Palm Sunday Sermon: Approaching Jerusalem Luke 19:41-44 Introduction Palm Sunday is a strange day. It’s strange because we know the end of the story. Less than a week after the people are joyfully shouting in the street, hailing Jesus as king, this same people are with as much venom as the joy they had, shouting for his crucifixion, clamoring for his torture and murder. That’s why I say it’s a strange day – because we’re moved from euphoria to despair in the blink of an eye. And, of course, from the perspective of the gospel writers, this is exactly where they want us to be: They want us to see ourselves in the crowds; they want us to see us for how fickle and fair-weather we are to Jesus. They want us to see ourselves in the religious leaders, too. Rubbing our hands together barely able to contain our excitement of putting to bed this so-called king and obvious blasphemer and stealer of sheep. They want us to see ourselves in the Roman government – in the men who scourged Jesus, in Pilate who didn’t have the guts to stand up to the Jews for fear of losing his job (and his life), a man willing to be complicitous in the murder of a man he knew to be innocent. They want us to see ourselves in the disciples, who, pledged their dying allegiance to Jesus one day only to run a way like scared children when the police took Jesus away. They want us to see how we are so very much like the crowds and the religious leaders and the Romans and the disciples. They want us to put ourselves in the story. But the reason why they want us to put ourselves in the story is not so that we can wallow in sorrow and grief for what we’ve done to Jesus. Oh, they want us to feel sorrow and grief – but they don’t want us to feel these things as ends in themselves. They want us to feel the weight of what we’ve done to our savior so that on the other side of the cross, at the resurrection, we can feel with even greater intensity the joy and love for a savior so great, that he was willing to go to the cross for us, taking on himself the guilt of our sin and the punishment it deserved. Until you see yourself as a co-conspirator in the death of Jesus, you will never understand how much Jesus really loves you. The wonder of the cross can only be felt in its shadow. So these gospels, written not to non-Christians, but primarily to Christians, are meant to remind us of all that God has done for us through the gospel, of all that Jesus has done for us – not for our sorrow, but for our joy. All that being said, the characters in the gospels themselves have no idea what their future holds. What they think coming into what we know as Easter, they think that Jesus is their long-awaited king who will bring about a great reversal. Kingdoms will be uprooted and overthrown and destroyed so that God’s anointed king can reign over the world from his throne in Jerusalem. The week of Jesus’ crucifixion, most of the people think Jesus is that king. Let me show you. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 19:28-38. <Read the text> These people are thinking that Jesus is “the man” – he’s their guy. He’s done a boatload of miracles – healings, exorcisms, mass feedings from loaves and fishes, even resurrections. And the people, seeing these things, are pumped – v 37-38. <Read the text> They have absolutely no idea that they’re about to do a 180 – a massive 180! Turn ahead to Luke 23:13-25. <Read the text> That’s what I call a 180! Turn back to Luke 19. You know what the people remind me of? They remind me of New York sports fans. We are so fickle. If you’re a hero, we love you. But the second you have a slump, or you look like all the money we spent on you isn’t worth it, we’ll boo you to kingdom come. And this is because it is human nature to want a winner, to root for a winner, to love someone who will give you everything you’ve always wanted. But as soon as it looks like he’s no longer the guy, we put him to the curb. But at this point, at least, here in Luke 19, the people are convinced they have a winner, and they have absolutely no idea what they’re about to do. They are clueless about how much things are going to change. Not so with Jesus. Not only is Jesus not clueless, he’s perfectly aware of what is about to happen to their supposed loyalty. And the reason he knows exactly what will happen because he predicted it! In fact, he predicted it three times! Check out 9:21-22, 43-45; 18:31-34. <Read the text> I mean, Jesus knew what was coming. He knew exactly what was about to happen. He knew what he would suffer. And more than the physical suffering, he knew that what would really bear down on him was not his physical suffering, as extensive and gory as it was, but it was the soul-suffering. The anxiety of knowing that coming up over the horizon was a tsunami of fire, a wall of God’s wrath for sinners. Jesus was about to experience in his spirit torment barely imaginable. According to Luke 22:44 the mere thought of it was excruciating: “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Jesus agonized over just the idea of what he would have to endure to rescue us. Unlike the other characters in the gospels, Jesus knew exactly what was around the corner. And it’s that knowledge that makes the text we’re going to park on this morning all the more amazing. Turn over to Luke 19:41-44. <Read the text> In this text, we see three things: Jesus’ weeping, Jesus’ warning, and Jesus’ wishing – all of which are utterly astounding in light of the fact that the very people that Jesus weeps over and warns and wishes for are the people who would clamor for his brutal and unjust execution! Let’s take them one at a time. Jesus’ Weeping First, let’s look at Jesus weep in v 41. <Read the text> What makes Jesus’ weeping amazing is that he knows the end of the story. He knows what he’s about to suffer. He weeps even in the face of their great blindness and hostility toward him. He knows that these people will beg