Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 19:41-48 - Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

August 24th, 2025

The end of summer is upon us. The swimming pools are empty. Vacations have been taken. Another state fair is in the books. Summer sports a distant memory. Football season is underway.

The rooms are ready, the lessons are planned, back to school nights complete. Classes will be in full swing in just a few days. Another summer gone by too quickly filed away in pictures and memories.

Out in the country the farmer’s anticipation builds as their minds venture deep into the fall harvest season. After a summer of abundant rain and scorching heat the fields and countryside are a thing of beauty. The yields, the markets, time will tell. But God is gracious.

Everywhere you look you see and hear the signs of another season ending and another beginning. In the background is the constant hum and deafening song of the cicada as the long days of another summer take their final bow.

We are caught in the rhythm of the seasons and the steady march of time. If only we could hit pause for a moment. Catch our breath, energize our bodies, recharge our minds. Time has no pause button. Time doesn’t care about our thoughts and feelings.

Time is like a river that keeps flowing. We are helpless to fight against its power. It carries us into the unknown. Moments and things; places and people caught in the steady flow. Unable to swim against the current and go back to days past. Today lasts only a moment.

It's easy to get caught up in the steady march and rhythm of time as we drift along and not stop and consider what things make for true eternal peace along this journey. A journey we ultimately have no control over. A journey in which we can’t predict the future. Along the way, do we know the things that make for peace beyond today? Do we know the time of Jesus visitation among us?

In the Gospel reading Jesus has just journeyed for the final time into Jerusalem. It’s His triumphal entry. Palm branches waving. Shouts of Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

The triumphal entry into Jerusalem is a big deal. The cross is in clear sight. Jesus is only days from death. He’s in the holy city and Jesus weeps. Jesus isn’t weeping because He’s going to die. Jesus is weeping because He’s sees into the hearts of all the people in the holy city who reject Him. Jesus desires that all people are saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus is the truth. Most people reject Him. They don’t see Jesus in their midst. They don’t see the things that make for true peace today.

There is a warning for us in the Gospel reading. Don’t be like the city of Jerusalem. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t harden your hearts. Don’t close your eyes. Don’t reject the things that make for peace while there is still time. Time is running short. Tomorrow is unknown. Jesus is here today. The Divine Service is the visitation of Jesus every week where He brings us the things that make for eternal peace.

Repent and receive the fruit of His cross every week. You have been given the things that make for peace. It began at your baptism into Jesus. Your baptism was entry into the church, the body of Christ. It was just the beginning of your life in the church. You didn’t choose it; Jesus gave it to you.

And now Jesus continues to visit you throughout your life. He gives you peace that endures into eternity. Don’t close your eyes to it.

When Jesus wept over Jerusalem He said if only you had known on this day the things that make for peace. The days are coming, but they are hidden from your eyes. These people hardened their hearts. They shut their eyes and ears to Jesus in their midst. Jesus warned them: The enemy is coming, and he will tear you down. Even your children. Because you did not know the time of your visitation. You didn’t know the things that make for peace.

Jesus is prophesying about the days when Jerusalem would be destroyed by Rome. Jesus sees what’s on the horizon for the holy city. It’s destruction. It’s judgment. It happened in the year 70 AD. Jesus knows judgment is coming for those who reject Him; and He weeps.

They didn’t see that He was the flesh and blood of God who came to die that they might live. He was in their midst, but they chose the desires of their own flesh. They chose their own thoughts and ideas about who God was and how the things of salvation worked. Don’t be like those people in Jerusalem.

So what about us? Should we fear the coming judgment day? Should we live in despair waiting for the end of time? Do we know the things that make for peace? Do we know the time of Jesus visitation among us today? Or do we set the time and place for Jesus? Do we seek for peace among the things of our choosing? May we not be so blind and hard-hearted like those in Jerusalem. May we desire to be where Jesus is often.

No one knows the day or the time when this life ends. Hear the warning in the Gospel reading and repent. Know when and where Jesus comes to visit you. That’s today. See your sin. Amend your ways. Don’t trust your works. Don’t be complacent. Don’t horde and trust in your earthly wealth and treasures that will not save you. Things that will perish and turn to dust. Don’t trust your heart. Don’t trust your thoughts and feelings. They will lead you astray.

Don’t close your ears to the words of Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Hang on the Words of Jesus. They bring you peace that will last beyond time into eternity.

Jesus has finished His course. He lived your life, He died your death, and Jesus lives. And Jesus continues to visit you. He brings you the fruit of His cross as you journey through time. The fruit is not hidden; it’s not a secret. You know where to find it. You need it often. Be faithful to the end in receiving it.

Live today like this is the only day you have left. You are given the things that make for eternal peace every time you come to the Divine Service. You hear the Words of Jesus. You receive the medicine of immortality. Every Sunday morning for an hour Jesus is here for you. Don’t reject Him.

The Words of Jesus that bring you eternal life are here. They baptized you into Jesus. They bring you true heavenly food. They do things. They are powerful. They forgive you. They save you.

Consider little Sloane baptized into Jesus this morning. Her journey, her time has just begun. And yet already she knows the things that make for peace because she has faith. If only we could keep that innocent child like faith. Instead we work so hard to fight against the gift, against the visitation of Jesus, against the Spirit at work in us. Become a child again in faith. Become like Sloane at the font. Drown in Jesus and come to back to life in Jesus again and again.

Jesus visited Sloane this morning. He took her into Himself just a few moments ago as the water was poured over her little head and the Words were spoken over her. Her sinful flesh was drowned in Jesus. Then she was raised out of the water and reborn. She is filled with the Holy Spirit. Her sins are forgiven. She is saved.

She didn’t earn it. She didn’t ask for it. She didn’t have the power within herself to take it. Jesus gave it to her. It is His peace. It will carry her to heaven. She can never undo what was done to her at the font. She could walk away from it one day. But she can never undo. It will always be there for her to come back to if, God forbid, she would fall away. She will always be baptized into Jesus who will welcome her back with open arms.

Time will continue marching forward for Sloane. Only God knows the years and the plans He has for her. But we know in Jesus they will be blessed. Jesus will finish the work He began in her this morning. Her life won’t be perfect; she won’t be perfect. But she will be covered in the perfect righteousness and peace of Jesus all the days of her life.

And Jesus will continue to call Sloane back into this place so He can nurture and feed her with Himself. The Words of Jesus and the Holy Spirit will sustain and strengthen her faith as she continues to hear and receive the fruit of the cross.

Raised and nurtured with the Words and teaching of Jesus, she will grow into a young girl. She will come to Sunday school and confirmation. She will learn the stories of Jesus. She will sing the songs and confess the faith of Jesus. A confession of faith that will one day bring her to this rail where she will kneel and receive the true body and blood of her Savior. Forgiveness, life, and salvation given to her.

Sloane’s journey in Jesus started today. She is being pulled along in the current of time, just like all of us. But time is not her master. Time is her gift. She is a baptized child of her Heavenly Father. Jesus is her peace. Jesus will light her path in this world. Jesus will watch her every little step. He will send His angels to guard and protect her. He will not leave her nor forsake her. She will finish her course in faith. She will rise again at the resurrection of the dead with us and all the saints who live and die in Jesus.

What is true for Sloane is true for you. Time is not your master. Time is your gift. Jesus is your peace. Jesus visits you again today. He reminds you that you too are baptized into Him. You know the things that make for peace. His Words. His body and blood. You leave here today with those things. Jesus will see you to the end. Just like Sloane, you will finish your course in faith. Thanks be to Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.