Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on his final Passover celebration with his disciples was planned. A colt was on standby duty in a nearby village waiting for the call. His decision to ride the young donkey into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives was a deliberate public statement. Jesus was acknowledging for all to see his identity as Messiah and King.
The people did not miss their cue. They enthusiastically responded to Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. Even without the symbolic action of riding into Jerusalem, the people were ready to sing Jesus’ praises. HIs raising of Lazarus from the dead convinced them he was more than your ‘run of the mill’ prophet or attention seeker. We read: “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.” Their praise culminated in a declaration. "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
Excitement swept the disciples and sympathizers of Jesus. Fear and anger gripped the religious leaders (the Pharisees) who mixed with the crowd. They came up to Jesus and said: “Jesus, rebuke your disciples.” In other words, “Quiet them down. Don’t you hear what they are saying? Are you not aware that we are governed by the Romans? If you enter into Jerusalem with shouts of ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ you invite disaster upon yourself and your disciples and upon the city of Jerusalem. . . . Jesus this is craziness. Don’t be a fool! Shut these people up.”
The fear was real. In nondemocratic countries even today, anyone who is not in power and threatens those who rule is not regarded highly. Many times popular figures who desire to set up an alternative power structure disappear, or end up in jail falsely accused, or are forced to leave the country. Rome proactively responded to threats to their leadership. The Pharisees understood the dangers well.
But there was another side to their request to Jesus. They did not accept him as the Messiah or the King. They did not believe he was the Messiah sent by God although they had a hard time explaining his miracles. In fact, early in his ministry they attempted to his explain his power by accusing him of partnering with the devil. Shouting crowds could rile the Roman authorities but the shouting crowd deeply disturbed the Pharisees. People who believed in Jesus, people who sang his praises, troubled the Pharisees. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the Pharisees still refused to believe. Their unbelief was so firmly entrenched they decided that to put a stop to Jesus by killing both Jesus and Lazarus. Lazarus was too much of a testimony to the amazing power of Jesus.
Jesus’ response to the Pharisees request squelches the idea that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah.Look his response to the Pharisees—strange words for a person who some say claimed nothing special for himself. "I tell you," he replied, "if they (his disciples) keep quiet, the stones will cry out." This short sentence of response spoke volumes about Jesus’ own perception of himself. In effect he was saying to the Pharisees, “It is right and good for my followers to identify me as the King who comes in the name of the Lord. I do come as King. I do come in the name of the Lord. I am God’s peace . . . and it is right to praise God for what is taking place.” At that point the Pharisees must have been enraged. On the one hand, they felt vulnerable because of what might happen if the Romans were to pick up on what was taking place. They could see chaos breaking out in Jerusalem at Passover.
On the other hand, the nerve of Jesus to point to the stones and suggest that they would cry out in praise if the people did not sing his praises confronted their unbelief. From their perspective Jesus was not the Messiah. He was a dangerous popular teacher who needed to be eliminated.
Jesus accepts the designation as King from the people. The praise was appropriate. But then something strange happened. Jesus the King begins to cry. We do not think of kings shedding tears. Kings are powerful with the needed resources to solve problems. Why would a king cry? The pain that brought Jesus’ tears to the surface concerned the welfare of others. What the Pharisees feared would happen because of the crowd’s exuberance for Jesus did happen. The Pharisees’ fear would be realized but for very different reasons and at a different time. Jerusalem faced disaster, not because the people were embracing Jesus, but because they would shortly reject him. What the Pharisees did not realize – and what the people would eventually fail to understand—was that Jesus was their hope.
Listen to the words Jesus speaks with such sadness: "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Have you ever watched a person making decisions you believe will lead to heartache. It is painful. We may try to intervene. We point out the dangers, the landmines, but they will not listen. Often the mantra we hear over and over again is “All I want is happiness”. Or “I just want to be happy.” The “happiness” word unfortunately becomes the excuse for many poor decisions. The decisions that promise happiness many times deliver heartache and sometimes even tragedy.
