Luke 19:28-48
Notes
Transcript
The moment has finally arrived. Jesus is finally arriving at Jerusalem.
Anticipation has been building. Expectations are swirling. It’s an exciting moment.
At least, it should be. This should be the biggest thing ever to have happened. The crowds should be out in force, welcoming their Messiah with scenes of great celebration.
And there certainly was celebration. But all is not as it should be.
In many ways, the scene on that day in Jerusalem is still being played out every day in every nation across the world.
Jesus is the king who approaches and offers peace. It should be a cause of rejoicing! But his peace is rejected, and there are countless barriers that keep people from accepting his offer of peace.
The way Jesus acts, speaks and responds to the events on that day offer us an insight into how we should act, speak and respond to the ongoing rejection of Jesus as King in our own time and place.
We should absolutely rejoice that the king comes in peace.
We should also weep when his peace is rejected.
And we should oppose all barriers that keep people from peace with God.
REJOICE: THE KING COMES IN PEACE
REJOICE: THE KING COMES IN PEACE
As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he sets things up so that his entrance doesn’t go unmissed.
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” say, “The Lord needs it.” ’
That very scene is then played out in vv32-33, showing that this is pre-planned - either through divine foresight, or pre-arrangement. Either way, it is deliberately designed to make a powerful statement about Jesus and his identity.
The use of a colt is significant because of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9...
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
For three years, as Jesus has travelled around teaching, casting out demons, healing the blind, crippled and lame, he has repeatedly told people to keep his identity and mission a secret.
But now he is openly announcing himself to be the messianic king of Zechariah 9:9 and the all the prophets.
And he allows his followers to openly declare him to be the Christ.
Once the disciples have retrieved the colt...
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
Which is how kings of the past have been treated at their enthronement/ anointing.
There is no hiding it now! This is it. It’s happening. Jesus is coming to Jerusalem as the promised king, the Son of David, the Messiah.
No wonder his followers celebrated the way they did...
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ [Quoting Psalm 118] ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’
But notice how they proclaim peace. Echoes the angels in Luke 2:14 “‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’”
That peace is now entering Jerusalem, humble and riding on a donkey. He doesn’t come armed for war, but offering the most incredible terms of peace.
There should be rejoicing! It is right to celebrate!
Because this offer of peace still stands today. Jesus still approaches the gates of every heart and soul, every community and nation, not swinging a sword but opening his arms in a sign of peace.
Peace with God through his Messiah.
Yes, celebrate that! Rejoice! This is the king we need, the only one who can bring about the lasting peace we need.
As we witness the ongoing turmoil in the world, we can look to Jesus and know that we have a king who has brought peace to us.
But we should also...
WEEP: HIS PEACE IS REJECTED
WEEP: HIS PEACE IS REJECTED
The celebrations are short-lived. Not everyone is welcoming King Jesus with open arms.
Just like the master in the parable of the minas who was going away to be made king, not all his subjects wanted him to rule over them.
In particular, the Pharisees object to the way the followers of Jesus are behaving...
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’
They clearly understand the implications of everything that’s happening. The colt, the cloaks, the celebrations - all of it pointing to Jesus as Messiah.
And so they call on Jesus to put his disciples straight, to give them a good telling off for being blasphemous, for getting too excited and making ludicrous claims.
But Jesus will do no such thing.
‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’
In other words, that Jesus is Messiah is so obvious and so momentous that nothing can stop it from being openly declared and proclaimed!
Creation itself will testify to the truth, like in...
Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
So, King Jesus continues on his way into the city...
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Jesus is loudly lamenting the way that Jerusalem, known as the city of Peace, has consistently rejected the peace that Jesus has proclaimed, demonstrated and offered.
The city represents the nation as a whole, and therefore Jesus weeps at the widespread rejection of his Messiahship.
And because Jerusalem has rejected peace, it will know devastating war.
The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.’
