Luke 19
Apr 2, 2023 2023-04-02 Ben Hoyer Luke 19A Palm Sunday message on Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Luke 19, tracing his journey from Galilee through the raising of Lazarus and Jericho as a growing crowd accompanies him toward Passover.
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We're going to talk about the Palm Sunday story this morning when I looked at the lecture. For Lent, we've been following the assigned reading of the characters of the lecture area, which is like a slow iterations over the generations from very early days. And so the traditional reading for today would be possible Sunday. It would read the talking story of the week coming after Palm Sunday.
You might have a reading of Palm Sunday during the processional, but we don't have a processional level. So plus I like Palm Sunday, so we're just going to focus on Palm Sunday. For the talking story, come on Good Friday. If you hear Friday, you mean around seven and we'll commemorate the Christa 15th of Christ. So you can get the practice story then. Today we're going to look at Palm Sunday. And we're going to look at it in two sections, two channels. It's in several of the novels, but the one on the first is in Luke.
So if you look at Luke's account, also Matthew Mark's Luke's John. And then go to Luke chapter 19, 2018. And remember that what's happening here, Jesus before Palm Sunday, so before the, and the
scripture, which is often called the triumphal history in the Jerusalem, before that Jesus has to make his way to Jerusalem. Jesus, remember that Jesus told most of the disciples from Galilee, the region in northern Israel, especially in towns called Copernaum, which is like the 15 village near the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, where it's washed on water. And then he even goes outside of Galilee into a retired side in area, when he meets the
woman at the well and Paul drawn it. And so when we hear, when we're starting to approach this last crossover, Jesus is up in the north doing the things, teaching and moving them out. And he hears about his friend, the Lazarus, closer to Jerusalem. And he waits for days. Remember the story of Lazarus? He waits for days long enough that Lazarus is going to Milton and Jesus walks with the disciples and comes to Mary and Martha's house, the scriptures of Lazarus, where they assemble
all the mourners. Maybe he's heard about first century Israel, had a whole kind of ritual around the morning of the house. They have the sitting period for a while, and then they say, and they'd all be together. And they'd even, if you were a wealth and you might have a special mortar, do you pay to create a mood of mourning? This would sound absolutely terrible, but part of that first century culture. So there would be lots of people around, so when Jesus comes and stands outside the tomb
of Lazarus, who's been dead before day, and has them to roll away the stone. And when he tells Mary that this is the gospel, who I believe it, he is the resurrection in the life, right now comes. He stands outside the tomb, he's like rolling and still, and they're like, Jesus, but it's stationary, it's been dead before day. There's a lot of people there too. Four days is within that period. And so they're not just trying to protect Mary and Martha from the saints, they're trying
to protect everybody from it. So when Jesus stands outside the tomb and calls to Lazarus, Lazarus comes out, there's a whole crew of people standing around the room. Jesus says, and says Mary, Martha, that's one Mary has the question about, hey, why aren't you telling Martha to help me and Mary to be with Jesus? So he stays there and eats with Lazarus, who wants to get the great rose alphabet. But then that whole crew, the reason I'm telling this, is that whole crew then starts
to move from the roof from the stone right now. And so then he comes and he raises Lazarus from the dead, and then in order to get from where Lazarus lives to where to live, they move from Jericho, which at the time is kind of a bus to that city, but it's a big street. They move from Jericho, and what Luke tells us is in Jericho is where the key is from. The only story of the key is Jesus coming through Jericho, and the key is for the top sucker, and wants to see Jesus, and with so many people, he's got to get up on the tree.
Before Jesus even makes this new throughful, there's a whole crew of people. So much from the key is, here's the key to coming, and wants to see Jesus, he's got to get up on the tree and look for it. And so then standing outside of Jericho, Jesus goes to stay as the key is sometimes. Because it's a long walk to, and we'll set up maybe 18 miles. Say nothing, we can do 20 miles in a day, bring our walk for a month and a day once, through the glaze.
