Elder D______,
This is the quotation that I was trying to
paraphrase last night:
“Jesus gazes upon the scene,
and the vast multitude hush their shouts, spellbound by the sudden vision of
beauty. All eyes turn upon the Saviour, expecting to see in His countenance the
admiration they themselves feel. But instead of this they behold a cloud of
sorrow. They are surprised and disappointed to see His eyes fill with tears,
and His body rock to and fro like a tree before the tempest, while a wail of
anguish bursts from His quivering lips, as if from the depths of a broken
heart. What a sight was this for angels to behold! their loved Commander in an
agony of tears! What a sight was this for the glad throng that with shouts of
triumph and the waving of palm branches were escorting Him to the glorious
city, where they fondly hoped He was about to reign! Jesus had wept at the
grave of Lazarus, but it was in a godlike grief in sympathy with human woe. But
this sudden sorrow was like a note of wailing in a grand triumphal chorus. In
the midst of a scene of rejoicing, where all were paying Him homage, Israel’s
King was in tears; not silent tears of gladness, but tears and groans of
insuppressible agony. The multitude were struck with a sudden gloom. Their
acclamations were silenced. Many wept in sympathy with a grief they could not
comprehend.” Desire of Ages, p. 575.
Jesus was trying to suppress
a grief that would spoil the joy of the crowds around Him. But, His natural
sorrow for His people could not be held in. The angels’ Commander in tears of
insuppressible agony. His quivering lips burst forth with a wail of anguish
from the depths of His broken heart, His body rocked like a tree before the
tempest. Oh, the depth of sadness that filled Him! Can’t we see Him there? Can’t
we enter into His sorrow and unselfish love? He loved Israel as His own soul;
they were the apple of His eye, His second self.
David
