File
this one under “The decline of decency in our
culture”. There was a follow up news story this
past week about the survivors of the U.S. Air
flight that crash landed in the Hudson River
– miraculously without a single casualty. It
seems that a few of the people on that flight
were not content to have survived a commercial
jetliner crash, nor content with the $5,000
U.S. Air paid out to each passenger to cover
the loss of whatever they had in their suitcases.
An article in USA Today asked the question:
“Is $5,000 Enough?” One of the survivors has
already retained an attorney, claiming that
he wants “to be made whole”. After all, he suffered
a bloody nose, and now he’s a little apprehensive
about flying (though he’s managed to fly six
more times since that day).
I was
livid when I heard about these people who are
thinking about suing U.S. Air. What ingrates!
So now let me tell you why I’m even worse than
that. Three days ago I’m once again shoveling
the snow off our sidewalks. So I begin talking
to the Lord about it. No – scratch that. I’m
kvetching to the Lord about it. And then
I was oh so gently reminded that in light of
what I’ve been rescued from – eternal judgment,
death and Hell - I really have no business complaining
about shoveling a little more snow.
Over
the past several weeks we’ve been going through
the Gospel According to Luke, watching peoples’
various reactions to Yeshua. Some of the unlikeliest
people believed, while others who by all rights
ought to have been the first to believe were
skeptical, and some even adopted a hostile,
adversarial posture toward the righteous, miracle-working
Rabbi. Let’s resume our study of Luke’s account
in chapter 19, beginning at verse 28.
Verse 28
After He had said
these things, He was going on ahead, going up
to Jerusalem.
He’s
just told a very pointed and troubling parable
to an audience of Jewish people who had a serious
flaw in their view about when and how the Kingdom
of God was coming. Messiah Yeshua never sought
to widen His audience by soft-pedaling the truth.
Unlike those who seek to gain a huge following,
the Master often taught very difficult truths,
knowing full well it would turn some people
off. But He was okay with that. Yeshua knew
that some people are unwilling to repent and
are unfit for His Kingdom. So as He leaves Jericho
for Jerusalem, we can imagine there might have
been fewer people following Him than when He
arrived there. Of course, those who are truly
His loyal subjects will endure to the end.
Verses 29-31
When
He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the
mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of
the disciples, saying, “Go into the village
ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will
find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever
sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks
you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say,
‘The Lord has need of it.’”
Messiah
Yeshua approached the villages whose names mean
“House of unripe figs” and “House of Affliction”
or “House of Poverty”. There is some question
about the proper translation of Bethany, as
its root is probably either Syriac or Aramaic.
In any case, the village of Bethany still exists
today, but by the Arabic name Al-Eizariya
(from the name Lazarus, Yeshua’s very good friend
whose family lived there).
More
significant than the names of the two villages
is the fact that Yeshua is approaching Jerusalem
from the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives
is very important real estate. It was the very
last place His feet touched before ascending
to Heaven, and likewise the very first place
His feet will touch again upon His glorious
and powerful return to Earth.
Let’s
talk about the colt – the young male donkey
Yeshua sent for. What did He want with a young
donkey? It’s really quite straightforward: The
Son of David was about to ride into the City
of David, and offer Himself as the rightful
King, the One who will sit on the throne of
David. About that very day the prophet Zechariah
(9:9) had announced over 500 years earlier:
Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout
in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold,
your King is coming to you;
He
is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble,
and mounted on a donkey,
Even
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
We have
come to refer to this incident as “The Triumphal
Entry” but many regard it as a misnomer, and
I’m inclined to agree. First of all, the acclaim
that surrounded Him that day was short-lived.
Messiah Yeshua knew He would soon be rejected
by His own nation, handed over to the Gentiles
and put to death in a most horrible fashion.
How is that triumphal? Neither did the righteous
young rabbi presume to ride in on a white stallion.
