Smart As a Rock

The Beginning

Jesus has just left Jericho where he had dined with Zacheus. He had just finished telling the parable of the Minas. A parallel story of the Parable of the talents. Don’t settle for what you have been given. Take it. Work it, Improve it. Definitely directed to the religious leaders who had been given so much but not done anything with it, but also for Zacheus and us who have been given salvation and forgiveness and are expected to share it with others.

So, Jesus begins his final week.

Jesus knows what is happening.

He knows exactly what is going to happen. He predicts what is going to happen throughout, and it always come true.

Luke 19:28-

Luke 19:28–34 NIV

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.’ ” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

Bethpage and Bethany are two villages off of the Mount of Olives. Bethany is about 1.8 miles from Jerusalem and where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. Jesus probably stayed with them his final week on earth. He would travel to Jerusalem every morning and travel back to Bethany every evening.

Bethpage is probably where the disciples got the colt.

Jesus chose to go through it all.

Here is the main point. Jesus knew exactly how this week would go from beginning to end. He was not surprised by anything. From the colt being in Bethpage, to the triumphal entry, to Judas’s betrayal, to Pilate, to the crucifixion, to the resurrection. Nothing Jesus knew every detail.

Jesus chose to go through it all.

This is so important for a couple of reasons. It shows he CHOSE to go through all of it out of love and it shows he KNOWS what is going to happen.

Jesus chose to go through it all knowing what was going to happen. That is the ultimate act of love is it not. Many people have chosen to die for others in sacrificial love. Those in the armed forces, first responders, parents, are all heroes. Maybe they knew they faced certain death, but none knew exactly how it would happen, but Jesus did. This is something we need to keep in mind throughout our study of the last week.

Jesus chose to go through it all because he loves you and me. He chose to go through it even though he knew many would reject him. He knew all of us would betray him at some moment like Peter or Judas. He chose it for us because he knew there was no other way. And that is why we should choose to follow him.

Jesus knows what is going to happen

He knew the future. That is the second key part to the story of the colt. Jesus is reminding the disciples and us that he knows what is going to happen. Not just from Bethany to Bethpage to Jerusalem, but all the time. Now that offers some serious comfort to me every day, but especially in the turbulent times we are having right now.

We hear all sorts of things that might happen, and it would be irresponsible and unloving for us not to prepare and to take precautions like we are all doing for the corona virus, but Jesus was not surprised by this pandemic and he knows how it is going to end. He knows.

Can you imagine how the disciples would have responded when Jesus basically told them to go take a colt that did not belong to them, and if anyone asked to tell them, “The Lord needs it?” I am sure they looked at him sort of strangely, and aren’t there times when God asks us to do some strange things. Things like when you have that strange urge to go offer help to someone you don’t know, or to go work with middle schoolers, or to turn the other cheek and love those who are mean to you at work or in the community. But when Jesus tells you to do something, he already knows what is going to happen. HE GOT IT. How do we know he got it? The same way the disciples do, we have seen him do amazing things over and over and over. It’s our experience with Jesus that gives us confidence in HIM in the future.

Sure enough the two disciples go and it all works out exactly as Jesus said it would even to the smallest detail. Even the questions the people would ask was answered.

How comforting it is to know Jesus already knows!

There is a little thing here that we sometimes miss as we read this story. I think it is pretty cool and important, but not something that is mentioned very often.

Check out Verse 30 again.

Luke 19:30 NIV

“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.

Jesus is over creation.

You will find a colt that no one has ever ridden. That seems strange doesn’t it when you really think about it. Have any of you ever seen someone try to ride a colt or a horse or a mule that no one has ever ridden. That usually does not go very well. In fact, until this week, people paid a lot of money to go to rodeos to watch people get chunked off of colts that are never ridden.

The point is that Jesus like God is over the created order. Jesus even has control over the unbroken animals. As he rides the colt into Jerusalem. Now I don’t at all think this is the key part of the story, but I know it is important or Jesus would not have been so specific would he?

Sometimes, we need to remember that as well don’t we? Jesus is over creation. He is over the earth, the weather, animals, and even little microscopic viruses, that scare the heck out of us. He can quite literally break the unbroken. Remember the story of Jesus calming the storm?

I love to remember that. Jesus is over ALL of creation.

Oh yeah by the way did you catch who needed the colt? The Lord. Jesus is making a pretty big claim here isn’t he? The Lord.

Jesus is Lord (KYRIOS)

Kyrios. The same word used for God many times, and I would say definitely meant that way here. This is key as we move through this passage today. Jesus is the Lord. He is making a claim through the triumphant entry that he is God. I would even say this story is one of the clearest places in the gospels where Jesus makes a claim to be God.

Now the famous part. Jesus gets on the colt and began the journey to Jerusalem.

