Jesus: Not What We Expected

Luke 19:28-48 – Jesus: Not What We Expected

Introduction

Have you ever looked for something but couldn’t find it even because the company recently changed their packaging? Though it was right under your nose the entire time, you couldn’t find it because it wasn’t what you were expecting.

Today we are going to see that though Jesus is right in front of us, we can miss him if we aren’t careful because he isn’t what we are expecting. Because of this, we must see the real Jesus by allowing him to frame our reality.

We are going to see this today in three points: first, seeing Jesus; second, missing Jesus; third, believing Jesus.

Context

When we compare the synoptic gospels we see that Jesus has finished his public ministry and private teaching of the disciples. He has taught them all about true greatness, true faith, and true love. He has showed them what it is really like to know and worship God.

As Jesus and the disciples head to Jerusalem, they are amazed and terrified. They wonder how he can so resolutely set himself to go to Jerusalem where the religious leaders seek to kill him?

Jesus has told them multiple times that he must die and rise again. But the disciples just haven’t got it yet. They are still trying to figure out who will be the greatest in God’s kingdom that they expect will manifest itself soon. A few of them are even bold enough to ask to sit at his right and left hand when he reigns. They are still missing the point. Actually, almost everyone is still missing the point. Jesus explains that his kingdom is upside-down and backwards if you compare it to the world’s. The greatest is the least, and the servant is the ruler. Jesus came to serve and die, and he is the greatest of all. His kingdom is so different from their expectation. They are looking for a kingdom that the world understands, not Christ’s.

Jesus, heading to celebrate the Passover with the pilgrims from outside Jerusalem, has just passed through Jericho. He has recently done marvelous miracles, converting a tax man who was a swindler, and giving a blind man sight. This blind man had proclaimed him to be the son of David, a hint of his divine right as king and true ruler over Israel. This man is following Jesus along with others as they head to Jerusalem.

He and the disciples arrive at Bethany and spend their Sabbath with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jesus’ feet are anointed with a perfume that cost almost a year’s wages. He is being celebrated and given the royal treatment that he deserves.

They leave on Sunday morning and head to Jerusalem. This is where our story begins. Let’s read Luke 19:28-48.

Content

Our first point for today is how the crowd is seeing Jesus.

It appears that Jesus is in Bethany, heading toward Bethphage by way of the Mount of Olives. This is significant because of a particular prophecy found in Zechariah, “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east...” While this prophecy was not being fulfilled at this moment, it had eschatological significance. The king had come, and he stands on his Mount overlooking the great city of Jerusalem.

It was at this spot that he sent two of his disciples to a nearby village, probably Bethphage, to retrieve an unridden colt for him to ride on as they journeyed the remainder of the way to Jerusalem.

Why is the detail on collecting and riding a colt so important that Luke slows down to talk about it in verses 29-35? A hint can be found in Matthew’s account where he cites the prophet Zechariah.

But there are actually two prophecies from the OT that have bearing here. One is in Genesis 49 and the other is in Zechariah 9. In Genesis 49, there is a prophecy about Judah’s descendant, the Messiah. It goes likes this, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.” Notice the hint here, he binds his donkey’s colt to a vine. Here, the donkey’s colt is being untied, and it is being taken to Jesus, Judah’s son, the one who holds the scepter...Jesus is the promised king. Notice how the disciples are obeying him, the people are obeying him. The king claims his rights and all the faithful obey.

The other is found in Zechariah 9, where it says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Notice here that the king has come. He has come not riding a war horse, like a conquering king, but he has come riding an unused colt. Royalty had exclusive rights to things. They could have whatever they wanted, and most things they had were only for them. This is the idea. This is the king of Judah’s colt. It isn’t a war horse. Why? His mission is peace. He will stop war and bring peace. His kingdom will spread over all the earth, and it will be peace. This king will cut off war. He will bring peace between God and man and man and man.