Riding
in on a donkey sent a certain message. Donkeys
are humble animals. To most people they are,
to put it mildly, unimpressive. But humility
and outward simplicity was the hallmark of Yeshua’s
entire ministry on Earth. Read through the Gospels
and you will see He made no particular effort
to engage the scholarly elite, nor the aristocracy,
nor the politically powerful and well-connected.
For that matter, He didn’t even hobnob with
the pious rabbis. In fact, most of His time
was spent outside of Jerusalem, including in
some places nobody else would set foot – such
as in Samaria and throughout Galilee, and in
the company of those that society either considered
complete losers (such as Bartimaeus the blind
beggar); traitors (such as Zaccheus the tax-collector),
or just plain people of ill-repute.
His
riding in on a young donkey was unexpected to
those who were looking for a warrior-messiah.
You see, in the ancient world, when a new king
rode into a capitol city on a horse, it was
a signal that he intended to rule with an iron
fist. Horses were animals of war. But to ride
in on a donkey signaled the intention to rule
peaceably. Picture Ben Stein riding in on a
little Vespa as opposed to Arnold Schwartzenegger
on a Harley Davidson Road King.
Why
did Yeshua specify a young donkey upon which
no one had ever sat? I believe it is because
He is not to be compared with any other human
being. In fact, the Talmud (Sanhedrin 2:5) stipulates
that no one else may ride an animal on which
the king has ridden. This sheds a little light
on the ultimate irony of Mordecai the Jew being
led in procession around the city on the king’s
horse, wearing one of the king’s robes, and
heralded by the king’s highest official. It
is my opinion that that young colt, tied there
next to its mother (as Matthew tells us), had
been created for that very day and hour. Imagine
the honor of that little colt – an otherwise
humble, despised animal!
G. K. Chesterton captured
the unlikelihood, the irony of it all, in a
brief poem he entitled,
“The
Donkey”
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Verses 32-35
So
those who were sent went away and found it just
as He had told them. As they were untying the
colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you
untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has
need of it.” They brought it to Yeshua, and
they threw their coats on the colt and put Yeshua
on it.
In his
own account, Mark fills in the details a little,
indicating that the owners, upon hearing the
simple words, “the Lord has need of it” gave
their permission. Perhaps Yeshua had worked
this out in advance with the family, who wouldn’t
have recognized the two disciples, but who knew
Yeshua. Or perhaps they were just godly folks
who sensed the sincerity of the request. Matthew
indicates that they untied the colt and its
mother donkey, which makes sense – the young
one would have been reluctant to go anywhere
without its mother, much less with men who were
completely unfamiliar.
Verses 36-38
As
He was going, they were spreading their coats
on the road. As soon as He was approaching,
near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the
whole crowd of the disciples began to praise
God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles
which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the
King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace
in Heaven and glory in the highest!”
Matthew,
Mark and John tell us in their accounts that
not only were people spreading their coats on
the ground, but others were cutting branches
from leafy trees and palms and spreading them
in the road. Why did they do this? What was
the meaning of this grand procession? Those
of you who have been at Shema for awhile might
already have guessed. What biblical festival
includes the taking of branches of leafy trees
and palms? Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles!
If only for a fleeting moment, the enormous
crowd around Him got it; He was declaring Himself
the King Messiah – Immanu-El, God among us,
making His tabernacle in our midst.
Throngs
of worshippers followed Him from Bethany, and
the noise of it all must have caught the attention
of people inside the city, because they came
out in droves to join the procession. They were
praising God with reckless abandon! And why
not – it was the right time, and they were overjoyed,
many of them having witnessed His miracles,
not least of which was the raising of His friend
Eliezer (Lazarus) from the dead in nearby Bethany!
Again,
don’t miss the fact that this is taking place
at the descent of the Mt. of Olives, toward
Jerusalem. The Mt. of Olives, where our Lord
and King and Messiah will return to Earth! And
it is through that Eastern Gate facing the Mt.
of Olives that Israel’s King is to come to Jerusalem.
