What Does Triumph Look Like?
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Do you want peace this morning? That means far more than just people aren’t fighting. It doesn’t just mean quiet. Peace—shalom—means that all is set right.
It means those anxieties that you have are calmed. It means the voices inside your head—shouting words of shame and condemnation is silent. It means that doubt is silent. It means that stress is gone. It means things like no more death, no more hurt, no more crying.
Shalom. All is right. All is well. You fit. Things fit into place. It’s how it is supposed to be. No more trying to get a square block to fit into a round hole.
You’re in church so I’m assuming that at some level you know that this peace comes through Jesus…but how? What does that peace look like? What will it take for you to have that shalom?
The people living in Jesus’ time were also waiting for shalom…they were waiting for a rescuer…they had the same worries, fears, anxieties, stresses, that you and I have. And they believed that Messiah would fix it...
But what does that mean? To those living during the time of Jesus it would have meant something like this. And we’ve seen throughout that the disciples seem to mostly share this view. This comes from the Psalm of Solomon:
21 Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David, at the time known to you, O God, in order that he may reign over Israel your servant. 22 And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers, and that he may purge Jerusalem from gentiles who trample (her) down to destruction. 23 Wisely, righteously he shall thrust out sinners from (the) inheritance; he shall destroy the arrogance of the sinner as a potter's jar. 24 With a rod of iron he shall shatter all their substance; he shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth. Psalm of Solomon
It’s expected that when the Messiah comes into his kingdom he is going to set things right. He is going to drive out Gentiles and take up his throne in Jerusalem. And from here he will work to destroy all the godless nations. In our text this morning we see what is often titled the triumphal entry. It’s Jesus coming into His kingdom but what happens once he gets to Jerusalem has to be quite unexpected.
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.’ ” 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. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 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!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 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. 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.”
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.
Jesus doesn’t drive out Roman occupants. He drives out those who are working in the temple. This is the exact opposite of what they were expecting to happen. He’s not driving out Gentiles…he’s driving out Jewish religious leaders.
What kind of Messiah is this?
So much in this passage ought to catch our attention. We have Jesus weeping....wailing actually....and we have Jesus driving people out of the temple. Luke doesn’t have him crafting a whip or doesn’t use the word anger…other gospel writers do. Luke also doesn’t have Jesus cursing a fig tree like Mark.
A guy who it is believed is the rightful king comes in on a donkey…that’s unexpected. That’s weird. Not sure how he’s going to be driving out wicked Gentiles on his little donkey colt, but okay...
When he gets near the city he starts to wail loudly and lament and speak of the destruction of the city....okay that’s strange. He’s supposed to be the one who saves the city…why is he crying about it’s destruction?
Then he goes to the temple…this is a religious leader, a religious teacher, the temple is supposed to be sacred, serene, the place where peace happens…but when he gets there he drives out the religious leaders. He puts a stop to their action on that day. He makes a massive scene. He’s upset because…get this…Gentiles aren’t being allowed in. He drives out Jews to let in the Gentiles.
That’s why it’s not incredibly shocking that we read in Luke 19:47 that the priests and scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him. The people are hanging on his words…its’ refreshing…it’s life giving but it’s absolutely destructive to the way of the temple, to the religious leaders, to their religion, to their power.
What is happening in this passage then is a story of peace and a story of rejection. To put that another way we could ask “what does it look like to reject God?” Or we could ask “what does it look like to reject the way of peace”? Or positively how does shalom---how does peace actually come?
These people are rejecting God!
What do you think of in your mind when you hear that? Do you think of godless pagans who are living their life fueled by drink and sex? Do you think of those who are laboring to take God out of the schools, or God out of our national identity? Do you think of violent persecutors of Christians who are driven by another religion?
Those are certainly ways of rejecting God. But that’s not what we have here in our text. There is a religious way to reject God and to reject the way of peace. That is what we will see today...
First, we have the triumphal entry. “And when he said these things...” this is connecting the triumphal entry with the parable of the ten minas. And he sends ahead a couple of disciples and tells them to get a colt…explicit instructions…it happens exactly as he says. So what do we make of this?
It’s a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9-10.
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.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Jesus is fulfilling that passage. A few places I want to draw your attention so we see what is going on here.
1) No one has sat. This was the practice of a king. The Mishnah (I believe) said that kings ought to ride on horses, donkeys, that have never been ridden on before. This is symbolically the action of a King.
2) His sovereign rule. We also see in this passage Jesus’ sovereign rule. Now it’s quite possible that Jesus had already made these arrangements. Or it’s possible that He is just being God and this is displaying his omniscience. Either way what is going on here is meant to show the sovereign rule of Jesus. The Lord needs this colt and so the owners give it up. It’s also possible that the language here could be translated “it’s Lord has need of it.” To which, they’d be thinking, “wait, we bought this thing…we are it’s master.” And the point would then be that Jesus is Lord of all things. He is the Lord of that colt and so it’s his to ride. He is going to fulfill Zechariah 9:9 and ride into Jerusalem on this unbridled colt.
