Jesus was not dazzled with the loud shouts and acclamations that surrounded him, but he saw prophetically the end and the ruin of the city lying before him. His heart was broken, and he was bathed in tears. Yes, Jesus wept, and burst into tears, for he saw the hard hearts aroused against him, while he bore in himself the love of God which sought night and day to bring back the lost to repentance, but in vain, for their ears were deaf to the divine call, and their blind eyes could not perceive him who prevailed over death and Satan. Even today, most of the eyes of the children of Abraham are still covered with a veil. Though Jerusalem (Uru-shalim) means the "City of Peace", the peace of the Highest did not dwell in it, and had always parted with it. Today, Jesus is still crying over this city, which God had chosen as a center of peace for the whole world.
The Lord saw beforehand how the Jews would refuse him, and deliver him to the hands of the Gentiles to kill him. The Son of God let the children of his nation persecute him, and forgave those who opposed him all their offences. Yet he knew that if they did not accept the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells after his death, they would immediately fall into condemnation. The Lord wept when all about him were rejoicing, and he foretold in a loud voice their fall into destruction.
The divine love saw with exact insight how the Romans would dig a trench, build an embankment around the city with its soil and stones to besiege it, ruin its high walls, and occupy the city quarter by quarter, making lawful all the plundering and impurities a spiteful, furious conqueror could do. They even took the babies of the Jews and beat them against the walls breaking their heads into pieces, and they burnt the Temple of God after they stole its golden and silver contents in 70 A.M. Then after the last unsuccessful revolution in 132 A.M. the Romans tore down all the walls of the city, and proud Jerusalem became a wasteland.
Jesus saw all these details coming on his adversaries. He wept in compassion and love for them, and did not say rejoicing at their misfortune: "It is good to have the city attacked so fiercely. May God consume this rejecting people!" But the King of love wept for the unbelief, hardheartedness, and blindness of the people. Does Jesus also weep over you and your hard heart? Does he foresee condemnation coming on your nation? Do you participate with him weeping compassionately over the dirty humans, or do you hate the wicked?