Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Zechariah 9:9 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. 10 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.
His government shall know no end.
1) The future King would come bringing salvation.
2) Humbly riding on a donkey.
3) Proclaiming peace to the nations. v10
Stage managed? No, our God is omniscient.
The master needs it v39 – the donkey and He needs your hands and lips but importantly your heart. Are you ready to take up the burden of the cross and follow Him daily?
We are yoked with Christ who says my burden is light?
Response: The people rejoiced and celebrated (but only shallowness of self-centred freedom)
Jesus responds with tears. Followed by a prophetic lament. v42-44
“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Here we see the essence of the kingdom and the King. Also the heart of the Servant King (Matthew 11:9).
Peace, humility, equality and sacrificial love. But also God’s judgement.
a) The people did not understand what was happening (short lived celebrations)
b) They were to miss the opportunity.
c) Jerusalem would be held under siege.
d) The people and Jerusalem would be destroyed – happened in AD 70
e) Because they did not know the time of their visitation – v44 (the ten virgins)
With the proclamation of judgement we see Jesus weeping for Jerusalem out of love.
The God who judges is the God of love. He is not willing that any should perish.
The cleansing of the temple (Christ’s anger is kindled)
Is it not written, Mark 11:17 My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.
Why go straight to the temple? Mark 11:11 He looked around at everything.
What was happening in the temple was of great importance and it still is.
This event had a traumatic effect on Him.
He withdrew to the wilderness to reflect on what man had turned the house of God into.
The sanctuary had become a commercial centre. The church must beware. It is not a business.
His response was extreme.
John 2:15. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
He overturned the tables of money changers and venders of doves.
He prevented people carrying their merchandise through the temple courts.
Jesus, who rode in on a donkey in humility and tears, now brandishes a whip which depicts God’s judgement.
The thought is that only when we have seen the tears in His eyes will we be ready to see the whip in his hand. John Stott: The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
The parable of the tenants. Matthew 21:37-39
God the Father is the vineyard owner
Tenant farmers are the religious Pharisees and Sadducees.
The servants are the prophets who were beaten and killed.
The Son is Jesus the heir who they also killed.
Mark 21:38-39 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Jesus asked: What will the landowner do to these tenants? v40
They replied: He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop.
Jesus responds: Therefore I tell you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to the people ( Jew and Gentile) who will produce it’s fruit. His Church
Note: warnings of Judgement for the unbeliever
v44 They will stumble and be utterly destroyed.
1 Corinthians 12:3 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1 Pet 2:7 So the honour is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.