A Different Kind of King

It's only three weeks until Easter. It feels like it's come up quick. Or maybe actually, if you're like me, you've been anticipating it for a while. I've been eating hot cross buns since February. So Easter's not too far away.

And we have a new series called Alive. And we're going to look at some of those key moments from Jesus life. We're going to look at the purpose behind his death and the significance of the resurrection, and in that, discover what it means to live fully in that hope and the freedom and the purpose that he offers us. And so we're going to be doing that by looking through the account of Jesus life, death and resurrection in the Gospel of Luke. And in particular, I'll be looking at Luke 19 this morning.

And just, just to set the scene to bring you up to speed as to where we're going to start off. In the chapters leading up to what we're about to read, Jesus sets out on this long road trip to Jerusalem. And in that we see Jesus traveling around and teaching people and performing miracles. And it's where we read about a lot of the famous parables that Jesus told. We see him famously challenge the actions of the religious leaders of the day, and we see him healing people.

And so all those actions, they have a huge impact on people. And people start following Jesus, lots of people start gathering around him. And all these people who encounter Jesus see something in him, something that shows them that he's more than just a good teacher. He's their Messiah. And so this long awaited savior and king who would come and confront evil and injustice and bring about lasting peace.

And so as savior and king, Jesus is ultimately traveling to Jerusalem to fulfill that mission. That's his mission. He is. He's going to confront evil and injustice in the world and bring about lasting peace. But at this point in the story, no one knows exactly how he's going to achieve that.

And so there are lots of tensions that start rising to the surface. There are the people, of course, who are living under Roman oppression, who are desperate to be liberated from that. There are the religious leaders of the day who are just very skeptical of who Jesus is and who he claims to be. And it's so different to their idea of what their Savior would be. They're looking for someone who would bring them peace by overthrowing the Roman Empire, someone who had come with force.

And then there are the Roman authorities themselves who see the potential for Jesus and his teachings to disrupt the status quo. Right? And so in the verses we're about to read, there are all these tensions in the background, right? And Jesus is at the. The end of this journey to Jerusalem.

He's on the outskirts of the city in a place called the Mount of Olives. There's a prominent hill overlooking the city, and everyone's waiting to see what Jesus is going to do. What kind of king is he going to turn out to be? Is he going to lead them in revolt against the Romans, or does he have something else in mind? We get a good idea of the kind of king Jesus is going to be in these verses.

So let's read together. We're reading Luke 19, 28, 44, if you'd like to read along yourself. Or of course, they'll be on the screen Starting verse 28. Jesus went on towards Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead.

Go into that village over there, he told them. As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, why are you untying that colt? Just say, the Lord needs it.

So they went out and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, why are you untying the colt? And the disciples simply replied, the Lord needs it. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on. And so we see Jesus here sending out his disciples to find him a colt, a young donkey to ride on.

And there are two significant things to note about this. The first is that it's symbolic. In the ancient world, if a king were to ride a war horse, for example, that would be a symbol of their military power, of their strength. So you'd ride a warhorse into a town that you had conquered or intended to conquer, a symbol of your strength. And in contrast to that is the donkey, what people would consider to be a lowly or a humble animal by comparison.

And that's Jesus choice to ride on. And that is a symbol of peace. The donkey or the colt is a symbol of peace. And his choice to ride on that is a signal of his intention. His intention was to come in peace.

He wasn't there to lead a rebellion. He wasn't there to start this military uprising, which, as we know, it's in contrast what many people believed he would be doing. So Jesus makes it clear here right from the start that his intention is to enter this city in peace. The second thing that is significant about his choice here is that it's prophetic. Jesus choice to ride that cult directly fulfills the prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9.

It says this. Rejoice, O people of Zion. Shout in triumph. O people of Jerusalem, look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble.

Riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey's colt. So Zachariah was a prophet. He was someone who spoke on behalf of God. And he predicted that the Messiah that everyone was waiting for would come to Jerusalem on a call. And by fulfilling this prophecy, it's like Jesus is saying to everyone, look, I want to make this clear, like, don't miss this.

I am the Messiah. I am the one that God has sent to save you. So take note of what is going to happen to me while we're here. Right? So this is huge.

This is what everyone has been waiting for. This is that moment in time that people have been looking forward to that's going to change everything. And it looks like a lot of people actually recognize what is happening here, which is why it goes on to say this.

As he rode along, the crowd spread out their garments on the road ahead of them. When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven. And so the image that you have here is Jesus riding the stonkey down the Mount of Olives towards the city.

And all these crowds start forming and gathering around him. People start laying down their cloaks on the ground. And they're doing that because they want to honor his arrival. This is a symbol of their recognition of who Jesus is, of their submission to him as well. And then the crowd starts singing.

They start singing, saying, blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven. And so these people, they're filled with this hope that Jesus is this long awaited king. And they recognize that what comes with that is peace. And they're ecstatic, right?

But not everyone is. He goes on to say this, but some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that. Jesus replied, if they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers. So the religious leaders, they're skeptical of who Jesus claims to be and they see him as a threat to. To their power, right?

That's the main issue. And they're not happy about it. But Jesus responds to them, and I think it's fantastic. He says, if they keep quiet, the stones will burst into cheers. It's like he's saying, I couldn't stop them from praising even if I tried.

Jesus is in that moment, he's declaring that his arrival in Jerusalem is. Is pivotal. This is an unstoppable moment in God's redemptive plan. And the truth of who he is, which is the Messiah and the King of Israel, cannot be silenced. Right?

But what's striking here to me is that Jesus is actually distraught. He's actually weeping as he rides. It goes on to say this in verse 41, but as he came closer to Jerusalem and. And saw the city ahead, he began to weep. How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way of peace.

But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long, your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, but because you did not recognize it when God visited you, right? So as Jesus nears the city, he's weeping.

What looks like this triumphant, joyful entry into Jerusalem instead is causing Jesus distress. But why Jesus? He knows something they don't. He knows that despite the praise that he's receiving now, he ultimately won't be accepted as Israel's king, and his teachings will be rejected by their leaders. Teachings like, if somebody steals from you, don't retaliate.

If somebody hits you, don't respond with violence. Always be ready to forgive and even go as far as to love your enemies. These are some of the most evocative and counterintuitive teachings on how to respond to oppression and injustice. And they're so upside down that people just don't get it right, and they reject it. Ultimately, they.

They reject it. And that rejection of Jesus sets them down this path of resistance and rebellion against the Roman Empire. And that path, it eventually leads to the city's downfall. Jesus says, before long, your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and circle you and close in on you from every side. A day will come when Jerusalem is destroyed and the people and people will die as a direct result of not recognizing Jesus.

And so there is a painting here, an artist's interpretation of what actually happens to Jerusalem. So Jesus Words in this verse, they're this haunting prediction of what actually happened to Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem. And so a few years prior to that, 66 AD the Jewish population revolted against Roman rule. And this led to a drawn out conflict that came to a head in 70 AD in this siege of Jerusalem where essentially the Jewish resistance was crushed. And this was devastating.

Hundreds of thousands of people are predicted to have died, not just from that siege itself, from the famine and the disease that came with it. And significantly for the Jewish people, the temple was destroyed. And you can see that in the painting there, the fire coming out of the temple. And so Jesus is saying they end up here because they chose to reject him. They thought that the righteous thing to do was to resist the Roman Empire with violence, to raise an army and revolt.

And so notice what Jesus says in those verses that we just read. What would have been the result if they had recognized him. In verse 42, he says, How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way of peace. So Jesus says recognizing him would have brought them peace. Not just figurative peace, but literal peace.

