LUKE 19:28-40 | BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

“BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD”

LUKE 19:28-40

MARCH 20, 2016

THERE IS A FAMOUS STORY OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH, ONE OF THE GREAT EXPLORERS AND TRAVELERS DURING THE REIGNS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH I AND JAMES I OF ENGLAND.

ON ONE OCCASION HE WAS WITH THE QUEEN WHEN SHE WAS WALKING THROUGH LONDON, AND CAME TO A PLACE WHERE RAINWATER HAD MADE THE GROUND MUDDY AND DIRTY.

HE QUICKLY TOOK OFF HIS CLOAK AND PLACED IT ON THE GROUND SO THE QUEEN COULD WALK OVER WITHOUT GETTING MUD ON HER FEET.

THE TALE MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE – THOUGH FOR SOME YEARS RALEIGH CERTAINLY WAS ELIZABETH’S FAVORITE – BUT IN ADDITION TO BECOMING A DEFINING ACT OF CHIVALRY FOR ALL TIME, IT ILLUSTRATES THE POINT OF THIS INCIDENT.

THE STORY OF RALEIGH TAKING OFF HIS CLOAK HAS BECOME FAMOUS, IN PART, BECAUSE IT IS NOT THE SORT OF THING THAT HAPPENS EVERY DAY.

IF IT HAS OCCURRED IN OUR LIFETIME, FOR PRINCES, PRESIDENTS, OR PRIME MINISTERS, I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT.

IT’S A VERY SPECIAL GESTURE, ESPECIALLY IF (AS WAS PROBABLY NOT THE CASE FOR RALEIGH) IT’S THE ONLY CLOAK YOU’VE GOT.

IT SAYS, QUITE CLEARLY, THAT YOU ARE CELEBRATING AND VALUING THIS PERSON ABOUT AS HIGHLY AS YOU CAN.  IT IMPLIES THAT, IF NEED AROSE, YOU WOULD GIVE THEM ANYTHING ELSE YOU HAD AS WELL.

AND SO WE TURN TO OUR STORY FOR THIS MORNING: MOST OF THE CROWD SURROUNDING JESUS THAT DAY DIDN’T HAVE A SECOND CLOAK, BUT THEY SPREAD THEIRS ON THE ROAD ANYWAY.

THOSE WHO KNEW THE SCRIPTURES MIGHT HAVE REMEMBERED WHEN ONE OF ISRAEL’S FAMOUS KINGS OF OLD, KING JEHU, WAS PROCLAIMED KING IN DEFIANCE OF THE EXISTING ONE, HIS FOLLOWERS SPREAD THEIR CLOAKS UNDER HIS FEET AS A SIGN OF LOYALTY (2 KINGS 9:13).

THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE THE DAY JESUS RODE INTO JERUSALEM WERE DETERMINED TO MAKE A STATEMENT ABOUT WHO THIS KING WAS, AND ABOUT WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS GOING ON.

THE DAY JESUS RODE INTO JERUSALEM THOSE WHO WERE THERE ALSO WAVED PALM BRANCHES TO MAKE A CELEBRATORY PROCESSION FOR HIM.  THIS TOO CARRIED ‘ROYAL’ IMPLICATIONS.

IN THE LONG FOLK-MEMORY OF JERUSALEM AND IT SURROUNDING VILLAGES, STORIES WERE TOLD, AND SOME OF THEM BY THIS STAGE WERE WRITTEN DOWN, ABOUT THE FAMOUS JUDAS MACCABAEUS WHO, 200 YEARS BEFORE, HAD ARRIVED IN JERUSALEM AFTER CONQUERING THE PAGAN ARMIES THAT HAD OPPRESSED ISRAEL.

HE, TOO, WAS WELCOMED INTO THE CITY BY A CROWD WAVING PALM BRANCHES (2 MACCABEES 12:7), AND HE WAS THE START OF A ROYAL DYNASTY THAT LASTED OVER 100 YEARS.

