Luke 19:28-48  Click here for Bible Verses

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Luke 19:28-48. Let’s go!

Luke 19:28-40 (NIV) 
28  After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29  As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them,
30  “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
31  If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.'”
32  Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.
33  As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34  They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35  They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it.
36  As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37  When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 

Luke 19:41-44 (NIV) 
41  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
42  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

On verses 41-44: Here Jesus weeps for the city of Jerusalem. He weeps because he knows that he is the only one who can bring the city true and lasting peace and yet the people of Jerusalem would fail to recognize it (v42: “If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes”). The majority of Jews in Jerusalem didn’t feel a need for a Saviour to deliver them from their sins. Rather what many of them were looking for was a military leader who could conquer the Romans by force.

Jesus also weeps as he predicts Jerusalem’s eventual and heartbreaking destruction by the Romans (v43-44), which would happen within 50 years after Jesus gives this prophecy.

What can we learn from this?

1. God has a heart not just for individuals but for cities. God doesn’t just see you, your family and your own individual issues. God also sees things from a city-wide and nation-wide perspective too. Just as Jesus loved Jerusalem, God loves Vancouver and everyone in it. We start to gain a bit more of God’s perspective when we start looking beyond our own needs and concerns and looking at what our city needs.

2. Sometimes the help we want is not the help we need. Sometimes we look to temporary solutions and imperfect people to give us peace when the one we really need, the only one who can truly help our situation, is God Himself. What things or people other than Jesus are you tempted to put your hope in instead of Jesus? On this day, do what I call the “Hope In”. Say to God, “God, my hope is not in X (whatever you are tempted to hope in other than Jesus). My hope is in You.”

Luke 19:45-46 (NIV) 
45  Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling.
46  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'” 

On verses 45-46: Here Jesus enters the temple courts in Jerusalem and drives out those who were greedily trying to make a profit from the people worshiping there. Jesus saw that the focus in the temple had gone from being a “house of prayer” (quoting Isaiah 56:7) to a “den of robbers” (quoting Jeremiah 7:11).

What can we learn from this? The Bible tells us that as believers in Jesus Christ, our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us. If we are not careful, however, we can allow into our lives things that will rob us of God’s peace, joy and purpose. Are there certain sins, secret habits, or destructive ways of thinking that are robbing you of God’s peace, joy and purpose? Like Jesus, we need to take a stand against those things, repent of those things, and clear them out so that the Holy Spirit can have full reign and rule over our lives.

Luke 19:47-48 (NIV) 
47  Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.
48  Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

On verses 47-48: Why did the chief priests, teachers of the law and other leaders in Jerusalem want to kill Jesus? The Life Application Bible does a good job of identifying some reasons. For example, Jesus negatively affected business at the temple by driving out the temple merchants. Jesus was calling into question some of the rules that the chief priests and teachers of the law espoused and was thus branded a heretic. By calling himself God, Jesus was also, in the minds of the chief priests and teachers of the law, a blasphemer. Even more, with Jesus being so popular and drawing huge crowds, Israel’s leaders were concerned that this would provoke the ire of the Roman government. (Life Application Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.) Yet Israel’s leaders could not get rid of Jesus so easily or discreetly because he was constantly being hounded by people who “hung on his words” (v48).

Like the people in verse 48, may we hang onto Jesus’ words today and every day, not letting Jesus out of our sight.

Lord Jesus, You deserve full reign in my life. Today I proclaim that I belong to You and my city belongs to You. Please come and help me clear out those things from my life that only rob me of the peace, power, purpose and hope You died to give me.  Please also let me have a heart for my city like You have a heart for this city. Holy Spirit come and fill me and be my strength today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!