The Prince and the City

on cities with meaningful names (ironic at times) Neversink, etc

There is city also in the Bible that has a very ironic name: Jerusalem

“Foundation of safety/peace”

Thousand years of conflicts

This peculiarity/falsehood does not escape Jesus’ attention

Jesus has some reactions, thoughts for this city, who maintains the appearance of peace but actually does not have peace

This Palm Sunday, I want to invite to relive Jesus’ final week before he was crucified, but specifically focusing on when He was about to enter Jerusalem

Almost the end of ministry

Multiple miracles

Both Herod and Pharisees were already plotting to kill him

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,

Zech 14:1-10 states the Messiah comes at the mount of Olive

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.

Jesus is not unaware of the storm clouds gathering before him, nor is he an unwilling victim of them. Rather, he possesses foreknowledge and sovereignty over all that “must” transpire in Jerusalem. Jesus’ experience in this respect is of course not an exact prototype for believers, for he is Messiah, and believers are not. Nevertheless, if “all right knowledge of God is born from obedience,” then sacrificial obedience and suffering for Christ bring spiritual insight and clarity to believers as well.

That Jesus is “Lord” (kyrios) of the colt (vv. 31, 34) is reinforced by a wordplay on “lords” (kyrioi) in v. 33. In Mark 11:5 the disciples who fetch the colt are questioned by “bystanders,” but in Luke they are questioned by “the colt’s owners/masters” (v. 33; Gk. kyrioi). The authority of Jesus to be the colt’s rightful “Lord,” in other words, supersedes that of the colt’s owners. For the third time in as many verses, Luke signals Jesus’ unique authority in the triumphal procession narrative

In preparation for this Jesus sends two disciples to bring a colt upon which no one has ridden, for only such an animal was worthy of his royal entry.

They would have assumed that the “colt” referred to a young donkey. Which no one has ever ridden. Compare Luke 23:53. Such an animal was qualified to perform a sacred task (cf. Num 19:2; Deut 21:3; 1 Sam 6:7). This may also allude to the “young colt” of Zech 9:9

The unridden colt recalls the “two cows that have not had a yoke placed upon them” (1 Sam 6:7) that pulled the cart on which the ark of the covenant was returned to Jerusalem.

Put Jesus on it. Luke changed his sources, “he [Jesus] sat on it” (Mark 11:7), and thus paralleled more closely Solomon’s coronation (1 Kgs 1:33)

He was proclaiming that He was not coming to bring a military victory. If He had wanted to do so, He would have used a stallion (cf. Revelation 6:2)

As Jesus proceeds, “people spread their cloaks on the road” (v. 36). This, too, carries royal connotations, for at the inauguration of Jehu the crowd “hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, ‘Jehu is king!’ ” (2 Kgs 9:13; Josephus, Ant. 9.111).

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!”

Mention that this is clear that a ruler is coming!

The cloaks thrown on the road that day were not expensive garments but tattered shawls and dusty, sweat-stained rags. Jesus was the king of the oppressed and suffering. He shared their hardships, relieved their suffering, accepted them when others deemed them unacceptable, gave them hope, and embodied God's love for them. Now they came to march with him into the holy city. Only a few days later, on their way home, they would say to one another, "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel" (24:21). Do we yearn, deep in our souls, for a king—for a different kind of king? The king of sinners and outcasts, the poor and the oppressed, calls us to join the worship of the one who "has brought down the powerful from their thrones,/ and lifted up the lowly . . . filled the hungry with good things,/ and sent the rich away empty" (1:52-53), the God who "has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them" (1:68), the God who gives "light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death," the God who will "guide our feet into the way of peace" (1:79).

That God is praised for what Jesus does shows the degree to which the crowd associates the person and work of Jesus with the mission of God. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (v. 38), shout the crowds

As the disciples scatter their garments in homage before him, the King of Israel comes (19:38; cf. 19:12, 14–15), but he comes in meekness and humility, as Zechariah foretold (cf. Zech 9:9)

Luke relates this event to both the message of the angels at the nativity and to the universal proclamation of “peace” through Jesus Christ

The proclamation “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven” comes from Psalm 148:1; it is singularly appropriate here. At Jesus’ birth, the angels sang the beautiful words, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (2:14). It was the turn of human beings to praise God, and once again the gloria in excelsis deo is sounded (19:38). Both heaven and earth offered their praises to Jesus, the King and promised Savior.