Jesus doesn’t delight in what he says. He is devastated to know that in the not-too-distant future Jerusalem would be ransacked and destroyed, as it was in AD70 by the Romans.
This is why Jesus is weeping. There could be peace. But there will be judgement.
In the same way that we should lament the way that peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, is repeatedly rejected, so we should grieve the way that Jesus is repeatedly rejected by individuals, cities, communities and nations.
It should grieve us that the gospel of peace through Jesus is ignored, overlooked, mocked, and spurned.
Even as we celebrate that Jesus is our King, we should mourn that so many still won’t receive or welcome him as theirs.
And that should drive our passion for making him known, inviting everyone to follow him, reaching different parts of our community (Rich, poor, young, old, atheist, agnostic, Muslims, Hindus etc).
We should be prayerfully invested in gospel work around the UK and world, acknowledging that Jesus is being accepted by many in different lands while still being largely rejected around the world.
And we should be alert to the way that many are being kept from knowing true peace with God, and so we should...
OPPOSE: BARRIERS TO PEACE WITH GOD
OPPOSE: BARRIERS TO PEACE WITH GOD
Jesus has now entered Jerusalem, and goes straight to the Temple where he doesn’t like what he finds.
When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling.
For context, this is a bit like a Tesco Express being opened in the knave of Westminster Abbey!
It’s an obstruction of what this place is meant to be used for.
Notwithstanding that ordinary Jews should be coming to the Temple for the worship of God, to meet with God...
The Temple courts were the part of the Temple complex that could be used by Gentiles, non-Jews, to pray and worship the Lord.
Known as the Court of the Gentiles, this was where non-Jews who had effectively become Jews (called God-fearers), could come and pray and worship God.
But that was being disrupted because the Court of the Gentiles had become the Marketplace of Greedy Sellers. Were the Temple authorities charging ground rent on the stalls? Were they profiting from this use of the court?
We don’t know. But it obviously disturbed Jesus.
‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘ “My house will be a house of prayer”; but you have made it “a den of robbers”.’
This comes from...
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’
Those selling in the temple courts were robbing the nations of the chance to know peace with God, and Jesus displayed his royal authority by driving them out.
In our own day, the barriers to peace with God are too many to list.
Ideologies, false religion, consumerism, individualism, endless streams of different kinds of media and information, a largely secular culture that is largely happy to be secular. These are some of the barriers that keep the people of this city, this nation from true worship, and true peace with God through Jesus.
We could just accept that this is the way it is. Or we could stand up to it. Oppose it. Not in the sense of putting up a fight, although that might sometimes be called for.
Rather in the sense of giving a compelling invitation for why people should take a look at Jesus. Living deliciously different lives. Having answers to commonly asked questions. Giving a defence of the gospel.
That’s why we’ve been using evangelism training materials this term, because we all need to be better equipped to speak about Jesus with those we live and work with.
Of course, there are other barriers to faith, to peace with God through Jesus.
Just as the barriers were put up in the Temple in Jesus’ day, so there are barriers that come through the so-called church today.
In the form of false teaching - distortions of the gospel message in different ways:
Watering down the gospel so as not to offend, or to make it ‘inclusive’.
Wickedly proclaiming a gospel of health and wealth, which only benefits the preachers
Making the gospel all about “me” and not about Jesus.
Barriers can come in the way that too many believers live lives that are inconsistent with the faith that they profess. Instead of being deliciously different, they are distastefully similar to the world, its values and practices.
In particular, the behaviour of some church or Christian leaders has turned far too many people away from Jesus.
These are warnings to us. To beware these barriers, but also to avoid becoming one ourselves.
Jesus has arrived as the prince of peace. Some receive him, most reject him. What has he shown us?
We rejoice that our king has brought us peace through his death and resurrection.
We weep because so many continue to deny him and forfeit his peace.
We actively oppose all the barriers to faith in Jesus, and seek to be the best possible witnesses we can be for him.
May he continue to call many to the gospel of peace through his servants, and may many come to say and believe: Jesus is King.
