A Heavenly Quality [6-14-26]

June 14, 2026

Luke 19:29-46

“A Heavenly Quality”

Here’s today’s passage. It has a lot going on:

When he drew near to Bethphage 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 colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd 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! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

Crowds can be crazy. I get it…sometimes they can be fun. Depends on the purpose and the people gathered in crowds. There can be a huge sheeple factor when it comes to crowds. The group-think mindset is disconcerting, to say the least. Crowds can also be fickle. Actions and/or opinions can turn on a dime. It’s not a bad thing to be wary of large crowds.

As we’ve seen since Jesus set his face for Jerusalem in chapter nine, crowds following Jesus have been growing in size and fervor.

The people and growing crowds have seen so much. There have been healings. There are been interactions with all kinds of people producing teachable moments and keen insights. People have been raised from the dead. Demons have been driven out of possessed subjects. Rich people have been disappointed. Rich people have had their priorities in life redirected toward God. Outcasts have been restored. Outsiders have been welcomed in. Jesus has been traveling here, there, and everywhere. And everywhere Jesus goes, there are crowds.

So, as Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem, crowds are there. Remember,

Jesus knows what awaits him. Rejection…arrest…suffering…and death.

The crowds are expecting something different. Even Jesus’ closest followers - his disciples - have yet to understand the kind of King Jesus is.

Here’s something we need to remember:

THIS IS THE LAST JOURNEY OF JESUS’ EARTHLY LIFE.

We are now at the place where expectation collides with reality.

The people are expecting an earthly king. They want to see Jesus riding in on a white horse. They are operating on their own timetable. They want an end to Roman rule. They want prosperity returned to the people. They want to be the culture that rules the roost. They want reflected glory. In other words, they want King Jesus to establish earthly rule so they can say, “See, we’re a part of this.”

To say the crowds are going to be baffled by how things turn out is an

understatement.

Here’s something you might want to write down:

Jesus does not come to fight against the nations and rescue Israel from her enemies.

We hear in the cries of the crowd from Luke 19:38 an echo of Psalm 118: 21-29:

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Save us, we pray, O Lord!

O Lord, we pray, give us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

We bless you from the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God,

and he has made his light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,

up to the horns of the altar!

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

you are my God; I will extol you.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Keep in mind expectations. The people see this Psalm through the lens of who they expect the Messiah to be and what they expect the Messiah to do. They want political rescue. They want economic rescue. They want social justice. They want to be delivered from earthly cares and woes. They want it all.

Yet as we’ll see, Jesus comes to deliver them from a more deadly enemy. That’s the point he’s making in choosing to ride in on a colt. Listen to Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Yes, a colt is a young donkey. Interesting sidenote, the Greek word for “colt” is polos. Just like the Ralph Lauren clothing line.

What imagery does riding on a horse conjure up? The ancient Assyrians dominated the Middle East centuries before the birth of Jesus. They pioneered the use of the first effective cavalry units in the Middle East, which everyone else eventually adopted. So, by the time of Jesus, horses represent military power and might. Which is exactly why Jesus chooses to ride in on a colt. He wants to disabuse people of any notion of or hope for military victory. Jesus fights a different battle.

Another sidenote. {I hope you will put up with one more sidenote today!} This particular scene should never be connected with Palm Sunday. First of all, there are no palms. Cloaks are spread on the road. And there’s no indication this takes place on a Sunday. So there you go. There are no children mentioned, either. What we have are all kinds of people joyfully praising God…from fickle crowds to faithful disciples. And everyone else in-between. The one thing they have in common is a misunderstanding of the kind of king Jesus is.

Here’s something else you might want to write down:

THE SCOPE OF HIS KINGSHIP EMBRACES HEAVEN.

Jesus is king. The Pharisees try to get him to silence his disciples. But he won’t. Even if he does…which he won’t do…but even if he does, then inanimate stones will cry out. In other words, what the Father is doing through the Son for our salvation cannot and will not be stopped. It is bigger than economic justice and political justice and social justice. It is something that no army on earth can accomplish. No invention can provide. It is nothing less than bridging the gap between us and our Creator caused by our sin. Our sin…cosmic rebellion against the God who lovingly and graciously gave us life…that sin can only be forgiven by the death of Jesus Christ. And with that victory comes eternal life. That is why

Jesus set his face for Jerusalem.

Think for a moment about all the difficulties, hardships, challenges, fears, and heartaches we face in life. No amount of prosperity gospel or power of positive thinking or feel-good-self-help-self-talk is going to make it go away. Like a bright, shiny orb in the sky, it’s always going to be there. Following us wherever we go. Am I bringing you down a bit? “What did you hear about in church today?” “I heard about scary orbs.” Life is filled with dangers, toils, and snares.

What is happening here is bigger than anything anyone could ever expect or hope to happen in this life. It is about the life to come.

If you achieve your educational goals, someday you’re still going to die.

If you have your dream job, earning a comfortable living, someday you’re still going to die.

You can take the best vacations every year, but someday you’re still going

to die.

You can have all kinds of people who respect and admire you, but someday you’re still going to die.

It doesn’t matter who you know or what you do, someday you’re going to die.

You can be in outstanding physical shape at every stage of your life, but someday you’re going to die.

I love how one woman captures it:

I will never become a trillionaire.

I will never become a billionaire.

I will likely never become a millionaire.

But I have Jesus, and that makes me wealthy beyond measure.

Renatta Oxendine

Thinking about these things draws my heart to last two stanzas of one of

my all-time favorite hymns, “Be Thou My Vision”:

4. Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise;

Thou mine inheritance, now and always.

Thou and thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

5. High King of Heaven, my victory won,

May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’ns Sun!

Heart of my heart, whatever befall,

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

That’s it. That’s what today’s passage is all about. It’s so easy to understand when you break it down to its most basic, simplest form. It’s about knowing what makes for peace.

Listen to Colossians 1:19-20:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And then Revelation 12:10:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

The peace that Jesus says the very rocks would cry out proclaiming is a heavenly quality. And, sadly, many people resist it. The most important thing we can have is peace in heaven, gained through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The only peace we can have…the only lasting peace we can have…comes from his passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. That is why we worship him as Lord and Savior.

Let’s end with an affirmation from Charles Spurgeon:

“God is our portion, Christ our companion, the Spirit our Comforter, Earth our lodge, and Heaven is our home.”