America’s great child-philosopher, Dennis the Menace, offered this observation as his mother washed his dirty hands: "Margaret’s Mom must like me. I heard her say, ‘I just wish he was my child for five minutes.’"
The people of Jerusalem had a similar kind of love/hate attitude toward Jesus. They cheered him on the first Palm Sunday as he entered Jerusalem, but then shouted "Crucify him" the following Friday. The Palm Sunday crowd was enthusiastic but fickle. As the politicians would say, Jesus’ support was broad but shallow. The big money and the power structure were against him. Many in the crowd were not really yelling "Hurrah for Jesus." They were using his parade as a way of saying, "Down with Rome." In verses 28 through 36 we are told about the transportation arrangements made for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The town of Bethphage was about a mile and a half east of Jerusalem. There Jesus had arranged to borrow a young donkey that had never been used as a beast of burden. Old Testament instructions required such an animal for sacred purposes. (Numbers 19:2, I Samuel 6:7) Why did Jesus decide to ride a donkey into the city? I would have preferred a spirited stallion. The donkey was the symbol of peace, whereas the horse was the mount of a conquering general. Jesus was fulfilling this prophecy of the prophet Zechariah offered hundreds of years earlier: "See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on the donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9) Jesus sent two of his disciples to get the colt. No doubt our Lord had made arrangements earlier with the owner. Jesus had walked those streets many times. He knew the people and even some of their animals. He had probably said to his friend John in Bethphage, "Look, I’m going to need to borrow your colt during Passover. I’ll send my disciples to get the animal at the right time." This triumphal entry was Jesus’ "coming out" party. Earlier he had hushed up talk about his being the Messiah. But now he claims the title boldly and publicly. Jesus rode into Jerusalem in a way that was an unmistakable claim to be the Messiah, God’s anointed King. This was an act of glorious defiance and superlative courage. Here was a man with a price on his head riding into the city in broad daylight, claiming to be the real King of the Jews. (1) Verses 37 through 40 tell us about the cheering disciples and the disturbed Pharisees. We don’t know how many disciples lined the roadways. Perhaps hundreds. Thousands more stood and watched with varying degrees of curiosity and anxiety, wondering if Roman troops would break up this demonstration. Jesus got the red carpet treatment; his disciples carpeted the roadway with their garments. That was a nice touch usually reserved for kings and victorious generals. Luke is the only gospel writer to record the objections of the Pharisees. They said to Jesus, "Make your disciples stop all their cheering." Jesus replied, in effect, "Somebody is going to shout today. If they don’t, the very stones along the path will. God’s creation must shout today because I am revealed for who I am." Verses 41 through 44 tells us about Jesus’ surprising tears and his disturbing prediction. This seems to be a day for big smiles, victorious waves, and high-fives, certainly no day for weeping. But that’s what Jesus did. And the Greek word in verse 41 for weeping does not imply some quiet, restrained emotion. No, this is the word used to describe heart-breaking sobbing often associated with funerals. Why does Jesus’ cry his heart out? Because of the nation’s missed opportunity. He is Israel’s last best hope for personal and national salvation. Yet he senses that he will be rejected. Jesus knows that when the people reject his prescription for spiritual renewal, they will turn to military confrontation with Rome, a battle they are bound to lose. Jesus’ dire forecasts were fulfilled forty years later when Rome devastated Jerusalem. So complete was the destruction that not one stone of Solomon’s glorious temple was left in place. Only one small section of the city wall was left standing. Today it is called "the Western Wall." You see it on the news all the time. It is where Jews congregate to pray. Jesus’ haunting statement in verse 42 demands our attention. He said, "If you only knew the things that make for peace." The word "peace" is "shalom" in Hebrew. It means more than just the absence of conflict. Shalom begins with an interior peace with God and spills over into peace among people and nations. Some people can sit down at a piano and play beautiful music. Others can produce only discord. The piano is not responsible. Two people can walk into a crowded room. One will cause laughter and pleasure. The other will cause discord and tension. The problem is not the crowd. Peace is an inside job. It begins with a relationship between a person and God; then it spills over into all human relationships. Jesus is still declaring to our modern culture, "If you only knewthe things that make for peace." What would Jesus tell us are the prerequisites for peace? Let me mention four, and I invite you to grade yourself in each category.
