Over Our Self-Determination
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The Son of Man With The Marvelous Plan
4.10.22 [Luke 19:28-40] River of Life (Palm Sunday)
I love it when a plan comes together! This catchphrase was made famous by Col. Hannibal Smith, the brain behind the operation known as the A-Team. It’s among the most memorable lines from any TV show. But it’s intentionally misleading. Because it most cases, things didn’t really go according to Hannibal’s plans. They just worked out in the end and he took credit. His plans weren’t right, but they worked.
And that’s what we all want, right? When we sit down and make our plans, for things far less exciting than the adventures of the A-Team, we just want things to work out. It’d be nice if everything went exactly as we planned, but that is far less important than our ultimate goals being achieved. We can all accept our plans not working right, so long as things work themselves out in the end. We all love it when a good plan comes together.
Today, in our Gospel lesson from Luke 19, we meet the Son of Man with the plan. He’s got a marvelous plan that reveals his incredible control over man & beast, time & space, friends & even his enemies. But this account is more than that, too. Palm Sunday doesn’t just show us that Jesus has incredible control over all things, it also reveals his amazing love. That amazing love compels us to raise our voices and (Lk. 19:37) joyfully praise God for the great things he has done.
Palm Sunday has been recorded for us by all four Gospel writers. You can’t say that about many events in Jesus’ life—not even his birth. So this repetition tells us that this is a pretty important event in God’s marvelous plan of salvation. But Luke’s record is different than all the rest. For one, he doesn’t include two details that are typically linked with Palm Sunday. Nowhere in these verses does Luke mention palm branches. Nor does Luke include the famous word of praise: (Mt. 21:9) Hosanna! Lord save us! Matthew, Mark, & John mention both those things, but Luke doesn’t. What Luke does highlight is Jesus’ incredible control over man & beast, time & space, friends & even his enemies. Luke shows his marvelous plan.
The Passover festival was near. (Jn. 11:55) Many people were making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate what God had done in freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. Jesus & his disciples were also making the trip, though the disciples were (Jn. 11:16) hesitant to do so. They knew Jerusalem's religious leaders were trying to (Jn. 11:57) arrest Jesus & (Mk. 10:33) kill him.
A couple miles from Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead of him with instructions. (Lk. 19:30) Go to the village ahead of you.
(Lk. 19:30) As you enter it, you will find an unbroken colt there. No one has ever ridden it. Untie it and bring it here to me. (Lk. 19:31) If anyone asks you what you are doing untying an animal that you don’t own, say: The Lord needs it. The two disciples follow instructions (Lk. 19:32) and found everything just as he had told them. The colt. The owner’s questions. The simple answer sufficed. (Lk. 19:31) The Lord needs it.
Bringing the colt to Jesus, they threw their cloaks on the colt and Jesus rode it. (Lk. 19:37) The crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. (Lk. 19:38) ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord’, they cry. ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest’, they shout. The Son of Man has incredible control over man & beast, time & space, his friends & even his enemies.
You see, Jesus provoked this praise. He knew what he was doing. For a long time, the crowds who had seen his miracles wanted to make Jesus their king. Every other time, Jesus rejected their plans. But in this moment, riding a donkey, with the people calling him (Lk. 19:38) the king who comes in the name of the Lord—a description everyone knew was reserved for the Messiah—Jesus was exercising his control over even his enemies. (Mt. 26:3) The chief priests and the elders of the people had been scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. But they didn’t want to do it during the Passover festival. They feared (Mt. 26:5) a riot among the people. This was not the right time to them. But this was the time that Jesus had chosen.
None of this should be a surprise to us. We know Jesus is powerful. We know he has divine authority. Yet, when God lays out his plan for us and calls us to action—when we hear the Lord needs this or that—we tend to want to make changes. Any command of God is the Lord telling us what he needs from us. How do we respond? Typically with grumbling and complaining, right? We point out all the other people the Lord could call instead of us. We list off all the reasons we just can’t right now.
Three of the hardest things God calls us to do is to (2 Tim. 4:2) rebuke patiently, (Col 3:13) forgive freely, and (1 Pt. 4:8) love deeply.
So often when we see someone else sinning, we point out all the other people we think should be the spiritual first responders—the right ones to call that person to repentance. We list off all the reasons why we don’t think admonishing them will have any valuable effect. It’s awkward. It could get messy. They’re gonna get angry. It’s a waste of my time. But the Lord says he needs you to rebuke patiently. Do you heed his call or do you head for the hills?