Luke may have changed the wording of 2:14 to “peace in heaven” because the peace Jesus sought to bring (10:5–6) does not find fulfillment in Jerusalem. On the contrary, as the next pericope reveals, Jerusalem would not experience peace (19:42) but war and destruction (19:43–44). Nevertheless peace reigns in heaven, for God’s divine plan is being fulfilled. Only when the Son of Man returns will peace finally come to Jerusalem (13:35)

The mighty works is evident!!

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.”

This reference to the opposition serves as a preparation for the rejection that Jesus will shortly experience in Jerusalem.

Having no power to check the multitude (Jn. 12:19), and perhaps not daring to attempt it, they call on Jesus to do so. Possibly they wished to fasten the responsibility upon Him, and they may have been sent by the Sanhedrin to spy and report. This Messianic homage was offensive to them, and they feared a tumult which might cause trouble with Pilate.

If they kept quiet, the stones … would burst into cheers! The reply of Jesus about the stones crying out “indicates that his kingship is a reality whether it is recognized by people or not. The inhabitants of Jerusalem may not accept their true king, but the very stones of which the city is built do

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.”

Jesus wept. When was the last time we wept for those who are perishing? Are we getting bored/tired with mission month. Everyday I see homeless… The Son of God with all power and glory looks on the city of sinful man. Thunder does not rumble, and lightning does not flash in divine curses. The earth does ont qute in destruction. Instead, rivulets of tears flow down the Savior’s face. He weeps for the city, for entire cities and entire communities and entire nations.

The city, within whose name is the word “peace” (salem), rejected the messianic peace offered it and instead would experience war. Compare Pss 122:6–9; 147:14.

Sadly and tragically, the Jewish people had chosen the wrong course of action, and their general rejection of his claims would cost them dearly. They had not opted for “the way of peace,” and now it was too late (19:42). They faced the utter destruction of their city by military siege and the total breakdown of its defenses and fortifications (19:43–44). All of this devastation was attributable to the leaders’ failure to respond appropriately to Jesus (19:39, 47)

The tragedy of the Jewish people in Jesus’ day was that they did not respond positively to their golden “opportunity for salvation” (19:44). Jesus knew the result would be an awful judgment on his beloved city, for the leaders there were about to put him to death in just a few days. Jesus’ proclamation alludes to certain Old Testament passages that describe the devastation of the holy city by its enemies as a divine judgment upon its ways: “I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it” (Isa 29:3; see also Isa 37:33; Ezek 4:1–3).

He wept over the city because its people did not understand the significance of what was going on that day—that national acceptance of Him on that day would bring them peace. Because the people did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them (v. 44), the city would be totally destroyed. Roman soldiers did this starting in a.d. 70.

Jerusalem, as evidenced by the rebuke of the Pharisees immediately preceding, does not recognize or receive Jesus, however, and thus his visitation of grace becomes one of judgment—in both the loss of salvation and destruction of the city. Jesus is the royal Davidic Messiah who must be rejected, suffer, and die.

Two kinds of peace

Worldly peace. Subjective. False. Jerusalem. Illusory

Good time to remind ourselves. 2020 was a very difficult year. A lot of conflicts issues that take away our peace

The Son of God with all power and glory looks on the city of sinful man. Thunder does not rumble, and lightning does not flash in divine curses. The earth does ont qute in destruction. Instead, rivulets of tears flow down the Savior’s face. He weeps for the city, for entire cities and entire communities and entire nations.

Trump? Biden? Vaccine?

Not saying not good. Not a solid ground - Subjective.

The more - the most - important peace

The most important peace

In light of wordly peace/conflicts.. Easy to lose sight that all of those conflict pale in comparison with the one conflict, the lack of peace we should be concerned about

The pharisee chose worldy peace; the illusion of peace of Jerusalem and the Roman. Gave them 40 years before Jerusalem was razed to the ground

Lack of peace betweeen us and God.

All other peace are an illusion and temporary

God’s wrath, is more devastating.

Read Leviticus 26

Read Deuteronomy 28:49-57

He who could destroy body and soul

Good reminder that because Christ the prince of peace.. is contrasted with Jerusalem the city of fake peace. In Christ, we have..

Objective peace. That we are at peace with the one who can destroy not only body but soul.

Subjective peace. That despite whatever happens outside covid, trump, biden, we have peace within...

The Heb word is shālōm (both adj. and subst.), meaning, primarily, “soundness,” “health,” but coming also to signify “prosperity,” well-being in general, all good in relation to both man and God.

