TEXT [Commentary]

18. Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem (23:37-39)

37 “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. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.[*] 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!’[*]”

NOTES

23:37-39 These verses constitute “the climax of Jesus’ public ministry to Israel” (Garland 1993:232). The tone of 23:37-39 changes from accusation to lament, but the element of lament is not lacking entirely from the woe oracles.

I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. These final public words of Jesus to his contemporaries strike a note of unspeakable sadness at their unwillingness to respond to his motherly concern (cf. Luke 13:34-35). The feminine image is striking (cf. Deut 32:11; Ruth 2:12; Ps 17:8; 36:7; 91:1-4; Isa 31:5).

your house is abandoned and desolate. The prediction of the desolation of “your house” in 23:38 probably refers to the Temple itself (21:13; 24:1-2; cf. 1 Kgs 9:7-8), although this language may be a metaphor for Jerusalem or the nation itself (Jer 12:7; 1 Enoch 89:56). Although some take 23:39 as only stressing the certainty of judgment (e.g., Meier 1980:274-275), the image of the mother hen gathering her chicks (23:37) speaks of compassion, not rejection (Davies and Allison 1997:323-324; Garland 1993:232-233).

you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ There is a glimmer of hope for salvation if only Israel will acknowledge Jesus to be her Messiah. Israel sinned in rejecting Jesus, and there will be punishment for that sin. But here, as throughout biblical history, repentance after sin and judgment brings grace and redemption (cf. Rom 11:1-2, 11-12, 15, 23-27). Jesus will return only when Israel in true repentance utters the words which were uttered without adequate understanding in 21:9. (See the balanced discussion in Bruner 1990:835-837.)

COMMENTARY [Text]

Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem is a remarkably sympathetic conclusion to his antipathetic denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. In this lament the compassion of Jesus for his people and his city is palpable (cf. 9:36; 11:28). Other touching biblical laments (e.g., 2 Sam 1:17-27; 18:33; 19:4; Rom 9:1-3; Rev 18:10, 16-19) pale in comparison with it. Jesus was deeply moved for his people and for his city in spite of the shameful manner in which its leaders had treated him and in spite of the horrible sufferings that he knew still lie ahead. Christians today must ponder their Lord’s compassion for the Jewish people and reflect on their own level of concern for the people of the Messiah (Rom 10:1). An arrogant attitude toward those who are lost is always despicable, but it is especially so when it concerns the Jewish people (Rom 11:16-24).

This passage also illustrates the mysterious relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The same Greek word (thelō [TG2309, ZG2527]) is used in 23:37 for Jesus’ desire to gather the people of Jerusalem (“I have wanted to gather”) and for their refusal to be gathered (“you wouldn’t let me”). Yet, in 11:27 Jesus appears to accomplish his purpose in revealing the Father to whomever he wills (cf. 16:17). Despite the judgment announced in 23:38, according to 23:39 the tension continues into the future. Unless and until the people of Jerusalem utter in faith the words of Psalm 118:26, they will not see Jesus again. But the implication is that if they do bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord, they will ultimately receive the Kingdom blessings they have rejected up to this point.

Matthew 23 and Jewish-Christian Relations. No one can doubt that the language of Matthew 23 is severe, and that it castigates certain Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day in terms that make genteel modern folks extremely uncomfortable. And no one should deny that through the centuries misguided Christians have used this language as a justification of anti-Semitic attitudes and, worse yet, inquisitions, pogroms, and even the holocaust of World War II. But all this is due to a misunderstanding of Matthew 23 by the early Gentile Church, a misunderstanding borne out of an arrogance against which Paul warned in Romans 11:18-21. Ironically, this has become the (mis)understanding of modern Jews as well as modern Christians. Perhaps this history of a “Gentilized” misunderstanding of Matthew 23 can be alleviated somewhat by a “Judaized” understanding, stressing the Jewishness of the woe oracles and the concerns about hypocrisy and the rejection of the prophets.

But the intellectual understanding which has been outlined above will fall on deaf ears unless it is conveyed with a sensitive and loving spirit. Unless Christians today are willing to love Jewish people and grieve for the sad state of Jewish-Christian relations, as did Jesus (23:37) and Paul (Rom 9:1-3), there is little reason to think that intellectual arguments will make any difference at all. In light of the sad history of Jewish-Christian relations, Christians have much to live down. Matthew 23 itself, especially 23:8-12, would be a good place to start a much needed check of Christian character. Christians must not read Matthew 23 as only a critique of Jerusalem’s ancient leaders. It is also clearly intended to warn Jesus’ disciples, both ancient and modern, not to follow the example of the scribes and Pharisees (cf. 1 Pet 2:1). “All of the vices here attributed to the scribes and Pharisees have attached themselves to Christians, and that in abundance” (Davies and Allison 1997:262). Those who want be salt and light in this world will get nowhere if their testimony is ruined by hypocrisy and vanity. But the integrity and humility of Christians, modeled on that of the Jewish Messiah, can alleviate the damage done by the attitudes and atrocities which mar Jewish-Christian relations today.

Summary and Transition. At Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the crowds shouted Psalm 118:25-26: “Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (21:9) and the leaders looked on angrily. According to 23:39, Jesus pronounced judgment on those same leaders and used the same words that the crowds shouted a few days earlier. The sinful rebellion of the leaders outlined in 23 is made all the more monstrous by their official capacity: they “are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.” This is the context in which Jesus spoke his final discourse about the end of the ages. The impressive Temple precinct, where the spiritless leadership officiated, would be totally destroyed by a desolating sacrilege before Jesus would come again and the nation would genuinely turn to him with the words “blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”