A Journey to Easter - Day 40
- Debbra Stephens
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
(Luke 19:41-42 ESV)
The day was Nisan 9, six days before Passover (John 12:1). Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, to the week of His passion, under the shadow of a looming cross. But He did so amid a grand and frenzied procession, multitudes shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). Our calendars mark the observance of this occasion as Palm Sunday. Our Bibles label it as Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. But it hardly seems like a triumph—when you compare it to historical parades of kings returning victoriously from war.
As Jesus neared Jerusalem, He wept over her (Luke 19:41). He commiserated, “If only you had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). He lamented over the City of God and her impending fate, but the people couldn’t know the destruction their future held.
John noted in his gospel that the disciples didn’t really understand the deeper meaning of the things happening at the time (John 12:16). When “the city asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth’” (Matthew 21:11 emphasis mine). Their chant from the Hallel (Psalm 118) was recited every year at Passover. Was it rote? Or did they truly believe what they were saying? Luke wrote that the crowd started to praise “in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37 emphasis mine). John observed that the crowd witnessed the raising of Lazarus and followed because they had heard of His miraculous signs (John 12:17-18). And the religious authorities? Well, they wanted Jesus to silence His disciples (Luke 19:39-40). Regardless, it was all according to God’s plan, prophesied of old.
Undeniably, the people wanted a king. Mobs had tried to force the crown upon Jesus earlier in His ministry (John 6:15). But they wanted a different sort of king. The masses seemed to have a faulty understanding and expectation of God’s Messiah… let alone Jesus’ means of fulfillment as God’s Son.
The crowds praised their Messiah. Their excitement in celebrating Jesus as King is understandable—for He is the unsurpassed King of kings. But were they venerating Jesus as that promised and long-awaited King? This side of His enthronement on a cross, His victory over death, and His exaltation in the Ascension, we have an unfair advantage. We know by the faith God has graced us, the revelation through His Word, and insight provided only by the Spirit.
Before the city, atop a humble foal of a donkey, Jesus viewed the city and wept. They simply didn’t know. They didn’t understand what it would take for Him to take His throne. Or the crown He would wear. They knew they were desperate for a Deliverer from their torturous oppressors—Rome being the least of which. But we, as recipients of His costly salvation, can raise our voices and our palms in praise of the King who came. And who is coming again. And we look forward expectantly to that glorious day when multitudes from every nation will encircle His throne, palms raised, in praise of our victorious King; “Crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).
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