He Came To Bring Peace

He Came To Bring Peace- Luke 19:28-44

April 1, 2007

Today’s message brings us to what is called Palm Sunday because it is the day that Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and they spread palm branches on the ground before Him. The traditional calendar for the events of our Lord’s last eleven days of ministry looks like this:

Thursday- In Jericho

Friday- Traveled to Bethany

Saturday- In Bethany

Sunday—Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

Monday—Cleansing of the temple

Tuesday—Day of Controversy and Parables

Wednesday—Day of rest

Thursday—Passover and Last Supper

Friday—Trial and Crucifixion and Burial

Saturday—Jesus rests in the tomb

Sunday—Resurrection!

We started our series in Jericho with Jesus having just healed Blind Bartimaeaus and then entering Jericho and meeting Zaccheus there. He went to his home and we believe that He stayed the night with Zaccheus. Then on Friday morning He arose to make the 12 mile trip from Jericho to Bethany. While He was on this journey is probably where He shared the Parable of the Pounds that we discussed last Sunday. He shared this parable because so many of His followers believed that He was the Messiah and that He was going to set up an earthly kingdom. He explained in this parable that He was going away and that He would return. But that while He was gone that we were to be doing business. He was leaving all of us with the gift of the Gospel to share with those around us.

This is where we begin in verse 28. These are simple words but I would like for you to ponder them for a moment. It simply reads,

“When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.”

Jesus Christ by whom comes grace and mercy is now facing the hill of sacrifice, Calvary.

He probably arrived in Bethany just about the time of evening. At 6:00 p.m. the Sabbath would start and travel was no longer allowed. Keep in mind that the Jewish day went from sundown to sundown, so that our Friday evening would be their Saturday, the Sabbath.

Jesus spent the next two nights in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper who obviously Jesus had healed earlier in His ministry. Present was also three of His closet friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. We know from John that the next night after the Sabbath was over that they had a great feast. Martha was busy doing what she knew best to do and that was to cook and make ready for her Master. And Mary filling her heart with her love for the Master until finally swayed by an irresistible impulse, she pours on the Him the contents of a very expensive alabaster box of ointment or perfume. This was actually His preparation for His coming death. Of course none of them knew this at the time though.

The next morning Jesus arose to begin His journey into Jerusalem. Three things took place that day that demonstrated the peace that our Lord desired to bring to the world and to the hearts of men.

Preparation (vv. 28–36).

Jesus sent two disciples ahead to prepare the colt. He told them what to say and when asked they said, “The Lord has need of it.” It is believed that the owners of the donkey and the colt were disciples of the Lord and had everything ready for Him. The plan was executed quietly because the Jewish leaders had let it be known that anyone confessing Christ would be excommunicated (John 9:22). The fact that the rulers planned to kill Jesus made it even more important that the owners be protected (John 7:1, 19, 25; 8:37; 11:47–57).

We think of the donkey as a lowly animal, but to the Jew it was a beast fit for a king (1 Kings 1:33, 44). Jesus rode the colt (Luke 19:35) while the mother walked along with it. The fact that the colt had never been ridden and yet submitted to Jesus indicates our Lord’s sovereignty over His creation. The laying of garments on the animals and on the road and the waving and spreading of branches were all part of a traditional Jewish reception for royalty.

Celebration (vv. 37–40).

As Jesus had left Bethany that morning first as a single pilgrim with His twelve disciples He was alone. But as the journey continued people had been waiting. Slowly the crowd began to grow. At every step of the journey the crowd grew. No longer was He alone. On the road from Bethany to Jerusalem which is on Mount Olivet there are two distinct sights or views of Jerusalem which are caught on this route, an unequal portion of ground that hides it for a time after you see it the first time. Verse 37 marks the first sight, verse 41 the second and nearer view. “At this point (the former) the first view is caught of the southeastern corner of the city. The temple and the more northern portions are hid by the slope of Olivet on the right: what is seen is only Mount Zion, now, for the most part, a rough field, crowned with the mosque of David, and the angle of the western walls, but then covered with houses to its base, and surmounted by the castle of Herod, on the supposed site of the palace of David.… It was at this point that the shout of triumph burst forth from the multitude” (Stanley, “Sinai and Palestine”).

PLAY THE SOUNDS OF THE CROWD.

This is the only time that Jesus permitted a public demonstration on His behalf, and He did so for at least two reasons.

