Jesus’ Broken Heart over His Doomed Children
Daily Scripture
Matthew 23:37-39
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. 38 Look, your house is left to you deserted. 39 I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.” [Psalm 118:26]
Daily Reflection & Prayer
On Holy Tuesday Jesus left the Temple and said to Jerusalem, “How often I wanted to gather your people together.” Scholar Michael Green wrote, “Verses 37–38 are among the warmest and most loving words he is ever recorded as using. Incidentally, the exclamation ‘how often I have longed to gather your children together’ indicates that Jesus probably taught in Jerusalem more often than during this one trip which Matthew, like the other Synoptists, records; John tells us something of those other visits.” * An earlier prophet’s haunting vision became real. Pastor Myron Augsburger wrote, “This scene reminds us of Ezekiel’s picture of the glory of God leaving the temple (Ezekiel. 11:21-23). God became concretely real on earth in Jesus. God took the initiative in coming but, as in Jeremiah 7, Jerusalem refused God’s grace (Jeremiah 7:25–27). Now Jesus said in essence that God has forsaken the temple they had desecrated, and abandoned it and them to judgment.” **
- The Judean rulers led Israel in rejecting Jesus. That choice had not only spiritual but physical and political results. N. T. Wright, historian and scholar, said, “In many passages in the Old Testament, the living God who had promised to live in the Temple in Jerusalem warns that persistent sin among his people will result in the withdrawal of his presence, leaving the Temple desolate, defenseless against enemy attack. That is what Jesus is now predicting, and the next chapter in the book will show what this will mean.” Why did his determined rejection by the people he loved and was prepared to die for break Jesus’ heart?
- But this is not just about people who lived long ago. Wright went on to ask a searching Lenten question: “Are we, the readers or hearers, really welcoming the true Jesus, the one who denounces evil and then takes it upon himself in the final great act of love? Do we prefer, like the crowds a few days before [on Palm Sunday], to welcome the ‘Jesus’ who happens to fit the imaginings and agendas we have worked out for ourselves?” ***
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you were heartbroken as your people turned their backs on you and plotted your death. You love me just as much. Please guide my life so that I may never break your heart as they did. Amen.
GPS Insights
Carol Cartmill
Carol Cartmill, who serves as Lead Director of Mission Ministries for Resurrection, A United Methodist Church, wrote today’s Insights. She provides leadership to mission programs that maximize the congregation’s involvement in life-changing ministry beyond the walls of the church, locally and across the globe. Carol applies her passion for equipping people for ministry, practical experience from working in a multi-location church setting, and an educational background in organizational management and leadership. She is married to Jim, mom to daughters Lauren and Kristin, and “Grammy” to Hayley, Eloise, and Taylor James. In her free time, Carol enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors golfing or gardening, or indoors looking for inspiration on the Food Network.
In today’s passage, Jesus looks lovingly upon Jerusalem and the people he has come to deliver. At the same time, his heart is breaking because the deliverance he has in mind is very different from what the people want and expect. They are longing for a revolution that will rid them of their Roman oppressors. Jesus is offering a revolution, but it is not a battle to overthrow a government. Instead, it is a revolution of love that loosens the bondage of sin while offering grace and a future filled with hope— not exactly the message the people had in mind from this new leader.
It’s easy to criticize those who rejected Jesus, but in reality, we find ways to reject him every day. Like the people in Jerusalem, we sometimes want a savior who will change the world and our circumstances to suit our needs more than one who wants to change us from the inside out. Jesus invites us to love God and others unconditionally and to act on that love. Yet sometimes we want to decide who and what is worthy of our love. At times, we even reject the messenger who tells us something we do not want to hear.
I’ve spent the last few days in Blantyre, Malawi, meeting with Resurrection’s mission partners at the Malawi United Methodist Church. This visit happens to coincide with the arrival of their new conference superintendent, Rev. Godfrey Gaga. He is sure to bring new vision and fresh ideas to the church he leads, and people are eager to meet and welcome him. But once the honeymoon phase ends and reality sets in, will they be just as eager to embrace ideas that might lead them in new and unexpected directions?
It can be challenging to hear the truth when it doesn’t align with our expectations. Jesus calls us to follow him and to embrace the life he offers. My personal prayer is that I will accept the grace he offers and live a life worthy of the sacrifice Jesus made on my behalf. Please, Lord, help me. I don’t want to break your heart.
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Michael Green, The Message of Matthew. Inter-Varsity Press, 2000, p. 247.
** Myron Augsburger, comment on Matthew 23:37-39 in The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24: Matthew. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982.
*** Wright, N. T., Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (The New Testament for Everyone) (pp. 109-110). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
