The Scripture reading is from the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament, chapter 19, verses 28 through 42. That's Luke 19, 28 through 42. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethvege and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples saying, go into the village in front of you where on entering you will find a coat tied on which no one has ever yet set. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you untying it, you shall say the Lord has needed it. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the coat, its owners said to them, why are you untying the coat? And they said the Lord has needed it. And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the coat. They set Jesus on it. And as he wrote along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near already on the weight and the amount of olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with the loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed is a king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crown said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out. 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, the word of the Lord? Thanks be to God. Let's ask for God's blessing as we look at his word together. Father, thank you for giving to us the inherent word of God that we don't have to wonder what your will is. We don't have to wonder what it means to know you, how to enter into a saving knowledge of you. I pray you'd give us eyes to see today, Holy Spirit, ears to hear in a heart to embrace and a will to follow you wherever you would take us. Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, we've talked a lot about cities this year during our sermons. We started by looking at a series through the book of Jonah at the city of Nineveh. Jonah was called to go to the city of Nineveh and preach to them. And then we've been looking in this series during Lent, the weeks preceding Easter, been looking at the city of Jerusalem, how Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem in Luke chapter 9 and how Luke uses really the middle section of his gospel from 9 to 19 to emphasize this journey narrative heading towards the destination of the city of Jerusalem. And we contrasted how Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem in obedience to his father's will in contrast to Jonah who was called to go to Nineveh, but he set his face in exactly the opposite direction. He wasn't about to go to Nineveh. And now we've seen how these two things in great contrast help us from opposite directions to focus upon our calling to the city of Houston. In a sense to the cities of the world, God calls his people to go, to take the gospel, to be the gospel, to be the healing influence of his kingdom. And this is the great theme throughout this section of the gospel of Luke. Then you come to Palm Sunday, to the climactic day where King Jesus would ride triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem. And you get this sense of intensity that has built up a sense of profound momentum that has been built. Let me just give you a taste of that. For instance, chapter 18, verse 31, taking the 12, he said to them, see we are going up to Jerusalem. Then it says in chapter 19, verse 11, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to Jerusalem. And then chapter 19, verse 28, when he said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. Then over in chapter 19, verse 37, as he was drawing near and then verse 41, when he drew near and saw the city. So you have the sense of momentum, of intensity that is building up. The people are lining the streets as he makes the journey into the city of Jerusalem. The Luke narrative doesn't actually record him going into the city, but really it's his approach to the city. The waving palm branches, they're celebrating. This is a moment, a day of triumph of epic proportions. And so you imagine, as Jesus is going through this, what you would expect. Now you might know on this side of the history of that moment, you know what happened, but what a surprise. It must have been, if you were with Jesus in this incredible celebration, he catches a glimpse of Jerusalem. And you imagine that he would just break out in praise. And what does he do? He weeps the crowd on the one hand. They have triumphed. Unbelievable celebration, but for Jesus, as he looks at the city of Jerusalem, the city symbolic of the people of God. And it is a tragedy beyond imagination for him. And he weeps. Why? That's what we want to look at this morning, trying to get inside of the great journey that Jesus has been taking us through these last many weeks. Why is it that he would weep at the climactic moment of all times? He wept because the tragedy, the very thing that the people of God longed for more than anything else they missed out on. What they had set their face toward, they lost. And what was that? Well, he gives us that in the last verse, from our scripture reading this morning, chapter 42, I'll read chapter 40, excuse me, verse 42, I'll read verses 41 and 42, when he drew near and saw the city. Okay, so this is the climactic moment of the book. He wept over it. You're surprised at that, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace? Why did Jesus weep? Because of the tragedy that what they longed for the most, the peace of God, they couldn't get. They missed it all together. Let's explore that a little bit. When we say the word peace here, translated in English, it's coming from a Greek word. Jesus would have spoken this in Aramaic. The context of all of this, though, is