Why did Jesus weep as He neared Jerusalem on the back of a donkey?  He knew what would happen there in the future, beyond His own death and resurrection and ascension into heaven.

(NASB) Luke 19:41-44 “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!  But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43 ‘For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side,
44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

  In A.D. 70 the Romans would come and destroy the Temple, not leaving one stone on another.  The Temple had been built with much gold.  And when the Romans came to destroy Jerusalem they set fire to the Temple to melt the gold and then toppled the stones to procure the gold.

  Think about the sadness of Jesus as He spoke, because the Jewish nation did not recognize Him when He was among them.  They did not recognize their Messiah when He visited them in the flesh.
  Immanuel, God with us.  And many missed that truth about Jesus.

‘Open my eyes, Lord to “see” You ~ today!
Open my eyes to recognize You, Lord Jesus as Savior, Redeemer and Lord ~ today!
Open my eyes to follow You Lord Jesus ~ today!’