INDEED, THE HEROD FAMILY HAD INTERMARRIED WITH THE MACCABEAN FAMILY, AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS CLAIMED A SIMILAR STATUS.

THEN THERE’S THE FACT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE THAT DAY WHEN JESUS RODE INTO JERUSALEM ALSO SANG ‘ROYAL’ HYMNS OR CHANTS.

“BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!  PEACE IN HEAVEN, AND GLORY TO THE HIGHEST HEAVEN.”

IN OTHER GOSPELS THE PEOPLE WELCOMED JESUS AS THE ‘SON OF DAVID’ WHICH WAS ABOUT AS EXPLICIT AS YOU COULD GET;

THIS WAS, AFTER ALL, THE CITY WHICH KING DAVID HAD MADE HIS CAPITAL 1000 YEARS BEFORE, AND FOR NEARLY HALF THAT TIME THE JEWS HAD BEEN WAITING AND PRAYING FOR A KING LIKE DAVID TO RETURN AND SAVE THEM FROM OPPRESSION.

SURELY, THE PEOPLE THAT DAY THOUGHT JESUS WAS GOING TO BE THAT SORT OF KING; THE KING THEY HAD WAITED AND PRAYED FOR; A KING WHO WOULD VIOLENTLY OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT AND FREE THE PEOPLE FROM ROME’S OPPRESSION.

BUT JESUS KNOWS, AND THE GOSPEL OF LUKE TELLS US, THAT NOTHING IS THAT SIMPLE.

WE KNOW THAT JESUS HAS COME TO JERUSALEM, NOT TO BE ENTHRONED LIKE DAVID, OR LIKE JUDAS MACCABAEUS, OR LIKE HEROD, BUT TO BE KILLED.

THE MEANING JESUS ATTACHES TO THIS SO CALLED ‘TRIUMPHAL ENTRY’ IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THE MEANING THE PEOPLE ARE WAITING TO SEE IN IT.

THAT, PERHAPS, IS WHAT WE CAN LEARN BEST FROM THIS STORY TODAY, AND IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE SORT OF ANIMAL ON WHICH JESUS CHOSE TO RIDE INTO THE CITY.

NOT A WHITE, IMPERIAL STEED; NOT A CHARIOT DRAWN BY TWO MUSCLED, BLACK EQUINE; BUT A HUMBLE DONKEY, A COLT, ON WHICH NO ONE HAD EVER RIDDEN.

TRIUMPHANT, PERHAPS; HUMBLE, MOST CERTAINLY; AND THIS WOULD SPEAK VOLUMES TO THE WAY IN WHICH JESUS WOULD BECOME THE KING OF THE WORLD;

NOT BY OVERPOWERING IT, BUT BY LOVING IT AND DYING FOR ITS SINS;

NOT BY DESTROYING THE POWERS OF EVIL, BUT BY SUFFERING AT THEIR HANDS THE WORST THAT THEY COULD DO TO HIM;

NOT BY DEFEATING DEATH, BUT BY SUCCUMBING TO IT, AND ONLY THEN RISING ABOVE IT IN THE RESURRECTION TO ETERNAL LIFE.

BUT THIS MORNING, IS LESS ABOUT WHAT JESUS DID, AND MORE ABOUT WHAT THE PEOPLE DID, AND WHAT WE DO.

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY IS ABOUT HOW WE WELCOME CHRIST INTO OUR LIVES; ABOUT HOW WE RECEIVE HIM;

AND WHETHER OR NOT WE WILL ALLOW HIM TO BE THE SORT OF LORD AND SAVIOR HE IS, RATHER THAN THE ONE WE ARE EXPECTING OR WANTING HIM TO BE.

IT IS ABOUT DECIDING FOR OR AGAINST JESUS.

IT IS JOSHUA ALL OVER AGAIN – “AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.”

IT IS THE WORDS OF THE OLD SPIRITUAL – “I HAVE DECIDED… TO FOLLOW JESUS… NO TURNING BACK, NO TURNING BACK.  THE CROSS BEFORE ME…THE WORLD BEHIND ME… NO TURNING BACK, NO TURNING BACK.”