The second point today is how the crowd is missing Jesus.

Though these prophesies are significant, there is a radical difference between who the crowds want Jesus to be and who he really is.

This is incredibly significant. Expectations are running wild. The people were thinking something like this, “The king has come. Victory against our enemies. War until they submit and we put their neck under our feet. Finally, the true king has returned. He will fight for us and defeat our greatest enemy...Rome and the great pagan tyrants!”

But he is not bringing war as expected, instead, he will bring peace. Jesus will take the flaming sword that blocked access to God’s presence upon himself and break it’s blade in order to bring us into the garden and God’s presence. Jesus will tare the curtain that blocked access to the most holy place in order to bring us directly into God’s presence. The king has come, but his kingdom will be brought in in a different way, different than expected.

But this doesn’t stop the people. Their expectations drive their actions. These people are more than likely not from Jerusalem, or at least not native to Jerusalem. These are pilgrims. Those journeying from the surrounding regions. Some of them have just witnessed a great miracle, a blind man given sight, and a crooked tax collector giving back money to those he cheated. They have possibly seen and talked with Lazarus who was raised from the dead by this “son of David.” They are saying, “Is not the Messiah upon us. Is not this the time of victory?”

So, the disciples spread out their cloaks upon the colt’s back, and the people spread their cloaks and leafy branches on the road. They are making a new road. They are proclaiming his kingship and his right to the throne of David. They are pledging themselves to him by using their garments. All of them and all they have is his. He is their king.

The king has come, so, they shout praises to him and cry out to him, “Save us.” Here they sing back and forth, in antiphony, the following which is found in Psalm 118, the last of the pilgrim psalms, “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.” The front of the crowd cries out, “Save us!” The back cries out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” To which the front replies, “Save us, you who are, in the highest heaven!”

This psalm was a traditional greeting to those coming from pilgrimage. They were coming in the name of the Lord, so they were given a blessing as they arrived. They were blessed, happy, for they were God’s people celebrating God’s redemption. But the crowd seems to see that Jesus is God’s redemption, so they turn the blessings to him, he is the one who is bringing in the reign of David. Jesus is the promised king, the son of David, David’s greater son. Wow! Liberation. Freedom. The king has returned.

But things are not as they seem. Like packaging that has changed, the people were living in light of their hope and expectation which didn’t align with the reality of Christ’s kingdom. The problem is, like us, they weren’t watching the signs of the times, and they couldn’t see Jesus. They could only see the package that they remembered, their expectations, but they couldn’t see the new packaging. They needed to look for the right thing. They needed to hear what John the Baptist and Jesus were telling them...repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. They needed Jesus, not their rules and regulations. They needed to repent of their pride, become like children and follow Jesus. Instead, they kept looking for what they expected to find.

The rumors of this great procession have gotten out, the Pharisees have infiltrated the crowd, and they are not happy. The crowds are attributing to Jesus what only Messiah should be given. In their minds Jesus is not the Messiah, therefore the crowd is wrong. So, they demand that Jesus rebuke his disciples for this procession. Jesus’ response is a flat-out no. If they didn’t cry out, the stones would cry out in praise. Perhaps this is a veiled illusion to Habakkuk 2:11, which is a woe upon those who build a city on violence, or the verses preceding in Psalm 118, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Jesus has been rejected by the Pharisees, and he is the cornerstone, and the whole house will be built upon him as the chief of the stones. Or, perhaps he is looking around at all the stones in that mountainous terrain, and simply saying that if no one was there, all creation would recognize the significance of who he is and what he was doing. The rocks recognize their maker, but they don’t.

So, perhaps the Pharisees quickly shuffle through the crowd and make sure that all the pilgrims know that he isn’t the Messiah, and their hopes are unfounded, or perhaps they threaten them to not allow them in their religious circles.

Our third point is how we should be believing Jesus.

