Jesus in Triumph: Arrival
In the 1960’s Harvey Cox, author of The Secular City, predicted, “Future historians will record the twentieth century as the century in which the whole world became one immense city.” Obviously, that did not happen but what did happen was that from 1900 to 2000 the percent of the world’s population that lived in cities grew from 16% to around 47%. Since then, the number of urbanities has increased to 55% in 2018 and by 2030, the global share of the urban population is projected to rise further to 60%. I tell you that simply to illustrate the growth of the cities and to remind you that God has always been concerned with the city.
God’s Word is full of references to the city (more than 1200 of them). They demonstrate the importance of cities in God’s plan as well as His compassion for cities as population centers. You may remember when God sent the prophet Jonah to the great city of Nineveh, he declared in Jonah 4:11, Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (That is about the population of Springfield and I will let the comparison stop there.)
God is concerned about this city but also every city, as well as every suburb, small town and all of the rural areas of the world. One specific reference to a city that stands out occurred in the last week of Jesus’ ministry and is recorded in Luke’s gospel. Luke has portrayed Jesus setting his face towards Jerusalem. No less than three times he tells the disciples he must go there to suffer, die, and be raised to life. As early as Luke 9:22 Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” and in Luke 9:51 Luke tells us, As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Later in Luke 18:31–34 31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33 On the third day he will rise again.” 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
So, when we come to what is called the Triumphal Entry they had no idea what was going on and we wonder what was so triumphal about his procession into Jerusalem? The arrival of the King had been foretold by the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 9:9–10— 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. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
He is no Warrior King riding on a white stallion but a gentle deliverer riding on a donkey. No one expected that the conquering Messiah King would die before He accomplished his mission? After all, what kind of Kingdom could be established with a dead King? As Luke paves the way for Christ to enter the city of Jerusalem, he reminds us of the Kingdom He has come to establish.
Rather than focusing on its military conquest and its ultimate glory he draws our attention to the suffering without which that future, eternal glory will never be achieved. (Luke 18:31-34). (Luke 18:31-34). Rather than focusing on the political transformation of society he reminds us of the spiritual transformation of the soul, demonstrating that the way to change society is one person at a time. Since the kingdom must first come to the human heart Luke tells the account of a blind beggar who was healed (Luke 18:35-43) and the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector (19:1-10). Rather than focusing on immediate success and quick results, he records Jesus’ parable of the 10 coins that demonstrates that the kingdom will continue to grow throughout the King’s extended absence until He returns after a long delay and a protracted struggle. (Luke 19:11-27). Finally, he gives us a glimpse of the King that God has set on His holy hill, Zion. We are invited to gaze on the One who has been given the nations as his heritage and the ends of the earth for his possession. This kingdom is unlike any other; it encompasses the entire world.
That brings us to our text that tells us of Jesus in Triumph: His Arrival in Luke 19:28–44—28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
As Jesus rode from the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem, He came to a spot where one could see across the Kidron Valley the magnificent, panoramic view of the whole city—Jerusalem in all her glory and grandeur. The most amazing sight was not the polished columns and marble stones glistening in the sun or the bronzed dome of the temple flashing rays of light across sky, but what is most moving is to see the Son of God and the Savior of world, stopping to weep. His face grew agitated, tears welled up in His eyes, He began to weep not with a whimper but in loud wail for the city He dearly loved. Jesus was spiritually perceptive and sensitive to every situation. He knew what the acceptance and welcome of the crowds were worth. He was coming into the city that would welcome Him on Sunday but would kill Him on Friday. Amidst the shouts and cheers of crowds He could already hear the undertones of those who were plotting to put Him to death. The parade was merely a prelude to His crucifixion.
Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because of two things the people there did not know—they could have known and should have known, but they failed to know—In verse 42) what makes for peace and in verse 44 the opportunity of His presence. In many ways Jerusalem is a microcosm that encapsulates on a miniature scale a much larger reality; it is a metaphor for the masses of people who do not know what they need to know. For those same reasons He weeps over the cities, the suburbs, and even the small towns and rural areas of our world today.
1. Our Conquering King weeps over misplaced priorities.
As He approached the city Jesus said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” No people in history have had such passion or pride for freedom and peace as the Jewish people, the people of Israel. Yet no nation has known so little peace. The war raging in the Middle East right now is reflective of much of Jewish history. Time and again news of bombings in Tel Aviv, modern day Jerusalem, have brought to the forefront what has evaded this city whose name means, “city of peace”. But the leaders of Jerusalem in Jesus’ day placed confidence and sought security in the wrong things. Jerusalem the city was not only the center of population but also the center of religion. Yet driven by national pride and the dream of political power they misplaced their priorities and looked in the wrong places for what they desired most.