IT IS THE WORDS OF ANOTHER GREAT HYMN, WRITTEN BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, SON OF A CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER, WHO IN 1845 WROTE A POEM PROTESTING THE AMERICAN/MEXICAN WAR;

THE POEM WAS LATER PUT TO MUSIC IN 1890 AND WE KNOW IT AS THE HYMN, ONCE TO EVERY MAN AND NATION:

ONCE TO EVERY MAN AND NATION, COMES THE MOMENT TO DECIDE,

IN THE STRIFE OF TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD, FOR THE GOOD OR EVIL SIDE;

SOME GREAT CAUSE, SOME GREAT DECISION, OFFERING EACH THE BLOOM OR BLIGHT,

AND THE CHOICE GOES BY FOREVER ‘TWIXT THAT DARKNESS AND THAT LIGHT.

PALM SUNDAY, THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY, WAS ABOUT CHOOSING FOR CHRIST OR AGAINST HIM; THE PEOPLE WERE FOR HIM, THE PHARISEES WERE AGAINST HIM;

AND WHEN THE PHARISEES TOLD JESUS TO SILENCE HIS FOLLOWERS, JESUS EXPLAINED THAT EVEN IF HE DID SO, THE STONES THEMSELVES WOULD SHOUT OUT FOR GOD.

IT IS NO DIFFERENT THIS PALM SUNDAY; IT IS STILL ABOUT CHOOSING FOR CHRIST OR AGAINST HIM; WHICH WILL IT BE FOR “ME AND MY HOUSE?”

HOW WILL WE DECIDE?  WHAT DECISION WILL WE AND OUR NATION MAKE?

PEOPLE TEND TO TURN TO GOD WHEN THEY WANT SOMETHING.

WHEN THINGS GO BAD, PEOPLE GET RELIGION.

CHURCH ATTENDANCE GOES UP BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS WHEN A MAJOR CRISIS STRIKES – A WAR, SAY, OR AN ACT OF TERRORISM.

SUDDENLY EVERYONE WANTS TO ASK THE BIG, HARD QUESTIONS.  SUDDENLY, EVERYONE TAKES TO THE STREETS, TO THE STADIUMS, TO THE CANDLELIT VIGILS TO PRAY.

SUDDENLY, IN TERMS OF OUR STORY THIS MORNING, EVERYONE WANTS JESUS TO RIDE INTO THEIR LIVES, INTO THE LIFE OF OUR COUNTRY, AND BECOME THE SORT OF SAVIOR THEY WANT HIM TO BE.

“GIVE US PEACE, NOW!  GIVE ME PATIENCE, AND GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!  PAY MY BILLS, AND HURRY!  SAVE MY LIFE, OR THE LIFE OF MY CHILD, AND DO IT RIGHT AWAY!  GIVE ME A JOB BY THIS TIME TOMORROW!  LET ME WIN THE LOTTERY!  FIX MY FAMILY!  DEFEAT OUR ENEMIES!  HELP!”

JESUS INTENDS TO ANSWER THESE AND ALL OTHER PRAYERS.  HE DOESN’T WAIT FOR OUR MOTIVES TO BE PURE, OR FOR US TO GET OUR LIVES TOGETHER.

HE HAS COME TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST.  IT ISN’T THE HEALTHY WHO NEED A DOCTOR, BUT THE SICK.

HOWEVER, AT THE SAME TIME, JESUS MUST ANSWER IN HIS OWN WAY, AND THIS IS WHAT WE DO NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTAND.

THE PEOPLE WANTED A PROPHET, BUT IN THE VERSES WHICH FOLLOW OUR READING FOR THIS MORNING, JESUS’ PROPHETIC MESSAGE FOR JERUSALEM WAS THAT GOD’S JUDGMENT WAS COMING UPON IT.

