Prepare: What a tragedy that the Jewish nation did not know their own King when He came to them!
Read: Luke 19:28-48
We have to note certain things about this entry into Jerusalem.
It was carefully planned. He had His arrangement with the owners of the colt. "The Lord needs it" was a password chosen long ago. It was also an act of glorious defiance, and of superlative courage. By this time there was a price on Jesus' head. It is amazing to think of a man with a price upon His head, an outlaw, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye was fixed upon Him.
It was a deliberate claim to be king, a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. The ass in Palestine was not a lowly beast as in our country, but a noble beast. Only in war did kings ride upon a horse; when they came in peace, they came upon an ass. Our Lord wept, for He saw the terrible judgement that was coming to the city and the people.
The tragedy was that if only they had abandoned their dreams of political power and had taken the way of Christ, it need never have happened. The tears of Jesus are the tears of God when He sees the needless pain and suffering in which men involve themselves through their foolish rebellion against His will. Jesus cleansed the temple with such violence because the House of God was being used to exploit the worshiper.
Respond: Jesus left us an example that we should never be ashamed to show whose we are and whom we serve.
Read: Luke 19:28-48
We have to note certain things about this entry into Jerusalem.
It was carefully planned. He had His arrangement with the owners of the colt. "The Lord needs it" was a password chosen long ago. It was also an act of glorious defiance, and of superlative courage. By this time there was a price on Jesus' head. It is amazing to think of a man with a price upon His head, an outlaw, deliberately riding into a city in such a way that every eye was fixed upon Him.
It was a deliberate claim to be king, a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. The ass in Palestine was not a lowly beast as in our country, but a noble beast. Only in war did kings ride upon a horse; when they came in peace, they came upon an ass. Our Lord wept, for He saw the terrible judgement that was coming to the city and the people.
The tragedy was that if only they had abandoned their dreams of political power and had taken the way of Christ, it need never have happened. The tears of Jesus are the tears of God when He sees the needless pain and suffering in which men involve themselves through their foolish rebellion against His will. Jesus cleansed the temple with such violence because the House of God was being used to exploit the worshiper.
Respond: Jesus left us an example that we should never be ashamed to show whose we are and whom we serve.
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