2024-03-24 - The Weeeping King (Palm Sunday)

2024-03-24 - The Weeping King (Palm Sunday)

Intro: Story of me and dad using ladies bathroom at Shipshewana

Background to Story:

The name "Shup-She-Wah-No" translates to "Vision of a Lion" in the Indian language. The chief's band of Potawatomi Indians camped around the lake, which was surrounded by forests, streams, swamps, and game. The chief died in 1841 by the lake.

The town of Shipshewana is less than one square mile in size, but it attracts more than 50,000 visitors each year. The town is known for its Amish-owned businesses that showcase traditional culture and crafts.

NOW TELL THE STORY:

Link: Sometimes we cry when were happy, embarrassed, somethings funny but there are times when we cry b/c we don’t get our way or because of sadness and grief.

Like our title of the message is, “The Weeping King.”

Jesus wept but also,

Jesus is a King.

Links Link: One of the first references to Jesus Christ was the magi’s query, “Where is he that is born king of the Jews?” The last reference to Jesus was written on a crude sign over his head on the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

And in between these references are many more that speak of Jesus’ role as a king.

In his temptation experience, Jesus was offered the kingdoms of this world on the Devil’s terms, but he rejected kingship on that basis.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described the nature of his kingdom and the characteristics of the citizens of his kingdom.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus demonstrated kingly authority over the

demonic,

over disease,

and over death.

There were times when his disciples wanted to make him a king.

They were thinking of him as a

nationalistic and

political king who would

reestablish the sovereignty of the nation of Israel as a political force in the world. However this is not why Jesus was here.

In his triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passion Week, our Lord boldly and compassionately offered himself as the King of love and grace. The triumphal entry, which is recorded in all four of the Gospels (Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:29–44; John 12:12–19), was Jesus’ bold declaration of his messiahship and his claim to be the Christ of God. He came into Jerusalem not to assert his sovereign rights to the throne of David’s political kingdom, but to declare his kingship in the hearts of those who would trust and follow him. William Barclay has described this most beautifully and significantly:

He came lowly and riding upon a donkey.

We must be careful to see the real meaning of that. In western lands the donkey is a despised beast; but in eastern lands, the donkey could be a noble animal. Often a king came riding upon a donkey; but when he came upon a donkey, it was the sign that he came in peace.

The horse was the mount of war!

The donkey was the mount of peace. So when Jesus claimed to be king, He claimed to be the king of peace.

He showed that He came, not to destroy,

but to love;

not to condemn,

but to help;

not in the might of arms,

but in the strength of love.

Luke describes one experience in connection with the triumphal entry that is not recorded by the other apostles. Luke 19:41–42 “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

Wept here means to have grief, its also directly saddened because of the people, their darkness of their sin, knowing that without their accepting Him, they will be lost forever.

He called them but they did not come.

Imagine, your puppy or kitty runs out in the road, you call and plead for him to come to you, but instead they lay down like they know better, they will be OK, they can get themselves out of the situation. Then a semi comes along and runs them over. Now, you don’t just weep with a few tears in your eyes, no, you love that bet and now you sob uncontrollably b/c they would not listen to you as you tried to save their lives.

Here we see the King weeping over the city. The King was not weeping for himself. These were not tears of self-pity, remorse, or personal failure. They were the tears of a King suffering for his people.

Dakruo: This word refers to shedding tears, often silently. It describes a more controlled or quiet weeping.

Think of tears welling up in someone's eyes, but they might not be sobbing or wailing.

Klaio: This word refers to loud, wailing weeping. It emphasizes the emotional intensity and audible expression of grief.

Imagine someone crying uncontrollably, with loud sobs and possibly even physical expressions of grief.

Here's an example from the Bible to illustrate the difference:

John 11:35: "Jesus wept" (ἐδάκρυσεν - edakrisen, a form of dakruo). Here, the focus is on Jesus simply shedding tears, possibly out of compassion for Mary and Martha.

He knew he would see Lazarus again.

The word in Luke 19:41 is the stronger of the two words for wept, Jesus was grieving of over the lost souls.

Is Jesus grieving over your lost soul today? Or have you trusted in Him?

Message:

I. The King was weeping because of his perfect knowledge.

Jesus’ heart was filled with compassion for his people. He was experiencing the pain of a shallow acceptance that did not receive Him.

They were willing to accept a King of love, grace, mercy, and righteousness.

Jesus doesn't send anyone to hell, they send themselves there, b/c they won’t allow the Savior to save them.

He had a perfect knowledge of the situation in the past, present, and future; and this knowledge caused his heart to break with compassionate concern.

II. The King was weeping because of the blindness and deafness of the people.

Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus restored sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf on many occasions.

He did that to help the people see the need for really using their eyes for seeing and their ears for hearing.

Jesus sought to minister to a group of people whose minds were filled with conceit and complacency.

They had a feeling of spiritual superiority when they considered those around them.

They were preoccupied with their own ways and goals and were unwilling to open up their minds to new truth about God as Jesus was trying to communicate it.

They were spiritually and morally blind and deaf and would not permit themselves to see and hear.

This caused the King to weep on their behalf.

III. The King was weeping because the city was passing up its opportunity forever.

Once opportunity comes to us, if it is not recognized and seized, we miss it and it is gone forever.

Jesus knew that his people would never know what they were missing because of their unwillingness to believe and respond to him as the Messiah of love.

He wept because they were passing up their unique opportunity.

IV. The tears of a weeping King give us insight into his character.

Jesus came to reveal God’s nature and character to people.

He came to reveal that God is not cold, distant, removed, and unconcerned.

He came to reveal that God loves people and wants to save them from their self-destructiveness.

A. Paul describes the compassion of this King who, though he existed in the form of God, did not hold on to the prerogatives of that position, but instead poured himself out into the form of a man so that he might come and rescue humans from sin Philippians 2:5–8 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

B. This God-appointed King submitted to the humiliation and pain of crucifixion so that he might reveal God’s concern for his people (Matt. 27:32–44). The tears of the King reveal the heartbreak of God.

Conclusion

It is easy for us to be critical of those who rejected the claims of the King during his earthly ministry. Before we condemn them, however, we need to inquire as to whether we have rejected or ignored the claims of him who conquered death and the grave and who will someday come back as the King of Glory.

When we look at the world and see how few have even heard the good news of Christ, we must admit that we have either rejected or ignored the King’s command to carry the good news to the ends of the earth.

As Jesus’ disciples, we need to recognize that we have robbed ourselves of the promise of his companionship when we have neglected to recognize his authoritative command to evangelize the world (Matt. 28:19–20).

Jesus was born to be our King. We need to make him the Lord of our lives. We need to let him be the Lord of love in our homes. We need to let him be Lord in our vocations. We need to let him be Lord in our decision-making processes.

UNSAVED: So how about You? Is Jesus weeping over your soul, do you think you can get out of the punishment of sin on your own, He’s calling you today to Himself so that He can save you but are you rejecting Him? ABC John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

SAVED: So how about you? Do you know Jesus? Are you allowing Him to be the Lord of your life, are you struggling to follow some of His commands? Talk to the Lord about it, see what He is revieling to you.