During the reign of the Muslim leader Suleiman,
the Ottoman Turks cemented that gate closed
in the 1600’s, thinking to prevent any such
Jewish expectation from being realized. Right…
as if cement is going to stop God from accomplishing
what He has already declared will take place!!
And
the people shouted “Baruch Melech HaBa b’shem
Adonai – Blessed is the King who comes
in the name of the Lord.” Words similar
to those shouted out at Jewish weddings when
the Groom makes his appearance, but even grander,
since our Bridegroom-to-come is also our Sovereign
King. And the crowd there got it! He really
was and is the King of the Jews. They also shouted,
“Shalom baShamayim u’kavod b’elyon –
Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest!”
Can you just imagine the joy and exhilaration
in those moments? Wouldn’t you love to have
seen that? Perhaps we will be shown these things
in review when we’re in Heaven.
But meanwhile, not everyone
there was joyful and exuberant.
Verses 39-40
Some
of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher,
rebuke Your disciples.” But Yeshua answered,
“I tell you, if these become silent, the stones
will cry out!”
I still
get a kick of out people who reject Yeshua’s
claim to be the King Messiah, but insist He
was a good man. Here the religious leaders are
urging Him to restrain His followers, because
as far as they are concerned, the crowd is very
nearly blaspheming – hailing Yeshua as King
and Messiah. Instead of rebuking His disciples,
Yeshua rebukes the Pharisees, saying that the
very creation itself was on the verge of crying
out in praise of Him! Those are not the words
of merely a “good man”. They are either the
words of the God of the Universe or they are
the words of a madman.
Years
back some of us on the Jews For Jesus staff
in New York used to go into the subways with
our guitars and sing. One of the songs we loved
most started this way: “Ain’t no rock gonna
cry in my place as long as I’m alive I’ll glorify
His holy name.” You see, we were created
to give God praise. And if we won’t do it, the
rocks and the trees will be more than happy
to stand in for us; but not if I can help it.
And make no mistake about it, one day the creation
itself will be set free and offer praise to
the Father and the Son. For now the creation
groans from the effects of the Fall, waiting
and yearning for that coming Day (Romans 8:22).
But
as Yeshua came near the city; the City of David;
Jerusalem; the Holy City; the Spiritual Center
of Planet Earth; the joy gave way to bewildered
quiet, as Messiah began to weep. They were not
tears of joy.
Verses 41-44
When
He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and
wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this
day, even you, the things which make for peace!
But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
For the days will come upon you when your enemies
will throw up a barricade against you, and surround
you and hem you in on every side, and they will
level you to the ground and your children within
you, and they will not leave in you one stone
upon another, because you did not recognize
the time of your visitation.”
This
was no triumphal entry. It stopped short. The
multitudes shouting and praising God as they
approached Jerusalem, the palm branches and
the songs of worship – it would only be a faint
glimmer – a brief glimpse at what might have
been. That generation would not see it, in the
same way that the generation that came out of
Egypt, having witnessed God’s miracles through
Moses, both in Egypt and in the wilderness,
were doomed to die in the wilderness because
of their unbelief. They rejected Moses and they
rejected God who had delivered them. Now, 1,400
years, many prophets and many warnings later,
the people of Jerusalem, especially the leaders
of our people, rejected the very One of whom
all the prophets foretold, and in so doing,
invited God’s judgment.
That
judgment would come 40 years later in the form
of Rome’s legions under the General Vespasian
and later his son Titus. Yeshua foretold that
the city of Jerusalem would be besieged and
destroyed, along with the Temple and all its
ornate gold inlay. His words were literally
fulfilled; the soldiers who sacked the Temple
broke it apart stone by stone, plundering all
the gold they could retrieve – even from between
the stones.
And
why? In Yeshua’s words, “…because you did
not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Please
take notice that Yeshua did not say that
all the suffering our Jewish people have endured
across the world in all the generations since
then was because we rejected Him. Yeshua said
specifically that Jerusalem would be
destroyed. We need to be careful not to say
what the Scriptures don’t say.