THE PEOPLE WANTED A SAVIOR, BUT THIS ONE WAS GOING TO BE ENTHRONED NOT ON A GOLDEN THRONE, BUT UPON A PAGAN CROSS.

THEY WANTED TO BE RESCUED FROM EVIL AND OPPRESSION, BUT JESUS WAS GOING TO RESCUE THEM FROM EVIL IN ITS FULLEST DEPTHS; FROM THE SIN IN THEIR OWN LIVES, AND IN THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.

HE WASN’T GOING TO BE THE MESSIAH THEY EXPECTED, FOR WHOM THEY HAD PRAYED AND WAITED, HE WAS GOING TO BE THE MESSIAH THEY NEEDED, WHO WOULD SAVE THEM FROM THEMSELVES.

AND THAT IS TRUE FOR US, TODAY, AS WELL.

WE KEEP POINTING AT THIS OR THAT; THOSE AND THEM; AS THE PROBLEM; BLAMING OTHERS FOR OUR OWN FAULTS AND FAILURES.

PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS LOVED A GOOD SCAPEGOAT, SOMEONE OR SOME THING ON WHICH THEY CAN LAY BLAME; SOMEONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES TO BLAME FOR THEIR PROBLEMS;

SOMEONE OR SOME THING TO WHICH THEY CAN AVERT THEIR EYES, SEEING THEM AS THE ENEMY, SO THAT THEY WILL NOT HAVE TO LOOK AT THE ENEMY WITHIN.

AND BECAUSE THIS IS SO UNIVERSALLY TRUE, AND SUCH A POWERFUL MOTIVATOR, IT IS EASILY MANIPULATED BY THOSE WHO WOULD SEEK TO CONTROL AND RULE OVER US.

IN FACT, WE DO IT TO OURSELVES, BY BUYING INTO THIS WORLDVIEW, RATHER THAN BEING FAITHFUL TO JESUS CHRIST.

THE STORY OF JESUS’ GRAND, THOUGH SURPRISING, ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM, THEN, IS AN OBJECT LESSON ON THE MISMATCH BETWEEN OUR EXPECTATIONS AND GOD’S ANSWER.

THE BAD NEWS IS THAT LIKE MANY IN THE CROWD THAT DAY, WE ARE GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED.  JESUS IS NOT GOING TO BE THE SAVIOR WE WANT HIM TO BE, HE IS GOING TO BE THE SAVIOR WE NEED HIM TO BE.

HE IS NOT SIMPLY GOING TO SAVE US FROM THAT AND THEM, FROM THIS AND THOSE, HE IS GOING TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES.

THE GOOD NEWS IS, THAT DESPITE OUR DISAPPOINTMENT, IT IS ONLY AT A SURFACE LEVEL.  DEEP DOWN, JESUS’ ARRIVAL IS WHEN TRUE SALVATION BEGINS.

THE HOSANNAS THAT DAY WERE JUSTIFIED, THOUGH NOT FOR THE REASONS THE PEOPLE SUPPOSED.

TO LEARN THIS LESSON IS TO TAKE A LARGE STEP TOWARDS WISDOM, HUMILITY, AND TOWARDS GENUINE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

AGAIN, FROM THE WORDS OF THE HYMN, ONCE TO EVERY MAN AND NATION:

THEN TO SIDE WITH TRUTH IS NOBLE, WHEN WE SHARE THE WRETCHED CRUST,

ERE HER CAUSE BRING FAME AND PROFIT, AND ‘TIS PROSPEROUS TO BE JUST;

THEN IT IS THE BRAVE MAN CHOOSES WHILE THE COWARD STANDS ASIDE,

TILL THE MULTITUDES MAKE VIRTUE OF THE FAITH THEY HAD DENIED.

THE CHOICE IS OURS – FOR OR AGAINST CHRIST.  HOW WILL WE ANSWER?

THE PHARISEES SAY NO.

THE PEOPLE SAY YES.

BUT EVEN IF THESE ARE SILENT, THE STONES THEMSELVES WILL SHOUT OUT FOR GOD.