From Woe to Weeping

When Israel's religious leaders challenged Christ's authority, He didn't defend His right to declare what is true. He demonstrated it by confronting their unbelief. He pronounced woe upon woe on them, and then declared that He would send them messengers of truth whom they would persecute and kill. Thus they would fill up the full measure of their sin by violently rejecting the very message that would have set them free. Here, Christ's compassion was fully on display. Love led Him to fearlessly confront them with the truth, and then to grieve over the hardness of heart that the confrontation had so clearly revealed.