WHAT IF JESUS CAME DOWN YOUR STREET?
LUKE 19:28-48
INTRODUCTION... (http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=43534%20)
There is a legend about an ancient village in Spain. The villagers learned that the king would pay a visit. In a thousand years, a king had never come to that village. Excitement grew. "We must throw a big celebration!" The villagers all agreed. But, it was a poor village, and there weren’t many resources. Someone came up with a classic idea. Since many of the villagers made their own wines, the idea was for everyone in the village bring a large cup of their choice wine to the town square. They said, “We’ll pour it into a large vat and offer it to the king for his pleasure! When the king draws wine to drink, it will be the very best he’s ever tasted!”
The day before the king’s arrival, hundreds of people lined up to make their offering to the honored guest. They climbed a small stairway, and poured their gift through a small opening at the top. Finally, the vat was full! The King arrived, was escorted to the square, given a silver cup and was told to draw some wine, which represented the best the villagers had.
He placed the cup under the spigot, turned the handle, and then drank the wine, but it was nothing more than water. You see, every villager reasoned, "I’ll withhold my best wine and substitute water. What with so many cups of wine in the vat, the king will never know the difference!" The problem was, everyone thought the same thing, and the king was greatly dishonored.
Palm Sunday is all about a day when the King of Kings was greatly honored. Because people gave the very best they had – a gift of praise. This day marks the beginning of the end for Jesus’ earthly life. The first day in what was to be his last week. His weekend would take him to a cross on Friday morning, into a tomb on Friday night and all day Saturday, then ultimately result in him being raised to life again on the following Sunday morning.
I would like us to engage our brains and our imagination this morning as we begin to think about Easter. I want you to imagine the street that the church is on. We’ll start at the corner with the YMCA. Across the street from the YMCA are all the lawyer offices. There’s the Fallon Hotel. The parking lot. Then you get to our church. There are trees lining the street and parking meters spaced along the road as well. The sidewalks on both sides are a little uneven in places. Do you have a mental picture of the street? Now, I want you to imagine a small parade rounding the corner at the YMCA. It is mostly people walking, but there is one car in the procession with a person riding high in the back.
There are crowds on both sides of the street cheering and waving and making a big commotion. You join the crowds and push to the front. As you are pushing to the front, you hear singing and hear musical instruments from somewhere. You finally make it to the front. You look at the procession passing by. You finally see the person in the car.
Who is it? [allow the congregation to answer]
What kind of car is it? [allow the congregation to answer]
What kind of songs are being sung? [allow the congregation to answer]
I wanted to give you that mental picture because if you were arriving at this scene, you would have some very basic questions that you would want answered. You might ask who that person was, if you did not know? You might ask why they were here in Lock Haven. You might as where they are going? All great questions to ask when looking at something like this.
Let’s read from the Bible how the events of Palm Sunday turned out.
READ LUKE 19:28-44
I hope that you see the situation that we painted earlier is quite similar to the one recorded for us in Luke 19. You can also read about it in Matthew 21 and Mark 11 and John 12. The road in question is the road that leads from Bethphage and travels to Jerusalem over the Mount of Olives. There were people hailing Jesus as He rode in on a donkey. They were praising God and praising Jesus. I noticed as I read this that they said, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” I find that appropriate praise for Jesus given that in Luke 2 the angels that proclaimed His birth sang much the same song.
If you were arriving at this scene, you would have some very basic questions that you would want answered. You might ask who that person was, if you did not know. You might ask why they were there in Bethphage outside of Jerusalem. You might as where they are going? All great questions to ask when looking at something like this. I. WHO IS THAT?
As I look at this passage, it answers the question of who this Person is in two very subtle ways. The first answer of who this is lies in verses 30-34. Jesus sends two of His disciples to find transportation. It is actually very specific transportation. Jesus sends these two to find a colt that had never been ridden. Jesus did not own this animal nor did the disciples. The owner might question these two men as they are leading the donkey away. What was to be their answer? “The Lord needs it.” That word ’Lord’ is reserved as a title for God. That word ’Lord’ is reserved for one who exercises supernatural authority over all of Creation. The answer first and foremost about the identity of this person is the Son of God. This man is God With Us. This is God in human form. The disciples called Him Lord and rightfully so for that is who He was and is. I want you to note in verse 34 that the disciples gave the answer they were instructed and they had no trouble whatsoever.
The second answer of who this is lies in verse 39. The Pharisees see and hear all that is going on and they want it to stop. They ask Jesus to calm everyone down and to tell them to stop singing and praising. He does not.
I want to draw your attention to how the Pharisees addressed Jesus. What did they call Him? They called Him ’Teacher.’ We know the term Rabbi, it is the same thing. Jesus was one that taught all about God and His Word and His desires for the people. He taught people in parables and sought to show them God’s truth in their lives. He was a teacher of God.
One of the questions you would ask is ’Who is that?’ The people lining the street in Luke 19 were seeing Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. He is the One that has traveled around for three years teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. And it was He, that was going down the street.
II. WHY IS HE HERE?
Looking at the procession, you would not only as who was this person, but also ’Why is He here?’ That is certainly a valid question. I see in verse 40 something significant in answering this question. The Pharisees had told Jesus to tell His disciples to stop the hoopla surrounding Him. Jesus did not ask them or command them to stop. He did say in verse 40 that if they would not praise Him, that the very rocks would cry out. To me, that is an amazing statement and also a bold statement... given that we have covered who this Person is... I would say it is also a true statement.
This passage is not the only time that rocks and praise or rocks and something amazing are mentioned in the same sentence. Habakkuk 2:11 describes the ’stones of the wall’ and the ’beams of the woodwork’ crying out in response to great sin. Matthew 3:9 records John the Baptist verbally sparring with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He tells them that they falsely call themselves children of Abraham and if God wanted, ’out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.’ I think the whole of Scripture tells us that God is in control of His Creation and can use that Creation to accomplish His purposes.
What would make the rocks cry out? What would be so glorious that all of creation would sing? What is so important that even the rocks would cry out? Why was Jesus there? Verse 42 and 44 tell us. Jesus sees Jerusalem and He weeps. He says in verse 42 that He is bringing ’peace.’ He says in verse 44 that it is the time that God is coming to them. Jesus was there to bring peace to their hearts and to make Himself known to them. God had arrived. The rocks would have announced it if the people had not.
If you were arriving at this scene, you would have some very basic questions that you would want answered. You would ask who the person was? You might ask why they were there? I think you would also most certainly ask where they are going?
III. WHERE IS HE GOING?
Where does Jesus go? Luke 19:45-48 tells us.
READ LUKE 19:45-48
After arriving in the city, Jesus went to the temple. What did He see there? He saw corruption in the temple. He saw people buying and selling in what should have been holy ground. He saw people being cheated. He saw purposeful dishonesty in God’s house. He saw sin. What did Jesus do? Verse 45 records for us that Jesus drove the sin out of the House of God and returned it to its created purpose.
I hope that you know that Jesus’ ultimate destination was the cross. That is really why the rocks would have cried out. Luke records Jesus on the cross in chapter 23. Luke records Jesus’ resurrection in chapter 24. You see that is really where Jesus was headed. Jesus knew marching into town that the week would end with His death. He not only cleaned out the temple of sin, but He provided a way for all of us to be cleaned of sin.
CONCLUSION
