Scripture Luke 19:28-48
Luke 19:28-48
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."
(Jesus
had a plan and knew the resources for that plan were available if the disciples
would trust him and follow his instructions – They did, and it happened exactly
as Jesus said it would.)
(Have you ever been so in love with
Jesus that you just burst into song – and maybe even dancing? That was not only
about to happen, but it was happening at the beginning of the parade as soon as
Jesus sat on the colt. It reminds me of an OT story: David first dressed as a
King and touched the ark-BAD Then he dressed as a priest and let the Levites
carry the ark-GOOD / His wife Michal thought he demeaned himself not being
dressed like a king – he was not naked but was filled with joy and would said
he would not stop rejoicing before the Lord.) (ILLUS: It’s like when the preacher’s sermon on God stimulated some questions
in the mind of a child, and she raised the questions to her mother on the way
home from church. “The pastor said God is bigger
than we are. Is that true?” “Yes,”
the mother responded, “He is.” The child
continues, “And the pastor also said God lives
inside of us. Is that true, too, Mommy?” “Yes,”
the mother again responded. “Well, then,” concluded the little girl, “if God is bigger
than us, and if He lives inside of us, then shouldn’t some of Him show through?”)
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!"
(I
love a person who can have unbridled worship – I am not talking about being a
crazy person, rather a person who recognizes who Jesus is and gets excited
about him and what he is doing. These people were putting there coats on the
road so the colt would not step on dirt but a road paved with material and they
were waving palm branches which is reserved for the entrance of the King or the
return of conquerors. Palm trees were abundant, and spiritually they
represented life – Solomon had them carved to the inside and outside of the
first Temple.) (Funny how
everyone can be having a great time filled with such great joy and someone has
to come along and try to ruin it all…)
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." (In other words: this party is going to happen whether
you like it or not!!!)
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the
city, he wept over it (Can you picture all the joy – then Jesus begins
weeping for the people) 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."
45 Then he entered the temple area and began
driving out those who were selling. 46 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a
den of robbers.'"
(Daily
after Palm Sunday…)
47 Every day he was teaching at the temple.
But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people
were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.
The people hung
on His words. When we hang on the words of Jesus, we develop a resolve like
Jesus had – it both allows us to move forward whatever the cost – even as he
was going UP to Jerusalem AND in the midst of that singlemindedness serving the
Lord, individually and as a church, we can worship with abandon, knowing we are
secure in the Christ who came riding in on a colt.
Speaking
of animals, birding week in Oregon (our town’s biggest money maker for local
merchants) was cancelled, but the birds have come and are still coming even if
there are few people out taking their pictures. Those birds are single minded
and come back even if birding week is canceled.
Those birds are like all birds at this time of year – even the bar
swallow – here is a story of a few, told by a man named Ray Jennings…
When the Swallows Come Back . . .
“Yes, the
sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may
lay her young” (Psalm 84:3)
Church members
tell me that, like their fabled cousins of Capistrano, the barn swallows come
back each spring. As Jeremiah the prophet said, they know their “appointed
time.”
Rapidly darting
blurs of color, they busily built a nest of mud and twigs under the eaves near
the main church door. One Saturday, a work-day crew member knocked the nest
from its perch with water from a carefully aimed hose and then washed away the
debris. “That should take care of that,” he said.
It didn’t. A
week later, on Sunday, worshipers noted the nest had been rebuilt. Again, a
church member destroyed it.
Within a week,
the industrious birds had built a third nest. This action put the birds on the
church executive board’s agenda. Some objected to the way the birds decorated
the wall beneath the nest. Others said the bird’s chatter during worship was
distracting. Still others argued that, as God’s creatures, they were entitled
to build a nest wherever they chose.
The
nature-lovers carried the day. It was agreed the barn swallows should be left
undisturbed and a notice to that effect was posted beneath the nest.
I suspect that
if we kept destroying the nest, the swallows would spend the entire summer
starting over. They had chosen their spot and, like Jesus when he “steadfastly
set his face to go up to Jerusalem,” they were not to be turned aside.
If there’s a bit
of contemporary jargon the church can embrace and employ, it’s the phrase,
“Hang in there.” Too many in the church give up too soon. “We tried that once
and it didn’t work…” is an easy excuse. “I don’t think that will work with our
people…” has stopped more than one good proposal on the launching pad. To a
generation wired for fast food and quick results, the 19th century
poet’s admonition, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” is both
quaint and antiquated. The words of Edison, after another failure in creating a
filament for his envisioned light bulb – “but I know a thousand ways it CAN’T
be done” – no longer challenge us.
Consider the
Scriptures: “Who endures to the end, will be saved” (Matt. 24:13); “No one who
puts hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke
9:62); “Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing your labor in the Lord is not wasted” (1 Cor. 15:58); “Do not be weary
or lose heart in doing right” (2 Thess. 3:13); “Let us hold fast without
wavering the hope we cherish…” (Heb. 10:23); “We count them happy who endure”
(James 5:11); “[Do not] fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:17); “Be
faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
We’ll probably
not rename our little church “The Sanctuary of the Stubborn Swallows,” but all
summer long the nest by the front door will be a reminder of our need to persevere.
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