Show Don't Tell: Matthew 23:37-39

Instead of saying "Jesus lamented over Jerusalem," hear the grief after the woes. After pronouncing seven woes, Jesus' tone shifts. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you." The city that murders its messengers. "How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." Feel the maternal tenderness—a hen spreading her wings, calling her chicks to safety. "And you were not willing." Four words of tragedy. God's longing met by human refusal. "Look, your house is left to you desolate." The temple, the city, the nation—abandoned. "For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Judgment now. Recognition later. The offer refused cannot be indefinitely extended.