The King Weeps
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Luke 19:28-44
Introduction:
During the advent season leading up to Christmas we often will talk about the darkness the people were dwelling in. And that the announcement of Christ’s coming birth and the events surrounding it were the breaking of 400 years of silence where the people had not heard from God. Then there is this glorious announcement that the Savior had been born. Those who hear it are excited and celebrate the Lord’s Messiah being born. Then around thirty years pass and we get to Luke 19. In this passage, the arrival of the king is once again announced. The people who had waited hundreds of years were now set to welcome their Messiah to Jerusalem and hoped He would overthrow their Roman oppressors.
This is a very well known story. In many churches this scripture will get preached in a few weeks on Palm Sunday when this account is typically celebrated and remembered leading up to Easter the following Sunday. To this day we are fascinated with royalty as humans. When their was a royal wedding a few years back people lost their minds. It was for many people a reason for watch parties and drew much attention. I can remember how big of a deal it was when Prince Charles married Princess Diana when I was a kid. Personally I haven’t cared much about what the British royals since 1776. But people love it.
One of the themes we see running through these verses is kingship, specifically the kingship of Jesus.
Back in Luke chapter 9, Jesus had set toward Jerusalem, a journey that we have gone on up until this point.
Verse from LUKE 9:51
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Jesus had set His face to head up to Jerusalem where He would suffer and die at the hands of the Romans in order that He may redeem a people for Himself.
To get up to Jerusalem, Jesus had to pass over the Mount of Olives.
SHOW MAP.
In this passage we see the Lord's Will, The Lord's Welcome, and The Lord's Weeping.
I. The Lord's Will (v. 28-35)
I. The Lord's Will (v. 28-35)
28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples,
30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ”
32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.
33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”
35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
In the passage we see that He is approaching Bethphage and Bethany. He gets to the hill and sends out two of His disciples to the nearby village (we don't know which one) with specific instructions about finding this colt tied up and what to say when they are asked about taking it.
Gives the two disciples instructions and they find it exactly as He had said.
Note the response He tells them to give when they are questioned about the colt.
This response would end all questioning.
Possibly the home of someone He knew but be careful not to rationalize this too much.
Wellhausen quote
Lord - in the sense of the master/servant relationship.. In this dynamic if the master needs something, it is the responsibility of the servant to provide it.
Edwards quote about Jesus getting closer to the cross
“sovereignty over all that ‘must’ transpire in Jerusalem … Jesus’ prescience increases in proportion to his proximity to the cross.”- James Edwards
These things were things that MUST happen.
And one of those things that must happen is that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey.
Prophecy from Zechariah 9:9
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Every Pharisee would have known this passage. They were greatly irritated by what was going on this particular day. But we will come back to them.
Jesus is doing something bold and something that is a bit different. He is making a conscious decision and move here to identify Himself as Messiah. No more secret keeping or telling people to keep quiet about it. His time had finally come and the people would not be quieted.
Donkey - This is usually explained as a sign of humility instead of a warhorse. But some OT rulers would ride a beast of burden. I think it is interesting that a beast of burden carried He who would bear the burden of our sin on the cross.
Whatever the view of the donkey is, the people certainly understood that Jesus was entering like a king.
And they welcome Him.
2. The Lord's Welcome (v. 36-40)
2. The Lord's Welcome (v. 36-40)
36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
The moment had finally come. After many years of waiting and longing, there was a celebration of the coming of the long awaited Messiah.
They were so excited that they threw their garments on the ground for the colt to walk on to carry the burden of the king. They put their cloaks on the colt for Jesus to sit on which symbolizes enthronement.
Royal connotations
Jehu 2 Kings 9:13
13 Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”
Their cry was, "Hosanna, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord."
- This acknowledges Jesus' kingship as something designated by God Himself. This isn't some guy who just decided one day to be king.
The next part of their cry is almost identical to the song of the angels at Jesus' birth.
