Hosanna In the Streets (Luke 9:28-45)

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Palm Sunday: Hosanna in the Streets: Triumphal Entry Luke 19:28-44

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, March 24, 2024

C.S. Lewis, in one of his essays, says something like, “Monarchy is easily debunked. The actual record of kings is abysmal, full of tyranny. Yet where we are forbidden to honor a king, we will honor millionaires, athletes, or film stars instead, even famous gangsters. For spiritual nature, like physical nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.”[Tim Keller shares] What is he talking about? He [Lewis] says, “We’ve gotten rid of the kings, we’ve gotten rid of queens, we’ve gotten rid of royalty, by and large, yet where we are forbidden to honor a king, we still do it.”[1]

Isn’t that interesting? We still want kings. Why? I think it is because we were made for One King. We were made to surrender and worship One King—Jesus.

Luke 19:28–35 (ESV)

28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

  1. In verses 28-35, we see the Preparation.
    1. This account is a fulfillment of prophesy from Zech. 9:9. Sproul points out:
    2. “What is unique about the event recounted in this passage is that Jesus went out of His way to orchestrate the fulfillment of a particular prophecy.
    3. Scholars have examined the manifold prophecies that are found throughout the Scriptures that have their fulfillment in the historical Jesus. Some scholars have counted somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 prophecies with respect to the coming Messiah that were clearly and definitively fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus. In fact, that very truth of the fulfillment of specific prophecies should be enough to stop the mouths of the most obstreperous skeptics. That should be proof enough for the claims of Christ to being the Son of God and the coming Messiah.”[2]
    4. Notice that the Bible says, after He said these things, or after He said this. Jesus had just given the parable of the money usage. Recall that Jesus had been in Samaria for a long time. While there Jesus told many parables and we have talked about some of these.
    5. Another source tells me this: “The elevation at this point is about 2,600 feet, and from it you have a breathtaking view of the Holy City. The Lord was about to do something He had never done before, something He had repeatedly cautioned others not to do for Him: He was going to permit His followers to give a public demonstration in His honor.”[3] You know what it is like to travel and then you come to this gorgeous view. That’s where they are at, they are about to enter into Jerusalem.
    6. Now, Jesus sends two of His disciples on a mission. They are to go into this other village and find a colt and just take it. When asked they are to say that their Lord or Master has need of it.
    7. They do this, it happens just like Jesus says. They go to the village, and someone does ask, and they take the colt like it’s no big deal.
  2. In verses 36-38, we have the adoration.
    1. As Jesus went along people were spreading their cloaks on the ground. Look at verses 36-38: And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
    2. They were waiting for a King…
    3. Notice that Jesus receives worship.
    4. Sproul
    5. “The people in the crowd knew the Scriptures, and when Jesus appeared riding the donkey, they gathered in a huge multitude rejoicing and praising God for the mighty works they had seen. “The Messiah has come, and He’s coming now to take His place as the King of the Jews, as the King of Israel. Hosanna; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” They put their garments in the path in front of Him as He rode on the donkey.”
    6. Further: “Jesus didn’t think for a moment that there would be a revolution and that He was going to seize power and be crowned King of the Jews. The people didn’t understand, but He did, and He had just told them a parable that the kingdom was not going to come immediately. But they didn’t understand that either. Though there were smiles abounding on the faces of the crowd and they were cheering in ecstasy, Jesus rode with a heavy heart, knowing what His destiny was in the hours that lay before Him.”[4]
    7. I once had a Jewish Rabbi ask if Jesus ever said He was God. Well, Jesus did say that He was the Messiah (see John 4 :26), but Jesus also received worship. Angels told the people not to worship them (Rev. 22:9). Jesus received worship.
    8. Notice the commonality of the Gospel. The people worshipping Jesus were the common people. This was a grassroots event. After all, Jesus had been going to the common people, and He had healed many of them. Jesus is now worshipped.
    9. Jerusalem’s population would swell for Passover, and it is now during this time that these people are all worshipping Jesus.
    10. Jesus is now worshipped. This was the adoration of Jesus.
  3. In verses 39-44 we have the condemnation by Jesus.
    1. Luke 19:39–44 (ESV)
    2. 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
    3. 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. 43 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 44 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.”
    4. The Pharisees missed Jesus once again. They asked Jesus to make the disciples stay quiet, and Jesus said if they were quiet, the rocks would cry out.
    5. Swindoll says this is the first reference to a rock concert!
    6. Keller: only Luke records where Jesus says something to the Pharisees. Notice how the Pharisees are freaked out over the fact he’s not just being declared by the crowd to be a king but the King, the messianic King, the Davidic King.
    7. They say in verse 39, “Teacher, Rabbi, rebuke your disciples.” Jesus says, “I tell you, if they keep quiet the stones will cry out.” You say, “That’s poetic, right? Exaggeration.” But the Old Testament … The prophecy goes like this. This is Isaiah 55. “Then the mountains and the hills will burst into song before the Lord, and all of the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12. Here’s Psalm 96: “Then the trees of the wood will sing for joy before the Lord. For he comes to rule the earth. Jesus says, “My lordship …” The Bible says (you see it in Isaiah 55) when the King comes back, when his ruling power comes upon something he made, it blossoms. It reaches its potential. It becomes everything it can be, everything it was made to be. That means the trees and the stones under the ruling power of Jesus Christ will dance and sing.[5]
    8. Now, Jesus approaches Jerusalem and weeps over the city. Then He pronounces judgment.
    9. This was Jesus’ condemnation.
    10. Sproul: Josephus tells us in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 that 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered. The Romans overran the rebellious nation of Israel and destroyed village after village and city after city until the inhabitants of the land fled for safety to that walled fortress, which they believed was indestructible. The Roman forces were led by Titus, who had instructions from his father the emperor to destroy every single inhabitant of the place—men, women, and children.”[6]
    11. Following this, Jesus will go and cleanse the temple.
    12. Then Holy Week will continue until as our King He dies in our place and then He rises again. He was our sacrifice and that is why we meet today. He is Our Mighty Savior, worshipped by common, ordinary men and dying for us.

