Mighty Man of Mercy

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Merciless

The Bible tells me that I am a sinner in need of salvation. Do you ever have those moments where you realize how absolutely true that is?
In my head it goes like this “I am a terrible person.” Yup, that checks out. I’ll give you an example.
Karen talks in her sleep. I am, of course, compassionate and kind always.
The other night, she asks: “are we robots? I am starting to think we are robots?”
I think, oh, maybe this is a deep philosophical query. Do we have free-will? Or are we falling into too set a routine?
Then she follows up with “I think we are Transformers...”
And I realize my wife knows about transformers… and is definitely either asleep, or insane, or both.
Then she asks: “… but are we Autobots or Transformers?”
Very concerned. Now I realize a few things. Her knowledge about 80s cartoons goes quite a bit deeper than I previously had known. Second, this is an opportunity where I could be merciful, I could lovingly shepherd her through what could become a nightmare.
I also realize that… that would be less funny, I have no mercy, and am a terrible person.
So I say: “well… you’re an Autobot… but I’m a Decepticon.”
“But that makes you the BAD GUY!!!???”
Mercy. In a situation like that… I just don’t have it. I know worse, I know one husband who convinced their wife to bathe a tree in Aloe Vera… but I’m not naming names.
I wonder how often I make God laugh out loud with the ridiculousness of what I say. What I ask. What I do.
The God who sees the beginning and the end. A common phrase is “you want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.”
I do think I make God laugh… but I am thankful God is ever so much more merciful than I am. It’s kind of a bizarre idea, actually.
The God of the Universe. Merciful. Kind.
We approach the moment that defines our faith. Next week is Easter. Easter is coming. Cross and tomb and Resurrection! Glory!

Palm Sunday

One week before Jesus enters Jerusalem, a day we celebrate as “Palm Sunday”
Jesus’ ministry was just gaining traction. Jerusalem was abuzz with stories about this man who raised his friend Lazarus from the dead in nearby Bethany.
Jesus leads his disciples towards Jerusalem for the Passover feast… knowing that he goes to the cross. And he makes the most bizarre of preparations.
Luke 19:28–31 ESV
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 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. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ”
Weird. So weird. Oddly specific. A colt is a horse or donkey under four years old.
Why???
Luke 19:32–35 ESV
So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
How incredibly detailed are the preparations for Jesus entry, the road to the cross, paved with prophecy and preparation. God had a reservation on the car (aka donkey).
Matthew describes it this way:
Matthew 21:7 ESV
They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
Skeptics imagine this kind of scenario. Jesus riding both donkeys like a stunt rider.
Is he riding both? No. “Them” refers to the cloaks, not both animals. Maybe he took turns on each. He road on the colt, Mom carried the rest of the cloaks as she followed behind.
Riding in the donkey emphasizes two things. First a conquering king comes in riding a war horse. A king who comes in peace rides a donkey. Jesus enters Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace, not only not to conquer Rome, but to make Peace ultimately, in every sense.
Second, riding in on the donkey fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy about how the Messiah will enter Jerusalem 500 years earlier.
Zechariah 9:9 ESV
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.
How humble is this picture?
The Messiah enters Jerusalem with all humility. A dude on a donkey with shabby cloaks as his saddle.
Zechariah’s prophecy emphasizes this, the humility of the King entering the city. Tiny backwater city. A few hundred confused people. Dirty muddy streets. Shabby cloaks and trampled palm leaves.
How humble is our King. Our Savior.
Luke 19:36 ESV
And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
Matthew says “most of the crowd spread cloaks” and some cut branches. Branches of what? the kind of trees they had: palm trees.
That’s where we get the phrase “Palm Sunday”. Why? They were treating Jesus like a King. This is what they would do for celebrations, this is what they would do when King David entered on a feast day. Why palm branches? Because there are palm trees everywhere. Why cloaks? Because that’s what they had.
More cloaks than palms, maybe we should call it “Cloak Sunday”. Of course, only John mentions a timeline for this day, 6 days before Passover, so it happening on Sunday doesn’t fit all that well either.
That’s not the point.
But all of it elevates the ground he walks on above the ground the rest of us walk on. It is “rolling out the red carpet.”
Luke 19:37–38 ESV
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, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
This is a quote from Psalm 118, which we read earlier. This is a declaration of Jesus as the Messiah, the heir of David.
To be clear, they are all kinds of Mistaken! They are thinking Jesus is coming as a political Messiah, a “Savior” to rescue them from Roman occupation.
The Pharisees, who had challenged Jesus on this issue before, they call on Jesus to correct their mistake.
Luke 19:39 ESV
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
Luke 19:40 ESV
He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Mistaken… but also SO right. He is sovereign beyond sovereigns.
King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And for a beautiful moment Jesus allows the people to express a shadow, a fraction, of the glory He is due.
Jesus comes in humility, on a donkey.
And yet, he comes in Majesty. It may be simple, but it’s all they can give him. And he deserves all they can give him.
What is going on in His head? In His heart? I am sure many things, he contemplates the cross, the night in the Garden of Gethsamane is coming. He knows resurrection and glory is coming. He goes willingly to the cross, he goes in obedience unto death.
But with all the suffering and all the glory of all humanity before him… he is not blind to the need before him. His heart breaks for the city of Jerusalem, the very people who are cheering him...
Luke 19:41 ESV
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
Moved with compassion? Why? He sees the lost. He sees the pain. He sees their blindness.
Luke 19:42 ESV
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.
And he sees forward to the coming destruction, four decades in the future in AD 70:
Luke 19:43–44 ESV
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 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.”
Why is Jerusalem destroyed? Well in AD 70 there is a political uprising, an attempt to throw off the Roman oppressor, an attempt to fulfill what they mistakenly believe Jesus is about to do as a political Messiah. There are people in that crowd, likely, who will be part of that uprising, children throwing down palm leaves who will be caught up and killed in that rebellion.
But why does Jesus say Jerusalem’s destruction really happens?
Because “you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Because they missed the Messiah.