Luke 19:35-

Luke 19:35–40 NIV

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. 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!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Jesus is King

Don’t you think the disciples thought this was so cool. This is the what they had been experiencing for the last couple of years. Jesus the Superstar. I know that sounds kind of sacrilegious and it probably is, but Jesus really was a celebrity at that time. Crowds followed him wherever he went. People were tearing through roofs of buildings to get to him. They believed if they could only touch him they would be healed. And now the crowds were cheering him into the capitol claiming that he was their king. They were ready to see the greatest miracle yet. The salvation of the Jews, and they were right, but they had no idea what that truly meant.

Many thought he was going to begin a revolution against the Romans, but instead he was going to end the revolution that had begun by the demons and Satan millennium before.

Like so many of us they were thinking big, but not nearly as big as God’s plan.

Now this is a big deal. Bigger than we can imagine. I will try to help us all understand it.

Luke 19:38 NIV

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Luke 19:

They are quoting which is a messianic prophesy

Psalm 118:26 NIV

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.

Psalm 11

They are claiming one that Jesus is king but two that he was sent from the Yahweh, God. They were proclaiming rather they knew it or not that this was God’ instrument to save his people from the line of David. Claiming Jesus was the eternal king.

Now as I said before, they did not have any idea how right they were and they did not have any idea what that meant, but they knew they had to worship.

Does the second half of their praise make you think of anything? It should. Do you remember what the angels were singing to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born?

Luke 2:14 NIV

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

I think that is so cool! The beginning of the end is linked to the beginning of the story. See Luke was all about showing Jesus is King.

But now in every celebration there seem to be party poopers. In come the Pharisees to ruin the party.

Luke 19:39–40 NIV

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Luke 19:

First, I think it is interesting that only “some” of the Pharisees spoke up.

Many thought he was going to begin a revolution against the Romans, but instead he was going to end the revolution that had begun by the demons and Satan millennium before.

Like so many of us they were thinking big, but not nearly as big as God’s plan.

Many thought he was going to begin a revolution against the Romans, but instead he was going to end the revolution that had begun by the demons and Satan millennium before.

Now Jesus is confronted a lot by the Pharisees in the next few days, but I realized we don’t all know who they are. So, let me tell you a little bit about them.

Harper’s Bible Dictionary Pharisees

Pharisees were zealous observers of the law, prominent among the people and especially concerned with ritual purity, tithing food according to OT law, and correct observance of Sabbath. These are typical sectarian interests. They were learned in the law and sometimes contrasted with the Sadducees from whom they differed especially on resurrection

Like so many of us they were thinking big, but not nearly as big as God’s plan.

They were legendary for accurately interpreting the law. They kept it to the strictest sense. So, it drove them nuts that Jesus’s disciples were claiming that he was the King sent by God and especially that they were claiming that he was the Messiah. They had become so blinded by their focus on the law that they had missed the heart of God.

So, there is no wonder they were telling Jesus to rebuke his disciples. His disciples were claiming he was the Messiah. They were calling out in worship to him. In the pharisees mind they were committing blasphemy, the greatest sin in the Jewish world. A sin that demanded death. IT was unforgivable in their mind.

Leviticus 24:15–16 NIV

Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.

Leviticus 24:15-

They were accurately interpreting the law. If you blaspheme, you should die. But check this out. Jesus was not blaphemeing, he was telling the truth. He was claiming to be God.

In we get something amazing. Jesus says to them.

Luke 19:40 NIV

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

How can the stones cry out? Why would the stones cry out? That is impossible, but do you remember what I said before. JESUS IS LORD AND KING OVER ALL CREATION

Jesus is LORD and KING over all creation

I am reminded of Romans 1.

Romans 1:19–20 NIV

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:19-

God is revealed through creation. Creation was made to bring glory to God. Now Jesus is claiming the rocks would worship him if the people ever stopped. This is a HUGE deal. Jesus is claiming to be God. Throughout this whole story, Jesus’s actions are characteristics of God. He is showing us that he is God. This is the culmination of the gospels. All pointing that Jesus is the Messiah, the king. GOD!.

So as we move forward in the final week of Jesus’ ministry on earth 2000 years ago, we will see Jesus, 100 % man and 100% God blow the socks off of everyones expectations or even understanding of God, and he continues to do that today, but you also see why the pharisees and the other religious leaders were so bent on killing him.

Jesus

They believed he was evil. They believed he was anti God, but everything he did, all of his actions, all of his miracles, all of the prophecies he fulfilled, showed he was God incarnate, but they had become so blinded by tradition and their own selfish desires they could not see the truth that was so obvious the rocks could see it. Sp be at least as smart as a rock.

Jesus is

The truth is we all have to make the same decision in our lives. Whether conscious or not! Is Jesus God. or is Jesus evil. He can’t be anything else.

If he is God, then shouldn’t we trust him in every aspect of our lives. He knows the future, the present and the past. He knows what is best for us, and he is Lord and King over us and all creation including a virus that is scaring the world.