But it took a whole day, west of Jerusalem, on the city of Jericho. We all made it down the mountain, aren't they? But it's a long walk, 18 miles is a long walk, so he stayed as the key has passed the night before. I'm trying to tell you that, that when he's moving into Jerusalem for this Passover, it's a multiple day march. The middle of the week is 12, and he goes with the whole crew of people up for a Passover, and he comes back in Paris and loses it, not because he's in love with it,
but because families do go all in family groups together for the Passover. And so when they come back, they walk a day and say, this is just a run, it's been somewhere, and then when they go to lay down for the night and circle up in their family, they'd be like, Jesus is in there, they've got to walk the day. Jesus is doing this. Jesus is walking with a whole crew of people, but it keeps building, because the group is raising folk to life, and burning task weapons,
and then right outside of Jericho is a binding, a Bartimaeus, right? And the gospel name, and if they give us a specific name of someone getting healed, it's because it's called out to someone that the first readers will know. So when they name body Bartimaeus outside Jericho, it's called Barn Bartimaeus, which means somebody called new in the first century church, and so when they read this story, they're like, no way, that's what Barn Bartimaeus came from, the one who built by Jews that's outside of Jericho.
Remember, he couldn't see, but he didn't hear the big crowd, and so they call him for calling out son of David, and he says, bring that guy up here, and he says, what do you want? And Barnabas says, I'd like to see him to do this, because, come here, you can see. And then they all look again, right? So that when we get to the story about the child for entrance, there is like a significant amount of leaders to it. And the people are seeing in these house women over dead money, disease,
dominant culture. This thing Jesus has demonstrated authority and power over competing authority, and power over their couple days, walking in. It's going to come in a while. Okay, trying to go into verse 19, verse 28. And when he said these things, he went on ahead of him, going into Jerusalem.
And when he's been here to Bethpage, and Bethany at the Mount that is called all of that, he said to the disciples, then, go into the village, and he's coming to you where you are entering, and you will find a cult on which no one has ever yet set and tied and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you untying it, you just will say this, the Lord has needed it. So there I didn't ready to go in, and he says, I got this talk he picked out, John tells us it's fulfilling the prophecy about how demons would enter.
It's this about whether you enter on a war horse, or a donkey, you might be a king of peace, if you don't tell a donkey, you might be a different kind of king, if you don't tell him the war horse, and he just comes in to take some on the donkey. The Lord has needed it, and as they were untying the cult, it's only a section of them, while untying the cult, and he said the Lord has needed it, and they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the cult, they sat and he was on it,
and as he rode along, he spread their cloaks on the ground, and as he was drawing here already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of these disciples began to rejoice and praise the Mount of Olives for all the mighty work they had seen, saying, but to this account he comes in the name of the Lord, Kingston, Heaven, and the Lord in the Mount of Olives, and some of the Pharisees in the cross that the teacher made, teacher reviewed your disciples in the after the Mount of Olives,
if these were silent, the very stone would cry out. I was trying to imagine the experience of going up to Jerusalem for God to her. You know, that's what they're doing, right? That's why they're all in this group together.
I've talked about it before, but the notion of modding of crew people that we move with, where the squids all kind of intermingle around together, the families know one another, meals are scared, and then like in the context of that, you also have an approach to the God,
a ripple-like but meaningful approach to the God. Consistently throughout the whole story's group, God is interested in having a whole crew of people, because of the nation often, but a kingdom of reigning of people that some said more often, that he came to bring the main of God into the world than it is to save individuals. Often, the story that was seen in the script,
when God treats the person who begins, and it's just the two of them in God in the garden, he says they were alone, and it was not good. He says, in the field, the earth, and to do it. God is interested in pulling whole groups of people together, and then as those whole groups, that demonstrate for one another, love and concern, receive the love of God and give it out to their neighbor, then together they approach the God, and in that relationship, vertical, horizontal,
then back to God. In that circle of divine love, home, the sort of existence, the humanity which we're looking for, you do not found it in information. You find it in a group in nations and towns,
and that's, I think, I mean, I don't know, while we've waited, I'm thinking about, it's a common question, why do things wait to go visit Lazarus and pull his dad? I mean, who knows, right? But one thing that's interesting, that works out, is what I'm going to do with the whole crew. I'm thinking about this with my dad's kingdom.
My dad has had a lot of faults, like all of us. I've never looked at them for me. I nearly went out. And yet, my dad spent a lot of the time that served from home. And we got to hear more people there than the church could hold, which was so great. Hundreds of people all gathered together who remembered.
You know, as I imagine, like Lazarus suggests, all the people who Lazarus had helped and served. And inside of that, like, this is really cool for staying out loud. At my dad's, you know, out in the middle, there was like, half of this room made the room out there. Took the time. Oh, the notion of a group of people who love one another can be idealized, but also can be experienced.
