Jesus the Triumphant King – “Portraits of Christ” series
Luke 19:28-44 – March 23/24, 2002
Intro:
This Sunday night, hundreds of Hollywood “stars” will gather for the Academy Awards. Very few will “slip in the back door:” instead, they make an entrance. They will walk down the long red carpet, smiling at the cameras and waving to the people in the stands (who, by the way, all had to apply and go through extensive background checks), showing off their clothing (and undoubtedly a bit more), chatting with the reporters. Some will go to great, great lengths just to be noticed.
Contrast that with Jesus: to the man healed of leprosy in Matt. 8 He said: “See that you don’t tell anyone.” To the two blind men He healed in Matt. 9 He, “warned them sternly, ‘See that no one knows about this.’” And in Mark 1, a demon possessed man in Capernaum yelled out “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”, to which Jesus replied “Be quiet!” Jesus often chose not to be in the limelight. In fact, most of Jesus ministry happened outside of the capital city of Jerusalem, away from the big pomp and ceremony of the Temple, in small towns and villages along the way.
Until today. Until the event we know as “The Triumphal Entry,” the day we remember each year as Palm Sunday. This day all of that changes. Now, we see Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem being proclaimed as Messiah and King.
READ LUKE 19:28-44
Context:
It is pretty obvious from the timing of all the events that Jesus had determined to be killed during Passover. Tension had been building, opposition growing stronger. When Jesus announced His intention to return, His disciples recognized the danger and discouraged Him, culminating in Thomas’ declaration “let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). So they left, and went to Bethany (right outside of Jerusalem), where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This attracted even more attention, and a large number of Jews were putting their faith in Christ. So many heard the testimony of Lazarus and believed in Christ that the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus (John 12:10). This is important background, because John’s gospel tells us of two crowds on this Palm Sunday, the crowd from Bethany that had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, and a second crowd from Jerusalem, made up of people there for the Feast of Passover, who heard that Jesus was coming and went out to meet Him. These two crowds met as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey.
The Scene:
I don’t know if you’ve been to a parade lately, but you can imagine the sight. People, large crowds of people, pressing in to see Jesus. They prepared the road in front of Him by laying palm branches, and by taking off their cloaks and allowing the donkey to walk on them. This was a way of honoring a king, like the red carpet today, and it made a strong statement: here is our King.
Why a donkey? We’ve generally viewed this as an expression of humility, but in fact that is only partially true. It is true that a donkey is contrasted with a powerful war horse, that the Jews would have been familiar with the Romans marching into their capital city on powerful stallions. And so there was that difference. But there is more to it – the Jews also recognized the donkey as a royal beast.
I want to take you back from Jesus a thousand years or so, to 1 Kings 1. King David has gotten old, and the time has come for him to anoint his successor. I want to read you the story: (1 Kings 1:28-40). The story continues and draws the picture even more plainly – the Jews recognized the new king as he rode into Jerusalem on – that’s right – a donkey. And they celebrated. Just like the crowds in Jesus’ day!
So the donkey makes another strong statement: here comes the King.
Listen to the crowds – do you hear what they are saying? Here in Luke, in the account we heard read, the words are plain: “Blessed is THE KING who comes in the name of the Lord!” John records the crowd calling, “Blessed is the King of Israel!” (Jn 12:13). Mark hears the crowd calling, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” (Mk 11:10). And Matthew, in his account, notes that this fulfills the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9: “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 donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
So the crowds are making a further strong statement: “here comes our king.”
Jesus the Triumphant (?) King
So we see a portrait of Jesus emerging here – the portrait of a King. Welcomed by the people, emulating King Solomon riding on a donkey, with the people shouting Messianic prophecies and proclaiming they are fulfilled in Jesus. Announcing plainly, “Here is our Messiah, our Saviour, our King.” All His disciples gathered around, “…joyfully prais(ing) God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (Lk 19:37).
It is an image of triumph, right? A culmination of Jesus’ ministry, a validation and recognition by the people of God that He really was the Messiah, God’s Chosen, their Redeemer. This is a moment of Victory! Celebration!! It was a parade, a party, a magnificent arrival!!!
Right?
The Pharisees in the crowd weren’t comfortable with what was going on. They called upon Jesus to set His disciples straight, to correct their exuberant claims that Jesus was the King and the Messiah. “Tell them to tone down the rhetoric some, won’t you? They’re getting a little carried away…” Jesus’ response in vs. 40 gives us a peak at the true extent of the implications of this event – “the stones will cry out” – somehow even nature, which Paul tells us has been “groaning” in wait for the day of salvation, would proclaim the arrival of Jesus. He defended the exuberance of His followers, thus encouraging them to continue.
So what is Jesus feeling during this incredible time, this “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem? Look again at vss. 41-44.
