem, My Heart Belongs to You....

Jerusalem, a city of renown throughout human history, dating back to the 1700's BCE and possibly mentioned early in the Sacred Scripture, in the book of Genesis 14:18. Many scholars think Salem mentioned here might have actually been...Jerusalem!
 Jerusalem, coveted by both Arab and Jew alike,  embraced in both the Muslim and Christian community, and known by all.
Jerusalem, destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times throughout its history...

 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, my heart belongs to you..."

 Jesus wept for Jerusalem. Tears are an element of human emotion that has the power to touch the very heart of a person.... the tears of a small child, a wife who has lost her husband, or the grieving of a young mother over the loss of a child, there are little if any words that can comfort in times such as these.
 Yet Jesus is a man full of inspired power, of strength, of authority, and He spoke from a heart filled with deep convictions. When we read those words "Jesus wept" it has the connotation of depth in His weeping that led to deep cries erupting from His very heart. 
 Jesus wept for the people of Jerusalem, perhaps for the suffering and sorrow they were about to face in only a few decades...70 CE.
  Jesus weeping for Jerusalem reminds me of Rachel, the granddaughter-n-law of the Christian patriarch Abraham who is identified as the mother of Israel or the mother of Jerusalem. In the book of Genesis 35 it reads how Rachel died while giving birth to her son Benjamin. She had requested for him to be named Benoni meaning son of my sorrows, yet her husband Jacob thought it best to name him Benjamin, son of my right hand.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, my heart belongs to you..."

 Rachel is found again in the book of Jeremiah when the Old Testament prophet sees Rachel crying because of the suffering of her people in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been besieged by the Babylonians and were now being carted of to slavery to Babylon.
 And once again Rachel is recorded in the New Testament in the gospel of Saint Matthew 2 as she is lamenting over the murder of the innocents, babies killed in Ramah.
  As you read the gospel of John, here then enters Jesus, He too has joined alongside Rachel and is found weeping for people of Jerusalem.
 John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the bible. It is of grammatical simplicity yet filled with a complexity and depth that is still pondered today.
 John himself had written he didn't have enough time to write of all the events concerning Jesus, yet John does identify for his readers...a weeping Jesus. Why is that? I think John is conveying the importance of Jesus being totally human, He wasn't a divine God playing the character of a human, He was totally human.
 What makes this a little bewildering is when we read in the gospel of Luke 7: 12-15 Jesus had met a funeral procession and tells a grieving mother not to weep. Then we read in Mark 5:38-42 when a ruler's daughter had died, Jesus scolded those who were weeping.
 Yet, here we find in John 11:35 those two words: "Jesus wept."

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, my heart belongs to you..."

 Some bible scholars indicate Jesus was grieving the death of Lazarus, while others think He was sympathetic to Mary the brother of Lazarus and was identifying with her heartfelt pain. Still there are those who think Jesus was saddened by Martha's reaction, she herself believing in Resurrection power but thinking it would not happen at a moment like this.
 Yet earlier in John 11 Jesus was read to be glad of Lazarus death, because it would open the door for others to deepen their faith, like Mary who might be comforted in seeing for herself the raising of the dead, in this case her own brother. And perhaps Martha might be comforted to know Jesus cares for each one of us and will do for anyone regardless if they have always done everything exactly correct in the teachings of Jesus.
 So we read of various accounts of Jesus displaying various inner emotional conflicts: glad, troubled, and weeping.
 One thing that becomes visibly apparent through these various scenarios, Jesus came not only to heal our deep sorrows, He physically and emotionally identified in our griefs as well.
 I think for myself this is where I get a little glimpse of this potent verse "Jesus wept." He is very much aware of our daily turmoils and griefs we face in life and can completely identify with those heartfelt emotions that we display from time to time.
 In the case of the people of Jerusalem, He knew that in a few short decades they would experience a tremendous tragedy with the destruction of the Temple and parts of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CCE. 
 Yet I also think Jesus somehow got a reminder as Lazarus did come out of the graveside that day, He too was about to face a heartfelt gruesome death filled with sorrow, grief, and the very power of death. Yet this only fueled His desire to do so, because of His great love for His people.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, my heart belongs to you..."