Day 40 – April 13 (Palm Sunday: 6th Sunday in Lent)
Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness and we’ve now reached 40 actual days of our Lenten experience (including Sundays). We have one more week until Easter, but we have now met the basic timeframe Jesus was tempted in the desert.
Today’s sermons will center around Luke 19: 28-40.
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Luke 19:28-40 Rocks Cry
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
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What did Jesus mean in verse 40? The passage centers around the culmination of timing and truth.
Throughout Jesus’ life, his friends and family tried to get him to reveal himself as the Christ. Even his own mother, Mary, called on him to turn water to wine at the wedding of a family friend.
Thinking of this parent/child example, it’s not hard to picture Jesus in a very real moment, saying to his mother, “Mama, it’s not time yet. It’s too early, Mama. Mama, no…”, as she implored him to help save their friend from the shame and embarrassment to be had from running out of supplies at such an important event. So, he did what she asked, instructing witnesses not to tell what they had seen. But Jesus’ coming and revelation was no parlor trick. The unridden colt and the cloaks and the palm branches had all been foretold for generations. Those who saw it, and who had seen his miracles, knew who he was when they saw these prophecies coming true. His following had seen the miracles with their own eyes. There was no holding back now. Jesus’ travel down the road to the cross had begun.
Jesus came to save us, challenging our very foundations and understandings of what power really is: blessing the poor, the meek, the humble; as well as chastising religious hierarchies, moneychangers, and bad agents of the established leadership. And teaching like that is not only unexpected, but dangerous.
Jesus knew that, to fulfill God’s Plan, timing was everything.
He had instructed his people to keep his true identify to themselves, expertly answering the powers-that-be in ways that would not be incriminating, until the truth was undeniable. That’s where truth comes into this verse’s message. The Pharisees order him to have his disciples stop cheering for Jesus as the “one who comes in the name of the Lord” but Jesus replies:
“If my disciples stay quiet, the very stones will cry out.”
Even if the disciples were quieted, every natural thing in existence would recognize Jesus as the Christ anyway. HE had come to the time and place where his role was undeniable. HE is the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. And truth like that needs no introduction.
Prayer: Gracious Savior, help us to see you through all the things that mask our hearts in our day to day lives. Make us like those very stones that WILL cry out for you; that MUST declare you the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Keep our love for you on the tips of our tongues and overflowing from our hearts, Lord. BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST! Amen.