Luke 19:28-40 28After Jesus had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ahead, 30saying, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32Those who were sent ahead went and found things just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35Then they brought the colt to Jesus. They threw their robes on the colt and set Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their robes on the road. 37As he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God joyfully, with a loud voice, for all the miracles they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40He replied, “I tell you, if these people would be silent, the stones would cry out.
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Imagine you are on a first date. It is a blind date because you swiped right on Tinder. You’ve never met this person before so dinner is a little awkward. You ask question and you tell stories as you get to know each other better. As dinner goes on, you realize this person is pretty decent and kind of fun. You’re connecting in all the right ways. And then they say, “I want you to praise me. Tell me how good I am.”
So you stumble with some quick answers. “Well, you have good bone structure in your cheeks. … Oh, you make really good eye contact when we speak and that’s nice. … And, um, oh, you chew with your mouth closed. I really appreciate that.”
Would you go out on a second date with that person? Probably not. It seems a little conceited to say, “Praise me,” doesn’t it?
If it’s weird for your blind date to demand praise, why is it OK for Jesus to demand praise? Because he does. You hear numerous times in the Old Testament where God demands praise. “This people that I formed for myself will declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). “I am the one who creates praise as the fruit of their lips” (Isaiah 57:19). “This is what the Lord says … Make your praises heard” (Jeremiah 31:7).
To praise someone means to tell them how good they are, to exalt them for what they’ve accomplished, to appreciate why they are so much better than you.
This is one more reason why we hate Jesus. He demands praise. Our sinful nature doesn’t like to give praise. It desires to receive praise. Praising Jesus means humbling ourselves. Our Old Adam wants to exalt itself. Praising Jesus means constantly talking, learning and singing about him. We want all that adoration turned inward instead.
We are at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus is entering Jerusalem. For the last time. It is almost time for the Passover. The Passover is the ancient ceremony where the Israelites slaughtered a lamb and painted its blood on the doorframes of their houses. They ate the Passover meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread and grape wine with their family and friends. This meal was an annual reminder that an innocent animal gave its life for their rescue.
Every practicing Jew is supposed to come to Jerusalem for this annual festival. Many people camp on the Mount of Olives. It is a comfortable place to stay for the festival under the palm trees and other trees along the entrance to Jerusalem.
Jesus has been to the Passover numerous times. But those other times he came silently and anonymously. This time is different.
Jesus and his disciples have been staying outside of Jerusalem in the nearby town of Bethany. Probably with Mary, Martha, and their newly resurrected brother, Lazarus. Jesus sends two of his disciples into Jerusalem to get a donkey for him. Not a tame, well-trained donkey, but a colt, the foal of a donkey. One that is wild because it’s never been tamed or ridden before.
You’ve ridden elephants at the zoo and your kids have ridden ponies at the fair. I once rode a camel in the Egyptian desert. We all know that we don’t want to ride any of those animals unless they’ve been tamed.
But when the Lord of creation sits on an untamed colt, it doesn’t fight. It doesn’t buck. It doesn’t kick.
As Jesus rides into Jerusalem this time, he isn’t entering silently or anonymously. The people camping along the road to Jerusalem near the Mount of Olives notice Jesus. “Hey, that’s Jesus!” “He cured my brother!” “I can go to the temple today because he healed my leprosy!” “I heard him preach with authority in the Capernaum synagogue!” “He fed my family with fish sandwiches!”
The whispers turn into talk. The talk turns into songs. The songs turn into praise. The people recognize Jesus as King. He is the promised Messiah. He is King David’s royal heir.
This isn’t like being in church. This isn’t “Lutheran praise” where we all smile as loudly as we can. This is standing. Waving palm branches. Shouting. Laying cloaks on the ground. Excitement. Exuberant. Exultant. Excellent praise. Together they are shouting and singing, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
The people are celebrating, but the Pharisees are fuming. They shout at Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” While Jesus is riding and the people are praising, the Pharisees shout over the voices of the crowd, “Stop this! Make them stop praising you!”