the Roman government gruesomely to torture him to death. Wouldn’t he much rather see the city a smoldering ruin? I know I would. I’d want them to fry. I wouldn’t shed a single tear. Aren’t you thankful that Jesus doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve? Where would we be? What would happen to us? Aren’t you thankful for Jesus compassion for sinners like you and me, the very sinners who murdered him? Who do you weep for? Did you know that Jesus weeps for you? He especially weeps for you if you don’t yet know him. And he weeps with you if you belong to him. He knows what it is to suffer. He understands your pain. He especially knows what it’s like to be betrayed. Betrayed by his own people – people who shouted “Hosanna” and less than a week later shouted “Crucify.” He gets what you’re going through. All of us have tasted the bitterness of betrayal. But some of us have tasted it more – to a much greater degree. Well, whatever the degree, know that Jesus understands. And because he understands can encourage you in ways that only someone who has suffered in the same way can. Jesus weeps for sinners…even those who begged to see him nailed to the cross. So he weeps for you. But he also warns you.  Jesus’ Warning Check out vv 42-44. <Read the text> I call this a warning first because Jesus is talking about it before it happens, and second because he gives the reason for it (end of v 44) – because they did not recognize the day of their visitation. So if Jesus says, here’s what I see happening because of your failure to see that God has visited you, the implication is that if we recognize God’s visitation, the consequences he describes won’t happen. It’s a lot like what Jonah tells the people of Nineveh. “Forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” This is what is going to happen. Nineveh is a wicked and violent city – a city full of immorality and injustice. God is going to wipe it off the face of the earth in forty days. Same thing here. This is what will happen if the Jews remain in their unbelief. The very statement functions as a warning and a call to repent before it’s too late. In fact, it’s a formula that the prophets of the Old Testament used all the time to call people to turn from their sin back to the Lord. Do you see the phrase “days will come” in v 43 – do you see it there? Well, this is a stock expression used by the Old Testament prophets to warn of God’s judgment. Now because God is merciful and compassionate, he has a long history of relenting from disasters he has promised to bring about – just like he did with Nineveh. Jonah 3:10: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” If you read the gospels, you will see that a lot of Jesus’ preaching is taken up with warning the people of judgment should they refuse to acknowledge him as the savior of the world. If you reject Jesus, there are consequences. The consequences, are described here as a failure on the part of God’s people to recognize the day of their visitation. They have failed to see God visiting his people in Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh. How can you not recognize the visitation of God? I mean, if God comes to see you, how could you miss it? Well, it depends what you’re looking for. Like what happens when you get a new car – you notice your model in every car that passes on the road, a car you never noticed before. Or like what happens when someone tells you to look for five seconds at your watch, and then asks you to tell them what the words are on the face. You’ve looked at it, but all you can remember is the time because you were looking for the wrong thing. You looked right at it but missed it completely. Well, in the case of the Jews, they were expecting the overthrow of their oppressors. They knew that God would visit them some day. Their Bibles made this clear. So when Jesus came and instead of destroying the foreign, occupying pagan power – when instead he submitted to execution at their hand, it became clear to the Jewish people that this couldn’t possibly be the visitation of the Lord. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ own disciples, are hugely disappointed. In Luke 24:20-21, unaware that they are talking to Jesus after his resurrection describe their situation like this: “Our chief priests and rulers delivered Jesus up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” “We thought he was the guy. Clearly, he can’t be...because he’s dead – our leaders and the Romans executed him!” So because the people would not acknowledge Jesus as God’s visit to them, there would be consequences – three to be exact. Two implied in the context and one supplied directly in the passage. The first consequence is implied by the words back at the end of v 41: “But now they have been hidden from your eyes.” What is interesting here is that the word “hidden” is a passive verb. Isn’t that interesting? It really is. What makes it interesting is that it is a common way of talking about the activity of God without actually mentioning his name. It’s called the “divine passive,” and what it means is that the implied person doing the hiding is God himself. So what this means is that the things which make for peace, the visitation of God in Jesus – these things have been hidden from the people’s eyes by God! Now you say, “Wait a second! God keeps the people from seeing the truth?” Yes. “And he blames them for it?” Yes. “How can that be right?” Well, their blindness, their ignorance, their darkness is actually a judgment of God. Because of their disobedience God would punish them by making them blind to the very thing that could save them from destruction. In other words, hiding the things that make for peace is a form of judgment. Listen to how Jesus puts it back in Luke 8:10: “To you [disciples] it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’” That is, there are things that are deliberately veiled from people in order to give them over to the hardness of their hearts that’s already there. God doesn’t put the darkness there. He just prevents them from turning on the light because of their darkness. So the first consequence of their unbelief is their continued unbelief. The second consequence is found explicitly in vv 43-44. Read it with me. <Read the text> Jerusalem would be destroyed. And this prediction/warning of Jesus was brought to bloody fulfillment in 70 ad, less than 40 years later. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, describes how the Romans did exactly as Jesus predicted – from the building of a siege wall to the demolition and destruction of the city. The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus estimates that 1.1 million Jews were killed (with the destruction of the Temple) and some 97,000 taken captive to be sold into slavery or ripped apart by wild animals in the Roman arenas. One Jewish leader, alive at the time, described it like this: Some of them have been put upon the rack, and tortured with fire and whippings, and so died. Some have been half devoured by wild beasts, and yet have been reserved alive to be devoured by them a second time, in order to afford laughter and sport to our enemies; and such of those as are alive still are to be looked on as the most miserable, who, being so desirous of death, could not come at it. Many Christians were spared because they heeded the warnings of Jesus in cf. Luke 21:20-24. <Read the text> Some Christians fled. But Palestinian Jewish Christians, who stayed, were viewed as traitors by the Jewish kinsmen because they would not fight Rome, and therefore were lumped in with the rest of the Jews. It was horrible. Listen to this horrible first-hand testimony from Josephus: Now as soon as the [Roman] army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done,) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple….it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. You can turn back to Luke 19. This is what Jesus is referring to when he says in what he does in vv 43-44: “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another.”  And yet, as horrible as these consequences would be for their failure to believe in Jesus Christ, believe it or not, they are just an echo of, or better, a prelude to, the judgment that will follow if you reject Jesus Christ. This is the third consequence – set up by the temporal destruction of Jerusalem by Rome – eternal destruction in hell. As Jesus says in Luke 12:4-5: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” If you tell God that you don’t want his son now, he will grant your request forever. If you want to live without Jesus now, you’ll live without him forever, which is to be utterly and eternally miserable. A day of reckoning is coming – are you ready for it? A day “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” So Jesus’ warning is clear. Spiritual darkness and temporal and eternal destruction await those who refuse to obey the gospel. But Jesus doesn’t simply warn, he wishes, too. He wishes good things for his people. Jesus’ Wishing Jesus’ wish for the city and his warning to the city both form the reason for his tears, why he’s crying. The people are ignorant. And because they are ignorant they are missing out on a huge blessing. He wants to bless their socks off. He wants to shower them only with good things. They can’t see that by rejecting him, they are undermining their own peace and prosperity. And this breaks Jesus’ heart. I get the language of wishing from the phrase translated, “If you” in v 42. Do you see it there? Well, the form of the conditional sentence in Greek expresses a wish. So I like the esv translation a little better: “Would that you had known…” “Would that you” means “I wish that you.” This is Jesus wish for them. And he really, really wants it for them. “If you…even you,” he says. This is Jesus longing for his people – his longing for us. What he wishes and hopes for them to know. And what is it? Well, look again at v 42: The things that make for peace. Now that word “peace” means far more than the cessation of hostility. It doesn’t simply refer to the end of a war. It means much more. It is peace – or shalom. And shalom from the perspective of the Old Testament refers to universal human flourishing. It refers to wholeness and beauty and fulfillment and delight. Jesus is saying that he brings with him peace between God and man – for sure – in him all hostility between God and us, and us and God, are overturned. But he’s saying that he brings with him so much more. He brings with him universal peace and prosperity. A world in which…as one writer puts it: people, nature and God are knit together in a relationship of wholeness, fulfillment and delight…. Different racial and ethnic groups treat one another with dignity and respect. They affirm, celebrate and learn from the differences in other ethnic and racial groups. Marriages are strong and children secure….Government officials, to nobody’s surprise, tell the truth and eagerly praise the virtues of other public officials. Streets are clean. Highway overpasses are free of graffiti. Business associates rejoice in one another’s promotions. Corporations define success as maximizing the public good. And salesmen honestly explain the strengths of the other companies’ product. Intercontinental ballistic missile silos have been converted into tanks for scuba divers. Newspapers are filled with well-written accounts of great moral integrity, and at the end of the day, people on their porches read these, savor them and call to each other about them. And most importantly…God is supremely present in all his majestic beauty, glory and grace. People respond by praising his name and using all their abilities and resources to reflect his character. Individuals, families, communities and regions delight in being hospitable to others because they know that their God has