the Hebrew word Shalom, which many people in American culture have heard the word Shalom. But when we translate it simply in our English peace, we lose a lot of it because the Hebrew word completely overshadows the English translation. The word Shalom does mean peace, but it means more than, you know, we might tend to think of it as well. I've got peace of mind over that issue that I'm struggling with. Or when we think of a warring factions that we long for peace between them. Well, it certainly has that idea, but it's a much more pregnant, full org thought. The idea is wholeness, completeness, things as they ought to be. Now we have this morning, I mean, every Sunday we have an incredible ensemble of musicians. This morning it's a veritable orchestra. I mean, this is an unbelievably gifted group of people, the Lord has given us. For all their giftedness, what if they each decided I don't need to follow the score that is before me? I can probably do a better job if I just sort of wing it on my own. Kind of go off in my own direction, carrying my own melody and tin. If they did that, it would be a cacophonous racket. Why? Because the individuals with all their gifts must come together under the submission of the score of the composer and under the direction of the one who is leading them. Then things are whole. Then you get this completeness, this sense that you have when you listen to great music. That there is something real in the world. There's something transcendent that there's something beautiful and harmonious as all the various instruments play together in harmony. Cornelius Plantanga in his book, The Way Things Audible, put it this way, that Shalom is the webbing together of God, humans and all creation in justice, fulfillment and delight. Did you hear that? It's the webbing together. I like that imagery of God, human beings and all creation and justice, fulfillment, delight. It's really the way things are supposed to be. It's what we long for in our hearts. When we see a broken relationship, you long for there to be peace, you long for reconciliation. When you see just horrible tragedy in the world, when you see just a madman in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago going on a rampage, killing people right and left, your heart cries out, what a tragedy you long for Shalom. When you see people in our own city that have a loss of the Shalom of God, do you see it as a tragedy? When you see people who are escaping through substance abuse, do you see it as a tragedy or do you just sort of become apathetic and shake your head out and move along? When you see marriages that are torn apart, when you see children that are abandoned, when you see in your own friend's life or maybe in a family member, someone who is totally at odds with their other family members. Do you see it as a tragedy? Do you cry out for the loss of Shalom in their existence? Well, the prophet Isaiah talked a good bit, all the prophets did frankly about this, and listen to this picture that he gives to us. Isaiah 55-12, he said, speaking of the day where Shalom would be realized all over the earth, for you shall go out and enjoy and be led forth in peace, mountains and hills, before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Now, he's not saying that literally the trees are going to clap their hands, trees don't have hands, and that mountains are going to break forth in singing, what's the idea? That is the apostle Paul said in Romans, that in this broken world where there's a deprivation of Shalom, that the creation groans because things are not as they're supposed to be. The lion doesn't lay down with the lamb, there isn't harmony, all the different musicians are playing their own tune, and it is a cacophonous racket, and occasionally we get tastes of that Shalom, but then it's gone like a mist, and yet there is that hope, that longing, that every person has, whether you're religious or irreligious, that there's going to be a day when, as it were, the trees clap their hands, and the mountains break out in song, because creation, human beings are at harmony with one another, and things are as they're supposed to be. And the question is, what's your reaction when you see this in the city of Houston, the place where God has providentially placed us, and your own little sphere of existence, are you apathetic about it? Are you like Jonah, do you obstinate or only turn your back on the tragedy, and go your own direction, or do you like Christ look at it in compassion and weep for the loss of Shalom? What about in your own life, and say, well, I'm a Christian, okay? What about in your own life, even as Christians, though we may have peace with God through the work of Christ, in his life, death, and resurrection, so what we call the gospel, the good news, that we can have peace with God, though we have that, transactionally, practically, we struggle with that, don't we? It's like the penance cartoon I ran across recently, where Lucy's saying to Charlie Brown, I hate everything, I hate everybody, I hate the whole world. Charlie says, but I thought you had inner peace, Lucy, and she replies, I do have inner peace, but I still have outer obnoxiousness. We have to be careful, those of us on the inside, those of us religious folk. We have to be careful that we don't fail to recognize that the inner peace of Christ, that he brings through his work on the cross, must have ripple effects in our life, that it should overflow into every sphere, every nook and cranny of our existence, to every relationship, to every attitude, every thought. How do we get that peace? How