Missing the Moment

I knew a guy who followed Jesus till his girlfriend broke up with him. I know a woman who lost, and then lost again, and trusts onward, with peace. 

It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it. 

Read Luke 19:37-44   

Jesus rides the colt into Jerusalem, and in their euphoria his enthusiastic fans spread their cloaks.  Matthew tells us they lay branches too.  Luke, a Gentile, may have missed the meaning and didn’t include the branches in his record.  But the branches suggest some in the crowd see in Jesus a liberator.  The zealots see an independent Jewish state: a free Israel, their opportunity to be free from Roman occupiers. 

It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it. 

As he approaches Jerusalem, this multitude of disciples is exulting, now at the top of their lungs.  “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Honestly, things are getting out of hand. 

The momentum is palpable – and accelerating – so much that some Pharisees tell Jesus, “Rabbi, rebuke your disciples.”  Put on the brakes, they say. 

He counters, gesturing, “I tell you, if these people were silent, the very stones would cry out.”  Something bigger than Israel is happening here.  This is not mere hyperbole; this is an epochal shift. 

But when Jesus sees the city, he breaks down.  Like the eye of the storm, he’s not part of the hysteria.  Weeping, he gives a searing oracle of doom.  He pronounces judgment, inevitable.  He predicts the destruction of the temple, something even the Romans left in place.  Clearly moved, he says,

“If only you had known your moment, Jerusalem!  Today is the day for shalom! But alas for you, it is hidden from your sight. For the days will come, and your enemies will lay siege to you and surround you.  They will hem you in on every side.  They will tear you down to the ground, you and your children too.  They will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

~ Jesus

Even this crowd who exults before him will miss their moment.  The Pharisees will miss their moment.  The Israel that rejects the Jesus in front of them will miss their moment.  Everyone who turns her back on Jesus when he doesn’t meet her expectations misses her moment. 

Will you? 

Has God let you down?  Have you had expectations that he failed to meet, like the crowd of Jesus’ day?  You wanted him to save your child, your marriage, to find you a boyfriend.  Take a breath.  Deep sigh. 

If you let go of your terms, your demands of God and what you think he must do for you, you can find peace. 

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

~ Jesus (John chapter 16, verse 33)

Will you miss your moment?  It’s time.    

The Declaration

The year is 1320.  William "Braveheart" Wallace has been dead fifteen years, and Robert the Bruce is King of Scotland.  The Declaration of Arbroath will become the most important document in Scottish history.  It’s an appeal for liberty.  It’s a prayer for justice.  It’s an affirmation of democracy.  It’s a declaration of a free Scotland.  And like every grasping after freedom, it foreshadows the liberty of God. 

Read Luke 19:28-40  

Whether he has made prior arrangements or just knows the future, Jesus sends two disciples on an errand.  “Go to the village ahead, and you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

So they go and find it just as Jesus has told them. And as they are untying the colt, sure enough, its owners say to them, “Hey, where do you think you’re going with that colt?”

These aren't the droids you are looking for.  And they said, “The Lord needs it.”

So they bring it to Jesus, throw their cloaks on the colt, and they set Jesus on it. And as he rides along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

    righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9

The colt is young, so it symbolizes purity. Ordinarily a king or victorious warrior would ride a horse, so the young colt also reflects Jesus’ humility, his peaceful character.  This is the Prince of Peace, the King of Jerusalem, of Zion, the Son of David, humble, pure, and bringing salvation. 

The crowd goes wild. 

As he is drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples begins to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they have seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

This is their moment.  They have seen the miracles.  They have heard Jesus’ astonishing teaching.  He is coming to Jerusalem.  Surely this is their time.  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd say to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

He answers them, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”  The King of Israel is the King of Creation, too.  

In a few days the same crowd will be calling for his crucifixion.  Would you crucify him?