[AI translation] This is a beautiful scene from the flower Sunday! Joyful cheering, hosannas, flushed faces, waving palm leaves, coats laid out in the dust of the road, a carpet of brightly coloured flowers, and all in honour of Jesus! At last He is receiving the homage, the welcome He deserves! It's good to see at last with what exuberant enthusiasm they celebrate the one who has been so often misunderstood, the one who has been so maliciously stalked! Here on earth, at last, he receives something of the honour with which the angels have surrounded him in heaven! And yet, when Jesus drew near, he saw the city and wept over it! And, according to a more accurate translation of the original text, he wept aloud, wailing! So not only did he simply weep, not only did he silently weep, but he wept aloud!What a striking contrast we have here: a people rejoicing and a king weeping aloud! For He was hailed, He was doted upon, He was glorified - and He weeps over it? Why was Jesus not glad for him? Why did he weep? He did not conceal it, He said openly, "Would that thou hadst known, even in this thy present day, the things which are for thy peace!" In other words, in short, O Jerusalem! Would that thou hadst known me and received me!
But why does he say this now, when he is truly received as he ought to be, as a King who comes in the name of the Lord? It is because Jesus saw that these people were expecting something quite different from what He had come for. The people expected Jesus to use all His divine power to drive out the invading Roman army, to liberate the land from foreign domination and to lift up the humiliated Jewish people. The people rejoiced because they believed that the long-awaited hour of deliverance had finally arrived, and the great showdown with the hated enemy was about to begin! Behold, here comes the King, just as the prophets of old foretold his entry into Jerusalem! This is the expectation, this is the need that Jesus felt in the souls of the people.
However, He did not come to satisfy it, but for something quite different! There is a fatal mistake here! No matter how pious the cry, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" In today's language, this does not so much mean "long live Jesus" as "long perish Pilate", the representative of Roman rule, and Herod, the hireling of foreigners! Well, that's the dowsing, that's the cheering that makes Jesus' eyes water. As if to say: "Do you think that's why I came? Do you think it would be for your peace if I lost Pilate and Herod? Do you think that I hate them as you do? Do you want me to fulfil your political desires? Do you think that is your main problem? Do you think that everything would be all right, that everything would be smoothed over, that your hearts would be at peace, if I helped you to lose Pilate and Herod? No, Jesus doesn't like that kind of dowry! He's in pain, he's crying for it!
This scene is very shocking because it means that there is also a celebration that Jesus does not like. Nor is it always a joy when many people cheer Jesus Christ, when large crowds celebrate him, when they demonstrate for him, because perhaps the whole expression of sympathy has as much to do with the glory of Jesus as this dowry on the Sunday of the flowers. In recent years, a relatively large number of people have turned to God. The name of Jesus has been echoed on the lips of great crowds, so we like to talk about a religious awakening. Well, we should examine whether our celebration of Jesus does not have this Jesus-fervour that caused the Lord to weep on Palm Sunday? These are beautiful words, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" But are they really praising God, or are they masking hateful human passions?
Does Jesus rejoice in the honor he receives from you, from this congregation, or does he weep for it? Does he like our religiosity or not? Is there not some "perish Pilate" thought lurking behind our dowry? Not deliberately, but unnoticed! Let us not be like the Flower Sunday crowd who thought they were expressing their religious fervour in this mass scene, when in fact they were demonstrating against Rome! So: while we are celebrating, are not the eyes of Jesus also watering today?
"Would that thou hadst known, even in this thy present day, the things which are for thy peace!" said Jesus. Have we known those things which are for our peace today? From what do we expect our peace, our problems to be solved? From what will your restless, tired, troubled heart regain its peace and tranquillity? I know you would answer this question: from Jesus! But wouldn't you think that Jesus will give you justice, will compensate you for all your losses and pains, that Jesus will vindicate you before the world - just as they were waiting for a solution from Jesus in Jerusalem, but with Jesus at the head of a struggle for freedom! Well, that is exactly what Jesus did not do then, nor is he doing now! He can indeed give us the solution, the peace, but not in a way that makes the material ground firm under our feet, or eases our fate, but in a completely different way. He does indeed take the whip in His hand, but He does not use it to drive out the Roman soldiers, as we would like and expect Him to do, but to drive out the devils from the temple. He scourges the sins of his own people in his own temple. He does not confront the Gentiles, but His own people, because they are His.