This wasn’t just shedding a few tears. This was a loud crying out, a broken heart, a grieved spirit. Luke preserves for us the reason – Jesus knew He was riding into rejection. He knew that Jerusalem would not understand, would not recognize, that this was the “time of God’s coming to you.” And that broke His heart.
So What?
A nice story. Familiar to most of us – we’ve heard it many times before. But what does it mean for us today?
What struck me this week as I looked at this passage was putting the whole event in the context of Jesus’ life, and seeing a parallel to our space as a church right now. We’ve seen Jesus do many things, miraculous things. We’ve had times when we gathered and joyfully praise God in loud voices for the things we have seen, just like the disciples. This event in Jesus’ life feels like a climax – like the peak of popularity. And yet five days later we find Jesus hanging on a cross. I’m not saying that as a church we have peaked and are now headed for a crucifixion… that isn’t the parallel I see.
The parallel I see is that it looked to the disciples and the rest following Jesus that the Kingdom had arrived. They could see it all unfolding – riding into Jerusalem, being welcomed by the people, establishing a new Kingdom, somehow over-throwing the existing leaders in Jerusalem, and then, maybe even taking on the Romans and using some of that supernatural power to over-throw even the mighty Romans. I see that in Peter drawing his sword in the garden of Gethsemane, in the cruel mockery of the Jesus on the cross, even in the question of the disciples after Jesus rose from the dead, asking if now He was going to restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). All of them expected God to establish His Kingdom, and they had preconceived notions about what this would look like. They had expectations. The had clear ideas.
The parallel I see is that God surprised them all. And I believe God wants to surprise us also. We each have our ideas about what our church should look like, I have a whole bunch myself! I want to be part of the crowd surrounding Jesus as He rode that donkey down the mountain. I want to shout praises to God for the miracles that He has done. But unlike the crowd, unlike the disciples, I don’t want to have preconceived ideas about what has to happen next. I genuinely desire that God’s Kingdom come, and I want to leave it up to Him to determine what that should look like.
We’re voting this weekend on a new senior pastor, and I know there are a lot of expectations for what that means for us. We are all dissatisfied with some aspects of our church, and expect to see those changed with new leadership – we have big expectations. Honestly, I’ve felt a lot of those. I’ve heard them in questions, in comments, in conversations.
In response to that, I want to say two things. First, will we be like the disciples in looking back and simply praising God for all that He has done? Will we celebrate Jesus our King, thanking Him for all that He has done and praising Him the way the crowd did? I believe we need to be – I believe the disciples had the right idea there, and we need to copy them
And second, will we NOT be like the disciples in presupposing what the next step will look like? Will we (and I include myself in this “we”) not try to impose our agenda on God for what has to happen next, but rather let Him lead and decide? I don’t know what the future holds, I don’t even know what the result of the vote will be, but I do know this: God’s way is better than any of our ways, even when it looks crazy. Even when it is the opposite of what we expect. If we are going to celebrate Jesus as our King, then we need to let Him rule.
Let me tell you a story:
Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.
He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"
There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.
By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.
When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"
All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?
Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
I believe God has sent out a lot of seeds. I don’t know what they will grow into, but I do know that I want no substitutes. No alternatives. No replacements. My only desire is that God would establish His Kingdom, His way. And if that makes me uncomfortable, ok. If that causes me to stretch, to go outside my comfort zone, count me in. Even if that breaks me, I’ll follow.
Will you? Not just in the life of our church – and though I’ve been talking most about that, the principles are the same in our individual lives as well. Do you have the road map for your life all laid out? Do you see the road lined with palm leaves and just know that once you reach the city, everything is going to go right according to plan? Do you know exactly what God needs to do in your life and around you?
This portrait of Jesus, riding the donkey on the way into Jerusalem, is truly the portrait of a triumphant king. But the means of the triumph surprised everyone – absolutely everyone. It came through weakness, not strength. Through apparent defeat, not victory. Through death, not life.
The same is true for us. For Jesus to be King in our lives means surprise. It means foolishness in the eyes of the world. It means storing up treasures in heaven rather than in bank accounts on earth. It means living in our weakness so that God’s power might be made perfect. It means sharing out of our woundedness that others might find wholeness. It means yielding control to Him.
The hard part about Jesus’ Kingdom is that obedience is voluntary. God gave us the freedom to choose, and respects that freedom. He isn’t like any other King, who passes a law and then enforces that law by threat and intimidation and fear of punishment. Instead He invites us. He welcomes us. He lays out what is expected, empowers us to obey, promises great reward even though the cost may be great and we may not see that reward until the next life, and then He asks us to follow. He is a King who asks for our obedience out of love alone.
So I close today with two questions. First, will we let Jesus be King over our church. Will we let Him lead, let Him call the shots, let Him be in control? And second, will you let Jesus be King over your life? Will you hear His invitation and respond in love that is demonstrated by obedience?
Jesus comes, riding a donkey, claiming to be King. Will we let Him? Only in obedience will we really know the Triumph of our King.
