Thursday, March 24, 2016

Bittersweet: The Two Cries of Palm Sunday

Psalm 27:7-10
Lift up your heads, O gates!
Eastern Gate of Jerusalem

    And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord, strong and mighty,
    the Lord, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
    And lift them up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord of hosts,
    he is the King of glory!
 Selah
Sunday we celebrated what we call “Palm Sunday” because of Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem a few days before his death on a cross. However, it was a bittersweet day, for there were two cries that day… the joyful ringing “Hosannas” of the crowd and the sorrowful weeping of Jesus over the city’s hard-heartedness make for a bittersweet day. It is filled with meaning.
Let’s take a look at the teat of Luke 19:28-44 in two sections.
I) The Triumphal Entry (v.28-40)
    And when he had said these things,
                    he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
          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.”

Let me interrupt our reading at this point to point out that v. 30-31 are a “Beforehand” redux. As we discussed in a recent post, Jesus was intentional in preparing his followers for what they would face by telling them in advance. Many times they didn’t understand until later. In this situation, they found things “just as he had told them.” It was important that they realize that what was coming was not taking Jesus by surprise.

   And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt,
           they set Jesus on it. 
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!”  
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him,
                                     “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
   He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent,
                                              the very stones would cry out.”

Here are some of my thoughts on this passage...
We can picture the people casting their cloaks on the road (v.36) much the way we might give the “Red Carpet” treatment welcome to a visiting head of state… much the way the president is greeted when he gets off Air Force One when visiting foreign countries. This practice was both a sign of honor (separating him from the filth of the street) and of submission (what I have I lay down before you).

Another observation is that Luke bookends the life of Christ with a message about “peace” and “glory in the highest”; first from the heavenly host of angels (2:14), and finally from the earthly host of pilgrims (v.38).

Stones cast down by the Romans
It is at this point that Jesus defended his disciples’ offering of praise on his behalf. The Pharisees would have thought that only God, and possibly his Messiah, might receive such praise. But Jesus was in fact God the Son and the Messiah and it was appropriate to offer praise. The "coming one" had come! But what did Jesus mean the very stones would cry out”? Perhaps Jesus was referring to the cobblestones, the stones of the city wall, or those of the temple itself. So many time and places in the Bible the people would mark a visitation by the Lord or an important agreement among men with memorial stones…as a reminder to both themselves and future generations. What are some of those memorial stones in our lives? Where have we seen God answer prayer, intercede and deliver us? Are they crying out for us to remember God's love towards us?

This triumphal entry of “the king of glory” is also recorded in Matthew 21:6-11; Mark 11:7-11; and John 12:12-19. Each account adds its own unique details to the picture.

Matthew, in v.4-5 gives us the fulfillment of prophecy detail as he quotes Zechariah 9:9,
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
'Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’
And then in v. 8-9 we learn that it was “most of the crowd” that spread their cloaks on the road, not just a few. I addition we read of their use of the word “Hosanna” that would have meant little to Luke’s Gentile readers.
Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Let’s take a minute to understand what “Hosanna” means. Though it sounds similar, it does not mean “O Santa”! It is a word we use every year at this time when we remember Jesus’ entering into Jerusalem. The people used it as an expression of praise…but why? Originally hosanna was a term of urgent lament in Hebrew prayer that meant, “Save us Lord!” or “Save now!” as in Psalm 118:25 “Save us, we pray, O Lord!” Over the centuries this desperate plea morphed into praise by acknowledging that the Lord was the only One who could save! So Hosanna acknowledged aspects of both personal need and trusting praise. In this case it might not be far from a triumphant, “He will save us!”

Mark, in 11:9-10 informs us that this worshipful shouting was conducted by the crowd the preceded him and those who followed behind.
And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!"
And John in 12:16 tells us of the disciples continued lack of understanding.
His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him
Putting all the passages together, we can see that the donkey and its unridden colt were a sign of humility, the spreading clothes on the ground was a sign of submission dating back at least to the time of Jehu (2 Kings 9:13). In addition we can see that there were two crowds. First, there was the crowd following Jesus from Bethany, filled with amazement at the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11) which included the Apostles. Second, there was the crowd of Passover pilgrims that came out from Jerusalem to meet then as they came with their own stories of Jesus miracles that they had seen at various times during his ministry.

II) The Tearful Exclamation Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem (v. 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.”

