Cost of Discipleship, Procession & Tears - Luke 19

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Mark 11:1-11 Colossians 1:1-8 Luke 19:28-48 Maturing in faith,The love, and hope Cost of these Tears Introduction In this week of Palm Sunday, we take the final step in our “Cost of Discipleship” series as we continue to travel with Jesus on his Easter journey to Jerusalem. Turning to the triumphal procession in Luke 19, we see the cost of discipleship in terms of Jesus’ tears shed over a city and a temple that refuse to recognize the peace of Christ. At the same time, these tears ask of us his followers a key question: “How are we welcoming the reign of Christ in our lives by living in peace of Christ, and by hanging on his words?”

Connection Group Study COMMENTARY STUDY

vv. 28-29. It is always helpful to inquire into geography whenever we approach a biblical text particularly in terms of asking questions of association. We have already noted in this series the importance of Jerusalem in Luke’s gospel, noting that with the author’s key reference in 9:51 to “Jesus setting his face to

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

vv. 28-29. Study: If you have a Bible atlas, this would be a perfect time to use one. Or search the geographical terms of these verses at website like bibleatlas.org, or look up a map using Google Images. Get a sense of the physical procession of this narrative.

confession? Jerusalem,” Luke is inviting his reader on a journey to consider the cost of discipleship. As such, Luke has frequently referred to Jerusalem since chapter 9. The Hebrew of “Bethpage,” ‫ ֵּבית ּ ַפג‬, suggests a meaning of “the house of young/unripe figs,” and the town was located near the summit of the Mount of Olives, just the east. The Hebrew of “Bethany,” ‫ע ִניָּה ֵּבית‬ ֲ , suggests a meaning of “the house of poverty/affliction,” and the town was located close by Bethpage, about 1 km south, also still the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives, known as such from the multitude of olive trees that grew upon it, is a ridge extending north to south rising above the eastern side of Jerusalem.

vv. 30-34. While providing relatively little information on the two disciples and on the “village,” Luke includes at length Jesus’ conversation regarding the colt. The details of this passage would have called to mind echoes of Zechariah 9 for its original readers, an OT reference which the parallel procession passage in Matthew 21 makes clear. Note that an unbroken beast was regarded as sacred (Dt 21:3), and thus was an appropriate mount for a king, for no one else was to ever have ridden a king’s mount (See Edwards’s Pillar Luke , 545).

Study: What ideas might a Jewish listener in Jesus’ day have associated with the Mount of Olives? Read Zechariah 14:1-10. What is the imagery there of judgment, and of kingship? How does that imagery correlate with what we see here in Luke 19?

vv. 30-34. Study: Read Zechariah 9:9-17, a passage that speaks of God’s judgment upon Israel’s enemies (Remember that Zechariah was written after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.) making sure to notice the reference to the “young donkey,” which Luke references in describing a “colt on which no one has ever yet sat.” What themes here correlate with Luke 19?

Discuss: What do you make of the disciples finding the colt just as Jesus had foretold?

Confess: Note that the word for “the colt’s owners,” in verse 33, is κύριοι (kyrioi), literally “lords.” Luke then, seems most likely to be making a word play with “the Lord“ of Jesus, highlighting Jesus’ unique and ultimate authority. Confess: In what ways have you failed to acknowledge the supreme lordship and authority of Christ in your life in recent weeks?

confession?

vv. 35-36. Although not referencing

vv. 35-36. Reflect: In these days, in this

the “palms” of the parallel passages in Matthew 21 and Mark 11, Luke describes, like our other two gospel authors, the crowd throwing their cloaks upon the colt and spreading their cloaks upon the road. Yet, Luke is unique in describing that the crowd “sits” Jesus— literally “throws (him) upon” (ἐπιῤῥίπτω, epirrhipto) the colt—an image particularly emphasizing the enthronement of Jesus. Note that there is biblical precedent of such cloak-spreading in terms of a royal coronation, as with Jehu in 2 Kings 9.

season of your life, what does it mean for you, like one of the crowd that day outside Jerusalem, to faithfully enthrone Jesus in his kingly place?

vv. 37-38. Jesus’ disciples rejoice and

How, today, are these verses speaking good news to you?

praise God as a whole multitude, in a great voice, quoting Psalm 118:26. Psalm 118 was used in Old Testament times as a hymn of royal entry on the occasion of an annual ritual of reenthronement (See Green’s Luke commentary, 686). Note also that the notion of praising God for his mighty works has just taken place in Luke: see chapter 18 in Jesus’ healing of the blind beggar, who had cried out, “Have mercy on me!” and of whom Jesus subsequently had asked, “What do you me want to do for you?”

Discern: What does it look like for your Connection Group to spread out your cloaks on the road, along the path that Jesus desires to walk in your neighbourhood? In other words, how can you express before your neighbours the truth that, in Eugene Peterson’s Message translation of John 1, “Jesus has (already) moved into the neighbourhood”?

vv. 37-38. Reflect: Read Psalm 118:14-27.

Pray: What mighty works do you hope/need to see in your life? In the words of the blind beggar (see commentary note), “What do you want Jesus to do for you?”

Pray: Whether now or waiting until the end of your study time, repeat the praise of verse 38 as a refrain through your prayers: between each prayer, reaffirm the truth that “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Study: What parts of Luke 2 do these verses remind you? How is Luke, in a sense, ending where he started?

confession?

vv. 39-40. This reference to the disgruntled Pharisees is unique to Luke (comparing to Mark and Matthew). We have noted the Pharisees interactions with Jesus in Luke throughout this series (as in Luke 7 and 14), and this interaction—the last mention of the Pharisees in Luke’s gospel—seems most in line with those previous portrayals.

vv. 41-44. This is the only time in Luke’s

Discuss: What do you think it is of the triumphal procession that so disgruntles the Pharisees?

Pray: Pray that the praise of all creation, including even the very stones, would be known in your life and in your neighbourhood.

vv. 41-44. Pray: Pray that the city in

gospel that Jesus is said to “weep,” (κλαίω, Vancouver would know what makes for klaio) which in Greek implies deep and peace. audible sorrow. Jesus laments the lack of peace (the lack of God's shalom) that characterizes the city; for Jesus has visited Jerusalem with the peace of God, but Jerusalem has not recognized Jesus. The prophetic imagery of destruction recalls the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile centuries earlier, and foretells the Roman siege upon Jerusalem a few decades later.

vv. 45-48. Jesus’ long journey to Jerusalem finally reaches its conclusion as he enters the temple, the symbol of the central authority of Judaism, for the first time since he was 12. Recalling Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus cleanses the temple of its “den of robbers.” The term in Jer 7 refers to those who oppress the poor for their own socio-religious legitimation; as such, Jesus' censure seems less a critique of the buying/selling of the offerings of the regular sacrificial system, and more a critique of the Jewish leaders. Jesus then reclaims the temple for his own teaching, teaching clung to by the masses.

Andrey Peshkov

Jesus's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem 2013 (fineartamerica.com)

vv. 45-48. Confess: How have I used the service of God to my own advantage?

Reflect: How is Jesus calling you to hang on his every word? What practices might encourage you in this respect?