Parade to
Luke 19:28-44
In the Armenian sermon, we
talked about the parade of Jesus to
2. The parade of divine
fulfillment
We read in Zachariah 9:9
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The Old Testament is full of
prophecies about the Messiah, which Jesus fulfilled one by one. Many of those
prophecies are related with the Holy Week.
Betrayed by a friend (Ps. 41:9)
Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12)
Silent when accused (Isaiah 50:6)
Struck and spit on (Isaiah 53:7)
Hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16)
and much more…
I want to highlight one of
those prophecies, the one about Jesus as the corner stone, or the capstone.
For the Israelites, the image was very clear. The cornerstone was important to
build a strong wall. The capstone was important to build an arch.
We read in
Psalm 118:19, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.”
Isaiah 28:16, “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I
lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone
for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed”
In the midst of all the
cheering during the parade, Jesus looked towards
Luke says, Jesus wept when
he looked towards the “stones” of
Why?
He wept for many reasons. One
of the reasons is written in verse 44.
“…They will not leave one
stone on another, because you did not recognize the time
of God's coming to you.”
Two reasons according this
verse:
-Jesus is sad most likely
because he knew that this city and the temple would be destroyed. There would be
pain of destruction. The stones of the
-However, the tragedy is more
than that. The NLT translation of verse 44 is, “You have rejected the
opportunity God offered you.”
It is important to note that
for the Israelites “the cornerstone” has a special meaning: it represents the
one stone in the
No wonder the Pharisees
asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples.
They saw the fulfillment of prophecy and did not like it.
What was Jesus’ reply? “If
they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Who are these stones?
I think this has a double
meaning. On one hand it is the temple stones, on the other hand Jesus as
cornerstone and his followers, disciples and the believers (like Peter the
Rock) who carried on with his mission.
3. The parade of obedience
As mentioned in the Old
Testament, the prophecy said that the king would come on a colt. Jesus sent his
disciples and they brought the colt and he rode it just as it was written. Jesus obeyed.
And he knew that this would be a costly ride. Yet he obeyed.
We read:
-John 4:34 "My
food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to
finish his work.”
-John 5:30 “…I seek not to
please myself but him who sent me.”
-John 8:29 “The one who sent
me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
-Phil
2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death–even death on a cross!
All these verses indicate the
obedience of Jesus to his Father. It is costly obedience.
His obedience has a purpose.
Jesus knew that his obedience is the for salvation of humanity. His obedience
is for you and me.
4. The parade of Victory
We cannot see
Luke describes that Jesus was
sad because the eyes of the people did not see. “It is hidden from their eyes.”
But the day of victory will come. The Holy Spirit will come and will open our
eyes to see the parade of the Victory of Jesus over sin and death.
5. Finally, this parade is
a parade of choice.
Jesus made his choice of
humility, divine fulfillment, obedience and victory.
Now we as a church body, we
who received this Good News from generation to generation, we will make a
choice to enter in this parade as our Sunday school children entered today. We
can be standing and be spectators who will watch the parade. We usually
watch the Rose Ball parade. We can sit and watch the parade from our own home.
We try to enjoy it as much as possible. But let me tell you who gets the best
seat. The ones who are parading. JOIN JESUS. it is a choice:
VIDEO
Jesus prepared the parade.
We are invited to take part in the parade of humility, the fulfillment of
prophecy, obedience and victory.
It is our choice.
Amen