I picture it as someone joy riding down a country road at 160 kilometres an hour unaware that just ahead is a 90 degree turn. The turn is hidden from the person who does not know the road. But for the person who knows the road ahead and sees the speeding car, they begin to feel the pain of what they know lies ahead for the person driving so dangerously.
Jesus saw the bend in the road for the people of Israel. He knew the consequences that lay ahead were devastating. The people of Israel at that very moment were experiencing the time of God’s coming. God in the person of Jesus was present with them. God through Jesus was holding out his arms to them. He came as life and light. He came as hope and salvation. But instead of embracing God, in a few days they would crucify his Son. They would throng together and prompted by the religious leaders yell “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Jesus was King. As God’s spirit filled servant, he understood the future. More than anything he wanted the people to find life in him. Yet he would not force his will on them. He would not use the power that was his to do a forced conversion. Even though a forced conversion might save their lives it was not God’s way of operation. Jesus wept as he thought of the pain and the misery that faced the people – but he allowed the natural consequences of their actions to play out.
Jesus described the consequences: “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. 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 recognise the time of God’s coming to you." In 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus’ tears, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the people who were not killed were taken into captivity.
God allows our actions to bring consequences. Yet there are times when God weeps. He sees what we are doing. He sees the natural consequences and he holds out his arms but we must come to him. Why don’t we come? Verse 42 gives us a clue. "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Notice the phrase “If you, even you, had only known . . . but now it is hidden from your eyes.” How was the truth hidden from the eyes of the people? There several factors which kept the truth about Jesus hidden and continues to do so today.
The Apostle Paul points to the god of this age who blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”)
Satan had a vested interest in keeping the truth of Christ hidden from the people in Jesus’ day. He still works hard to blind people to the truth. His goal is our destruction, so he works hard to hide the truth of God’s love. Isaac Newton captured it well in his hymn Amazing Grace. “I once . . . was blind but now I see.” For years, Newton searched for life through adventure and riches. He felt Jesus had nothing for him. Even though he could say the right words, repeat the truth, he could not see the truth for himself. Blinded eyes mean we do not see Jesus as the source of life.
Another reason people are unable to see the truth is because of what the scriptures call calloused hearts. Matthew 13:15 reads: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
A calloused heart prevents sight and closes our ears. Usually a calloused heart happens over time. It is like the erection of a wall between two people. There comes a point when no matter what the other person may say, the calloused heart says, “So?”– or “I don’t care” or “That is your problem; leave me alone” or “I have my plans and my agenda and I am going to do what I want.”
You might say a “calloused heart” is a purposefully self-centered approach to life where one intentionally blocks any messages from others that will challenge their plans, or their thinking, or what they want to do with their life. This relates closely to a person’s rejection of Jesus. It is sad to watch a person self-destruct. Even when they realize they are self-destructing, they still resist accepting Jesus as the source of life for them. Some persist right up until they die.
This is why prayer is so important. God is able to open closed eyes and soften hardened hearts. But he has elected to do so in cooperation with his people. The results of opening our eyes to God are expressed well in John 1: 11-13, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . . born of God.”
This morning if you are here and you are not looking to Jesus as the source of life, I pray that your eyes will be opened. I pray that instead of the King crying as he observes your rejection and its consequences, he will rejoice because you have responded to his call upon your life.
If you are in the process of hardening your heart to God and the people around you then take this morning as an opportunity to respond to his grace. Listen to what he is saying. Allow him to lead you. Experience the life he wants to give you.
Maybe you are in the process of making decisions that you know are not right and are taking you from God. Listen to the writer of Hebrews, “Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.”
Jesus is King. He is deserves our worship. He calls you to himself. As King he wants to establish his rule in your heart. Will you allow him to rule? On this Palm Sunday I invite you to recognize that God is present. He wants to embrace you in his love and grace. Are you willing to follow him?
Take a moment for prayer.
LORD JESUS CHRIST,
I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. (Take a few moments to ask His forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience.) Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.
Thank You that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank You that You offer forgiveness and the gift of Your Spirit. I now receive that gift.
Please come into my life by Your Holy Spirit, to be with me forever.
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Amen