Not just negative sense of peace..

Wholesomeness.. Jesus’ peace gives us peace that everything is OK since there is no neutrality with God. Us being in right relationship with Him brings benefit

His act of self-giving made peace - peace between men, peace within, and peace with God. When he died on the cross for our sins he ended the strife so characteristic of a fallen world. So whether we are jews or gentiles, by the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified buried, and resurected, we have peace.

Christ has become our righteousness before God. There is peace with God - a quiet mind and confident assurance that in believeing and following Jesus we are reconciled to our Father in heaven and to our brethern on earth.

Nothing can destroy the peace from Christ

The last reminder in all of these..

The peace that Jesus enables us to have is not free.

In a week Jesus will go to the cross

Triumphal entrance? Jesus will be killed.. But it is a triumph of love and grace

One day our King will come on a stallion as a warrior King

But first he had to come as a prince lowly on a donkey on a painful tearful lonely road towards the Calvary

That be a reminder for all of us the weight of grace that we have received

Source of our joy and peace

Did Jesus’ disciples understand Jesus’ kind of kingship? Probably not

Jerusalem, as represented by the religious leaders:

Failed to recognize the corrupted state of their religiosity

Seeked different kind of peace - the Roman peace

Failed to see Jesus, the true peace during the day of visitation (their last chance!)

Choosing the Roman, the status quo, “worldly” peace over the true peace

Zech 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.

Luke 2:8-14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Psalm 118:25-26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

https://www.ligonier.org/blog/why-did-pharisees-hate-jesus-so-much/

https://www.gty.org/library/articles/P21/the-gift-of-peace

Luke relates this event to both the message of the angels at the nativity and to the universal proclamation of “peace” through Jesus Christ

This reference to the opposition serves as a preparation for the rejection that Jesus will shortly experience in Jerusalem.

If they kept quiet, the stones … would burst into cheers! The reply of Jesus about the stones crying out “indicates that his kingship is a reality whether it is recognized by people or not. The inhabitants of Jerusalem may not accept their true king, but the very stones of which the city is built do

the Palm Sunday event is not the final victory of Jesus, but it prefigures it. There is a fleeting but valuable recognition of Jesus as King before he suffers and dies as “King of the Jews”

They began to climb up the hills of the Judean wilderness as they worked their way westward toward Jerusalem. Eventually, Jesus and the apostles arrived at the Mount of Olives, on the outskirts of the city, where the towns of Bethany and Bethphage were located. Bethany was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

The crowds in the Lukan narrative were very receptive and “spread out their garments on the road ahead of him” in open recognition of his kingship. The crowds in the Lukan narrative were very receptive and “spread out their garments on the road ahead of him” in open recognition of his kingship

The proclamation “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven” comes from Psalm 148:1; it is singularly appropriate here. At Jesus’ birth, the angels sang the beautiful words, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased” (2:14). It was the turn of human beings to praise God, and once again the gloria in excelsis deo is sounded (19:38). Both heaven and earth offered their praises to Jesus, the King and promised Savior.

Sadly and tragically, the Jewish people had chosen the wrong course of action, and their general rejection of his claims would cost them dearly. They had not opted for “the way of peace,” and now it was too late (19:42). They faced the utter destruction of their city by military siege and the total breakdown of its defenses and fortifications (19:43–44). All of this devastation was attributable to the leaders’ failure to respond appropriately to Jesus (19:39, 47)

The tragedy of the Jewish people in Jesus’ day was that they did not respond positively to their golden “opportunity for salvation” (19:44). Jesus knew the result would be an awful judgment on his beloved city, for the leaders there were about to put him to death in just a few days. Jesus’ proclamation alludes to certain Old Testament passages that describe the devastation of the holy city by its enemies as a divine judgment upon its ways: “I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it” (Isa 29:3; see also Isa 37:33; Ezek 4:1–3).

In preparation for this Jesus sends two disciples to bring a colt upon which no one has ridden, for only such an animal was worthy of his royal entry. As the disciples scatter their garments in homage before him, the King of Israel comes (19:38; cf. 19:12, 14–15), but he comes in meekness and humility, as Zechariah foretold (cf. Zech 9:9). Despite the joy and praise of the disciples, Jerusalem does not receive its King. Its leaders, represented by the Pharisees, seek instead to quench the joyful praise (Luke 19:39). Yet on this day nothing can stop this homage to Israel’s King. The heavenly anthem (2:14) rings out again from Jesus’ disciples (19:37), for this is God’s day. If the disciples were to stop their praise, the stones themselves would break forth into song (19:40).