The procession has now stopped because Jesus had stopped and is lools out over Jerusalem. He begins to weep. He then explains to those around him why he is weeping, why he is pouring out tears of sorrow. Let me try to paraphrase. “If only you knew that I have come to bring you peace. Look, I am coming as Zechariah prophesied, in peace, and you can’t see it. You are blind. You will soon cry out to have me killed. You will curse yourselves and your children, asking for God to revenge my death upon you. Oh, and it will happen. This city will be destroyed. This great city, the one that bears my name. Every stone will be torn down, because you didn’t recognize the chief cornerstone. You didn’t recognize that I am the Messiah, the true king. You will be held accountable for the rejection of your Creator. The very enemies that you wanted me to destroy, that I came to save, will destroy you.”

Jesus gives a lamentation because his own people did not recognize him, and instead will kill him. This is necessary for all the nations to find salvation, but woe to those who will reject this salvation.

Perhaps after this lament the crowds do not understand, so they simply disband. Another hope dashed. It is over. Time to break it up.

The crowd seems to disperse. Completely anti-climactic. What does Jesus do? He simply goes into Jerusalem. The day is ending, Sunday’s light fades. Jesus goes into the temple area and examines it. Then the disciple more than likely walk back to Bethany sad and disheartened. So much for their hopes and dreams. On with life.

But, I want to read a verse from Malachi that might make sense of this inspection. “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me (the Baptist). And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple (Jesus); and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

Jesus, the messenger of the covenant, the delight of his people, has come to the temple. He has inspected it and has found it wanting. It was supposed to be a place of prayer for the nations, a place where all people could come and meet God. A place that would offer the nations the way to find peace and communion with God. It, however, had become a politically charged, nationalistic, den of thieves who didn’t seek God, but sought power and wealth. It had become the opposite of what it was intended to be.

God’s people had failed to fulfill their mission of living in God’s blessing to bless the nations. They were squandering God’s blessings for themselves and had made an exclusive religiosity that did not at all reflect the nature of God. His love, his mercy, his long-suffering.

They wanted a king they could control, a kingdom they could use for their own good and glory, a reign of peace through subservience, in short, they wanted to be great and would reject any king who claimed that humility is the path to God.

Application

So, who is your king? What does he look like? Have you made him up? Are you only willing to celebrate that which you want? What if the very thing that you were celebrating was a figment of your imagination? What if you were longing for, looking for, and working for an impossible dream? What if you were chasing unicorns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow?

What are you expecting out of Jesus’ kingdom? Are you still looking for an old label? Have you missed the kingdom because you are looking for something that doesn’t exist?

God’s loving care sent John the Baptist and even Jesus to warn of the coming judgment. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We have all been given this warning. The question is whether or not we will listen to it. God expects you and I to stop following our own ways, and living in the fantasy that we made up.

Are you seeing the warning signs that God has set out for you, or will you ignore the kingdom's true nature and find yourself in Jerusalem as it is getting torn down and corpses are lying everywhere? The Father said, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” Are you listening to him and allowing his kingdom and the framework of his kingdom life to frame your reality?

Jesus is love - Are you living in love by sacrificing your pride to tell others about the Good News of Jesus?

Jesus is our life - Is he our absolute and our all in all? Do you need or want more than him? Is the approval of others taking control of you?

Jesus is light - Are you allowing his light to shine on your moral choices? What you watch? What you listen to? How you talk to others?

Jesus is our shepherd - Are you allowing him to guide your life decisions and life plans?

Jesus is our king - Are you trusting him to provide for you and protect you? So much so that you aren’t living in fear of our country’s moral decline or fear of potential future persecution?

Jesus is our Lord - Are you willing to do whatever he tells you no matter the cost, even if it means your future is uncertain?

Jesus is our peace - Are you living as if his character determines your conduct?

Is the true King forming your reality? If not, what or who are you allowing to do this? Let the Maker and Redeemer construct your reality. Let his kingdom be that which you seek above all.