Let me tell you a really embarrassing story. When I was about thirteen years old, I started going through some, uh-hem, changes. One of these changes was a recognization that when I would workout, I would produce a large amount of sweet. This sweet would then be transferred to my clothes, soaking them. This was a horrific development, because it was at this same time, that I wanted to be more aquatinted with the females around me.
This came to a head one winter night when I attended one of my many baseball practices. This particular practice was inside a large commercial building, where they focused on pitching, fielding, and hitting. I was there for pitching lessons. Now, it was cold both outside and inside the building, so I had a large jacket on. When it came to my turn, as I got up, a cute girl walked into the area, and sat down to wait for her lesson, which happened to follow mine. Instantly, my dread of sweeting in front of this girl came over me like a tsunami, and I decided that for my lesson I would not take off my jacket.
My coach was not happy, and after a little while indulged my stubbornness, but soon he stopped the lesson and told me that unless I took off the jacket, he would not teach me. I was adamant in my stance, and so I left. I cannot remember which parent was with me at the time, but I do remember that they laid into me when we got into the car. I returned to my coach with tears in my eyes, apologizing for my behavior. In the end, I made a bigger fool of myself in front of that girl, than I ever would have by taking off the jacket in the first place. And you might ask, what about that girl? Well, I never met her before that lesson, and I never saw her afterwards.
But it’s this idea that there are things that we hold onto, even at our detriment, that brings us to where we’re at today.
We have already spent three weeks on our March to the Resurrection series, and today we’re going to return to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 19, where we’re going to be picking up in verse 35. And as we open up to Luke 19:35, let’s bring back to our minds, where we’re at in this series.
In our first week we looked at two interactions, with four groups. The disciples were running interference against some parents that sought blessings for children, and as they were keeping some people from Jesus, they were allowing other more prominent people like the rich young ruler to come unhindered to him. Jesus ends up rebuking the disciples for this practice. We walked away from that week with the understanding, that we need to not block others from receiving the blessings of God, but rather make sure that we are following God, wherever he leads.
In our second week, we saw two more interactions, this time with two miracles as a result. The first miracle was a blind beggar receiving his sight back. The second miracle was a hated tax collector receiving salvation. But within these two interactions we saw a crowd rejoice at the first miracle and grumble at the second. It was here that we understood that we need to not allow our personal biases to keep us from rejoicing at the work of God.
Finally, last week we dissected Jesus’ parable of the Ten Minas. In the parable we’re told of a nobleman becoming a king, a group of dissenters who reject his kingship, and three servants with their responsibilities. In this parable there are some hard choices that are made and consequences for those choices. From the parable, we walked away with the understanding that God calls us to realize that the hard things he calls us into are there for us to partner with him to build his kingdom.
With these three weeks now fresh in our minds, let’s turn our focus to Luke 19, verse 35. And it’s here today, that we’re going to look at three sequential events that will help us tie together everything we’ve talked about so far, into what God desires from us now.
This first event, is what is called the Triumphal Entry. We celebrate this event as Palm Sunday which is today. It’s the event where Jesus comes into Jerusalem fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah in the 9th chapter and 9th verse of his writing. Let’s read this triumphal entry passage, starting in verse 35.
35 They brought it (a donkey) to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 When 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!”
39 Some 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.”
Do you notice the energy of the people? The sense of anticipation that is moving within the crowd? To the people, this wasn’t just an ordinary entrance into Jerusalem, this was the beginning of a new kingdom. A new, more abundant life. To the people, Jesus was there to liberate them from the oppression of the Romans. Jesus was there to establish the Israelite kingdom forever. A beacon to all other nations.
The Pharisees recognize the significance of what is being proclaimed about Jesus. They recognize that the people are calling for the overthrow of the Romans. They see this as a call to take up arms against the government. And they seek Jesus to distance himself from this belief. But Jesus is King and and worthy of this praise, just as we saw in the parable of the Ten Minas.
But as the crowd tops a hill and Jerusalem comes into full view, a drastic switch intone occurs. Let’s read in verse 41.
41 As he (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They 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.”
The tone of these two sequential moments in this procession towards Jerusalem are as night and day. The first is exuberant, with people cheering for the coming King and his kingdom. But then, as if someone flipped a light switch, Jesus’ words and actions brings us to a stoic, almost morose feeling.