They would have assumed that the “colt” referred to a young donkey. Which no one has ever ridden. Compare Luke 23:53. Such an animal was qualified to perform a sacred task (cf. Num 19:2; Deut 21:3; 1 Sam 6:7). This may also allude to the “young colt” of Zech 9:9

Put Jesus on it. Luke changed his sources, “he [Jesus] sat on it” (Mark 11:7), and thus paralleled more closely Solomon’s coronation (1 Kgs 1:33).

Peace in heaven. This is a strange statement, whereas “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14) would be perfectly understandable. Luke may have changed the wording of 2:14 to “peace in heaven” because the peace Jesus sought to bring (10:5–6) does not find fulfillment in Jerusalem. On the contrary, as the next pericope reveals, Jerusalem would not experience peace (19:42) but war and destruction (19:43–44). Nevertheless peace reigns in heaven, for God’s divine plan is being fulfilled. Only when the Son of Man returns will peace finally come to Jerusalem (13:35).

Peace. The city, within whose name is the word “peace” (salem), rejected the messianic peace offered it and instead would experience war. Compare Pss 122:6–9; 147:14.

Is hidden. This could be a divine passive, i.e., God has hidden. What the blind beggar saw (Luke 18:35–43) was not seen by the leaders of Jerusalem.

Because. The reason is now given for this judgment. This favors the first view given in Luke 19:43. By their rejection of God’s Son, the day of visitation that was meant to fulfill Israel’s hopes and expectations (1:54–55, 68–79) would instead bring God’s judgment.

Thus again we see how Luke corrects misunderstanding about the kingship of Jesus. He is indeed ‘the King who comes in the name of the Lord’ (19:38); but as he comes in sight of his presumed capital, what he sees in prospect is a smoking, desolate ruin. He is King—but of what? Of this city which within a generation will be destroyed? No; Jerusalem had failed to recognize the One who had visited her, and it was not of Jewry that he would henceforth be King. For Luke’s grasp of the message of the kingdom has from the beginning made him stress the universality of it. Jesus is King; but the earthly Jerusalem is too small and mean to contain his majesty. All nations are to be his. He is the Saviour of the world

He wept over the city because its people did not understand the significance of what was going on that day—that national acceptance of Him on that day would bring them peace. Because the people did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them (v. 44), the city would be totally destroyed. Roman soldiers did this starting in a.d. 70.

Jesus came riding into Jerusalem (as Zechariah had predicted; see Zechariah 9:9) on a colt, an ass, He was proclaiming that He was not coming to bring a military victory. If He had wanted to do so, He would have used a stallion (cf. Revelation 6:2)

His heart went out to them, foolish men and women that they were, people from whose eyes were hidden the truths about Him that would bring them peace of heart and life

Most important, the prophet Zechariah, followed by Jewish interpreters (e.g., Josephus, Ant. 20.169), identified the Mount of Olives as the site of the revelation of the Messiah. On “the Day of the Lord,” “the Lord will be king over the whole earth” (Zech 14:1–10). In Luke-Acts, the Mount of Olives is portrayed as the staging site for the fulfillment of Jesus’ passion and resurrection in Jerusalem (19:29, 37; 21:37) and ascension into heaven (Acts 1:12). It is thus the place where Jesus, literally, is “taken up” (see at 9:51).

Jesus is not unaware of the storm clouds gathering before him, nor is he an unwilling victim of them. Rather, he possesses foreknowledge and sovereignty over all that “must” transpire in Jerusalem. Jesus’ experience in this respect is of course not an exact prototype for believers, for he is Messiah, and believers are not. Nevertheless, if “all right knowledge of God is born from obedience,” then sacrificial obedience and suffering for Christ bring spiritual insight and clarity to believers as well.

Jesus’ kingly role may be further implied by the fact that the commandeering of a beast of burden was the prerogative of a king in ancient times. And finally, Luke describes the colt as one “which no one has ever ridden” (v. 30). An unbroken beast of burden was regarded as sacred (Num 19:2; Deut 21:3) and thus an appropriate mount for a king, since a king’s horse could be ridden by no one but the king. The unridden colt recalls the “two cows that have not had a yoke placed upon them” (1 Sam 6:7) that pulled the cart on which the ark of the covenant was returned to Jerusalem. The ark enters Jerusalem unlike common objects, and Jesus enters Jerusalem unlike ordinary pilgrims, riding on a heretofore unbroken beast.

