cardigon

The siege of Jerusalem was one of the most terrible sieges in history. Jerusalem was obviously a difficult city to take, being a city set upon a hill and defended by religious fanatics; so Titus decided to starve it out. No one quite knows what the desolating abomination is. The phrase iself comes from Daniel 12:11. There, it is said that the abomination that makes desolate is set up in the Temple. The Daniel reference is quite clear. About 179 BC Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, determined to stamp out Judaism and to introduce into Judea Greek religion and Greek practices. He captured Jerusalem and desecrated the Temple by erecting an altar to Olympian Zeus in the Temple Court and by sacraficing pig's flesh upon it, and by turning the priests' rooms and the Temple chambers into public brothels. It was a deliberate attempt to stamp out Judaism. It was the prophecy of Jesus that the same thing would happen again, and that once again the Holy Place would be desecrated-as indeed it was. Jesus saw coming upon Jerusalem a repetition of the terrible things which had happened 200 years ago; only this time there would arise no Judas Maccabaeus; this time there would be no deliverance and no purification; there would be nothing but ultimate destruction. Jesus foretold of that siege that unless its days had been shortened, no human could have survived it. It is strange to see how Jesus gave practical advice which was not taken, the disregarding of which multiplied the disaster. Jesus' advice was that when that day came, men and women ought to flee to the mountains. They did not; they crammed themselves into the city and into the walls of Jerusalem fom all over the country, and that very folly multiplied the grim horror of the famine of the siege a hundredfold. When we go to the history of Josephus, we see how right Jesus was about that terrible future. Josephus writes of these fearful days of siege and famine: "Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying of famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the market places like shadows, all swelled with famine, and fell down dead wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were healthy and well were dterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves for many died as they were buring others, and many went to their coffins before the fatal hour was come. Nor was there any lamentation made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those who were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence, also, and a kind of deadly night had seized upon the city....And every one of them died with their eyes fixed upon the Temple." (Josephus The Jewish Wars, 5:12:3) Josephus tells a dreadful story of a woman who in those days actually killed and roasted and ate her suckling child (6:3:4). He tells us that even the Romans, when they had taken the city and were going through it to plunder, were so stricken with horror at the sights they saw that they went away empty-handed. "When the Romans were come to the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses....They then stood on a horror of this sight, and went out without touching anything." (6:8:5) Josephus himself shared in the horrors of this siege, and he tells us that 97,000 were taken captive and enslaved, and 1,100,000 died. That is what Jesus foresaw; these are the things he forwarned. We must never forget that not only individuals but also nations need the wisdom of Christ. Unless the leaders of the nations are themselves led by Christ, they can not do other than lead people not only to physical but to spiritual disaster. Jesus was no impractical dreamer; he laid down the laws by which alone a nation can prosper, and by disregard of which it can do no other than perish miserably.

In this scene of the bible we are shown the picture of Jesus wrung with anguish as he shared the anguish of the human heart. To the Greek reader, that little sentence "Jesus wept" would be the most astonishing thing in an astonishing story. That the Son of God could weep would be almost beyond belief. Jesus asked that the stone of the tomb be removed. Martha could think of only one reason for opening the tomb-that Jesus whished to look on the face of his dead friend for the last time. Martha could see no consolation there. She pointed out that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. The point is this. It was Jewish belief that the spirit of the departed hovered around the tomb for four days, seeking an entrance again into the body. But after four days the spirit finally left, for the face of the body was so decayed that it could no longer be recognized. Then Jesus spoke his word of command which even death was powerless to oppose. And as Charles Wesley put it: "He speaks, and, listening to his voice, New life the dead receive."

When Jesus said this he was on the road to Jerusalem. He knew that he was on his way to the cross; the crowds who were with him thought that he was on his way to an empire. That is why he spoke to them like this. In the most vivid way possible he told them that those who followed him were not on the way to worldly power and glory, but must be ready for a loyalty which would sacrifice the dearest things in life and for a suffering which would be like the agony of a man upon a cross. We must not take his words with cold and unimaginative literalness. The language of the middle east is always as vivid as the human mind can make it. When Jesus tells us to hate our nearest and dearest, he does not mean that literally. He means that no love in life can compare with the love we must bear to him. There is a very suggestive truth within this passage. 1.) It is possible to be a follower of Jesus without being a disciple; to be a camp-follower without being a soldier of the king; to be a hanger-on in some great work without pulling one's weight. Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, "So and so tells me that he was one of your students." The teacher answered devastatingly, "He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students." It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church that in it there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples. In every sphere of life each one of us is called to count the cost. In the introduction to the marriage ceremony according to the forms of the Church of Scotland, the minister says, "Marriage is not to be entered upon lightly or unadvisedly, but thoughtfully, reverently, and in the fear of God." A man and woman must count the cost. It is so with the Christian way. But if we are daunted by the high demands of Christ let us remember that we are not left to fulfill them alone. He who called us to the steep road will walk with us every step of the way and be there at the end to meet us.