been hospitable to them. Shalom or “peace” is a state of affairs beautifully depicted in a poem full of metaphor from Isaiah the prophet:  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD. This is the peace that Jesus brings with him. Jesus longs for his people to taste this – which they can in relationship with him! Oh, we will not know it completely in this life – we have to wait till Jesus comes back to regenerate and restore and renovate the world. But until then, as we live out the implications of our relationship with Jesus, we can experience these things in substantial, if not, final ways. And this is what Jesus longs to share with us – his shalom. Do you see Jesus’ longing for you? Do you see how much he wants to bless you with salvation? Jesus wants good things for you. Even though you say “Hosanna” and five minutes later, “Crucify,” Jesus wants you to know his peace. He longs for it. He wishes for it for you. This is Jesus wish. But he doesn’t just wish it for you. He wishes it for his city. He wants to see the city – individually and institutionally – he wants his beloved Jerusalem to taste the peace that he as the Prince of Peace has come to give to everyone who believes in him. How do you feel about your city, your community, the Twin Cities metro? Do you weep for it? Do you warn the city? Do you have wishes for it? Do you dream for it? Jesus does. So Jesus wishes, Jesus warns, and Jesus weeps. He weeps because his people couldn’t see the wonderful thing that God was doing right in front of their face. He weeps because they are missing a great blessing and because their hardness of heart is storing up for them God’s condemnation.  Conclusion So then, as you get ramped up for Easter this year, let me encourage you on the basis of this message from three directions: (1) Pray for a heart like Jesus; and (2) Reflect on the heart of Jesus. First, would you ask the Lord to give you a heart like Jesus? A heart that looks out on his enemies and weeps for them – not because of them (he’ll do that), but primarily for them? Pray for a heart that looks out to the lost in the Twin Cities with grief because if our city continues to refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ – they will never know the peace and wholeness, the joy of reversal that God wants to give them. Pray for grief for your city because the people are missing a great blessing. Weep, too, for your city because by missing that great blessing, by refusing to yield themselves to Jesus Christ, they will know misery and torment like the sacking of Jerusalem – not literally – the cities may remain standing till Jesus returns – but they will know misery and torment like the sacking of Jerusalem, only infinitely worse under judgment in hell. So pray for a heart of grief for the city, which means your friends, family members, colleagues, classmates, political leaders, social institutions – pray for a heart that weeps. But also pray for a heart that wishes. That wishes the best for a wicked city. Pray for a heart that wouldn’t take joy in seeing your city gutted for its immorality and violence. Instead, pray for a heart that would love nothing more than to see the city transformed in every nook and cranny by the gospel of grace. And pray for a heart that warns. And by this I mean, pray for a heart that is so concerned for the city that we warn people of the wrath to come. I know it’s not in vogue. I know it’s not cool to talk about hell. I know it makes us look like Bible-thumping, ignorant Neanderthals. I know it. What else would you expect? You thought it was a bunch of nonsense till God opened your eyes to the gospel, why would we not expect others, especially people smarter and wiser and nicer than you were, to think the whole idea of hell is preposterous? The Bible says that the message of the cross is to those who are perishing, foolishness, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. But God is pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. It’s foolish, but God uses his so-called foolishness to save people from sin and death and the devil and hell every single day. So pray for a heart that warns people. That wants the city to experience God’s blessing, and not God’s cursing in hell. That’s the first direction. Pray for a heart like Jesus – a heart that weeps, warns, and wishes. But I want to encourage you from another direction. As you ramp up for Easter, reflect on all Jesus is for you. He weeps over you. He warns you. He has great hopes and dreams for you. You don’t deserve his tears. You don’t deserve his warning. You don’t deserve his wishes. You nailed him to the cross. You said, “Hosanna” and “Crucify” in the same breath. Nevertheless, Jesus is so full of love and compassion for people like us. He weeps for us. Warns us. Wishes the best for us. What amazing love! And let me tell you: unless you see yourself as someone over whom Jesus has wept and to whom Jesus has given a warning and for whom Jesus wishes great things – unless you see yourself this way, you can’t become like this yourself. The example of Jesus will seem like a practical, present-time impossibility. Until you are humbled by the gospel of his grace. Until you are humbled by the undeserved mercy he has shown you, you will stand in contempt of the wicked people of this city, of the Twin Cities. And until you are electrified by that same mercy, love to the undeserving – until you are electrified by the awe that Jesus would warn and wish for you – you will keep your mouth shut, too afraid to open it for fear that people will think ill of you. You’ll feel inferior to everyone. So as you get ready for Easter weekend, look to Jesus. Look to Christ. Look to him. See him weep…for you. See him warn…even you. See him wish…for you. And as you do, pray that you would weep and warn and wish for others – for our city…till the earth is filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea! Amen!!!!!!