That Jesus is “Lord” (kyrios) of the colt (vv. 31, 34) is reinforced by a wordplay on “lords” (kyrioi) in v. 33. In Mark 11:5 the disciples who fetch the colt are questioned by “bystanders,” but in Luke they are questioned by “the colt’s owners/masters” (v. 33; Gk. kyrioi). The authority of Jesus to be the colt’s rightful “Lord,” in other words, supersedes that of the colt’s owners. For the third time in as many verses, Luke signals Jesus’ unique authority in the triumphal procession narrative

As Jesus proceeds, “people spread their cloaks on the road” (v. 36). This, too, carries royal connotations, for at the inauguration of Jehu the crowd “hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, ‘Jehu is king!’ ” (2 Kgs 9:13; Josephus, Ant. 9.111).

That God is praised for what Jesus does shows the degree to which the crowd associates the person and work of Jesus with the mission of God. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (v. 38), shout the crowds

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (v. 38) repeats the similar acclamation of the angels at the birth of Jesus (2:14). This repetition is one of Luke’s numerous inclusios linking the infancy narrative with the Gospel proper (see excursus at 2:52). The addition of v. 38b shifts the focus of Ps 118:26 from a present to a future fulfillment. Jesus’ enthronement will not occur in Jerusalem, but “in heaven and glory in the highest.” The crowd is motivated to praise not by factors associated with “spirituality,” but by “all the miracles they had seen” (v. 37), i.e., by evidence from Jesus’ life. The life of Jesus, “powerful in word and deed before God” (24:19), is the source of the crowd’s joy.

In v. 44, however, it refers to Jesus’ personal visitation of Jerusalem. In using this term, Jesus employs an OT concept laden with divine agency with special reference to himself. Jesus visits Jerusalem not in judgment but in grace, a visitation that the crowd receives with joy. Jerusalem, as evidenced by the rebuke of the Pharisees immediately preceding, does not recognize or receive Jesus, however, and thus his visitation of grace becomes one of judgment—in both the loss of salvation and destruction of the city.

Jesus is the royal Davidic Messiah who must be rejected, suffer, and die. He is received with joy in Jerusalem at his birth (2:38), but he weeps for Jerusalem at his death (v. 41). Jesus is victor and victim. No understanding or proclamation of Jesus is complete that does not affirm both as essential and inseparable elements in the divine mystery incarnate in Jesus (2:34).

Having no power to check the multitude (Jn. 12:19), and perhaps not daring to attempt it, they call on Jesus to do so. Possibly they wished to fasten the responsibility upon Him, and they may have been sent by the Sanhedrin to spy and report. This Messianic homage was offensive to them, and they feared a tumult which might cause trouble with Pilate.

the clothes are apparently meant to do duty for a saddle, and would be needed if the foal was not normally intended to be ridden. Luke alone draws attention to the action of the disciples in mounting Jesus on the animal (diff. Mk. ἐκάθισεν), and the use of ἐπιβιβάζω (10:34; et al.), may reflect the influence of Zc. 9:9 LXX, although it is admittedly the normal word for the process. The act is to be regarded as one of honour; such homage was a sign of kingship (1 Ki. 1:33).

They may possibly have feared for Jesus’ safety (and their own skins) if such outbursts led to a messianic demonstration. Or they may have felt simply that Jesus should not tolerate such extravagant and (in their eyes) unwarranted sentiments. The same motif appears in Mt. 21:14–16 where the chief priests and scribes are annoyed by the messianic acclamation of the children in the temple. A common tradition may lie behind the two Gospels here, especially as a similar motif occurs yet again in Jn. 12:18f. Cf. Bultmann, 34, who holds that an ‘ideal scene’ is being described

τὰ πρὸς εἰρήνην (14:33) here signifies ‘the things that make for your peace’ (σου is added by A W Γ Δ f1 pm; TR; Diglot; and σοι by D f13 157 pc lat; cf. Metzger, 170), i.e. for salvation (W. Foerster, TDNT II, 413). Possibly there is an allusion to the Jerusalem which thought it had peace when in reality it had none (Je. 6:14). νῦν δέ is ‘but as it is’. κρύπτω (18:34; Mt. 11:25) may refer to the action of God who has given up the city that has for long rejected those who were sent to it (13:34; 11:50f.).

