By Robert Halsey Pine
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’” (Luke 19:41-48 NRSV).
We are concerned to check our messages. In the natural-world life, we want to know if someone has tried to get in touch with us and left us a message. Technology has provided us with so many ways to communicate with each other. There is scarcely a place on the planet that we cannot have some sort of communications to and from another place. We take pride in our progress as the human race. We document and applaud man’s adventures into the unknown. But do we recognize the time of our visitation from God?
Jesus wept at the sight of Jerusalem before Him. While many believed in Him, this beloved city and its leaders could not recognize the presence of God with them through Christ Jesus. He wept for them in their blindness. Jesus entered the city with great praise and adoration from His followers, but many did not appreciate Him or know from Whom He came. Have we ever missed a visitation from God? Has He ridden into our lives and we have not recognized Him? Have we received a blessing and not recognized its source?
The disciples threw their cloaks on the colt that Jesus had sent them after and put Jesus on it. The people spread their cloaks on the road as Jesus passed by. All of the disciples began praising God with loud voices, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” When some Pharisees in the crowd told Him to order His disciples to stop, Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
We must watch for the time of our visitation from God. We do not know the way that He will come, but if we believe in Him and seek Him, we will know when He visits. We must be prepared to place our cloaks beneath Him for a cushion on his colt and encourage others to lay cloaks upon His path as He rides in triumph into our lives.
Robert Halsey Pine is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.