Imagine the chaotic scene: a city in turmoil as enemies bear down on it. Preparations are being made hastily to flee the coming onslaught. To make matters more complex, the enemies are the other side of a civil war. They are not a foreign army. They are brothers and countrymen. Allegiances are shifting. Hearts are being torn in two.
That’s the scene we find in 2 Samuel 15. King David’s rebellious son Absalom is marching down on Jerusalem to take the throne from his father. David and his household are fleeing the city for their lives.
Allegiances are untenable and soon lines are drawn to divide the people into two opposing camps. There is betrayal and loyalty expressed.
In the midst of this chaos, David ascends the Mount of Olives, leaving behind his city and he cries.
But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went.
2 Samuel 15:30 (ESV)
The once majestic king is now physically and emotionally vulnerable and devastated. He is humbled and broken.
This scene foreshadows a day centuries later, recorded in Luke 19. In this scene, the narrative is inverted. Instead of fleeing Jerusalem, Jesus is entering the city. He is mounted on a donkey. Rather than weeping with him, his companions are praising him.
But the central character of both narratives, David and Jesus, share some central characteristics: their grief and humility.
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
Luke 19:41 (ESV)
Jesus is coming down the Mount of Olives, into Jerusalem, mounted on a donkey.
David is going up the Mount of Olives, fleeing Jerusalem, barefoot.
Both are weeping.
This contrast tells us much about Jesus, both as a person and as our Messiah.
The Honest Tears of Christ
First, we are reminded of Christ’s humanity.
We are prone to divide emotions into “good” and “bad” categories. Though we not always consciously admit it, we treat the “bad” emotions as inferior and even sinful. We reject anger, grief, and anxiety. However, Jesus, the perfect Christ, expresses open grief over the future of Jerusalem even as he enters the city amidst the celebration of his disciples.
No doubt he is also looking ahead to his own passion: judgement and death. He is looking ahead to the rejection of his Father. He is clearly overcome by emotion. He is not stoic in the face of his future and the future of this beloved city, which will be destroyed by the Romans within decades of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
Jesus provides an example here for us. We can be honest about our emotions. Our emotions are tainted by sin but it is better to be honest with them, even if we are just honest with ourselves, than to stuff them away.
It is acceptable to be sad, angry, and agitated. God calls us to responsibly submit these emotions to the Truth, but sometimes expressing emotion is the most Truthful thing we can do in the moment.
“Humble and Mounted on a Donkey”
The other thing this reveals about Jesus, as our Messiah, is the countercultural nature of his Kingdom.
We live in a world of invulnerable kings. Stoic strength beats vulnerable weakness in our world. The kings of this world ascend their thrones. They take the high position by the right of their power.
Jesus, on the other hand, descends. He is characterized by humility, rather than military greatness. His power is undeniable as he over and over again exercises wave-quieting, demon-casting, disease-healing, death-defying authority over his own creation. But he chooses to use this power by descending to take a lowly place among his creation. The condescension of Christ is mapped out in Philippians 2:5-11.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)
This is controlled power expressed in love and humility. This is meekness. As David flees from betrayal, Christ rides towards it.
David is the weeping king who has lost all to his rebellious son. He has been humbled and stricken with grief. He cries and suffers as he retreats.
Jesus is the “better David”. He is the perfectly obedient Son who is punished by his Just Father so that rebels like us can become sons and daughters. He humbles himself and becomes a suffering servant (Isaiah 53). He advances into suffering for our sake.
Following Our Lamenting King
We are called to follow our lamenting king into suffering and deeper intimacy with him. Jesus is our Lord and Savior but he is also our Brother. He knows our frame and understands our weakness because he has actually embraced it.
How do we follow our lamenting king?
For one, we can be free to shed honest tears. We don’t need to fear our emotions but we can be free to feel them and submit them to Christ, who lived a perfect emotional life.
We can also trust perfectly in our humble Messiah and follow him into suffering for the sake of others. Dying to ourselves will lead to life for others. We can advance fearlessly into suffering behind our own lamenting king.