Luke 19: 29-48

From the time that Jesus was 12 years old, he seemed to be driven toward a goal. Even then he spoke of being about his Father's business. Now, He was determined to go to Jerusalem in spite of the fact that the chief priest had issued orders that guards and other loyal members of society be on the watch for Jesus; they wanted to arrest him and kill him. Even his own disciples thought that they had better sense than Jesus. In the gospel of John, Jesus had received word that his friend Lazarus had died. Jesus said to his disciples let us go to Judea again. This was, in fact, just a few days before the events in our text for today. After some discussion, Thomas made this sarcastic statement, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." When you read it, it is filled with sarcasm and doubt. They thought that Jesus really was not thinking too clearly.

If the desire to go to Judea caused them to be uneasy with Jesus, what about the events that took place when they got there? He raised Lazarus from the dead, and the whole nation heard it. So much for sneaking into Judea. There was the anointing at Bethany at which Judas complained about the wastefulness of the act, it was too extravagant. Then the people were beginning to call Jesus king. It must have been a confusing and exciting time for the disciples, but what about Jesus?

Did any of this bother Jesus? If you had been an adviser to Jesus, you might have said to him, "Look, you are so popular the people want to make you king. My advice to you is to withdraw from Jerusalem since the priests want you dead. Let your popularity build up, let the people's anticipation grow then return and take over the city. You could be the carpenter king."

But, Jesus did not run and hide. Our text begins about a two-hour walk from Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. It was an ancient olive grove that covered the hill side. It leads down into a valley along a dusty road and then up the holy mountain to the east gate of the city. It was a public place and it was the place where Zechariah said that one day, God's Anointed One would return.

It was Passover time. There were large crowds flowing into the city to celebrate and they would pass through Bethany and Bethphage. Jesus did not follow our imaginary advice. He did not leave so that he might return in glory and victory. He turned to two of his disciples and told them, go to that village and you will find a colt that has never been ridden. Get it and if the owners ask why you are taking the colt, tell them the Lord has need of it, he will understand. That was one of the few times that Jesus ever used the term Lord to describe himself.

Things begin to click together inside the head of the disciples. He referred to himself as Lord. He is retrieving a colt to ride into the city. Only holy men, men of peace and merchants would ride a donkey into a city. But, unbroken animals were used for sacred and royal purposes. They thought that Jesus was taking seriously this talk about being king.

Jesus was sitting upon an unbroken colt, which was covered with their own coats, and was led to Jerusalem. What took place next is interesting. The disciples were praising God for all of the miracles that they had seen. They said "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" The Pharisees who were traveling along the road saw this and told Jesus to stop this crowd, they were calling him king. "Don't you know that this is blasphemy and besides, the Romans might hear you and come and attack us?" But Jesus said that if they did not the very rocks would cry it out.

I suspect that the disciples and the multitude thought that their dreams were coming true. The long awaited King, the Messiah was here. He had come with great miracles and he was going to declare himself king and he would free them from the hands of the Romans. God was about to usher in a new, golden age, eternity was about to break through. They would have looked like Baghdad on the day of its liberation. Yet, Jesus stopped and wept because they had the wrong dream.

Can you imagine the scene? Just before they reached the city, he was on the valley road looking up at the grand walls and the beautiful eastern gate. Jesus stopped and wept over the city. The word "weep" means that kind of loud, sobbing cry that comes with a lament, like one who had just lost a loved one. Jesus had just ridden to the city in triumph as a king. The masses were following him singing his praises and laying their coats on the road as a royal carpet to cover the dust and spreading palm branches along the way. They were jubilant. Yet he stops and weeps, wails, pours out his heart in a heavy lament because they do not know what is going on. "If you had known in this day, even you the things which make for peace! But now, they have been hidden from your eyes."

Jesus weeps for them and the city because they do not understand him– they deliberately did not want to understand. What makes for peace is not another king or a military commander or a dignitary or a political leader. The royal act that he was about to accomplish would be done on a cross instead of a throne.

Jesus himself had to make a choice. Would he listen to the cheering voice of the crowds, would he change his purpose, the purpose that he sat out to follow even when he was twelve years old? Would he go for what we think is the ultimate human achievement, fame, power, and wealth? Or would he follow the way that some might call the way of a fool, the way of the cross?

Jesus' face is set like flint toward Jerusalem. He weeps not because of his choice, but because these people do not understand. For the course of action that they have chosen will lead to their destruction. Rather than placing their trust in the Prince of Peace, they trust power and military strength. In less than forty years, the Romans would build a siege wall against Jerusalem. They would breach the wall and destroy the city leaving no stone on top of another. Why? Not because they offended or rebelled against the Romans. But, because "they did not recognize the time of their visitation." The people did not know when Immanuel came to them, when God was with them. God came into their lives and they did not notice.

Soon Jesus' lament turns to anger as he enters the temple and clears it of the false commerce and declares that his house should be a house of prayer. From that point on, he spends time in the temple daily, teaching, but the chief priest and scribes plot to kill him. His choice is made, he will follow that plan that was laid out for him so long ago, even before he was born. He would go to the cross for the sins of many.

Most of us here today are challenged with a choice. What dream will you pursue? We are challenged to cut corners, to lie to steal and to cheat. The world tells us that you must go out and achieve your potential, be all you can be. But we Christians have all that we need. We have the right direction for life, we have the Spirit of God. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We seek to be a part of his kingdom and that calls for us to live a certain way, to have certain priorities, to be a certain kind of person. This summer will be like any summer. There will be ball games to play, fish to catch, beaches to lay on, trips to make, people to visit, sights to see. There will also be church to attend, classes to teach, prospects to visit, folks to pray for, needs to meet, priorities, certain ways of living. You have choices to make.

I wonder, what will be the consequences of your choices? When you make your choices, will Jesus be weeping or rejoicing? Will he judge us or reward us? Will Jesus weep over us because our time of visitation came and we did not know that Immanuel that God was with us? What kind of choices will you make?