“Ok, baby, it’s time for your surgery.” I said to Amelia’s doll as I sat down, donned my reading glasses and threaded pink thread onto my sewing needle. “I promise it won’t hurt a bit.” Amelia peered over my shoulder as I stitched the slit along the seam where the tag had been torn off. Ezra, who had only just finished his lunch, climbed down from his spot at the table and came around, I assumed, to watch until he approached timidly, wrapped his little fingers around the baby’s plastic hand, looked up at me and declared, “Hold baby hand. Hold baby hand.” I stopped stitching long enough to glance over at his mom to be sure she had witnessed his sweet gesture then I continued my conversation with the baby as I prepared to close.
This active, opinionated, strong willed boy has a heart of gold just like his daddy’s. He feels deeply and responds in ways that constantly surprise me. I saw it many times when his dad was a boy. Compassion moves beyond sympathy with its desire to alleviate the pain and suffering of others even if the others are content in their misery. Compassion drove Jesus to cry out Jerusalem, Jerusalem as He grieved over God’s chosen people and it is why He set His face resolutely toward the cross.
“Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.
They will demolish you – you and your children within your walls – and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.””
Luke 19:41-44 NET
https://bible.com/bible/107/luk.19.41-44.NET
““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers!
How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
And now, look, your house is abandoned.
And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’””
Luke 13:34-35 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.13.34-35.NLT
The people cried out these very words as Jesus made His way into Jerusalem on the Sunday before His crucifixion. In His lament, we hear the anguish of an omniscient Savior. He foreknew who would accept and who would reject Him, both then and now.
“Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered.
“Who is this?” they asked.
And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.””
Matthew 21:9-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.21.10.NLT
“But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.
Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders.
But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue.
For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.”
John 12:37, 42-43 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.12.37-43.NLT
My daughter transplanted a potted plant this spring, a gift from my mother, her Grammie. It came from a cutting given to my mom by her uncle, her mother’s brother. It came back two years running but had outgrown its original pot. She was concerned when she lifted the pot because the root had grown through the bottom of the planter into the ground. She carefully dissected the root, removed the pot and nestled it into the ground where it appears to be thriving. Next she plans to relocate a three year old fig that is no larger than when she planted it. “Too much shade,” her yard man advised. “Try the other side of the yard for full sun.”
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”
Psalms 1:1-6 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.1.1-6.NIV
“I am like a healthy olive tree.
My roots are deep in the house of God.
I trust in your faithful love for ever and ever.
I will praise you forever for what you have done.
I will praise you when I’m with your faithful people.
I will put my hope in you because you are good.”
Psalm 52:1-9 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/psa.52.9.NIRV
“As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long— though I know not how to relate them all.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.
My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.”
Psalms 71:14-18, 20-21, 24 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.71.14-24.NIV
As we celebrate our Savior’s resurrection at Easter, may the same compassion that motivated His great sacrifice cause us to lament as He did over a lost and dying world but let’s not stop there. His one sacrifice is sufficient for all time for the salvation of all who will believe. He knows all those who are His and the day of His return will bring to light every true allegiance. Until then, as we go, let’s preach the gospel in every nation, remembering that He is with us to the very end of the age just as He promised.
Good News ~Hillsong Worship https://youtu.be/iL7wYawz4fs?si=eeIXe4FOaNaDh09-
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