A Ride to Destiny – Luke 19:28-40

Today I invite you to step back in time and imagine the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on what we have come to know as Palm Sunday. The people are gathering in preparation to celebrate the Passover – that commemoration of the time when Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt. The passing over of the angel of death marked a new beginning for the people. It was an event that had never been forgotten and one that led so many of them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to make their offerings and share the Seder – the Passover meal in the place where they believed God’s presence could be felt the most.

And Jesus also has come with his disciples to celebrate that event. He had given the disciples instructions to secure a colt – a young animal that had never been ridden before. This colt would carry Jesus into Jerusalem. Now this coming of Jesus was not just a ride into the city because he was tired from walking. His arrival on the colt was a definite sign and signal of his kingship and his mission.  Note also that his entry into Jerusalem is a descent from the Mount of Olives. As Moses descended from the mountain after encountering God in the burning bush and coming to Pharoah – who was the religious and cultural leader of his people – Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives – a place of prayer and reflection – to face the religious and cultural leaders of the people of Israel.

The city of Jerusalem would have been crowded with people yet in the midst of all that is going on, the coming of Jesus is noticed, and even more than noticed it is acknowledged.  It is not the disciples who will cut the palm branches and spread their cloaks, it is the people themselves. They will honour the coming of Jesus with signs that acknowledge that he is a king and that he has brought hope and healing to so many.

The disciples break out in a chorus declaring: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!  Their declaration is an affirmation of what the wise men saw so long ago – a king has been born to the people of Israel and he has come to the centre of the nation to be acknowledged before his people. But this king does not come by his own will or power but by the will and the power of the LORD – the one true God made known to Abraham and his descendants, the one made known to Moses and to Elijah and to all other prophets and loyal priests of God.

What we are witnessing in the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is the coming of the king who will ever fulfil the will of God, who will ever listen to and speak the word of God, the one who will even surrender his life as a sacrifice for the people in order that they may experience a renewed and lasting relationship with the LORD.

Yet in spite of the fact that Jesus comes in peace, his presence will cause many to become hostile and move them to acts of violence in an attempt to silence his voice and his message. Jesus’ whole ministry was focused on restoring the people to a right and full relationship with God.  He had accomplished this in steps by His encounters with various groups and individuals within the communities in Palestine. He had taught, healed, and counselled. He had restored the outcasts of society and chastised the religious leaders who had become more concerned with self-preservation than with right living.

But today is a day of rejoicing, a day of celebration. Short days from now, it will become a day of weeping, a day of sorrow, a day of grief and anguish. But today is a time for welcoming and celebrating the presence of the one who has healed, taught, and prayed for and with the people.

And just as Moses went to the city where Pharoah’s seat of power rested, Jesus comes to Jerusalem – the city where the seat of religious and cultural power for the people of Israel. And while Moses faced the sorcerers and prophets of the Pharoah, Jesus will face the Pharisees and the priests of the Temple.  And as Moses sought physical freedom for the people from Pharoah, Jesus will seek not only for physical freedom, but also mental and spiritual freedom from the bonds of the law and the Temple that had kept the people of God in bondage and had prevented them from experiencing the real love God had for them and his deep desire that they experience forgiveness, mercy and healing in their bodies, minds, and spirits.

And while Jesus path to Jerusalem mirrors the path of Moses in so many ways, there will be one significant difference. The blood of the lambs shed as a sign for the angel of death to pass over the homes of the people of Israel saved the people from certain death and released them from their bondage in Egypt and allowed them to return to the promised land. The blood of Jesus – whom John refers to as the Lamb of God – this blood will be shed as a sign for death to ultimately release its hold over the lives of the people and release them not just from their physical bondage but from psychological and spiritual bondage. They will be able to live this life with new hope and promise and know that there is a life, a land, a world prepared by God beyond anything they might ever imagine, and it will mean freedom forever.

Jesus comes as a King and yet as a servant. He sets himself up against the religious leaders not as a battle for power but in order to return the nation to God. Jesus chose to be faithful. He chose to go to Jerusalem and to take on the task of fighting for the hearts and souls of God’s people.

Paul reminds the Christians in Philippi that everything Jesus did was not for the purpose of glorifying or raising himself up for the purpose of revealing God’s ultimate gift of salvation to the world. Paul saw in Jesus One who was fully human and yet fully God. And he saw in this person One who was prepared to do whatever was necessary to restore the people.  He saw faithfulness, a faithfulness that would lead to His death but also to His resurrection.

Choosing to be faithful – a choice made by God for us. But we have the freedom to choose as well. In the verses preceding today’s passage from Philippians, Paul encourages the people to make a choice. The choice is to be an imitator of Christ.  They are to do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than themselves.  In other words, they are to be faithful to God in all things not because they are compelled but because they choose. As Christ chose to accept his mission to bring the new revelation of God to the nation of Israel and Paul spread that new revelation throughout the known world, we are to choose to place our lives in God’s hands and seek daily for what He would have us do.

This day as we celebrate again the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, let us remember that it was not a triumphal moment so much as a moment that was the catalyst for events that would change the world forever. It was Christ choosing to be faithful to the will of God. Our life may never lead us on such a path but let us make the choice to be faithful and to trust God to lead us and instruct us every day that we shall live both now and forevermore.

AMEN