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Allusion to Psalm 118:26 (JTTW)
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
This is an allusion to Psalm 118:26, which celebrates the victory of the King over his enemies, as those who come in the Lord’s name are blessed. The King returns to the temple in victory and with praise for the Lord’s deliverance. - Tom Schriner
Not everyone is happy about this celebration. Those ole Pharisees are lurking around. They are angry. They have a fury in their response.
They call on Him to rebuke His disciples.
The question of what stones Jesus is talking about? We can only speculate on that and it’s one of those things that is open for discussion but is not a major point of doctrine so I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it. BUT, the language is in keeping in concert with other passages in scripture.
12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Psalm 114:4,6
4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Don't let anyone stop you from praising Jesus. God will be praised.
In verse 41, Jesus catches sight of Jerusalem, where He will suffer and die as a sacrifice for the sin of man, and He weeps for the city.
Let's look at the Lord's weeping.
3. The Lord's Weeping (v. 41-44)
3. The Lord's Weeping (v. 41-44)
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The crowds cry peace but the people of the city will know no peace. The reason that the people don't know peace is because they don't know the Prince of Peace who makes the way for peace. And as a consequence of their rejection of Him they face judgement. They rejected peace. It's ironic sadly because Jerusalem means foundation of peace. The city of peace would not know true peace.
Despite such a great welcome to town, He knows that soon, the majority of the city will reject Him.
"Jesus is saying, 'God himself has visited this town, but you didn't recognize him. And because of that, O Jerusalem, your enemies will come and they will destroy you.' And with these words of lamentation, Luke ends his account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem." - R.C. Sproul
Jerusalem failed to recognize the time of the coming of God among them. They had the prophets and the law and they missed it. They had rejected Jesus and the truth was hidden from them. God hid the truth from them because they had already rejected Jesus.
Oh that we would not miss Jesus. This is a truth that strikes me again and again as I preach through Luke. He was right here in front of them and they missed Him. Oh that you and I would not look at the scripture and miss Jesus!
The previous parable was so kind. It showed that some would reject the king but some would serve faithfully in the middle time when he went away.
Visitation in the OT - can signify God's deliverance and help or His judgement.. Here it's positive. Jesus, the Christ of God brings peace, good news, and the kingdom. But since they have and will reject Him, they will face judgment. Not only is there a theme of royalty in this passage but a theme of peace as well. Jesus is the KING and He brings peace. He weeps because though He brings salvation, He also brings judgment for those who reject Him.
V 43-44 - graphic prediction of the fall of Jerusalem
70.A.D. by Rome
Reminder just as we saw in the parable of the Ten Minas, that rejecting the king has terrible consequences.
"Jesus wept over the terrible fate of the city. To be sure, his was not the sorrow of impotence; he was not saying, Oh, how I wish there were something I could do about this! In verse 42 it is clear that the people couldn't see because the truth was being hidden from them; judgment had already been set. But Jesus' posture toward the rebellious city was one of compassion, for he does not perversely delight in the destruction of the wicked." - Mike McKinley
11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Jesus was, in just a few more days, going to be having on the cross with our sin upon Him who had no sin of His own. He was going to die to bring us peace with God. That's what was needed for us to have true peace.
We will worship something. You were made to worship the King. But humans tend to put other things in the place of Jesus in our lives. The previous parable makes it clear that there would be a delay before the king returns to set up the kingdom in full. That's where we are now.
Conclusion:
- If we love Jesus then we will love and care about what He loves and cares about. Our response to people who reject Jesus over and over again should be with the same kind of compassion.
- Just as the destruction of Jerusalem was terrible, the final judgment will be eternal for those who do not know Jesus or serve Him.
- This is why we must commit to pray, give, and go to the nations with the gospel.
- When was the last time any of us wept over the lost in our city?
- Do you have peace? Substitutes for peace will not fulfill you or last in your life or for eternity.
PRAY