Why did they want the celebration stopped? They couldn’t stand people praising Jesus. They hated him. Besides, only God should receive praise. Despite everything they have seen and heard, they refuse to accept the possibility that Jesus is God.
What is Jesus answer to their demands? He calmly replies, “I tell you, if these people would be silent, the stones would cry out.” If people don’t praise Jesus, the stones will praise him. Jesus will receive praise from his creation. Period.
Our sinful nature is very much like the Pharisees of old. It hates to give Jesus praise. As we’ve seen in this series, our sinful nature doesn’t like it that Jesus wants more from us than just going to or watching church. It hates that Jesus commands us to love and forgive others. Plus, Jesus doesn’t answer our questions.
Our sinful nature doesn’t us want to give praise. We want to receive it. We don’t want to be humble. We want to be exalted. We don’t want others to get attention. We want attention directed at us.
The disciples take off their cloaks and put them on the donkey. The people take off their cloaks and lay them on the ground in respect to their King riding on in majesty. They cut palm branches and wave them in praise. And we hate that. Because that means we need to do the same – give Jesus above and beyond in our offerings, our time and our service.
Plus, why does Jesus deserve praise anyhow? You end up in the ER with tremendous pain. Your spouse was taken away from you unexpectedly. Your income is low and your stress is high. You’ve felt so confined, so lonely and so depressed this past year. So why does Jesus deserve your praise again?
But Jesus does deserve our praise. He comes so differently than any who came before him, who came after him or come to us today.
Jesus doesn’t come to exercise power. He comes to surrender.
He doesn’t come to be strong. He approaches in weakness.
He doesn’t come to strike and kill, but to be struck and killed by those whom he loves.
He doesn’t come to create war between you and God, but to establish peace between sinful you and your holy Lord.
He doesn’t near not to abuse his power with commands, but to redeem by keeping all of God’s commands by himself.
He rides to his death – the Lamb seated on a colt. He enters Jerusalem to take away sin’s power, to strip death of its horror, and to crush the ancient Serpent’s head. He comes on Palm Sunday to finish it once and for all on Good Friday, to sleep in death over the Sabbath and to rise from the grave on Easter dawn.
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Jesus came to bring us true peace when our lives resemble the ruins of Jerusalem of the prophet Zechariah’s time. He came not to conquer life’s difficulties, but to crush death’s curse. He came not to force obedience from earthly tyrants, but to become obedient to sinners and even death on a cross. He came to purchase the souls of his subjects at the price of his own royal blood. What better kingly gift could there be than the forgiveness of sins and life eternal? This is the kind of King we have! These are the real reasons we have to praise him. These are the reasons we have to cheer with the rest of creation. And the thing about our king is that he never stops giving.
Jesus gave up his heavenly throne and his earthly life for sinners, but he was just getting started. He continues to come to us in humble, simple ways, bringing exactly what we need. The Bible looks like any other book. Most people in the world write it off as long and boring and outdated. But this lowly book is how our King comes to us. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper don’t look like much – simple water, wine and bread – but these lowly means are how our King comes to us. The lowly Word connected to plain water is how he conquers dead and sinful hearts and raises them to new life. The wine and bread in communion with the royal Body and Blood of Jesus proclaim his death, conquer our doubts and strengthen our faith. This is how our King comes. This is how our King conquers.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem, but like the Pharisees of old, you and I and others don’t want to pour out our praises on him. So often we are people who are too busy or too full of themselves or too cheap to think Jesus is worth the time and energy and service and sufferings and offerings to praise him in our daily lives. Jesus rode into Jerusalem because of these sins. Jesus rode into Jerusalem for us.
When we focus this Holy Week on what Jesus did for us – and continues to do for us – that changes everything. We don’t have to praise him. We get to praise him. We don’t want the stones to have to cry out. (That would be creepy.) We aren’t going to stop praising Jesus. Giving to him. Suffering for him. Sacrificing for him. Putting our cloaks, our gifts and our lives before him.
Yes, Jesus demands praise. Because he’s earned that praise. This isn’t some dufus on a blind date demanding praise because he or she is full of themselves. This is Jesus. Our Savior and our King. Let’s praise him together. Amen.