First, He was fulfilling prophecy and presenting Himself as Israel’s king (Zech. 9:9). How much of this the crowd really understood we cannot tell, even though they responded by quoting their praises from a messianic psalm (Ps. 118:25–26). No doubt many of the Passover pilgrims thought that Jesus would now get rid of the Roman invaders and establish the glorious kingdom.
The second reason for this demonstration was to force the Jewish religious leaders to act. They had hoped to arrest Him after the Passover (Matt. 26:3–5), but God had ordained that His Son be slain on Passover as the “Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29; and see 1 Cor. 5:7). Every previous attempt to arrest Jesus had failed because “His hour had not yet come” (John 7:30; 8:20; also see John 13:1; 17:1). When they saw this great public celebration, the leaders knew that they had to act, and the willing cooperation of Judas solved their problem for them (Matt. 26:14–16).

The theme of the celebration was peace. Dr. Luke opened his Gospel with the angel’s announcement of “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14), but now the theme was “peace in heaven.” Because the King was rejected, there could be no peace on earth. Instead, there would be constant bitter conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil (Luke 12:49–53). There would be no peace on earth but, thanks to Christ’s work on the cross, there is “peace with God” in heaven (Rom. 5:1; Col. 1:20). The appeal today is, “Be ye reconciled to God!” (2 Cor. 5:17–21)

Lamentation (vv. 41–44).

Verse 41 states that “as He drew near, He saw the city.”

Remember that I said that two times on this route you could see Jerusalem; well this is the second time. The road goes down a slight decline and then in a few moments later the path mounts again and it climbs a rugged ascent, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole city bursts into view.… It is possible that at this rise and turn of the road was the exact point where the multitude paused again, and He, when he beheld the city, wept over it (Stanley).

While the crowd was rejoicing, Jesus was weeping! This is the second occasion on which our Lord wept openly, the first being at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35). There He wept quietly, but here He uttered a loud cry like one mourning over the dead. The sentence structure in the Greek is broken and there is an emphasis on “you”. This shows the intense emotions of Jesus,

If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes!”

In this, He was like

The Prophet Jeremiah who wept bitterly over the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 9:1ff; see also the Book of Lamentations).
Jonah looked on Nineveh and hoped it would be destroyed (Jonah 4), while Jesus looked at Jerusalem and wept because it had destroyed itself.
I am reminded of Moses, who had led the children of Israel out of Egypt and out of bondage for which this very Passover was all about. But one day Moses had become disobedient to God and was not allowed to enter the Promise Land. He made the lonely climb up Mount Nebo. He made one final gaze over the land that he would never enter and having done so then to lay himself down to die. Can you imagine the great lawgiver’s mind that day, the emotions that went through his heart, the thoughts that went through his mind as he took that last solitary journey to that grave that only he and God would know?

Can you imagine Jesus as He looked on the city for which He was about to die? No matter where Jesus looked, He found cause for weeping.

If He looked back, He saw how the nation had wasted its opportunities and been ignorant of their “time of visitation.”
If He looked within, He saw spiritual ignorance and blindness in the hearts of the people. They should have known who He was, for God had given them His Word and sent His messengers to prepare the way.
As He looked around, Jesus saw religious activity that accomplished very little. The temple had become a den of thieves, and the religious leaders were out to kill Him. The city was filled with pilgrims celebrating a festival, but the hearts of the people were heavy with sin and life’s burdens.
As Jesus looked ahead, He wept as He saw the terrible judgment that was coming to the nation, the city, and the temple. In a.d. 70, the Romans would come and, after a siege of 143 days, kill 600,000 Jews, take thousands more captive, and then destroy the temple and the city.

I think we need to also notice that at the grave of Lazarus there were silent tears but here He wept loud. During the next week with all the shame of his mockery, all the anguish of His torture, was powerless to extort from Him a single groan, or to wet his eyelids with one trickling tear, but here all the pity that was in Him overmastered His human spirit, and He not only wept, but He broke into a passion of sobbing in which His choked voice seemed to struggle for it’s utterance. It was the agony of the Savior over the lost.

Why did all of this happen?

· Because the people did not know that God had visited them! “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11).

· Now was the day, the hour, the last offer, the last opportunity and it was to be rejected. The city has hardened its heart. “We will not have this man to reign over us!” (Luke 19:14)

· It was blinded by its own deceived heart and all that remained was ruin.

And thus He still weeps for men today still hear their own passions and the inclinations of their own hearts.