do we get it initially? How do we build it, nurture it in our lives? How do we help other people in the city of Houston throughout the world? What's our responsibility to others to help recover this tragic loss of Shalom? How can we enjoy more of the triumph of Palm Sunday instead of the tragedy of the loss of it as Christ gazed upon the city of Jerusalem? How do we get that peace? Well, we experience the peace by first recognizing where it doesn't come from. Where do we tend to think that peace, that inner sense of wholeness is going to come from, from change and circumstance? We tend to think that if our circumstances are okay, if the chessboard of our life is aligned properly, then things will be okay, and so we play the, if only game, if only I had more money, if only I were thinner, if only I were married or maybe not married, if only I had different parents or more well-behaved children, if only I had a better job or maybe if I only had a job, if only I had more vacation and recreation, if only my physical problems, were not there, then I'd be peaceful. I'd have that peace and you can fill in the blank. In fact, really, the question is, when you hear that, how do you fill in the blank? If only I had this, I'd be okay. I'd be peaceful. See, that's a lie. We never get there. It's like trying to go to sleep, if you ever had a night where you just are wide awake, you're getting bent, you're just wide awake, and then you tell yourself, I'm going to try hard right now to go to sleep. You try hard, you can't. You try hard to go to sleep, you stay awake. It's like the tragic child who's been thinking about their birthday for months and letting everyone know how excited they are about their birthday and the birthdays come and their nervous wreck and they just implode and it's a tragedy of epic proportions because they've tried so hard to have a good time that there's no possible way they could. See, that's the problem. When we try on our own to fill our life with the things of this life, we will not find Shalom and that's why Jesus said how tragic it is that they don't know the things that bring peace because they put their trust in so many other things that don't bring peace. And what he's really getting at here is that it's not about a circumstantial change in life, it's about worship, it's what my heart is attached to and gravitates toward. And so this passage is just one of those stop signs along the journey of life that Jesus is taking us on, on his way to Jerusalem that says stop, stop in your tracks, recognize the obvious that you're never going to have the deep abiding Shalom of God in the things in this life. And you know there's a little enigmatic element to the passage this morning that helps us to see this, it's as though unwittingly the people cheering on the side of the road recognize this. You know at the beginning of Jesus' ministry the angelic chorus cried out glory to God in the highest and peace where on earth, right? Now what do the people cry out in verse 38? Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven. It's as though they recognize as they're celebrating, oh how desperately we need heaven imported to earth because I've been there and done that in the things of this life and it doesn't bring the Shalom of God. I simply cannot get there. The Pharisees give us a picture as well of another warning side in the journey of life because the Pharisees are watching this incredible celebration on Palm Sunday and not only are they apathetic, not only do they not enter in in the celebration but they sort of saddle up to Jesus and Jesus, this is kind of embarrassing, you need to tame your disciples it's okay to be religious you know but just everything in moderation don't become fanatical about these things Jesus that's a problem with you and so they repute can you imagine the Lord of glory in his triumphant moment now Jesus turns and one ups them he rebukes them and says you know wouldn't do any good if I quieted down my disciples because if I did those rocks over there would break out maybe alluding back to the Isaiah passage as if to say a religious later if I quiet my disciples these inanimate objects will break out in singing and if inanimate objects like rocks can sense the import of the day and who stands before them then you you of all people should and you know there's also an interesting little clue in the name Jerusalem itself the word Jerusalem has the name Shalom in it can you hear it Jeru Shalom it's the city of peace oh city of peace how tragic that you should have not only stumbled across it you should have fixated upon the things that bring peace the one who brings peace but you like your leaders missed it why pride that was the problem that the Pharisees had it was religious pride it was presumption we know better than you Jesus so let me give you a pointer or two here and isn't that always the way with pride whether it's religious or a religious pride it's a presumption that I know what is best and so whether it's a child to a parent oh mom and dad I don't need to listen to your advice I know better or a athlete to a coach I don't need to listen to you coach I'm okay or musician to a conductor or a disciple to the one they follow and this is though that pride blinds us to sing things the way they really are and so we don't even notice that we're missing Shalom by giving ourselves to all these other things and what we need is the humility to see things as they are to see that because we're on this journey of life we're never just standing still we're always following some master we're being discipled by some