“Now they are hidden from their eyes.” Luke 19:42
As an elderly lady with vision strived to get on the bus another passenger nearby exclaimed, “To be blind must be the worst thing.” Some may consider that to be debatable but no one would say that blindness did not greatly impair a person’s world view in a visionary sense. No one would choose to be blind.
In relation to God people do choose to be blind (2 Peter 3:5). In this passage in Luke’s Gospel people become blind because they reject the light. In effect they have chosen to close their eyes.
Israel was blind to Jesus being their Messiah. The leaders did not want Him to be Messiah and had ruled that out. This effectively made them blind to that possibility just like so many today have ruled Jesus out as being the Saviour from sin, death and God’s wrath.
As Jesus looked upon the city from Mount Olivet He began to weep. His weeping was not for what He would soon endure but for what He knew the city would endure in the future because the people rejected Him (Luke 19:43, 44). He had presented Himself to Israel as their promised Messiah, fulfilling all the Scriptures that spoke of Him, yet they did not recognise Him.
Jerusalem is special to the Lord because it is the city in which has been, and will, be the greatest revelation of the Person and glory of God. In Jerusalem He would endure the cross taking upon Himself the sin of the whole world (John 1:29) and will later rule and reign over the whole world when He comes in all His glory when Israel finally will receive Him.
The reality concerning Jesus Christ was hidden from the people of Jerusalem of that day because they chose to close their eyes to the truth and the opportunity was lost forever. One can only imagine their grief and sorrow when they discovered after bodily death that they had rejected the only One who could save them!
The reason they missed their opportunity and did not recognise Him as the promised Messiah, Jesus says, is because they did not know and understand the Scriptures (v 44). It is the Scriptures that describe both His activities and what He would teach. This included His suffering, death and resurrection.
As we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people our hearts are grieved at those who choose to be blind to the truth. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He saw the suffering the city would endure for its wilful blindness so we weep over souls who wilfully reject Jesus Christ because we know what awaits them in eternity.
Physical blindness is a severe impairment but nothing compared to wilful blindness in relation to the Bible and Jesus Christ. Jesus healed many physically blind people to demonstrate that He could also heal the spiritually blind – if they want to be healed!