The second tough thing God calls us to do is to forgive freely. More times than not, we want the sinner to show us they’re really sorry and that they won’t do it again, before we forgive them. And even if they do show us they’re really sorry and they make sincere sounding promises that they’ll never do it again, we’re hesitant. We might tell them that we forgive them, but we keep their iniquities in our pocket. We make a backup copy of their transgression in the back of our minds so that we won’t be taken advantage of.
Finally, God calls us to love deeply, to bear each others burdens, and invest yourself into the lives of those who cannot reciprocate. This is hard work. You cannot do a deep love drive-by. You cannot bear someone’s burdens without learning of their struggles and watching them fall and fail. It’s uncomfortable. It’s frustrating. It’s heartbreaking. It’s real, sacrificial love stuff. It doesn’t come naturally to love someone who will never love you back like you deserve. But the Lord says he needs us to rebuke patiently, forgive freely, and love deeply. This is how the world (Jn. 13:35) will know we are his disciples.
Unfortunately, far too often when we hear the Lord needs this or that from us, we fail to meet that need. Thankfully, the Lord knows what we need and Jesus is the Son of Man with the marvelous plan.
Jesus did not need that colt because he needed to make a production. Jesus was making a point. He is the King of kings who has come in the name of the Lord to bring peace on earth & in heaven. Everything about this entrance shows the Son of Man had a marvelous plan of amazing love.
Jesus did not just know what lay before his disciples in the village ahead of them. He knew what lay before him in the city of Jerusalem in the coming days. He knew the crowd of these joyful disciples would quickly disperse. He knew his closest disciples would run when he was arrested. Jesus knew Peter would deny even knowing him. Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and he would be (Mt. 20:18) delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. Jesus knew these leaders of Israel would (Mt. 20:18-19) condemn him to death, but hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified. Jesus knew it all.
So why did he go? Because your Lord knew you needed it. Your Lord knew that there was no other way for your sins to be atoned for. Your Lord knew that deep within your sinful heart resided a rebellious attitude toward God’s commands. Your Lord knew that if he did not love you first, you would never be able to love him or anyone deeply.
So Jesus went to Jerusalem. He stirred up the hornets’ nest of the Sanhedrin by riding a donkey into the city with his disciples praising God for all the miracles they had seen him do. Jesus refused to rebuke them even when the Pharisees pressured him. (Lk 19:40) If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out, he replied.
Jesus knew that he had power over all creation—over man and beast, over time and space, over his followers and even his enemies. But he did not use the power to reduce his enemies to rubble. The Son of God demonstrated his love for us in this. (Rom. 5:6,8) While we were still powerless, rebellious sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus wielded his power to loosen our guilt and shame. The Lord has untied all our transgressions. He bore the heavy load of our sins. The Lord has taken away our sin and (Col 2:14) nailed it to the cross. The Lord has done this, just as he said, (Ps. 118:23) and it is marvelous in our eyes. Hosanna in the highest! The Lord has saved us. (Ps. 118:24) Let us rejoice today and be glad. Let us (Ps. 118:29) give thanks to the Lord who has become our salvation by doing what he says.
Let us rebuke one another with great patience and humility. Let us be bold in combatting sin—not so that we can show someone up, but rather that we might show them God’s great love.
Let us forgive one another as we have been forgiven. Not with strings or conditions attached—but freely. Let us rejoice each time a sinner is brought to repentance as the angels in heaven do.
Let us love one another deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins. Let us rejoice when we are positioned and equipped to bear one another’s burdens. Fix your eyes on Jesus and his mercy when you meet someone who is grieving the effects of sin and death in this world. Fix your eyes on Jesus and his faithfulness when you meet someone who is rejoicing in transitory blessings. Open your eyes and your mouth and explain to them how even these things do not last. Show them how God has stored up treasure for them in heaven. Do not be quiet. Even the rocks of creation are ready to praise your King. This King has one more command. Tell my brothers and sisters what I have done. Can you do that this week? Can you reach out to a fellow Christian and remind them of the blessing and the privilege we have in joyfully praising God? Pick up the phone. Send a text message. Pack this place full Holy Week so that many more may know of God’s peace.
This is God’s plan for you and me. Don’t you love it when a perfect plan comes together? Amen.