But
we do need to be clear about this: it was on
account of rejecting the true and righteous
Messiah when He presented Himself to Israel
that Jerusalem was destroyed.
In the
aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple
in 70 AD, the rabbis asked themselves why this
catastrophe happened. Here is what they wrote:
“Why was the first Holy Temple destroyed?
Because of three wicked things: idol worship,
adultery, and murder. But in the second
Temple in which time the Jewish people were
occupied studying the Torah and doing good deeds
and acts of charity why was it then destroyed?
The answer is: It was because of hatred without
a cause to teach you, that hate without
a cause is equal to these sins and that it is
as serious a crime as the three great transgressions
of idol worship, adultery, and murder” [Yoma
9].
They
never specified who it was they hated without
a cause, but Yeshua cited Psalm 35 (and Psalm
69) in demonstrating that He was the One they
hated without a cause.
Considering
that Yeshua wept deeply over Jerusalem, we should
examine whether Jerusalem has priority in our
own thoughts and occupies a place of prominence
in our prayer life. Psalm 137:5-6 reads, If
I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand
forget her skill. May my tongue cling to the
roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If
I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Psalm 122:6 enjoins us: pray for the peace
of Jerusalem, may they prosper who love you.
Unfortunately
most people, to this day, fail to understand
that this planet has been “visited” – most human
beings, including most Jewish people, continue
to reject Messiah Yeshua. But that will change
– soon.
Verses 45-46
Yeshua
entered the temple and began to drive out those
who were selling, saying to them, “It is written,
‘And My house shall be called a house of prayer,’
but you have made it a robber’s den.”
In Malachi
3:1-3 the prophet warned Israel that the Lord
Himself would come to His Temple, but that His
coming would be difficult to endure; that He
would chasten and purify the sons of Levi. Messiah
Yeshua entered the Temple and drove out all
the profiteers – for the second time. This was
a clear claim to be the Messiah. It also was
long overdue.
The
Temple had been for many years monopolized by
the priests and Saduccees, who controlled what
animals were deemed “acceptable” for sacrifice.
If you wanted to be sure no defect was found,
you could always purchase one of their “pre-approved”
animals – but at an enormously inflated price.
Or you could take your chances with one of your
own animals. Despite people bringing their best,
these wicked priests managed to find defects
on animals that were not purchased by their
hand-picked merchants. And the priests and Sadducees
all got a kick-back on the profit from the sales.
Most Israelis were poor to begin with, and this
made festivals like Passover a time of grief,
as families realized they couldn’t afford the
going prices at the Temple. It was wickedness,
and Messiah would not have it. They really had
made it “a robber’s den”.
It is
a reminder that those who serve in the House
of God will incur a stricter judgment. But we
should also bear in mind that Yeshua was quoting
from Isaiah 56:6-7, and the context is that
God’s House will be a house of prayer for all
the peoples. There is absolutely no room
for ethnic exclusivity in God’s program. Messiah
is for all people.
Let me share few closing
thoughts:
- The King is indeed
coming. But is He your king? In a real sense
it is our choices that define us; our allegiances
and the alliances we make. Every knee will
bow to Messiah Yeshua, some in adoration and
some in terror, but be sure that every knee
will bow to Him!
- When Messiah Yeshua
returns, it will not be on a donkey. It will
not be in humility and gentleness. It will
be on a white horse, and with all authority
and power, and to do battle against those
who will try to annihilate Israel.
- The big question
is: Are you a willing and loyal subject of
the King? If you refuse Him now, He will not
receive you when He returns.
- If you claim to be
a loyal subject of King Messiah Yeshua, is
there any evidence that He really does reign
in your life, or is it all talk? Remember,
the crowd who hailed Him as King early that
week shouted to have Him crucified at the
end of the week. Don’t underestimate the capacity
for human fickleness. Let’s be sure our allegiance
is to Him, and that it is in place right now.