Can you believe that it is not for your peace that Jesus stands by you and defends you from your enemies, defends your honor, your righteousness, your self-esteem, your health, your material goods - but that He turns on you, if necessary, He is merciless in confronting your sins and begins to cleanse you! He casts out of you the feelings, thoughts, desires, impulses that defile the temple of His Holy Spirit, your heart! It is hard to commit Jesus in this way, when it is the only way to our true peace! If you rejoice for the Jesus who wants to cleanse you, if you wait for the Jesus who wants to create new life in you, who does not spare the lash, not from the Gentiles, but from His own people, from His own Church, from you, then Jesus will not cry that you have misunderstood Him. Then he will not accuse you of not knowing the things that are for your peace.
Then Jesus goes on still further in his bitter reproach against Jerusalem, "You have not recognized the time of your visitation". So it is that Jesus did visit Jerusalem, but the city has missed the great opportunity of this divine visitation fatally and irreparably. Do you see how distorted the meaning of the word "visitation" has become in our language? Today, when someone says: 'God has visited me', or 'God has visited me badly', they actually mean, in a more subtle way, but they mean: 'God has beaten me! As if God could not approach you, visit you, in any other way than with a stick, with a beating, with anger! And so we are afraid of God's visit, because it will surely bring us some more trouble. Our unbelief and distrust is expressed in this interpretation of the word "visitation". We do not want to say that there has been a calamity, that there is great trouble, but we say, "God has visited us! And that includes a little bit of blaming God for the trouble! And yet God's visit is always a gracious visit, always a visit of great blessing, always good! "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that he has visited and redeemed his people." (Luke 1:68) and "God has visited his people." (Lk 7,16) Here in Jerusalem, Jesus prepared one last occasion for the conversion of the people by His visit. This visit meant that the great moment was here, when it was still possible to make amends, when it was still possible to avoid the coming judgment, when it was still possible to accept God's offer of peace. That is why the visit took place, and the poor people did not realise it!
Do not be afraid that if God visits you in some suffering or trial, do not say in horror, "alas, God has visited you", but take it seriously that God has indeed visited you. For when God visits someone, it cannot be a calamity, only a blessing! Imagine what a great honour it is to have God, the Lord Jesus Christ, visiting you! Don't complain about it, but take advantage of this precious opportunity, this is when He is closest to you. Tell him everything, talk to him, open your heart to him. Do not be afraid of him, confide in him, tell him your sins. That's why he came to see you! You are in trouble not because the Lord has visited you, but because you are in trouble and he wants to help you! He wants to save you out of your trouble, he wants to keep you for eternity! And how sad it is when someone doesn't recognize this time of grace that the Lord is preparing for them with His gracious visitation! How sad when He has to tell someone what He told Jerusalem here: You have not recognized the time of your visitation. Thou hast not known it: thou hast thought it other, not loving care, but punishment. You have not used it, you have not let it pass from your life, you have not given thanks for it.
But is this failure to recognise the time of the visitation so tragic that Jesus even has to weep over it? Yes, because Jesus wants to save you from judgment with this visitation! And He knows what a terrible judgment it is that He wants to save us from! He knows what damnation is, what death is, what God's punishment, His judgment of sin is! He suffered all this on the cross. That is why He does everything to save from it those for whom He died, for whom He suffered. That is why he knocks, why he visits, why he offers this salvation again and again! He brings this blessing. And He truly knows that there is no greater tragedy than for someone not to receive it. It is such a great tragedy that the Son of God weeps over it! Does temiattad have to cry too?
If only we could plead from the heart with the words of the song:
Come, my King, my Jesus!
My heart, behold, I open.
Save me from the evil one,
Do not let him corrupt me.
With thy blood that has been shed,
Wash from me what stains;
Show me the way of life,
And I cannot find it.
Heal my many ills,
Ease the sorrow of my heart;
Doubt and sorrow, if I be troubled,
Make my faith sure.
(Canto 464, verses 1-3)
Amen
Date: 6 April 1952, Palm Sunday.
Lesson
Lk 19,29-40