Two hundred years before Zechariah prophesied that “He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” Isaiah announced that a child would be born and the government would be on His shoulders. He would be called “the Prince of Peace” and then he added, “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)
Jerusalem in the time of Jesus was without excuse they should have known that the coming Messiah would be the source of true and lasting peace. Centuries later the apostle Paul was sharing the gospel with Jews and Gentiles in Ephesians 2:14-18-- 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Even today, our quest for peace negotiations and peace treaties fall short of that kind of peace that Jesus provides.
The absence of peace is not a problem in the Middle East because the same tendency is so typical today. The masses of people all around us are still looking in the wrong places for peace and prosperity, for meaning and fulfillment, for salvation and security.
We dare not forget what brings us peace—the goodness and greatness of God who is gracious to us through a reconciled, right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
2. Our Conquering King weeps over missed opportunities.
The second reason Jesus wept over Jerusalem was that they did not know the time of God’s visitation (“you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”). In Jewish thinking “visitation” meant an encounter with God or an opportunity to be seized. God was visiting His people in the person and presence of His Son (Immanuel “God with us”), but they did not know God’s moment in their midst and they were missing their opportunity.
Isaiah had prophesied this in Isaiah 40:1-2, 5—1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. . . . 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Yet Jerusalem failed to seize their opportunity. Cities have always been places of great opportunities, especially opportunities for the gospel. Francis DuBose was right when observed, “It is precisely in the urban context that the church was born.” Seven of the Roman Empire’s largest cities were home to the Apostle Paul at one time or another. He carefully strategized his evangelistic efforts by going to major centers of the world’s population and staying long enough to establish healthy churches with capable leaders. But look at the missed opportunities today. One authority estimated that today the church is losing cities at the rate of 30 million new urban non-Christians every year--one every second.
Why are there so many missed opportunities? Several years ago, the television news anchor Ted Koppel delivered a speech to International Radio and television Society. In it he provides an explanation of what is missing in our culture. He observed, “What is largely missing from American life today is a sense of context, of saying or doing anything that is expected or intended to live beyond the moment. No culture is so obsessed with immediacy as our culture. That is why in journalism the trivial displaces the momentous because we tend to measure the importance of events by how recently they happened. We have become so obsessed with facts that we have lost all touch with truth.”
What is missing from culture is often missing from the church—a sense of context, of saying or doing anything that is expected or intended to live beyond the moment. So here is what happens without a sense of context, the immediate displaces the important; the urgent displaces the ultimate; and the trivial displaces the eternal. We dare not lose our sense of context. We are here to say something and do something that will not merely live beyond the moment but will last for eternity. The news we have to share is not new news, but it is good news—it is a message of hope and salvation.
In his devotional commentary on the book of Revelation, Reversed Thunder, Eugene Peterson reflects on the shock and surprise of John’s vision of heaven. Heaven comes in form of a city. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).
Peterson writes, “Other religions describe heaven as the restoration to the natural—to a formal, garden-like paradise, or an unspoiled wilderness . . . That seems like the right way: when we want renewal and restoration of mind and spirit, want to recover intimacy in family and marriage, our usual practice is to leave the city for the country . . . A garden life is blessed and ordered by God . . . But cities are noisy with self-assertion, forgetful, and defiant of God, battering and abusive to persons . . . Heaven surely, should get us as far away from that as possible. Haven’t we had enough of cities on earth? Don’t we deserve what we long for? Many people want to go to heaven the way they want to go to Florida—they think the weather will be an improvement and the people decent. But the Biblical heaven is not a nice environment far removed from the stress of hard city life. It is the invasion of our city by the City. We enter heaven not by escaping what we don’t like, but by the sanctification of the place in which God has placed us. . . This is not a long (eternal) weekend away from the responsibilities of employment and citizenship, but the intensification and healing of them. Heaven is formed out of dirty streets and murderous alleys, adulterous bedrooms and corrupt courts, hypocritical synagogues and commercialized churches, thieving tax-collectors and traitorous disciples: a city, but now a holy city . . . This city-shaped vision for John’s city congregations can only mean one thing: heaven is quarried out of the marble and granite of our self-will, our self-assertion—all our brother-hating, God-defying, Christ-rejecting cities.”
So how do we transform the cities, suburbs, small towns, rural areas into what God wants them to be—by introducing people to the Prince of Peace and inviting them into His eternal Presence, pleading with them not to misplace their priorities or miss their opportunity. The apostle Paul has something to say to us about aligning our priorities and seizing our opportunities on this side of Jesus Triumph in 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:2—
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 1 As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.