When Jesus Wept

Part Four


The scepter will not depart from Judah …

until he to whom it belongs shall come….

He will tether his donkey to a vine,

his colt to the choicest branch.

GENESIS 49:10–11





Chapter 24



Jesus came to stay with us again during the Feast of Dedication, which we call the Festival of Lights. It was the time of year after harvest when the vines are dormant, leafless, and unkempt. It was a cold, dark winter, and Jesus was our Light.

We all went together to the Temple to remember its desecration by the Greeks and the battles of the Maccabees to restore it. I believe this was the Jewish holiday our oppressors feared most. It was the holiday of rebellion and victory!

In every home along the route, lamps glowed in the windows facing the street. A drizzling rain chilled our faces as we climbed the steps, but we felt excitement in our hearts. When we reached the summit of Mount Moriah, the mist became flecks of snow that scudded on the wind.

Questions rang across the Temple Mount and into the halls of the mighty:

“Is Jesus of Nazareth another Judah Maccabee?”

“Will he call the people to rebel?”

“If the Maccabees defeated the Greek Empire, is it possible Jesus will rally many to defeat Rome?”

It was evening when we walked with Jesus in Solomon’s Portico. A number of Jerusalem Sparrows, orphan boys of the city, guided us with torches. For the eight nights of the feast the Temple courts blazed with illumination. The glowing tribute to Almighty God could be seen for miles, as if the mountain were a beacon of freedom in a dark, weary world.

We circled the Temple courts in two files of worshipers. We sang with one chorus proposing and the other replying:

“Shouts of joy and victory

resound in the tents of the righteous:

‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!

The LORD’s right hand is lifted high!’ “1

Jesus spoke to the boys of our forefathers and noted that most Jewish celebrations centered around freedom. Freedom from slavery. Freedom from sin. Slavery and sin were alike, were they not?

“No one can serve two masters,” Jesus told us, “for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”2

Two Levite choirs continued the dialogue in song:

Open for me the gates of the righteous;

I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

This is the gate of the LORD

through which the righteous may enter.

I will give you thanks, for you answered me;

you have become my salvation.”3

The Pharisees gathered around Jesus and began to question him:

“How long will you keep us in suspense?”

“If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me. But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I will give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”4

The Levite choirs sang on in the background …

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.

From the house of the LORD we bless you.”5

The religious leaders were outraged as Jesus said these things. They picked up stones and were ready to stone him right then and there.

I whispered to Peter, “We’ve got to get him out of here.”

But Jesus answered his accusers, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”

Caiaphas stepped forward then. “It’s not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

The priests and scholars could not match wits with Jesus. He quoted back to them from Scriptures, refuting every false charge they made against him. He ended the discussion that evening with this: “If I’m not doing the works of my Father, then don’t believe me. But if I do them, even though you don’t believe in me, believe the works. That way you’ll know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”6

The chorus continued singing:

“The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes!”7

The council sent for the guards to arrest Jesus. But the Jerusalem Sparrows snuffed out their torches. People moved in, jostling and shoving, shouting back at the Temple guards. Jesus slipped away, escaping from their clutches.



We hurried back to Bethany, where the Lord spent one more night. Then he left us, crossing the Jordan River to safety where John the Baptizer had been at first, and there he and his close disciples remained.

Fame from his miracles reached far and wide. People came from everywhere to seek him. They said, “John never performed miracles, but everything John said about this man Jesus was true.”

And many believed in Jesus in that place.

I rejoiced as the memory of a song of the Levite choirs at the Temple washed over me …

“You are my God and I will give praise you;

you are my God and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

his love endures forever!”8