Introduction: If you only had a week to live what would you do? Some people answer that question by saying that they would go out with a bang, doing all the things they never got to do but wanted to do. That might be traveling and seeing things they had never seen before. Some people might go sky diving or bungie jumping to experience things they had never experienced before. Others would say they would spend that last week visiting with friends and family. Finally, some people would say that they would spend their last few days getting their life in order. Making sure the medical bills were paid, and that the life insurance premiums were up to date, and that the funeral arrangements were taken care of.
This morning I want us to take a closer look at the last week of the Lord’s life. Lets read our Text together. Luke 19:28-41.
As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem for the Passover, he knew that he had less than a week to live. His mind and heart were filled with all kinds of different thoughts and emotions. In the passage of Scripture we just read Jesus told a couple of his disciples to go on ahead of the rest of them to the village of Bethpage. He told them to look for a specific donkey or colt that had never been ridden and bring it to him. He also instructs them that if anyone asks them what they are doing to simply say, “That the Lord need it.” When they entered the village they found the colt tied up just as Jesus had told them. They proceeded to untie it and the people who owned the colt said, “Hey what do you think you’re doing?” The disciples answered by saying, “The Lord needs it.” We don’t know if Jesus had prearranged this with the owners or not, but in any respect when they learned that the disciples were taking the colt to Jesus that was good enough for them.
The Disciples brought the colt to Jesus and he rode it into Jerusalem. Have you ever wondered why Jesus did this? Was he tired, were his feet hurting? Maybe but that’s not the reason he wanted to ride the donkey into Jerusalem. And then there’s the question of the donkey? Why did he chose to ride a donkey, instead of a horse? Wouldn’t it have been much more dignified for him to have ridden a horse? In the eyes of the disciples I’m sure it would have been, but Jesus knew what he was doing. He rode the donkey for a couple of reasons.
First of all, he rode the colt into Jerusalem to fulfill the prophecy concerning the Messiah which is found in Zechariah 9:9 which says, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donekey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Secondly, Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem because it was a symbol of humility and peace. When the Romans conquered a city the commanding officer would often ride into the city on a White Stallion, symbolizing his Authority and power. Jesus wanted to send the right message to the people of Jerusalem. He wanted them to see Him as the Humble servant of God, not as a Powerful leader with a military agenda. Too many of them already expected him to lead a rebellion against Rome and he certainly didn’t want to encourage that false idea in any way.
Just outside of Jerusalem a crowd of people began to line the street. Some of them were taking off their coats and laying them in front of Jesus, while others cut palm leaves and placed them in his path. They also shouted “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” When the Pharisee’s heard this they came to Jesus and told him that he should tell his disciples and the crowd to be quiet, but he responded by saying that even if they were quiet that the stones would cry out in praise.
So obviously many of the Jewish people who witnessed Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey believed he was the Messiah. Unfortunately, when things didn’t go they way they thought they should most of those who were shouting “Hosanna” on Sunday turned against Jesus and began calling for Pilate to “Crucify Him,” on Friday.
Verse 41 of our text says that as Jesus approached the Holy City of Jerusalem, which was also, the Capitol City of Israel, he looked out over the city and began to weep. The Bible only mentions Jesus weeping twice. Once upon seeing the effect Lazarus’ death had on his friends Mary and Martha, and here as he looks out over the city of Jerusalem. It’s understandable why Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus, but why would he cry at the sight of Jerusalem? After all the people were praising God and proclaiming him as the Messiah, you would think that he would have been overcome with joy instead of overcome with grief. But Jesus knew their hearts, and he knew the spiritual condition of Jerusalem. He knew that it would only be a matter of days until these same people would be calling for his death. He also knew that it would only be a few years until God’s wrath would come crashing down on the city of Jerusalem. Jesus and John the Baptist had both called on the people of Israel to repent of their sins and turn back to God, but for the most part their messages were ignored by the majority of the Jews, especially the so-called religious leaders of the day. Jesus wept because he knew the fate that Jerusalem would suffer for its unbelief. In this passage of Scripture Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.
In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark we learn that after entering Jerusalem Jesus went to the Temple but did not stay because it was already getting late. Instead he went to the town of Bethany to spend the night. I believe Jesus did what many of us would do if we only had a few days to live, he went to spend some time with his good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus who lived in Bethany. Which if you remember was only a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem near the Mount of Olives.
The Next morning, Jesus and his Disciples were on their way back to Jerusalem and Jesus became hungry. The Bible doesn’t tell us why Jesus was hungry, perhaps he had risen early in the morning and spent several hours in prayer instead of having breakfast. But in any event he was hungry and wanted something to eat. As they were walking along the road they came upon a fig tree and Jesus went over to get some figs to satisfy his hunger. However, when he got to the tree he discovered that there weren’t any figs on it, even though it did have leaves. So he cursed the tree and said ‘may no-one ever eat fruit from you again.” There has been a lot of debate about this incident over the years, because in the gospel of Mark it says that it wasn’t the season for figs. However, it did have leaves, and thus even though it wasn’t the season for figs it should have had fruit. It had the outward appearance of being vibrant and alive, but in reality it was unfruitful. Which could be said of a lot of our churches today. People come to these churches expecting to be satisfy their spiritual appetite, but unfortunately too many times they leave unfulfilled.