Paul Brooks Duff has summarized the characteristic pattern of an entrance procession as follows: In such Greco-Roman entrance processions we have seen the following elements: (1) The conqueror/ruler is escorted into the city by the citizenry or the army of the conqueror. (2) The procession is accompanied by hymns and/or acclamations. (3) The Roman triumph has shown us that various elements in the procession . . . symbolically depict the authority of the ruler. (4) The entrance is followed by a ritual of appropriation, such as sacrifice, which takes place in the temple, whereby the ruler symbolically appropriates the city.222 As examples of this pattern, Duff cites Josephus's account of Alexander the Great's entrance into Jerusalem and Plutarch's description of Antony's entry into Ephesus: Then all the Jews together greeted Alexander with one voice and surrounded him . . . [then] he gave his hand to the high priest and, with the Jews running beside him, entered the city. Then he went up to the temple where he sacrificed to God under the direction of the high priest.223 When Antony made his entrance into Ephesus, women arrayed like Baccanals, and men and boys like satyrs and Pans, led the way before him, and the city was full of ivy and thyrsus-wands and harps and pipes and flutes, the people hailing him as Dionysius Giver of Joy and Beneficent. For he was such undoubtedly, to some.224

The multitude of the heavenly host and then the shepherds praised God at the birth of Jesus (2:13, 20), and the disciples' praise in this context serves as an antiphonal response to the heavenly chorus.

Jesus' response also echoes John the Baptist's warning that "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (3:8)

The cloaks thrown on the road that day were not expensive garments but tattered shawls and dusty, sweat-stained rags. Jesus was the king of the oppressed and suffering. He shared their hardships, relieved their suffering, accepted them when others deemed them unacceptable, gave them hope, and embodied God's love for them. Now they came to march with him into the holy city. Only a few days later, on their way home, they would say to one another, "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel" (24:21).

Do we yearn, deep in our souls, for a king—for a different kind of king? The king of sinners and outcasts, the poor and the oppressed, calls us to join the worship of the one who "has brought down the powerful from their thrones,/ and lifted up the lowly . . . filled the hungry with good things,/ and sent the rich away empty" (1:52-53), the God who "has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them" (1:68), the God who gives "light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death," the God who will "guide our feet into the way of peace" (1:79).

Stillness, a quiet confident that you are going to be alright.

The Son of God with all power and glory looks on the city of sinful man. Thunder does not rumble, and lightning does not flash in divine curses. The earth does ont qute in destruction. Instead, rivulets of tears flow down the Savior’s face. He weeps for the city, for entire cities and entire communities and entire nations. He weeps because what he has come to bring has somehow escaped them. It eluded them.

Jesus wishes Jerusalem knew the key to peace. he wishes Jerusalem knew that would settle their hearts and minds. He wishes they knew what would heal their relationships, what would give them a settled confidence before God.

even today cities are full of people who do not know what htings produce shalem, peace. People try lal kinds of things. we pass people along the way who are medicating themselves with drugs and alcohol, sex, rleationships, money, power. There are those seeing peace with God in false religions and cults.

Christ as fulfilled God’s law by sacrificing himself on the cross. His act of self-giving made peace - peace between men, peace within, and peace with God. When he died on the cross for our sins he ended the strife so characteristic of a fallen world. So whether we are jews or gentiles, by the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified buried, and resurected, we have peace.

Christ has become our righteousness before God. There is peace with God - a quiet mind and confident assurance that in believeing and following Jesus we are reconciled to our Father in heaven and to our brethern on earth.

Nothing can destroy the peace from Christ

The Heb word is shālōm (both adj. and subst.), meaning, primarily, “soundness,” “health,” but coming also to signify “prosperity,” well-being in general, all good in relation to both man and God.

The gospel in Christ is a message of peace from God to men (Lk 2:14; Acts 10:36, “preaching … peace by Jesus Christ”). It is “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” in Rom 5:1; AV 10:15; peace between Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:14, 15); an essential element in the spiritual kingdom of God (Rom 14:17). (2) It is to be cherished and followed by Christians

The Prince and the City

Outline

Intro

context

Walking through the verses

So what can we learn from here?

The Fallen State

Information

CBC

NAC

The Message of Luke

BKC

CCC

PNTC

ICC

NIGTC

Ministry Matters

Exalting Jesus

What is peace