Close:

I began this message with something from C.S. Lewis:

Keller shares:

Lewis asks another question. Why is it that in our so-called egalitarian democracies, when we don’t have any royalty we create it? We must have princes and princesses. We create it out of celebrity, we create it out of something, but we must have it…

What is there about the human psyche that needs, in the very center of it, something to serve? What Lewis is saying is, “Why this hunger for kings? Why this indelible need to crown someone or something psychologically, sociologically, culturally?” The answer is it’s a memory trace. It’s a memory trace in the collective unconscious of the human race.

It’s a memory trace of a perfect king, of an ultimate king, of a king of glorious splendor undimmed before the breaking of the world, whose wisdom and nobility and love and compassion and greatness and beauty was like the sun shining in its full strength. We remember a king like that.

What is the gospel? The gospel is “He will come. He’s coming back. He will come again. Blessed is the King who comes.” What the gospel says is the reason you need to crown someone or something, the reason you need kings even though you won’t admit it … The average modern person doesn’t admit what they’re doing, but you are doing it.[7]

There is one other connection that Tim Keller shares which connects all of this to the beginning of the Gospel of Luke and the cross:

If you read the whole book straight through, you’ll know the last time Jesus Christ was at the temple (according to the book of Luke) … He brings Jesus to the temple at the beginning of the book and at the end. The last time Jesus was at the temple he was 12, at least according to the book of Luke. The last time, in the story that Luke gives us, Jesus was 12. Why did he go to the temple when he was 12? 

Here’s why. That was his coming-of-age time. It’s like your bar mitzvah, of course, only this was probably before there were bar mitzvahs. It was his coming of age. The year you turned 12, the father would take his son and initiate him into his adult life. One of the things the father would do that year would be to apprentice him. Joseph, therefore, was apprenticing Jesus as a carpenter.

The other thing Joseph would have done is he took him on the Passover to the temple to show him how their religion worked. He would have taken Jesus around and said, “Here’s the temple. This is where we meet God. Here’s the priest. See that priest? The priest is the holy one who mediates the presence of God. Do you see the sacrifices? Do you see the altar? That’s where our sins are being atoned for.”

After Joseph had spent all this time showing Jesus around the temple and explaining all of these things, Joseph and Mary got in the caravan to go home after the Passover Feast was over. They get halfway home, and they realize Jesus isn’t there. They come running on back looking all over Jerusalem for him, and where do they find him? The temple. What’s he doing in the temple? He says, “My Father’s business.”

Joseph probably would have said, “What do you mean your father’s business? I’m your father.” But here’s what must have happened. Jesus’ real Father began speaking to him. Probably Jesus would have heard his heavenly Father say, “Yes, you’re coming of age, and this is the year your father tells you what you’re here on earth for. But I’m your heavenly Father, and I’m here to tell you your true identity.

Do you see that temple, that building? Do you think that can unite humanity with me? Do you see that priest? He’s just like everybody else. Do you think he’s holy enough to mediate the presence of God? Do you see that sacrifice? Do you see that animal being cut up and thrown on the altar? Do you think that dead animal can atone for the sins of human beings? No.

You will be the sacrifice that all of the sacrifices point to, my son. You will be the priest who will mediate the presence of God. You will be the temple. All of these other things are pointing to you. You will come and be the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate priest, the ultimate temple. You will pay the debt for their sins. You will do it.” [8]

Pray

 

[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] Excerpt From; Luke; R.C. Sproul

https://books.apple.com/us/book/luke/id1534659946

[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Mk 11:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

[4] Excerpt From; Luke; R.C. Sproul

https://books.apple.com/us/book/luke/id1534659946

[5] Ibid.

[6] ibid.

[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[8] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

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