Text: Mark 10:35-45
Message for Luke 19:28-44
by Pastor Glenn Layne

March 24, 2002

Palm Sunday:
Recognize the Time


Imagine Jerusalem, April 30 AD. It is Passover, and the city, with no more than 50,000 year-round residents, is swollen by throngs of Passover pilgrims…at least an additional 125,000 people from Jericho in the east, Galilee in the north, Hebron in the south, as well as Jewish folk who had arrived from as far away as Rome and Persia.

The city cannot contain all these visitors. The villages nearby fill up as well, villages like Bethany and Bethphage just over the crest of the Mount of Olives on the east side of the Holy City.

Jesus had arrived just a day or two before from the direction of Jericho, coming up the treacherous Jericho road-an ascent of nearly 4000 feet in 17 miles. As was His custom, he and His men found shelter at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany.

Less than a half mile north of Bethany was the crossroads village of Bethphage-"the house of figs" is what the name means. Bethphage lies right on the old Jericho road; a short walk west, and the road descends steeply down to the Kidron Valley as the walls of Jerusalem loom before you.

Today, the golden Dome of the Rock dominates the site; in Jesus' day, an even more impressive structure would greet the eye: the gleaming white marble front of the Temple, it as well adorned in places with gleaming gold. From the bottom of the ravine of the Kidron Valley to the top of the Temple was-this will amaze you-as high as a 21 story building. It was truly awesome.

All over the slopes of the Mount of Olives, pilgrims would camp out, as they did to the west and north and south as well. This day, the first day of the week, was important only insofar as this was the day that the Passover Lamb had to be selected. God gave Moses the instruction that they lamb should live with the family for four days prior to the Passover sacrifice and meal, which would fall on Friday this year.

Selection of the lamb, and its authorization by the temple priests, would take half, maybe three-quarters of the day. After that, there was little to do.

Then word got out. From person to person it was whispered that Jesus, the prophet from Galilee, was coming into the city. "He always stays in Bethany," someone would say. "Of course," said another. "That's where He raised up His friend Lazarus from the dead!"

Sometime that day, probably late afternoon, Jesus would indeed come down the slopes of Olivet to the city. That day is this day, the day we call Palm Sunday. Let's consider that day and some of the lessons it teaches.

Why did Jesus ride a donkey colt? (Luke 19:28-34)

28After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, `Why are you untying it?' tell him, `The Lord needs it.' "

32Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34They replied, "The Lord needs it."

We would do well to remember that Jesus has been in Bethany for a few days. The area is rife with speculation as to what Jesus will do. Will He march on Jerusalem and attempt to seize the throne? Will the authorities dare to challenge Him? No doubt the disciples wondered as well. My guess is that sometime around mid-day, Jesus sent two of the disciples to Bethphage to get the donkey colt. Jesus was well known and popular there, and the disciples would be recognized by sight; just saying that the Master needed it would be enough.

But why a donkey colt?

Some way for a king to enter-on a colt donkey? Fine, that was the prophecy, but what does it mean?

(1) How to engage the culture: we as well, when faced with the question of how we are to engage our culture, we have to decide always between the heavy hand of the stallion approach (seeking power and influence the same way every other pressure group in society does) and the Jesus way.

The stallion approach is the use of force or coercion to make the "Christian way" known. It is the attempt to influence the world by playing the world's game. It fails miserably 99% of the time.

Another approach is stay-at-home piety. Sometimes we neglect what I believe to be our clear call to engage our culture-to seek that Kingdom values inform the culture we live in. We withdraw and moan about the low state of the world, while we contribute to its low state by our inactivity.

What Jesus did do was to engage the powers that be-in a surprise manner. He engaged them in weakness, not strength. A donkey is a ridiculous animal for a king-unless we're talking about a different kind of king than the world had ever known. And of course, that's just the kind of King Jesus would prove to be-a king whose reign would never have a throne on earth save for a wooden cross.

(2) There's another lesson: on how to available to the Lord. Need my donkey Jesus? Sure, you bet. Need my time? My efforts? My heart? My soul? My mind? My money? My strength? You can count on me. Want a good ambition? Be a donkey for Jesus!

