Jesus Wept
03/28/10 AM
Text: Luke 19:15
Introduction:
Palm Sunday always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The name commemorates an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19: the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before His betrayal and crucifixion.
According to the Gospels, before entering Jerusalem, Jesus was staying at Bethany and Bethphage, and the Gospel of John adds that he had dinner with Lazarus, and his sisters Mary and Martha. While there, Jesus sent two disciples to the village over against them, in order to retrieve a donkey that had been tied up but never been ridden, and to say, if questioned, that the donkey was needed by the Lord but would be returned. Jesus then rode the donkey into Jerusalem, with the Synoptics adding that the disciples had first put their cloaks on it, so as to make it more comfortable. The Gospels go on to recount how Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and how the people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees. The people sang part of Psalm 118 - ...Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David. ... (Psalms 118:25-26).
I. Going up to Jerusalem
A. In fulfillment of prophecies
1. Jesus sends two disciples to acquire a colt vs 28-35
2. Matthew's account is more detailed:
a. Matthew 21:2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.
b. This fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah:
c. Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
3. A king entering a city riding on a colt was a sign of coming in peace. Conquerors rode upon stallions.
4. The people following shouted out praises (Psalm 118).
a. The gospels tell us that the majority followed that day because of the signs they had witnessed.
b. There were those who were not shouting praises but criticism. V39
c. They had political interests to protect, so any praising and confessing of Jesus as the Messiah threatened their position.
d. Jesus answered the critics saying that should they be silent, the stones would cry out.
e. Jesus' words may have had double meaning.
1) Habakkuk had prophesied the judgment of God upon Judah just before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. He had said, “The stones of the wall will cry out” (NIV) concerning all the sins the people rebelling against God had done. Habakkuk 2:11
2) Or perhaps the words of Joshua Joshua 24:24-27
B. Jesus wept for Jerusalem
1. There are two accounts of Jesus weeping.
a. John 11:35
b. Jesus, after talking to Mary and Martha, the grieving sisters, and seeing Lazarus' friends weeping, was deeply troubled and moved. After being shown where Lazarus was laid, Jesus wept in front of Lazarus' tomb.
c. He wept on that occasion in empathy for the grief of those mourning Lazarus.
2. Here Jesus looks on Jerusalem and is moved by His personal grief.
a. Luke 19:41-42 (Amplified Bible) And as He approached, He saw the city, and He wept [audibly] over it, Exclaiming, Would that you had known personally, even at least in this your day, the things that make for peace (for freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin and upon which your peace--your security, safety, prosperity, and happiness--depends)! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
1) This day of triumphant entry was Jerusalem's day. The day the awaited Messiah came.
2) But they were not taking Jesus on His terms.
3. The people were praising God, waving branches, and throwing their cloaks in front of the colt as it passed before them. (We can see this royal treatment in 2 Kings 9:12-13 for Jehu, anointed king of Israel.)
a. “Long live the King” was the meaning behind their joyful shouts because they knew that Jesus was intentionally fulfilling prophecy.
b. The people who were praising God for giving them a king had the wrong idea about Jesus. They expected him to be a national leader who would restore their nation to its former glory; thus they were deaf to the words of their prophets and blind to Jesus’ real mission.
1) Jesus said, "I didn’t come for that purpose. I came to show you a more excellent way. I came to show you the way of love."
2) He said “Love God with all your being and your neighbor as yourself.” and "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
3) He said “Seek first the kingdom of God.”
c. These were God’s people - God’s chosen people. God had loved them and led them across the wilderness and into the Promised Land. But they did not understand the true message of the Messiah. Because of that, Jesus wept.
C. Jerusalem would not know His peace
1. The name of the city has “peace” as part of its meaning (Hebrews 7:2), but the people of the city did not know what would bring them peace.
2. The “city of peace” was blind to the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
3. If the people had known on this day what was truly happening and had recognized it for what it was, they could have found peace. But the people would follow after their Jewish leaders who rejected the Messiah John 1:10-11 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
4. They had refused God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ when they were visited by God himself. Now the truth would be hidden, and soon their nation would suffer.
5. Luke 19:43-44 (Amplified Bible) For a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank [with pointed stakes] about you and surround you and shut you in on every side. And they will dash you down to the ground, you [Jerusalem] and your children within you; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, [all] because you did not come progressively to recognize and know and understand [from observation and experience] the time of your visitation [that is, when God was visiting you, the time in which God showed Himself gracious toward you and offered you salvation through Christ].
1) About forty years after Jesus said these words, they came true. In 66 AD, the Jews revolted against Roman control.
2) Three years later Titus, son of the emperor Vespasian, was sent to crush the rebellion. Roman soldiers attacked Jerusalem and broke through the northern wall but still couldn’t take the city. Finally they laid siege to it, and in 70 AD they were able to enter the severely weakened city and burn it.
3) Six hundred thousand Jews were killed during Titus’ onslaught. This would occur as judgment because though some of the people believed (such as the disciples and other faithful followers), most did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them.
Conclusion
God’s Word had been delivered to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for many centuries. Jesus wept because the people of Jerusalem had failed to see and accept God’s truth.
Invitation
Those who delay their commitment to Christ make the same mistake. We stand in the presence of Jesus today, are you ready to accept Him?