thing whether it's instant gratification fear control recreation loneliness fill in the blank these are not simply neutral things that pull and tug at us these are other masters that we give our allegiance to and follow and the call of the gospel is recognize that and turn from those things to following Christ as he heads to Jerusalem he heads to the cross we got a picture of this a couple of them right before this passage the end of chapter 18 right after Jesus says we're going up to Jerusalem I'm going to suffer and die what happens as he's going along the road there's a blind beggar on the road side and he's crying out Jesus son of David have mercy on me and there were people who knew better like the Pharisees they repute this beggar oh quiet down don't you understand what's going on here but that's exactly what Jesus was drawn to to give us a symbol a picture of what we need in our own hearts to be like the blind beggar to recognize I don't see things properly I really do think that if my circumstances clear up I'm going to be okay I don't see that these other things like instant gratification loneliness fear obsession with physical problems in our life or financial issues or relational issues I don't see that these things aren't simply neutral there are other kings and though I may be a Christian technically from a practical standpoint I'm a disciple of filling the blank I don't see that and I need like the blind beggar to simply cry out Jesus son of David have mercy on me the other picture that he gives is right after that Jesus is still on his journey he's he's entered Jericho and was passing through so the movement of the story continues toward Jerusalem but here there's a rich man there was a poor blind beggar and now there's a man who has everything zikias the tax collector and he one despised by others when he connects with Christ when Jesus sees him he tells him to come down off the tree from which he was perched so he could see Jesus and he says zikias this day I must go to your house and you know what happens the blind beggar as it were sees the rich man Lazarus who was so prideful and arrogant that he stole from people throughout his life because of his career that sort of gave him the means to do so he comes down out of the tree and is broken and humbled and says behold Lord half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have defrauded any one of anything I restore it for fold see he was headed in one direction following the master of greed blinded by pride and presumption but then Jesus comes the master the king of glory stops him in his tracks and sends him toward Jerusalem toward the cross with him it's a triumphant picture of Jesus moving from moving someone from the tragedy of self-absorption to the triumph of being freed up to follow the king of peace and that's really what Christianity is all about it's it's seeing that we're all somewhere on the roadside of life and we may be apathetic about Jesus or we may be like the crowd on the roadside sort of a mile wide emotionally and an inch deep theologically waving our palm branches but they missed it didn't they like all of us tend to they missed the purpose of Jesus's journey to Jerusalem not to enter in in regal splendor and pomp and glory but to ride a humble donkey to enter in and wash the feet of those who followed him and ultimately to be brutally beaten and suffer and die the most tragic death imaginable in the ancient world tragedy of epic proportions yes but a triumph the triumph of the ages that's the pathway of life if you want to know that Shalom if you want to be an agent through which people in this city nation and world come to enjoy that wholeness that completeness that life it will only be as they come to recognize the tragedy of their own plight and embrace the triumph found in the cross of Christ if you're in Manhattan New York City sometime go to Rockefeller Center and you'll notice their right outside entrance to the Rockefeller Center magnificent statue of Atlas have you ever seen this before Atlas holding up the world and right across from Rockefeller Center is St. Patrick's Cathedral and interestingly on Good Friday the doors of the Cathedral are left open so that if you're standing positioning yourself sort of in between Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral you can turn this way and see Atlas the symbol of triumph human beings accomplishing all that they have set out to do holding up the world the world at their fingertips and you turn the other direction and you see the most gruesome tragic form of execution the world is ever known now which one is triumphant and which one is tragic God sets things on their head destiny he shames the world the wisdom of the world and calls it folly by showing up the glory and triumph of his cross and that really that picture should be the rhythm of our life whether it's the very first time you're doing so or the attitude of your heart every day of recognizing I tend to find and think I can find my shalom by looking towards the ways of man the ways of the world instead of seeing that as triumphant I must see it as tragic and turn and move steadfastly like my savior who set his face doggedly towards Jerusalem recognizing that in the tragedy of the cross I find the triumph of my life and the only hope for this city and world the shalom of God is known as we go with Jesus to the cross father we thank you for teaching us what is so simple we are likely in our blindness to miss it give us eyes to see these things a heart to believe them to embrace you the king of glory in Jesus' name we pray amen