This detail is different in Luke in verse 35. They sat Jesus on it. That makes this more like the crowning of a king. The whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God...
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!...”
Which I’m not sure if you remember this or not but Jesus had a confrontation with the religious leaders back in Luke 13 and he said to them at that time:
Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
I don’t know if the Pharisees remember that occasion but they are riled up nonetheless…because they tell Jesus to rebuke his disciples. Why? Because they are making claims about Jesus that the Pharisees think is blasphemy. Tell them to hush…tell them not to worship…put them in their proper place.
But Jesus says, if they are silent then the stones would cry out.
That’s one way to reject Jesus. Refuse to see and accept Jesus for who he is. Reject that he is the king. Reject his rule and reign. Make the stones cry out. Worship Jesus for who he is and not for who he want him to be.
The second way of rejecting Jesus we see with Jesus overthrowing those in the temple who are selling. It’s two OT quotes. One from Jeremiah 7:11—the den of robbers part. And the second one is from Isaiah 56:7. I want you to hear both of them in context.
Listen to Isaiah 56. Listen to Isaiah 56:3-4...
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
This is showing God’s heart for the foreigner…for the Gentile…Let them come to worship. That’s what God is saying…And listen to this vision in Isaiah 56:6-7
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
That’s what is supposed to be happening in the temple. The people are supposed to be worshipping the LORD and being a light for the Gentiles to come and worship. It’s supposed to be a house of prayer for the nations.
But what have they turned it into? For here Jesus quotes Jeremiah. Listen to 7:3-11.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.
“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
Rather than being a light to the Gentiles they had made it a place of commerce. They were using the things of God, the name of God, the place of God, the articles of worship, the vessels, the structure, the temple…they were using all of these things to set up a rival religion.
They had rejected the way of peace…the way in which God called them to live…and set up in its place a system that still carried the name but it was empty.
That’s why Mark tells us about Jesus and the fig tree. It’s why Jesus cursed the fig tree. It was outwardly one thing…it said, “here is a house of prayer...” but inwardly it wasn’t that at all. It was a den of robbers. And that’s the second way to reject Jesus. To co-opt His name. To keep what you perceive as the benefits of Christ, of Christianity, etc. but to substitute it with a faith that ultimately rejects Christ.
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…love your enemies. Want what is best for them. Labor for their good. Represent them fairly. Love your enemies. Pray for them. Not pray that God will send fiery coals upon their head, pray for their conversion.
Turn the other cheek…
You can’t love both God and money…the son of man has no place to lay his head....
“Leave her alone...”
Look at how Jesus interacted with the vulnerable and hurting and outcasts....
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,
Blessed are the meek...
When I'm looking for a leader who's going to fight ISIS and keep this nation secure, I don't want some meek and mild leader or somebody who's going to turn the other cheek. I've said I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect this nation.
Is that not saying I do not trust Jesus to protect this nation? Is this not rejecting the way of Jesus as our rescuer and protector? How is it not? What it’s doing is rejecting the way of Jesus—putting another rival in his place…and splitting kingdoms....if Jesus isn’t a fit ruler for your kingdom…well, it’s not a kingdom that I want.
That’s why Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem. They rejected the way of peace. They rejected his “visitation”. They didn’t want him as their king. They wanted the sword. They didn’t want the temple that God had designed…one that was open to foreigners, that was calling them to come.
And so Jesus stood over them and wept. Wept because he saw their rejection and he knew what it meant…they COULD have peace…but the rejected it. And as such they would only incur judgment. When you reject the only means to peace—you aren’t going to have peace. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
I like the way one commentator summarized this section:
The Gospel according to Luke The Return of the King (19:28–44)
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.
Are you rejecting the way of Jesus?
What is the way of peace?
Union with Christ...
Created us for rest, rule, relationship. Enjoyment of God. Each other. Purpose. Created us for shalom.
But we made shipwreck of that by grabbing for forbidden fruit…trying to provide for ourselves…that same thing we see in the Pharisees, religious leaders, in Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the time of Jesus is there in our own hearts. Grabbing for a kingdom. Rejecting the way of Jesus. Going about things our own way. It seems better…love your enemies, turn the other cheek…it makes perfect sense…we want power someone to flex muscles, etc. But that way always leads to futility. You and I cannot get back to the garden on our own. We cannot find shalom. Ever.
But Jesus doesn’t reject the way of the Father. He doesn’t grab for forbidden fruit. He does what we do not. He opens up the way of salvation. He leads us into the way everlasting. He provides for us. He accomplishes what we could not. He fulfills the law. He does what is required to have shalom. And he says…come with me....be united to me. This is the path...
He lays down his life for his enemies. Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And we either turn from our own path (repentance) and follow Jesus (faith) or we don’t.
And that’s what triumph actually looks like. A king riding on a colt, laying down his life for those who have followed their own path, and calling them to repentance and new life.
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I can call myself a Christian and say that I follow Jesus but if I’ve just stolen his sandals and following the footsteps of stolen sandals…I’m not actually following Jesus. I’m using Jesus. I’m rejecting Jesus but keeping his name.