And the Lord Wept: The Church of Dominus Flevit
As He was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out. As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Luke 19:37–42
The imagery of Christ overcome with emotion at the sight of Jerusalem, and His accurate foreshadowing of the tragedy to befall it, is a powerful, emotive moment between His raising of Lazarus and His entry into Jerusalem, illustrating the hard-heartedness of the religious establishment of Jerusalem that would play a decisive factor in the coming Passion. It should also be said that Christ’s emotional response to the moment must also take into consideration the undoubted beauty that he saw, for anyone who has had the pleasure of overlooking the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives will not forget the experience.
Indeed, there is something spectacular regarding the Mount of Olives. Facing west, it has always been a place to watch Jerusalem come alive in the morning, or to experience brilliant sunsets in the evening. During this moment on the Mount of Olives, He would have seen the city of Jerusalem with the Second Temple and taken in the natural beauty that marks spring in Jerusalem.
Small wonder is it that tombs dating back to the Caananites of the Late Bronze Era, well a millennium before the birth of Christ, have been found, as well as Israelite graves from many different eras. The first known church on the site dates back to the fifth century, while a beautiful seventh-century mosaic floor with geometric patterns and also depicting flora from the region remains in good condition. No evidence, however, exists to positively confirm that the churches or chapels during the Byzantine Era commemorated this moment as told in the Gospel of Luke. The first purpose-built commemorative church is known to have existed during the Crusader period, but the site was not maintained after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslim ruler Saladin in 1187. It was not until the 1950s that the property was re-developed by the Franciscans and the iconic architect of Jerusalem, Antonio Barluzzi, designed the chapel in the shape of a teardrop to commemorate the moment where Christ wept – or in Latin, Dominus Flevit.
Today, visitors can enter the church and look through the iconic paneled window behind the altar in the apse of the church, which frames the Dome of the Rock and the rest of the Old City with a superimposed silhouette of both a crucifix and a communion cup, as well as simply sit outside and ponder, as Christ did, at the duality of the beauty and tragedy of Jerusalem then, as now.
Journey to the Holy Land!
Good Shepherd Travel includes multiple days in Jerusalem as part of our Holy Land pilgrimages along with Nazareth and the Galilee, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. Other popular pilgrimage tours to locations such as Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, and Ireland are also available. For more information on how to begin preparing for a pilgrimage in late 2022 and 2023, contact Good Shepherd Travel owner and manager, Tony AbuAita at Tony@goodshepherdtravel.com.