Why did the people spread cloaks and palms? (19:35-40)

35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

Here's a very reasonable scenario. Word gets whispered and gossiped, starting in Bethphage and Bethany and then down the hill, all over the campsites on the Mount of Olives, finally even into the city of Jerusalem, only about two miles from Bethany. Jesus is making His move! Perhaps how the Romans will be expelled and Herod Antipas will be deposed. Perhaps even the Saducees grip on the Temple administration will be revoked! The devoted and the curious and even the enemies of Jesus converge on the route that comes down the mountain to the Kidron valley.

Now a donkey is lousy as an attack animal, a strange animal for a king to ride, but He does come!

So He is a KING! A surprise king, but a king nonetheless! And the people do as they did for kings in eras past. A red carpet of sorts was made as people tossed their cloaks into the road for Jesus to pass. Psalms of joy were quoted, from Psalm 118: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"

And He is a sacrifice as well.

Think of it-the same day everybody's picking out a Passover Lamb, God says, look here, here's my pick. For the next four days, He will be among you, in the Holy City of Jerusalem, in a very special and intensive way, just like the Passover lamb you select. And at the end of the week, even as the lambs are being offered in the Temple complex, He as well will be offered up as My pick-the real and final Passover Lamb of God.

Look there in verses 39-40:

39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

We have literally thousands of people in rowdy celebration as Jesus rides the little donkey colt down the hillside. They cry Hosanna-Free us! -in a largely misguided frenzy that Jesus was about to seize the city and inaugurate the revolution.

Now here, near the city walls, some Pharisees stand up like a sandcastle against the rising tide, to complain to Jesus about the words and the actions of the crowd. "Tell them to shush! The Romans could get very ugly about this! In any event, we just don't like the attention you're getting."

I suspect that for a moment a smile came to Jesus' face. He looked around at the stone of the city walls, and the stones that seem to protrude out of every pore of the land in Israel. "But if they shush, then all these rocks will have to cry out in praise!" (In saying this, Jesus was echoing Habakkuk 2:11, where the stones are the stones of a wall.)

But that smile did not last. Somehow I suspect that as Jesus made the hard left turn at the edge of the wall of the city, as the high base of the temple mount and the city wall and the temple itself loomed to His right-as He could like back to the thousands camped out on the side of the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemene as well, he looked beyond the moment. And He wept.

Why did Jesus weep? (19:41-44)

41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Instead of being ringed by throngs of Passover Pilgrims, Jesus saw a different vision: Jerusalem surrounded by thousands of soldiers. Instead of a festive celebration, He heard the wailing of thousands dying people. Instead of happy-faced children bearing palm branches, he saw the orphaned and the dead. Instead of stones crying out their praises, He saw the stones of the walls being pushed over the by Romans on to the very spot He now rides, as the Temple, this gleaming white and gold sanctuary, is consumed by fire and reduced to rubble by Roman battering rams.

And Jesus saw it, and wept. The burning. The bodies. Death. The word for weeping here is not a gentle tear, but a mournful cry-a cry of agony.

O Jerusalem, God is riding into your gates. The Lord Himself is entering the precincts of the Temple. Immanuel, God with us, is among you. Peace, the kind that truly lasts, does not come from the tip of a sword; it comes from the redemption bought by Jesus' cross.


You have your "time" as well!

And on this Palm Sunday, Jesus is riding by. You are here with your Palm branches and your happy songs. He rides by and what will you do? Smile and nod while your heart remains barren?

It seemed so rich and real. Jesus' Triumphal entry, we call it. For a brief moment, it seemed that His gospel would take the heart and soul of a nation. But the show and the shouting could not erase the realities of the human heart. We would follow Jesus, but on our terms. We may see the donkey-born Jesus, but in our hearts we project a General on a Stallion.

And so Jesus wept. And I wonder, when He considers the outcome of our lives, does He see ruin or reward? Does He see faithfulness or mere show?

Am I too dramatic? I don't think so. Some of us here will perish unless we too turn to Him for salvation. Unless we embrace Him as the King. A surprise King, to be sure. Jesus seems to specialize in surprises.

Now is the time…

That day was Jerusalem's day of decision. It was a fine service, they could well have said on the way back to their encampments. Nice sermon, pastor. Great music too.

But it doesn't mean beans without real faith in this Jesus. He refuses to play our games. He is indeed king. He is also God's Passover Lamb. And by His death we are set free. By His stripes we are healed. By His breaking we are made whole.

Keep that in your heart all this week.

And accept Him as your Lord; surrender to His majesty and His lordship.

This is Palm Sunday. This is your day. And now is your time. Run to Jesus and be saved.

 

© Copyright 2002, Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org