The fact that Christ cried over Jerusalem struck me as significant. The study guide clarifies that it is the people of Jerusalem that Christ wept over. It was the contention between religious sects that prevented them from seeing the truth in the gospel that Christ taught. It seems like several common gospel problems are at work in this instance. First of all, each sects has pride. They think they are better than each of the other sects. If they had concentrated on themselves I think they would have seen that Christ's message was a higher law and they could truly become more righteous. Secondly, contention really causes the spirit to not be heard. I know this from personal experience. Weather it be contention about religion, or any type of contention, the peaceful presence of the spirit cannot dwell with a spirit of contention. It is easy to see why this is upsetting to Christ. He brought such an important message and the people of Jerusalem are busy fighting over who is more holy.
When people welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem, they were told that Christ was the Messiah. They were so excited to finally be released from the corrupt rule they had been under. They thought that he would get rid of the Roman rule and be a great military and social leader and reformer. Of course, Jesus was capable of being this, he is omnipotent, but he had a more important change to bring about. He came to release them from religious corruption instead. There were some truths in the religions practiced, but through hypocrisy of religious leaders, worldly motivations, and dead religious forms being used, the religious state of Jerusalem was in poor shape. I think this serves as a great example of what we should prioritize in our lives. Even if our economic, political, social being is not the best, if we are doing well spiritually, it will all be okay.
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