Recognizing that he is the Messiah would have brought them peace. And so that's why, that's why Jesus is weeping as he enters Jerusalem, because he knows that ultimately he will be rejected. And with that comes suffering and death. And so if you're one of Jesus followers at this time, you'd have to stop and think hard about what following him really meant. In the midst of this Roman oppression, the suffering they were under, was it possible to overcome that without retaliating?

Was it possible not to use violence to gain their freedom? How could you possibly love your enemies? These are the kind of questions that they would have to really consider from Jesus teachings. What they didn't get is that Jesus was calling them to a type of resistance, but in a completely different way, in a non violent way, that through their non violent response they would achieve justice and peace. And I want to take a moment just to show you a real world example of what that looks like.

A real world example of where people have taken up Jesus teachings on nonviolent resistance and brought about hugely impactful, lasting change in our world. And one of those examples, there's many to choose from actually. But one of those examples comes from the famous historical figure, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many of you will know who he is. He was a preacher who was most well known for how he fought for the civil rights of African American Americans.

Right things like the right to Vote, desegregation, workers rights, and so on. And in 1963, which is when this photo is taken, he stood in front of 250,000 people and he gave what has become one of the most famous speeches of all time. And I'm going to read you a bit of it because it sets the scene for the types of things that he was battling against. He says, I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even in the state of Mississippi, the a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And so King was appealing to his followers, to his fellow activists, to pursue justice. Right.

But he was also very careful to explain how that should be done. And so he says this as part of that same speech. He says, we must, must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again.

We must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. So he appeals to his fellow activists to use the methods of nonviolent resistance and to achieve their goals in that way. And so a powerful example of what that actually looked like was the, what's known as the Selma to Montgomery marches, which happened in 1965. So in February of that year, very tragically, a 26 year old activist and church leader, Jimmie Lee Jackson, he was beaten and shot to death by state troopers during a protest. And so in response to that, King helped lead a march from Selma to the state capital, which is Montgomery.

And more than 500 protesters set out on that day. And on the way they were to cross a significant landmark. It's called the Edmund Peters Bridge. And it's a controversial landmark because it's named after a Confederate general who was also a very high standing member in the Klu Klux Klan. And so this bridge that they were going across, it was a symbol, really a symbol of this ingrained and institutionalized racism that was, you know, around in lots of areas at this time.

And so they set out across this bridge as part of their protest march. And waiting on the other side of the bridge was a line of state troopers, which is what you can see in the photo.

And as they crossed that bridge, the state troopers essentially stopped the march. They attacked the protesters, they knocked them to the ground, they beat them with clubs, they fired tear gas into them, charged them with horses. And it was such a violent response that it became known as Bloody Sunday. And because of the violence that was witnessed, a court injunction just forbid any further marches. They said, we don't want to see any more of this violence happening again.

You just can't march. So in response to that violence that they took upon themselves as the protesters, they actually organized. King organized another march. It's very bold, isn't it? Thing to do.

He led the protesters back to the Edmund Peters Bridge. Right. But now they had 2,500 people joining them. The numbers had grown again. And this time, once they reached the bridge, they did something which I think is absolutely amazing.

This time they, they knelt down, they prayed. Yep. And.

And then they, they obeyed the court order and they, they turned and they headed back. Right. And so that's a really significant response to the violence that they had received. And from here, they saw what I think are a number of miracles. A week later, the federal court ruled that they could and did have the right to march.

And so they did. And on Sunday 21st March, 8,000 people now joined them on a march from Selma. But this time, the president, at the time, Lyndon Johnson, vowed to provide them with protection, which is a massive turnaround. They were provided with 1,900 members for their National Guard, the FBI, the federal marshals, and they actually lined the way and protected the protesters. And so by the time the protesters completed their 87 kilometer walk, which took them four days to complete, the numbers had grown again and 25,000 people were now part of that protest.

