The Biblical theme of lament is strong, although much neglected in churches in the west today. Jesus wept, John says, at the grave of Lazarus. He weeps here over the city of Jerusalem. His cry is directed at the city, at the entire people of Israel. Their Messiah had been revealed, as promised for many centuries; He had announced His own arrival in Luke 4, where Isaiah 61 was fulfilled in their hearing. Jesus’ wonderful ministry daily declared His Messiah-ship, as the blind saw, the lame walked, the dead rose, and the gospel was preached to the poor.
But, having come to his own people, they rejected Him (John 1.11)
Luke records a previous lament in 13.34-36 (See Matt 23.37-39), as well as the words recorded in 19.41-44. He saw the city. He wept over it.
Both writers include the word ‘O,’ a word from the depths of the heart. David uses the same word when he heard his (rebellious) son Absalom had been killed (2 Sam 18.33). ‘O my son Absalom!’
And, He cries, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem.’ When the speaker repeats the name, that speaks of urgency. Like the angel calling ‘Abraham, Abraham’ on Mount Moriah as he was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac.
So He wept.
Jesus words echo the heart-wrenching lament of Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations. He walks around the wreckage of the city, the ruins of the temple, strewn with bodies of young and old, men, women, and children. Many say that Rachel wept for her children, as Jeremiah himself reported, because they were no more (Jer 31.15).
40 years later that Jesus’ lament, Roman General Titus broke into the same city, destroyed the temple, slaughtering thousands. It happened again!