A Warning And A Promise

Today is Palm Sunday. It’s the Sunday in the year when we remember that a week before Jesus was crucified, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. People took palm branches and shouted out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ It seems like a very happy occasion. But in reality, a tragedy is about to take place. As Jesus, riding on the donkey, approaches Jerusalem, we read that,

‘…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 round 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 19:41b-44].

What Jesus said would happen happened. In 70 A.D. the Roman army besieged Jerusalem, captured it and razed it to the ground.

When I was a child, I used some Bible reading notes. At the front of the notes, they suggested, when you read the Bible, look out for examples, promises, commands and warnings. I think that’s a good approach for us today. This passage contains a massive and obvious warning. It also contains a wonderful promise, although that’s a bit harder to spot.

THE WARNING

Let’s start with the warning.

Jesus wept because he could see that a tragedy was about to happen.

Many years ago, I read some books about business ethics. The author of one of the books talked about ethical mistakes people make in business and described them as ‘career-ending moments.’ This was a career-ending moment for the people of Jerusalem. As a result of Jerusalem’s actions in the coming week, Jerusalem would be destroyed. Jesus could see it coming.

What was the cause? What is the warning for us?

Jesus foresaw that the Roman army would come to Jerusalem. ‘And’, he said, ‘they will not leave one stone upon another in you, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.’

This was the critical mistake. This was the career-ending moment. The people of Jerusalem did not know the time of their ‘visitation’. What was Jesus talking about?

Early in my working life I worked as an engineer in a design office in Manchester. One day, one of the bosses came into our office and told us that we would have a new manager to run our department. After the boss left the people in the office chatted about it. They didn’t think the man who had been appointed would do a very good job. But when he came, they accepted that he was the manager. But suppose some of them had said to him, ‘We don’t accept you as manager!’ They would have been out of a job very quickly!

There are some situations in life in which you might question whether someone is the rightful boss or perhaps the rightful president. Wikipedia has a VERY long article on ‘Controversial elections.’ There have been lots of dodgy elections over the years. If you lost a dodgy election, would you accept that the other person has won?

But when it came to Jesus being king, it shouldn’t have been controversial. The magi, the wise men, who visited Jesus after he was born came to Jerusalem looking for the KING OF THE JEWS’ [Matthew 2:2]. But not many people had grasped who Jesus was at that time.

But then, Jesus started to teach. He started to work miracles. Lots and lots of miracles. Outstanding miracles. He told his disciples, ‘But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me’ [John 5:36].

Jesus did miracles all over Judea. He raised Lazarus from the dead on the outskirts of Jerusalem and THEN rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people of Jerusalem SHOULD have been able to put two and two together.

On the Day of Pentecost Peter preaches and says, ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man ATTESTED to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know…’ [Acts 2:22].

Some Bibles say ‘attested’. Some say ‘accredited’ or ‘authenticated’. The point is that Jesus had given proof. His miracles couldn’t be ignored. He must have been sent by God. Therefore, to reject Jesus – indeed to put him to death – was a HUGE mistake. And there was a huge consequence. About 40 years later, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army. It disappeared off the face of the map. The Jewish historian Josephus commented that apart from one part of the city wall which was left, the rest of the wall was so thoroughly knocked down that people visiting the city later wouldn’t believe it had ever been inhabited.