Luke Timothy Johnson writes, “The prophet’s arrival should be God’s visitation for peace. But because he is not recognized as such, his rejection becomes a “visitation” of punishment.”
On the way down the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem, on the road amidst all the celebration, Jesus stopped and wept loudly over the city. In fact this was the second time he had lamented over Jerusalem (See Luke 13:31-35). There is a modern church built on the site of the ruins of a Byzantine church commemorating Jesus’ tears. In fact the church is shaped like a tear drop and has jars on the corners of the roof as an allusion to Psalm 56:8 “You put my tears in a bottle…”
           
Jesus looked out and he surely saw all that would happen, all that would die needlessly
Cemetery on Mount of Olives
because they rejected their Messiah, and he wept. In the midst of the crowd of disciples rejoicing, Jesus knew what lay ahead and wept, but not for himself. Nor do I think it was for the building that would be destroyed. Now when we stand in that spot we see Jerusalem surrounded by cemeteries. How many times since that day, has the city been destroyed and the population killed? Too many. Jesus wept as he pronounced the coming judgment. We would do well to learn that judgment should never be announced without tears. This was more than a missed opportunity for Jerusalem, for they rejected their redeemer. No longer was there anyone to stand between them and their enemies. Not 40 years later the Zealots would revolt against Rome and trigger the destruction of the city and the death of all within it.

In Luke 13:34-35, Jesus’ first lament over Jerusalem, he said,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
                                                     and stones those who are sent to it! 
How often would I have gathered your children together 
                        as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
        and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken.
And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 
                       ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’(See Psalm 118:26)

Expositor’s Bible Commentary, insightfully notes that, “The story comes to its climax, not in Jesus' entering Jerusalem, but in his lamenting over the city.”

In this lament, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the city. The question is, was he mourning the future destruction of the temple and all its great buildings? The answer is that he was mourning the loss of the city (considered as its people, not its buildings. It is connected to the preceding parable of the ten minas where the citizens reject the king from ruling over them. They decided to kill the King’s son instead of heed his message in repentance. They didn’t know the time of their “visitation.”
The word “visitation” (episkopes) found in verse 44 is a strong word. It does not refer to someone coming over and ringing the bell for some tea and perhaps a scone. This word had two meanings in the Old Testament as Luke Timothy Johnson writes,
The kairos (“time”) here means specific season…The “season of visitation” (kairos tēs episkopēs) occurs in Jer. 6:15; 10:15 to mean God’s punishment (see also Deut. 28:25; Isa 24:22). Episkopē can also refer to God’s intervention to save (as in Gen 50:24-25; Ex 3:16; Isa 10:3; 29:6)… here the term is double edged. The prophet’s arrival should be God’s visitation for peace. But because he is not recognized as such, his rejection becomes a “visitation” of punishment.[1]

III) Their Troubling Expectations
The residents of Jerusalem and the Passover pilgrims that had thronged in to swell the city to the bursting point would perhaps have voiced their expectations this way if asked:
  • “We know what it means to be saved.” But Jesus made it clear that they didn’t understand what it would take to bring them true peace.
  • “We know what we need to be saved from” or in other words, “A military-political deliverance is enough.” They had the belief that all their problems were wrapped up in the Roman oppression and that if that changed that everything would be OK. Is it uncommon to think that a change in external circumstances will result in the internal peace and joy we seek? No. We all do it to some degree, but it never works. The change must start in our heart and then spread to our circumstances.
  • “The Messiah will drive the wicked Romans out now.” They thought they had the Messiah’s agenda planned out for him. They missed the meaning of the immediately preceding parable (Luke 19:11-27) of the king whose absence was extended.
  • “Messiah’s ultimate goal as the Son of David is to restore the nation of Israel.” In this case, their expectations were too small and too nationalistic. Jesus came not merely to restore Israel but to reconcile all to God—Jew and Gentile alike!

IV) Our Timely Education
What can this historical narrative teach us? Are there lessons which we can learn that will impact our lives today? Yes. Here are just a few to consider. We should:
  • Praise the Lord unashamedly—being grateful and hopeful! We should welcome Jesus’ presence in our lives and churches with at least as much enthusiasm as the crowds did that day.
  • Submit to the Lord’s plan instead of trying to call the shots—be humble! Too often we try to tell God what he should and shouldn’t do. Even if we don’t say it out loud we often think his plan leaves much to be desired.
  • Trust the Lord even when he doesn’t follow our expectations—be flexible! Life often turns out differently than we want or expect. Are we willing to trust that God’s sovereign love is working through every trial, hardship and disappointment?
  • Allow the Lord to show us what we really need—be teachable! Can we like the psalmist ask the Holy Spirit to search us and test us and lead us in the way everlasting? In the Old Testament, Israel was often labeled as “stiff-necked” and we can give them a run for their money in the stubbornness sweepstakes! However, we must become life-long learners at the feet of the Savior.
  • Let our heart be broken by what breaks Jesus’ heart—be transformed! The love of Christ should compel us to see everything and everyone differently. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Do we believe him? Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:5, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.


May this bittersweet week, issue forth in great comfort for you as you welcome the Messiah, as he really is and not as we would make him to be.

Grace and peace to you!







[1] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke [Liturgical Press, 1991], 299

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