I. Accept God's Gracious Offer of Foregiveness and Salvation
First, accept God's gracious offer of forgiveness and salvation. In order to know real peace, each person needs a heart transplant. The heart he brought into this world is infected with a terminal spiritual illness called sin. He needs a new one. This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus when he said, "You must be born again." (John 3:3) But how does one get a new heart? The answer is in John 1:12: "Yet to all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Last year there was a great worldwide conference on evangelism in Amsterdam, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Dr. Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, was a major speaker. She said, "What’s the basic problem of our world? Postmodernism? The dominance of the youth culture? It’s none of these things. The basic problem is sin." (2) Peace begins by finding a cure for our sin problem. Only Jesus can perform that miracle. He provides that cure when we repent of sin and trust in him as Savior and Lord.
Eliminate Your Enemies, Make Them Your Friends
The second step to peace is this: eliminate your enemies by making them your friends. Ronald Reagan’s attitude toward John Hinckley, the man who tried to kill him, made a deep impression on Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis. She wrote, "(On the day following the attack) my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley." (3)
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and to discover that the prisoner was you!
Jesus gave us the instruction and then set the example. He said, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45)
As Jesus was being crucified, he cried out to God, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Think of someone from whom you are alienated today. To forgive and to reconcile is to douse your world with shalom, peace.
III. Be Rich In Heavenly Stocks
Here is the third prescription for peace: be rich in heavenly stocks. My observation is that some of the most miserable people I know are rich folks whose primary security is in their wealth. Their sense of well-being is tied to the stock market and they always wear a worried look.
I love the story about a rich man who wanted to take his money with him beyond the grave. When he was nearing death, he prayed fervently about this matter. An angel appeared to him and said, "Sorry, you can’t take all your wealth with you after death, but the Lord will allow you to take one suitcase. Fill it with whatever you wish." Overjoyed the man got the largest suitcase he could find and filled it with pure gold bars. Soon afterward he died and showed up at the gates of heaven. St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, "Hold on, you can’t bring that in here with you." The man explained how God had given him special permission." St. Peter checked it out with the angel Gabriel and the story was verified. "Okay, " said St. Peter, "You can bring the suitcase in with you, but first I must check its contents." He opened the suitcase to see what worldly items this man had considered too precious to leave behind. "I don’t believe it!" said St. Peter. "You brought pavement??"
When Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God," (Mark 10:25), he was not revealing that he was a closet socialist or even a Democrat. He was simply observing that affluence can make us dependent on ease and comfort. As such it is highly seductive. A person who grows accustomed to a life of ease will not be drawn naturally to the sacrificial way of the Cross. (4) Jesus advised, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rush destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…" (Matthew 6:19-20)
The only part of our wealth that will bring eternal peace is that part which we gave away for God’s glory.
IV. Pray Continually
Here is the fourth and final prescription for peace: pray continually. Do you remember the inspired words from Joseph Scriven’s beloved hymn, "What a friend"? "O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
Luke gives us this marvelous introduction to one of Jesus’ parables about prayer: "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up." (Luke 18:1)
While none of us should dare to regard God as our personal "Celestial bellhop," we can be sure that God hears and responds to every sincere prayer. A Florida pastor says that God answers prayer in four ways: yes, no, wait, or "you gotta be kidding.!" (5)
Just imagine that Jesus’ Palm Sunday parade is passing down Poplar Avenue in Memphis. You stand on the roadside and watch. Again he weeps over a city, crying out, "I still wish they knew the things that make for peace." Somehow you sense that you will never understand the things that make for peace as long as you remain just a sidewalk spectator. You must step out into the street and follow this hero of Palm Sunday.
In a sociology of religion class at the University of Virginia, the professor asked the students to tell about their religious background and commitments. One young woman named Barb said she was a Christian. The professor asked, "What tradition of the Christian faith do you identify with? The northern European or English pietism or what?" Barb was somewhat flustered, not knowing how to respond. Finally she said, "Sir, I don’t know how to answer that question. I just know I love Jesus." Suddenly there was a profound peace in that classroom, the kind brought only by the Prince of Peace. Are we that bold in declaring publicly our love for Jesus?
The Jesus parade is still passing by. Are you just watching it, or have you joined it?
1. Barclay, William, The Gospel of Luke, (Saint Andrew Press: Edinburgh, 1975), The Daily Study Bible Series, p. 239.
2. Lotz, Anne Graham, quoted in "Christianity Today," September 4, 2000 issue, p. 40.
3. Davis, Patti, Angels Don’t Die, cited in the Quoteletter, December, 1996.
4. Dobson, James, When God Doesn’t Make Sense, (Tyndale: Wheaton, 1993), p. 153.
5. From a sermon on prayer by Dr. O. Dean Martin, quoted in a book by Dean Smith entitled "A Coach’s Life," p. 259.