“Week of Victory, Day of Pain” - Palm Sunday

Scripture: Luke 19:28-44

Have you ever had those days when you weren’t sure if it was a good day or a bad one? Like the day when you have a big family reunion picnic, and aunts and uncles and cousins and others who you haven’t seen for several years all come? It is an incredible day, with reminiscing and catching up on family news, meeting new family members who you only knew of through letters, eating until you thought you were going to burst? It was one of the best family days you could remember in a long, long time.
Then the time came when everyone started packing up their cars to head home, and you began to realize that it would probably be another 5 years before you all could get together again, and even at that, some might not be able to come, and some might not even be around then?

God knew all about those “bitter-sweet” days – he has always had them, and far more often that we will ever realize! Remember the day when Jesus healed the sick and infirm, and then preached to all who had come to him – the day when the people numbered about 5,000? And that number, of course, only referred to the men who were there – it didn’t include the women or the children who also came to see this incredible Rabbi. And he didn’t only care for their spiritual hunger, but he also relieved their physical hunger when he fed them all with only 5 small barley loaves and 2 even smaller fish? (Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14) Ten to fifteen thousand people, receiving the Lord’s healing touch, hearing the word of God straight from the Lord’s own lips, and all being fed from such a small, but faithful offering of food? What an incredible day!
And yet, Jesus knew that most had only come for healing and feeding, and only in a secondary way, to receive his teaching, and he knew that very few would stay near when the ordeals began to come. God knows the days that we endure, and he knows how they trouble us, because he has been there with us..

Read Luke 19:28-31

Jesus was, once again, on his way to Jerusalem, and he knew without a doubt, that this trip was going to be one of those “Great times-Painful times”, and that there would be those moments when it was hard to tell which was which. The majority of his ministry had been in the Galilee, and every time he returned to Jerusalem, there was always confrontation with the Pharisees. And this time would be the final lesson for both Israel and the entire world.

He had just met with Zacchaeus, and after the Chief Tax Collector had confessed and repented of how he had been living, and after Jesus had proclaimed that salvation had come to rest upon his home, he would tell the parable of the Ten Servants. The master would be going away to be crowned king, and while he was gone, he appointed 10 of his servants to act in his behalf for management of his estates. Two would be faithful, one other servant would do nothing with his trust, and the other seven would not only do nothing to meet their responsibilities with the estate, they would even oppose the master’s elevation to kingship. Two would be rewarded in an exceptional way, while the others would be punished – some to the extreme. (Luke 19:11-27)

This would be the basis for his entry into Jerusalem – he would be entering into, not only the den of thieves, but into the very den of lions. And the similarity between Jesus’ last trip into the City of Zion, to Daniel’s experience with the lions (Daniel 6:1-24), would soon be revealed.

This journey, and everything that would occur in the coming week, would serve to fulfill God’s great plan of salvation as revealed through the proclamations of the prophets – all of whom the Lord had raised up for Israel and for the entire world. But even though this divine plan had been prepared for the people, and even though Jesus had revealed the overall plan to his disciples, the details, as well as the ultimate purpose, were still beyond their grasp.

Read Luke 19:32-38

Jesus’ return to Jerusalem would be seen as a personal affront to the Pharisees for a number of reasons.
1. This itinerant rabbi, whose ministry in the Galilee was barely tolerated, now had the audacity to venture into the Pharisees’ home territory – influence over Jerusalem was theirs to manage, and they hated the fact that this Jesus would come into their place to spread his venom.
2. He rode in on a donkey, which was a sign of peace. Israel’s leadership could never see him as a peaceful man – he, if nothing else, was seen as an insurrectionist! Even the Zealots, which included a couple of the Lord’s disciples, wanted him to be the one to initiate an uprising against Roman rule. Peace? Anything but!
3. Being from Nazareth, he was just one of those ignorant Galileans, and had no business teaching the people anything about the Lord God Jehovah. And yet, as he entered the gates of the city, the people cheered him. In Matthew 21:9-11, we read that they even cried out “Hosanna, Son of David”, the implication of which is “Save us, Messiah”! Can you even imagine the rage, the hateful frenzy, that the Jewish leaders were feeling over these words of adoration?
4. They saw this as a blatant act of defiance against traditional teaching, and they would have to do something – anything - to put a stop to this nonsense right here and now.

But out of all the challenges that Jesus presented to Jewish leadership was the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 – “Rejoice…. See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The prophet’s words, and Jesus’ presence, should have been a reason for great joy in these who knew the scriptures better than anyone else in the land, but instead, they felt threatened - all of their legal interpretation of Yahweh’s law, all of the work that they had been involved in for centuries, was at risk.
They knew quite well that at the end of a war, the conquering king would enter the captured capital, riding, not on a war horse, but on a donkey. Peace was being promised, as long as the new subjects obeyed the new law and new authority. And now this upstart Jesus was being seen as that conquering King, even though tradition proclaimed that Messiah would be a warrior King, not a peaceful one!

Something had to be done to put an end to this madness.

Read Luke 19:39-44

The cheers, the hosannas, the glory, the hopes, the peace that was implicit in all that Jesus did and taught, were irritating, at best, and the first step that the Pharisees took was to tell Jesus to reprimand his followers for their exuberance. But instead of complying, he replies that this jubilant expression is heaven inspired, it is by divine decree, and that if these people stifle their joy, the rocks will take up the chorus, and if the authorities think shutting the mouths of men is difficult, they should consider just how hard it will be to keep rocks quiet!

And then the pain of the moment takes hold. As Jesus arrives at the eastern side of the heights that overlook the gleaming city of Jerusalem, his humanity can no longer hold back the tears. The heartbreak was centered on the people’s steadfast refusal to follow the ways of God, and because of that, their great Jehovah God could no longer protect the city or the nation. Throughout the book of Joshua, the conquest of the Promised Land was always dependent upon Israel’s following the leadership of their Lord God. And when they didn’t, victory was lost, and defeat, even at the hands of a much inferior army, became their certainty.

For Jesus, who knew what would be coming to Jerusalem in a future time, the pain was overwhelming. He knew that in 40 odd years from then, the Jews, who had decided to take control of their own destiny, would be totally defeated in battle, the city would be razed, the temple would be totally destroyed, and the people would be spread throughout the known world as exiles. The last two verses of this passage perfectly describe their fate at the hands of their Roman masters, and it would be hundreds of years before they would even be allowed to come to Temple Mount for a few short days every year, and an additional 1,600 years before they could once again call this Land home.

“If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace …” And much of the world still doesn’t accept all that would bring peace to this place, and some who do know are still rebelling against the Lord’s peace. If ONLY we would learn what it means to receive the peace of Christ in our lives, if ONLY we would surrender our own arrogant, self-dependency and claim the salvation of Christ, if ONLY we would turn away from the world’s influence on our lives, if ONLY … if ONLY!

If only the people of Israel had learned the lesson that the prophets had proclaimed centuries before, if only the people of Israel had given their allegiance to Jesus Messiah on that day, the world could be a much better place to live in this day. But the pain of worldly ways, and the pain that we have to endure on behalf of Christ will have to continue, unabated, until the day that satanic influence is finally defeated and totally destroyed by the Lord’s return. And on that day, too, there will be a great outcry for just one more chance, for one more moment, but it will be too late.

This is the day when we are being called to share the message of Victory in Christ Jesus with all who have yet to know his peace. But will we? Will we tell them about the love that the Lord has for each and every one of us, or will we choose to leave them in their dark and sinister ignorance, with their only future being one filled with their own painful and hopeless tears, punctuated with their futile cries for mercy?