When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem that morning he went straight to the Temple. Why? Well that’s where the people were and so he went to the Temple to teach. But what he found when he arrived at the Temple had to be dealt with before he could begin teaching. It was the Passover season and there were a lot of pilgrims who had made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday. As a result there were a lot of people coming to the Temple to offer daily sacrifices. Unfortunately the priests were taking advantage of the people by selling the animals at ridiculously inflated prices. And to make matters worse they were doing this in the Temple courtyard. The Jewish Temple was set up in sections or courts. There was the inner court where the Jewish men could worship, then there was the court of women, where Jewish women could worship. Then there was the outer court or the court of the gentiles, where God-fearing people from other nations or nationalities could come to pray and worship. This is where the priests had set up their tables and were selling the animals which would be used for sacrifices.
Jesus couldn’t believe his eyes. The Temple was supposed to be a place where people came to pray and worship God. But the priests had turned this outer courtyard into nothing more than a noisy smelly, marketplace. Righteous indignation boiled up inside of Jesus and he said, “My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it into a den of robbers.” Then Jesus preceded to turn their tables over and run them out of the temple courtyard. Which as you might imagine didn’t make the priests and religious leaders very happy with him. In fact they began looking for a way to get rid of Him, but there were still afraid to touch him because the Jewish people still considered him to be a prophet and were hanging on his every word.
So the chief priests and the Teachers of the Law decided once again to test Jesus. The next day, which was Tuesday, Jesus was in the Temple courts teaching the people when the chief priests, Teachers of the Law and elders came to him and said, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Well what things were they referring to? It seems pretty likely that one of the things they were referring to was the cleansing of the Temple which Jesus had done on Monday. But in the Gospel of Matthew we learn that the blind and lame had come to Jesus and he had healed them, so they may have also been referring to that. Then finally, they may have also been referring to his teachings, which were often contrary to what they taught.
Jesus did what he often did when he was questioned. He turned around and ask them a question. He said, “Did John’s baptism come from Heaven or from men?” The Bible tells us that they discussed this among themselves and said, ‘If we say ‘From Heaven’ then he will say, ‘why didn’t you believe him? But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they believe John was a prophet.” So they decided to simply say that they didn’t know. Jesus responded by saying, then neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Of course this didn’t set to well with the chief priests and the teachers of the Law.
Jesus then continues to teach the people telling the Parable of the two sons and the Parable of the Tenants, both of which were aimed at the chief priests and Pharisees. In Matthew 21:21 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you.” He elaborates by saying that John had come proclaiming righteousness and they had ignored his message, while the tax collectors and prostitutes had accepted it and repented of their sins.
The Pharisees decided to try a different approach. One of them came up to Jesus and said, “Teacher we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Jesus of course knew that they were trying to trap him. He knew that if he said no that they would go to the Romans and say that he was encouraging the people not to pay taxes, and they would arrest him. On the other hand, if Jesus replied, ‘Yes you should pay taxes” then he would lose the respect of many of the Jewish people, who hated paying taxes to the Romans. So on the surface it seemed to be a no win situation for Jesus. But, in His wisdom he responded to their question by saying, “Show me a coin that is used for paying taxes. They brought him a denarius. He looked at it and then said, “whose portrait and inscription is on this coin?” They replied “Caesar’s. Then Jesus replied, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
The Pharisees and Sadducees continued to test him, asking several more questions, one of which dealt with the Resurection, one dealt with the Commandments, and the final one was about the Messiah. Each time Jesus’ answer astonished them, so they finally gave up and stopped asking him any more questions. Instead they decided to find a way to have him arrested and get rid of him once and for all.
Tuesday night, Jesus and his Disciples returned to Bethany and were eating in the home of a man named Simon. At some point during the meal a woman, who may have been Mary, the sister of Lazarus, comes and annoints Jesus. Some of the Disciples including Judas Isacariot couldn’t believe their eyes. They said, “What a waste. This perfume could have been sold, and we could have given the money to the poor.” However, Jesus defended the woman’s actions and used the opportunity to tell his disciples that he would not be with them much longer. That must have been the last straw for Judas, because the Scripture tells us that after that he went to the Chief Priests and agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver.
On Thursday night Jesus celebrated the Passover with his Disciples in the Upper Room and exposed Judas as the one who would betray him. Following the meal, Jesus and the other 11 disciples go to the Garden of Gethsamane to pray. He told them that they would all fall away on account of him. Peter said, “not me, Lord, I would rather die than disown you.” Jesus looked at Peter and told him that before the night was over he will deny him three times. Not long after that the chief priests and the soldiers came and arrested Jesus and the disciples fled, and went into hiding.
The last week of his life was a very difficult week for Jesus. It began with the exciting triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But things quickly turned against him after he cleansed the Temple. The Pharisees, Saducees, and Teachers of the Law questioned him and did their best to trap him, but Jesus always managed to use their questions against them. He enjoyed some fellowship with his friends and his disciples, but in the end was arrested and put on trial for crimes he didn’t commit. On Friday, was given 40 lashes, and then led up the hill to a place called calvary and nailed to the cross. He was ridiculed, spit upon, and laughed at, all because He loved us and was willing to take the punishment for our sins. He died so that you and I can experience eternal life. So even though it was a difficult week for Jesus, He would do it all over again.