And so this was as a direct result of those marches. Right. The Voting Rights act passed into law, which secured voting rights for African Americans. This was a massive win for the civil rights movement and a really powerful demonstration of, of just how effective non violent resistance is. But what often gets left out of that story is Jesus influence on it.

It's so important for us especially, I think, to recognize that here. Right. Because for King, non violent resistance, it wasn't just a tactic, this wasn't just a political maneuver. This was a way of life for him. And this really comes out in his Speeches and his writings and just the way he conducted himself.

It was a way of life that for him reflected his obedience to Jesus. Right. It was because of Jesus teachings and Jesus example that King, he clung so fiercely to his convictions. He clung to these ideas that enemies must be loved, not humiliated. He really thought that their fight was against the forces of evil and not against people.

Right. That's significant because they're specifically Christian convictions. Right. And it's because King was convinced that Jesus was his Lord and Savior that he and his fellow activists, they were able to persevere in the face of such overwhelming hostility and in the end, death. Sadly, King was assassinated just a few years later in 1968.

But to this day, the activism that he stood for remains as this powerful example of non violent resistance and how that can be applied and how it has actually transformed our world for the better. And at the heart of that is Jesus teachings and example. Jesus is the reason why Martin Luther King Jr's name is synonymous with the idea of non violent resistance. And so this is the message that I hope you take today. It's simply that Jesus calls us to resist injustice, but in a non violent way.

Jesus is a different kind of king. He's a different kind of king. And he shows us that in the way that he enters Jerusalem, he rides in on a cult which is both symbolic and prophetic. It's a symbol of peace. It's his intention to come to this city peacefully.

It's also fulfilling a prophecy that Jesus is their long awaited king and savior. And Jesus is weeping as he rides in, weeping knowing that ultimately he will be rejected, that people won't live out his teachings, but they'll choose to hold on to their desire to revolt and rebel and to do that with violence. And ultimately that will lead to their own suffering and death. So Jesus wasn't there to destroy the Roman Empire. He wasn't there to lead a revolt.

He wasn't there to gather an army. Jesus is a different kind of king. He is a king of peace. And the way he brings about that peace is so different to any earthly means. Jesus taught that somebody steals from you, you don't retaliate if somebody hits you, you don't respond with violence.

Always be ready to forgive and even go as far as to love your enemies. And then Jesus shows us an example of what that looks like by taking on all of our sin and letting it kill him. By dying in our place, Jesus sacrifices himself. And with that he actually overcomes the injustice in our world and brings about Lasting peace. And so for you this morning, the message is, first of all, just to recognize that Jesus is a different kind of king, right?

That he is a king of peace and that he calls you personally to live radically different to the world around you. But Jesus is calling you to resistance, but in a different kind of way. Your fight is against injustice and oppression. But to do that creatively, to do that in a non violent way, these teachings are also achievable. I think that's an important message.

Jesus teachings aren't just this idealistic view of the world. They are achievable. And we can see real life examples of people who have lived this out and achieved transformational things in our world. That it is possible to resist injustice with nonviolence and to win over your opponent rather than destroy them. Jesus gives you that power through his life, death and resurrection.

Let's pray.

Dear Lord, we come before you this morning in the lead up to Easter, just reflecting on your life, your death and your resurrection. And just the power that has, Lord, the significance that has in our lives and the transformation that has taken place inside of us because of you. And we just thank you for that, Lord. We praise you for that. And we praise you, Lord, for the peace that that brings us.

We thank you, Lord, that you are a king of peace. That you show that with both your words and your actions, that you. That you are a different kind of king. And that because, because of that, Lord, because of the peace that you bring, that we're empowered to live that out as well, Lord, that we're empowered to respond to hatred with love. That you have empowered us to be people who are filled with grace.

You've empowered us, Lord, to forgive others. That you've empowered us, Lord, to even love our enemies. So I just pray that blessing upon us, Lord, that you would keep working through us, fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we can live that out and achieve that lasting peace in our lives. In Jesus name, amen.