“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Luke 13:34

            As God, Jesus knew full well that potential of what Jerusalem could represent.  It was God’s spiritual home on earth, where his temple sat, where his presence existed inside and where sacrifices were made.  The history of Jerusalem went back to the times of David and Solomon, when worship and God’s power reigned mightily. Jerusalem was later destroyed by the Babylonians, restored during the time of the Persians and floundered during the Greek and Roman dynasties.  Jerusalem was a survivor, but here it was in the time of Jesus, decomposing through the failure of Jewish religious leadership and refusing to accept Jesus as God.  He had so much to offer everyone in Jerusalem if they only believed.

            Soon, Jesus also knew, this city would be devasted in 70 AD by the Romans, destroying the temple forever and crippling Jewish history for centuries.  That’s why he was crying.