Although
he was crowned king that night, he received his coronation with tears. I will never forget that sight, a young
basketball fanatic, seeing his hero sprawled on the floor in tears. June 16 was Father’s Day. Michael Jordan’s father James Jordan was
murdered a few years ago while he was napping at a rest area. This was the first championship since this
father’s death. Jordan was incredibly
close to this father so on that night even though he was crowned king of the
basketball world, he was full of tears.
His tears flowed because someone he dearly loved was not able to
experience his triumph with him. Victory
always tastes better when we are able to share it with those we deeply
love.
Jesus
has been making his way to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission as the true King of
Israel. The identity of Jesus Christ
will no longer be hidden, but displayed to all. The King has come in the name
of the Lord, yet this King’s triumph will be filled with tears. Let us look first at our King’s triumph.
The King’s Triumph
Jesus
had just finished a parable about a nobleman who went to receive a kingdom and
returned to judge his servants on their labors.
Jesus was always teaching, but his teaching was only part of his mission
to the cross. Verse 28, “And when he had said these things, he went ahead,
going up to Jerusalem.” Jesus always had his eye on Jerusalem where he would
suffer and die for the sins of the world.
Jesus came to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament. Zechariah 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.
With that Scripture in mind, see
how Jesus fulfills this promise.
Verse 29-35,
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.
Jesus demonstrates his control of
this entire situation. Jesus knew where the animal was located, what the owner
was going to ask, and that it had never been ridden. Jesus is indeed the all-knowing King of
glory. This is not any normal ride, but this was a triumphal procession of the
King coming into the holy city, Jerusalem.
Those
who were there knew what was happening and they understood that Jesus was the
one to fulfill the prophecy; He was the coming King. Verse 36-38,
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!”
The crowd gave glory and honor to
God for all the mighty works they had seen.
They had seen Jesus feed the 5,000, raise the dead, give sight to the
blind, and make the deaf hear, cast out evil spirits and heal diseases. Jesus was no ordinary man, but he was the
blessed King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Verse 38 is a quote from Psalm 118. Psalm 118 was sung by the people
during a festal procession as they entered Jerusalem after a great
deliverance. We do not know the exact
cause that lead to the Psalm’s writing, but we do know it was commonly use as
liturgy in the processional march of victory into Jerusalem.
It
is clear that the whole multitude knew this was a special occasion. There are
some that
would say that Jesus never called himself God, but this does not fit
the biblical narrative. Notice how the
Pharisees respond in verse 39, “And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to
him, “Teacher rebuke your disciples.” The Pharisees wanted Jesus to silence his
disciples for calling him the coming King.
The Pharisees believed that the disciples were attributing praise to
Jesus that was only fitting for God. And Jesus agrees with the Pharisees in
that the praise he was receiving was only fitting for the one true God, for in
verse 40, “He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would
cry out.” All of creation was created
for the praise of his glory.
Throughout
Jesus’ ministry after healing or the casting out of demons, he asked those he
healed to remain silent. It was not yet
his time to go to Jerusalem, but the time of waiting was over. His long journey
is about to be complete. Luke 9:51, “When the days drew near for him to be
taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
He resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem towards the cross. It was his time. And yet, many in the crowd
still did not understand that before he could receive his kingdom he had to
die. They did not understand the
complete picture of the Messiah. Even in Psalm 118, already mentioned,
The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is
marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice
and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the
LORD. (Psalm 118:22-26)
The Jews pleaded for salvation, but
for true and final salvation, the King had to be rejected. Death had to come before life. So Peter stands before the high priest and
the high priest’s family in Acts 4 and says,
This Jesus is the
stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12)
Salvation only comes through faith
in that Jesus was rejected and was resurrected for us.
If
you are not a follower of Christ, have you ever considered why people need to
be saved? You may be thinking, “What do I need to be saved from?” The Bible explains that God made the world
good, perfect without sin and suffering.
Our first parents Adam and Eve rejected God’s reign and rule over their
lives bringing death and destruction into the world. Our world now is full of
bitterness and strife. The result of our
fallen world is sin. Sin has cursed this
world, and we being part of the world are under its curse. Our sin separates us
from God and puts us at war with Him. So
the answer to the question, “What do I need to be saved from?” is God. God is
just and holy and therefore he has to punish sin. The punishment for sin is to be cast
eternally from God’s presence in a literal hell, experiencing conscious torment
forever.
But
God in his abundant mercy sent Jesus, the blessed King who came in the name of
the Lord, to be rejected in our place. Jesus is the stone that has been
rejected by the world and has become the cornerstone of salvation. He lived a perfect life. He never disobeyed
God. And yet, God placed our iniquity on him.
He took our punishment on the cross.
And after three days, God raised him from the dead accepting his
sacrifice on our behalf so that now there is salvation in no one else, and
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved. Jesus Christ is the King. And, if you submit to Him as your King, he
will save you. Give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good; his steadfast love is offered to you today and forever.
As
I mentioned earlier, Jesus was entering Jerusalem as the King, but his triumph
was full of tears.
We would be wise
to notice Jesus’s affection and compassion for the lost. Christians are too
often known for being cold and harsh in speaking of the truth. We need to follow the way of our master. Luke 19:41-44,
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.”
Jesus drew near and saw the city
and he wept. The word used for wept (klaio) is very strong, referring to
intense sobbing. The picture is like a
father sobbing over the foolish decision of one of his children.[1]
Jesus loved Israel. And his tears are magnified because of what their rejection
has brought upon them.
Decisions have consequences. Jesus prophesied of a day when an enemy would
come and surround and siege Jerusalem.