The mindset of the crowd and the mindset of Jesus seem to be in different places. The crowd desires Jesus to be King, but they and the people of Jerusalem do not know what that means, and Jesus weeps over what they are about to miss.
I find it interesting that we’re not told here that Jesus weeps over the fact that he will be crucified, but rather he weeps over the people missing the point. In their enthusiasm of Jesus being King, they miss what that really entails. Like we talked about last week, this Jewish crowd wants a kingdom on earth, that reigns over all other people, but Jesus is seeking a kingdom not just of the Jews, but of the Gentiles too.
This is why he weeps, many people miss the point, and because they do, and will eventual reject the King that he actually is, they will miss out on the salvation that is in store. This is what happened with the blind beggar and the tax collector. The crowd rejoiced at the physical miracle of the blind receiving sight, but grumbled at the spiritual salvation of another. Here the people rejoice at the physical kingdom of God, but are about to miss the spiritual kingdom that must happen first.
This brings us to our third sequential event. Let’s drop down to verse 45, where Jesus enters Jerusalem and makes his way to the temple.
45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Here’s where all this comes together. In the fist two events, we see the mindset of the people vs Jesus’. Here we see the physical reality of what is to happen in the lives of the people who make Jesus King. This is the result of what it means to have Jesus be the physical King that the people wanted. It is a cleansing of the sins in our lives that led to a spiritual decay.
But the mindset of the people is not on being spiritually right with God. They weren’t interested in fixing the spiritual corruption, that had made it’s way into the temple. No, they were more interested in being greater than the people that were oppressing them. They, like the Hebrews before them, were not interested in following God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, but rather only when it gave them victory over their enemies in the here and now.
But throughout the nation of Israel’s history, God had constantly called them back to a spiritual cleansing, and only when they took that spiritual renewal seriously did God restore them physically.
But we’re seeing right here, that the people are not interested in a spiritual cleansing, just a physical victory. And they become so intrenched in this mindset, that just a few days later, they are swayed to call for Jesus’ crucifixion. And thereby fulfilling Jesus’ parable of the Ten Minas, that we talked about last week, rejecting their God as he has come to save them.
This is because they have this mindset that it’s okay to hold onto certain things, even when those things are rejected by God. See the people thought they could hold onto their sacrificial system which seemed to allow a way to feel good about their sin. They thought they could hold onto their hate for other nations, they thought they could hold to their desire to be greater than others, and all they had to do was go through a physical ceremony to get by with God. But the reality is they couldn’t. They must reject all of of their sin and embrace a spiritual renewal by Jesus. But because they couldn’t, Jesus had to go to the cross. He had to sacrifice himself for their sins, that they would have another opportunity to be saved by their God.
And this is true for us today. Whether we say we follow Jesus or not, we tend to think that we can hold onto to things that God has rejected, and think it’s okay. We think we can hold onto to hate for a person that has wronged us, we think we can hold onto un-forgiveness, or gossip, or our will, or our desire or a host of other things that God calls us to give up.
But we are not called to hold onto anything, except those things of God.
This is why at the end of his first letter to the Thesselonica church Paul writes, “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24).”
This is what God is calling us to, a time of spiritual cleansing. A time of asking the question do I have the mindset of Jesus to receive a spiritual renewal, or am I looking for what just benefits me physically right now? Look at the world. We’re looking for a cure, a vaccine, and end to this pandemic that surrounds us. But what do we need first? We need a spiritual renewal. We need a great awaking to come back to God. We are moving greater and greater distances from God, as sin becomes accepted as the norm, and even celebrated in our world. We need to be made right before the God who calls us away from sin and into new life.
Today, we celebrate communion, and though we cannot take this together in person together, we can go before God with the elements of the bread and the drink in front of us.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.”
As take communion in our own homes today, let us take a moment and examine ourselves. Seeking to be cleansed of any unworthy thing in us, and desiring it to be dealt with by the Holy Spirit.
And so my challenge for you is this: in this moment of communion, as you are not taking it in front of others, let us confess to any un-forgiveness that lies in our heart, any hatred that we’re holding onto, any worry or doubt against God, any action or thought that would stand as a road block in our relationship with him. Let us seek God right now, that our lives would not seek the fleeting physical security of the moment, but rather seek the spiritual renewal that God desires us to experience.
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