What does Matthew 23:37 mean, 'how often would I have gathered thy children... and ye would not'?

Whosoever Will, Jesus Never Told a Calvinist Parable: Then Jesus stepped out of the parables, stood over the city that was killing Him by inches, and used the same word twice in one sentence: “How often WOULD I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye WOULD NOT!” (Matthew 23:37) In the Greek, His desire and their refusal are the same verb running in opposite directions. How often would I: ethelesa. And ye would not: ouk ethelesate. One verb, one sentence, one mouth. The willing of God collided with the unwilling of Jerusalem, and Jesus chose the vocabulary that makes both real. And in plain discourse, to men standing in front of Him: “And ye WILL NOT come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:40) Not ye cannot. Ye will not. Call that the Thelo Pattern: wherever Jesus names the refusal of God's invitation, in story or in sermon, the word is always will, never ability. The barrier He names is never a missing decree. It is a present will that refuses. A man who believed the refusers were disabled by an eternal decree had the cannot word available in His own vocabulary and declined it forty times. Scripture, King James Version: Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"; John 5:40, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.".

Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.