Inculately, with problems and faults, communities can feel engaged. Families can feel love and care for one another. I kind of imagine what it would be like to be family groups to move down through Jericho from larger to, and then together go and meet with God.
And I thought of when we did the fair retreat over to November, and there was a group up there and we walked down to the lake together to celebrate communion with God. I'm not saying that this place is perfect, but I'm saying, it's a shadow at me. Oh. And when you have people like families and individuals
committed to receive love for one another, and love one another, you come together and they're all different. Come over one now. Part of the reason that I love this story and why I went to the Luke telling of this time for entry, the Zodumex
because of that sentence in this story, I'm going to introduce you to Luke chapter 19, verse 40. Well, look at 39. It says, and some of the parents used in the crowd said to him, teacher, review your disciples. This is community. One of the little theatrical tools for reading the scriptures
is to pay attention to who received worship. So like when an angel comes and somebody bows down or you get up, when they want to worship down the back, it's like go through there. Right? When they want to worship Jesus, usually he thought it's cool, but he could call it. Don't tell everybody.
Part of the reason I love this story and try to find the entry and pick this Luke one is because right here Jesus is like, oh man, this is today's the day. But today's the day. If these dudes don't say something, the stones would say something today. Today's the day. And you've got to think about it from the Pharisees perspective. Now the Pharisees have worked out a very good situation because they're, you know, an occupied country from Rome. They got paid each taxes up to Rome on regular basis.
You know, they got the coins, the pampers face on it. But they're on the way for our time. We know that because like if the Romans put a governor over Israel, they put some doker who's like all his last legs, they're going to kick out. So, Pontus Pilate, when he's there, he's about to get picked up. He's failed several other places, so they put him over in Israel. And it's his last leg, don't fail, which is why he's so anxious about an uprising. Because the Romans want you to do what you want,
and volunteer to keep the money flowing. And so the statuses took care of the temple made their own money. And he's only used their money in the temple. This way, they didn't have to pay taxes on it at the same time. And they didn't control it. If you came with Roman money, you had to exchange at the outside temple and only used statuses money inside the temple. Now they got their own system. The Pharisees didn't run the temple, but they ran all the synagogues and kept all the rules. So the Pharisees and the statuses together held the situation down
to keep people doing their own ritualized religion and kept the peace so that as long as they kept the peace grown less than alone. So now the Pharisees are injured from the capital overseeing makes everybody' practices possible, right? And these gurgers from the Pernum, who have walked all the way here, are walking in behind some ignorant rabbi that we have heard about but are frustrated by him because it doesn't play by any of the rules.
We don't know who his rabbi was or where he got taught, where it is he that journeyed by Partridge, not even by a rabbi, some Jews from the country and they're all following him coming in. This is a problem. Before Jesus, several people said they were on the side called small ! Several people would say that they weren't as well taught small. The ! And the country rabbi comes riding in on a donkey like some kind of
prophesied king and the people staring on the side who walk with him are announcing as such. He's a prophesied king and they're on Jesus if you know anything. Justice Jesus tells me. And Jesus tells me. And he tells me. And he tells me. I think about this like Matthew and the secret, why he needs to treat the secret. And part of the thing is because if a whole group of people,
if one or two, certain people do it for who years and they treat themselves, no big deal. But if a group of people start to love one another, with the love that they receive from God, things are evident in that, that are not evident and grand.
And he spoke of seeing now, he's a deliverance over death, disease, cultural, hegemony and money. It's time to treat him. Oh, I'm in the wall. So, I love the things he comes in the name of the Lord.
Okay, cool. Here we are. We're not walking to Jerusalem. We're not path to agreeing. Well, we got, maybe we got, we got deathless tool. We got money, cultural, cultural, hegemony. We got to see, we got the same problems they had in 1st century and 0.
And from my estimation, we could still use some rescue. That's all I'm saying. We could still use some rescue and Jesus is the one that comes along for that purpose. On Sunday, in your kind of reminder that Jesus can rescue the whole group of people.
We ought to care about the death among us, the disease among us, the love among us, the need for rescue among us. As we begin to explore about the need for rescue among all of us together, we'll see the deliverance of the one that because his concern is for the child. He loves you, but he loves you to call it your part of the child.
And so you receive a love from God and then give it out amongst the people. As we do that more fully, we'll experience more completely the rescue of the one spent from the king. I want to thank you for your rescue. We're going to end individually and collectively today from all the things that are inherent.
Because the future is how a love won another, as you have loved us. And you need to train with me.