Mighty Man of Mercy

Let’s sit for a moment and just admire our Lord. He combines things that we often think of as contradictory.
Absolute humility: unquestionable majesty.
He is the Sorrowful Sovereign Savior. The Mighty Man of Mercy. The Compassionate King.
That is our Lord. And remember, when we see Jesus, we see God. This universe was made by him for him through him. Our Sorrowful Sovereign Savior.
Thank God for his majesty: he can save us.
Thank God for his mercy: he wants to save us.
We can, and we should, spend lifetimes contemplating and praising, glorifying our Compassionate King. My Bible says we will.
But, and here is the crazy thing, and we touched on this last week: we are called to be like him.

Mighty Man of Mercy

Can we echo the heart of Jesus, the Man of Mercy.
Where are our tears for Jerusalem? Not for Jerusalem itself, but our tears for the lost, for the hurting, for the broken.
I am a terrible person. Not because I tease my wife about being a Decepticon… that’s hilarious and I stand by that. Because I don’t often see with the eyes of Jesus. I don’t weep with him, my heart isn’t breaking for the lost and the broken… most of the time I don’t even see them.
And church, there comes a day when Jesus will ask us how well we followed him. And his questions don’t look like:
“How good was your theology?”
“How right were you?” (Ouch… that’s Convicting)
“How shrewd were you in making sure curbside panhandlers didn’t take advantage of you?”
After his Triumphal Entry, Jesus tells his disciples the kinds of things he is looking for:
Matthew 25:31–40 ESV
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Where were you when Corona virus hit me? Hit my grandmother? When I was in the hospital and you weren’t legally allowed to visit me… how did you find ways to love me anyway?
When I was hungry? When I was out of toilet paper… you gave it to me.
Jesus’ questions for you and I at the end of days… how did you show mercy? Kindness? Compassion? Sacrificial love.

Mission of Mercy

So here is your homework. Oh look, you’re already at home. And you are already on Facebook. So let’s try this.
Let’s help each other. You can help me.
Let’s help each other see the need. God has given you eyes to see, eyes of mercy, tears for Jerusalem: where are you seeing the needs… and maybe how are you trying to meet it?
With your family, whoever you are watching with, you can all do this together. Let’s brainstorm together and post in the comments on this live stream thing.
What are the ways you are discovering to show mercy? You have already thought of ways, are already doing things that I haven’t thought of yet.
This is something I LOVE about our church. I discover all the ways you are so eager and already loving on people. Let’s share that with one another, that we might “encourage and equip” on another to take the next bold step in showing radical mercy… in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.
Let us fix our eyes on our Sorrowful Savior...
Then let’s go and be like him.
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