In Luke’s Gospel we cannot simply read the Triumphal Entry passage and
wave our palms and sing “Hosanna”. Luke nestles
the event in a sermon of his own. He
bookends it so nicely between Jesus telling his disciples for a third time that
he will die in Jerusalem and the conspiring to kill him that goes on after he
cleanses the temple of the vendors and moneylenders who were making big
business out of Israelite faith. We
cannot ignore Luke’s sermon here for it is a powerful one. So, this morning instead of a sermon of my
own I will simply walk us through Luke’s sermon and make a few comments as we
go. Hopefully, we’ll see that Luke has
hidden some things in here for us to find and understand.
Luke
18:31-34
31 Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are
going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by
the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed
over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. 33 After
they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise
again.” 34 But they understood nothing about all these things;
in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was
said.[1]
I rarely take my children to the grocery store. It’s just too stressful. When I do, I’ve learned that it is good to tell
them what to expect before going in. I usually start with “Listen up” and then
I go on to list a few things they are not to do and then I tell them there will
be a rewrd in it for them if they are good.
Well, Jesus is doing this here with his disciples before heading to
Jerusalem. He gives them the “listen
up. This is what the Scriptures say will
happen to me.” Then, he lists for them
seven things the Old Testament mentions will happen to him, the Son of Man.
Now, if you know anything about numbers in the Bible, seven is a
significant number. So also, the seventh
in a series of seven is important. Like
the seven days of creation culminating with the Sabbath rest of God. In like manner here, six things bad will
happen to Jesus. He will be handed over
to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spat upon, flogged, and killed. The seventh thing is unimaginable: he will
rise from the dead. Hiding at the end of
this list of six bad things is a good thing; Jesus will rise from the dead. Death will be defeated.
The disciples didn’t get any of this. In fact, Luke says it was hidden
from them. They were expecting Jesus
just go to town and take over just like everyone believed the Messiah was supposed
to do and…they will take their thrones beside him. That’s the way Matthew and Mark present it
but it won’t happen that way.
Moving on to our next passage, Jesus approaches Jericho and a blind man
sees something about him that the religious authorities in Jerusalem can’t see.
Luke 18:35-43
35 As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the
roadside begging. 36 When he heard a crowd going by, he asked
what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is
passing by.” 38 Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!” 39 Those who were in front sternly ordered him to
be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus
stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he
asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said,
“Lord, let me see again.” 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your
sight; your faith has saved you.” 43 Immediately he regained
his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw
it, praised God.[2]
This blind man made a very annoying spectacle of himself. Shouting repeatedly as loud as he could
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
The people told him to shut up. But this blind man knew who Jesus was
and what Jesus could do and he was not going to let this opportunity to see
again pass him by. He got Jesus’
attention. Jesus stopped and called for him and asked what he wanted him to do
for him. “Lord, let me see again.” Jesus restored his sight.
The blind man had faith. It takes
faith to see the hidden things of God. Faith
is knowing who Jesus is and knowing his reign is one of powerful restoration of
life. Faith is what leads to and results
from what happens when our Risen Lord meets us with the power of his
resurrection and gives us a taste of new life in him.
Next, Jesus enters Jericho and there he finds a wee little man, a tax
collected named Zacchaeus who has climbed a tree to be able to see him.
Luke 19:1-10
1He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A
man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He
was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not,
because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed
a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When
Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and
come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he
hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it
began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a
sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look,
half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded
anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a
son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to
save the lost.”[3]
“Zacchaeus, you come down, for I’m coming to your house today; for I’m
coming to your house today.” Zacchaeus
climbed down and welcomed Jesus. But, everybody else, (disciples included I
guess) began to grumble because they knew what kind of a man Zacchaeus was, a greedy
little power hungry tax collector who was lord of his own little manor. Yet, something moved Zacchaeus, he stood
there and said to the Lord, “Listen up.” Just like Jesus said to his disciples
earlier. He gave half of everything he
had to the poor and promised that if he had defrauded anyone he would pay them
back four times over. In turn, Jesus
says, “Today salvation has come to this house.”
Salvation! Salvation is what
happens when Jesus’ Kingdom manifests here on earth. Zacchaeus’ giving to the poor and making
right on his wrongs in response to being in Jesus’ presence was salvation. God’s Kingdom come here on earth as it is in
Heaven. If we think of salvation mearly
in terms of “me going to Heaven when I die”, then the Gospel that Jesus himself proclaimed, that “the Kingdom of
God is at hand; repent and believe this Gospel”, remains hidden to us.
Finding himself summonsed by and
in the presence of the Lord Jesus, in the presence of God, Zacchaeus did
something that Israel was supposed to do every 50th year but didn’t
because of greed and powerlusting. He enacted the year of Jubilee as best he
could. Every 50th year was to
be the year of Jubilee in Israel. Lands lost
to debt were supposed to be returned to their tribal holdings. Israelites
enslaved by other Israelites we’re to be set free. But, there is no record anywhere that ancient
Israel ever did this. But the early
church in Jerusalem did as best as it could. The Book of Acts 2:43-47 says: “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were
being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and
had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and
distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day,
as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and
ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and
having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number
those who were being saved.”[4] That’s what salvation looks like.