The temple would be destroyed and the people and their children would be
stuck down, because they did not recognize the time of their visitation by the
Messiah, Jesus Christ. This prophecy was
fulfilled in AD 70 when the Roman army under Titus surrounded and sieged
Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Decisions have consequences. Their decision to reject Jesus brought divine
judgment on the nation.
During great
catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the 2004 Tsunami, or the earthquake
in Haiti, people often ask, “Was this divine judgment?” We may fully know the
intent of all God’s actions, but God is active in our world and does bring divine
judgment. Natural disasters could simply be the consequences of living in
fallen world, but God is sovereign. He will show mercy on whom he shows mercy
and compassion on whom he shows compassion (Exodus 33:19). The Lord is in
control of the world, and whenever one starts to talk of divine judgment, it
often makes the Lord look cold and harsh. People accuse the Lord with questions
like, “How could a good God do that?” or they say things like “I could never
love a God that would do that.” What do we say to those people? First, we say
is that Jesus sobbed over their decision to reject him.
Jesus could not
enjoy this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, because the people he loved rejected
him. He was a man of sorrows, stricken
with grief. I have only experienced
glimpses of being rejected by those I love.
I have only experienced glimpses rejection and therefore have only felt
the beginning pains of rejection. Some of you have experienced being abandoned
by a spouse or rejected by a daughter or son-in-law that keeps you from your
grandchildren. Your experience is far greater than mine so your pain is more
intense. Rejection hurts.
Jesus Christ was
rejected by those he came to save, but the depth of his pain is not for
himself. The depth of his pain is
because of what the people are missing.
Verse 42, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day
the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” His
pain is not focused on his own hurt (which is real), but it is focused on pain
that his people are bringing upon themselves. His pain is driven by their pain.
It is natural to
experience the world with an eye on how things affect me. We have to retrain our eyes to see not how
this world affects me, but how it affects others. When I am hurting, I focus on my own hurt. I
focus on my own pain. I start asking questions like, “Does anyone know how I
feel? Does anyone care about me? Why doesn’t anyone understand my pain?” The
questions we should be training our minds to ask is, “How are my actions
affecting others? How is this person feeling? What are they going through? How
can I serve them?” Jesus was not focused on his own pain, but that of others.
This focus would be good for us to model in our own lives.
The second thing
we have to help people see about divine judgment is the offense of sin. Most people who are offended by the idea of
hell are people who do not understand how offensive sin is to God or how holy
God is. People accuse God for the
severity of his judgment, but Theology Professor Jonathan Bowers writes,
What if eternal
torment is actually a fitting response to our sin? What if, instead of seeing
hell as an overreaction to our misdeeds, we looked at it instead as God’s
commentary on the gravity of our rebellion? In other words, what if it’s not
God’s view of sin that needs adjusting, but our own?[2]
The problem is not with the
punishment, but our understanding of the punishment. Jesus understood the
punishment and wept. He wept because he
offered Himself so they could avoid divine judgment. Bowers goes on to write,
Similarly, we will
only see the justice of hell when we see the awful weight of our sin. And we
will only see the awful weight of our sin when we see the God who says of
himself, “I am the Lᴏʀᴅ; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my
praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8). When we see this God, we will understand why
Jonathan Edwards could say that “Men do not hate misery more than God hates
sin.” So sin, in the final analysis, is worse than hell. We should not marvel
that God burns with wrath against his enemies. Let us marvel, instead, that while we
were still enemies, Christ died for us.
When we magnify the awful weight of
our sin and the awesome majesty of God, we see something absolutely profound:
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We deserve
Hell, but God saves us.
How
do you view sin? Do you think sin deserves divine judgment? Or do you think
God’s punishment may be too severe? We can only understand God’s divine
judgment against sin when we understand the holy and righteous character of
God. If we want to change our view of sin and justice, we have to start with
God. We have to understand who God is,
for it is only in properly understanding God that we will rightly view the
world. The fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). All good
theology begins with God. How do you expect to live well if you do not
understand God? Our life decisions flow
from our view of God.
How
you treat you spouse, raise your children, choose your vocation, and pick your
friends are the fruit of your understanding of God’s character. Whether you choose to engage or not engage in
sin, or choose to offer forgiveness or persevere in a difficult relationship
all flow from one’s view of God.
People often come to church because they want help with their lives, but they do not realize what will truly help them. Six tips for a better marriage may improve one’s marriage, but knowing the character and heart of God will transform one’s entire life. It will not only change what you do, but why you do it. Our problems are not rooted merely in our actions, but in our hearts’ desires that lead to our actions.
So,
for example, how do we change our willingness to share Christ’s peace with the
lost? We must change our heart’s desire.
We must learn to sob over the lost like Jesus because we realize the
full and just wrath of God that awaits sinners who reject Him as Savior and
Lord. Our actions will change only when
our hearts’ desires change and they change when we focus on the glory and
majesty of God. When we learn to probably fear the Lord, we then will begin to
live differently.
Jesus understood
divine judgment. He knew it better than
anyone else, because he faced it on the cross. He knew the pain that awaited
those who rejected Him, so he wept. He did not focus on his own pain, but on
the pain of others. Likewise, we cannot focus on our own pain of rejection, but
we must learn to weep for those who are perishing. It is in our weeping that
will lead us to seek to share the peace of Christ. And we only can learn to
weep for the lost by properly looking to our King Jesus and his triumphal
tears. Do you weep for those who do not
have salvation? Christ did. He knew God’s
love and he knew God’s wrath. And only
in knowing both will we weep for those who know neither.
[1]
Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke: 9:51–24:53 (Vol. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic. Commentary on 19:41
[2]
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/sin-is-worse-than-hell
accessed 10.24.14
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