This is what we can expect when Jesus returns and we are raised from the
dead and he puts things to rights just as it happened with Zacchaeus.
Well, sometimes small acts say big things. Let us take a moment now to point towards
salvation. Please greet one another with
the peace of Christ.
Let us return to Luke and take a look at the Parable of the Ten
Pounds. It is similar to the Parable of
the Talents, but don’t mistake it for being the same. As we read it keep in mind Zacchaeus and what
he did.
Luke 19:11-28
11 As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable,
because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of
God was to appear immediately. 12 So he said, “A nobleman went
to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. 13 He
summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do
business with these until I come back.’ 14 But the citizens of
his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want
this man to rule over us.’ 15 When he returned, having received
royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be
summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. 16 The
first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ 17 He
said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a
very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’ 18 Then the
second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ 19 He
said to him, ‘And you, rule over five cities.’ 20 Then the
other came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of
cloth, 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man;
you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He
said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew,
did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what
I did not sow? 23 Why then did you not put my money into the
bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’ 24 He
said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has
ten pounds.’ 25 (And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten
pounds!’) 26 ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be
given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
27 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be
king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’”[5]
This is not a parable about what we do with our time, talent, and
money. It is a parable about what we do
with Jesus in our midst, what we do with his Kingdom in our midst, what we do
with the Holy Spirit in our midst. I asked
you earlier to keep Zacchaeus in mind as we read this parable. The return on
the pound is salvation like Zacchaeus enacted it. Zacchaeus’ actions are representative of
having a ten-fold or a five-fold return on the pound of the Kingdom of God the
Jesus has placed in the midst of his churches by the power and presence of the
Holy Spirit.
Jesus has entrusted to us, his slaves, a pound of his kingdom. He entrusts a pound of his kingdom to every
fellowship of his disciples. We are to do as Zacchaeus and the early church did
and bring forth a return on his pound. We are to enact salvation even right here in this community. We must take up the Godly mission, the Kingdom
of God mission of bringing real, tangible salvation to this community. That’s
what the early church did. We must do it too. It is costly. It is risky. Hiding ourselves behind church walls is only
taking that pound that Jesus has entrusted to us and wrapping it up in a cloth
to keep it hidden. If we are not focused
on Jesus’ mission to bring his kingdom to this community, then it is likely
we’re really not focused on Jesus. Let
us read on.
Luke 19:29-40
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place
called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying,
“Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there
a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If
anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’
” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told
them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them,
“Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs
it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their
cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along,
people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was
now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of
the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds
of power 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 heaven!” 39 Some of the
Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He
answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”[6]
So, leaving
Jericho Jesus enters Jerusalem like a king.
His followers praise and welcome him as they would King. It’s loud. Some of the Pharisees ask Jesus to order his
disciples to stop. It is likely they are afraid that this will start a revolt
and the Romans will crack down. Jesus’
response to them is that in a word is that these people are giving voice to
what all of creation is doing right now as he heads into Jerusalem to take his
victory over sin and death. Yet, as he
gets closer to Jerusalem he begins to weep because Jerusalem does not recognize
what is happening. Who he is as the Son
of God incarnate and what he has come to do is hidden from them.
Luke 19:41-44
41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying,
“If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for
peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the
days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and
surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush
you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave
within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of
your visitation from God.”[7]
In 70 A.D. the Romans leveled Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Why?
They did not recognize the day that God visited them. Why were these things hidden from them? They didn’t repent and believe Jesus’ Gospel
that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Why?
Luke 19:45-48
45 Then he entered the temple and
began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46 and
he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have
made it a den of robbers.”
47 Every day he was teaching in the
temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept
looking for a way to kill him; 48 but they did not find
anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.[8]
Instead of repenting, the people
of God held onto their greed and powerlust.
They didn’t do as Zacchaeus had done. There was no Jubilee when Jesus came to
Jerusalem; only a cleansing of the the Temple. The Greek word for repent literally
means “becoming with-minded” or changing your mind to be of one mind with
another. One of my former New Testament
teachers, Jack Kingsbury, said repentence was “thinking the things of God
rather than the things of man”. The
people of God were not thinking the things of God. They were instead, making wealth on them.
Friends, the Kingdom of God is at hand!
But, what will we do with it?
Jesus is here! He has summonsed
us down from our lofty perches of pride and has welcomed himself into our
houses. We’ve sung our “hosanna’s”. Well and good. But what about that pound he has entrusted to
us? Amen.
[1]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 18:31–34). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[2]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 18:35–43). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[3]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 19:1–10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[4]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Ac 2:43–47). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[5]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 19:11–27). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[6]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 19:29–40). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[7]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 19:41–44). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
[8]
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard
Version. 1989 (Lk 19:45–48). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
