Ep. 28 - Encountering Jesus: The Triumphal Entry

What if you can see Jesus clearly… and still miss Him?

This week on 100% Maybe, we’re diving into the Triumphal Entry in Gospel of Luke 19:28–48—a moment full of celebration, expectation, and tension. The crowd welcomes Jesus as King… but they don’t fully understand who He is or what He came to do.

We explore the gap between the King people wanted and the King Jesus actually is—and how that same tension shows up in our lives today.

What do we do when Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations?
Is it possible to be close to Him and still miss Him?
What does real surrender actually look like?

👉 Because an encounter with Jesus doesn’t just change your circumstances… it changes you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the 100% Navy Podcast. I'm your host, Jeff Stewart, the Creative Director here at Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Each episode, we'll get together to talk about the scripture passage that we'll be studying in our Sunday services. While this started as a resource for our church, we found it applies to all of us who are interested in what it looks like to follow Jesus. So wherever you are on your journey of faith, we hope these conversations will connect you to the source of life we have in Jesus and to the greater story that God is still writing today. Here's our episode. I got a net.

SPEAKER_05 0:45

Well, you need a net for no maybe a net from the That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's okay. We can do that. Not like a big old net. Yeah, I'm ready to. You gotta catch some trout this year. No more just flop a roll. We gotta get you on a frickin' trout.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Well, yeah. Yeah, I'm a pro now. We saw the fish.

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Saw it we're gonna shake this in stages.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Step one. Walk in the river, which is a little see the river. Yes, which is a little trickier than you might think. It's a lot trickier than you think. Walking against the current. And I think the boots I got, the little shoes, were way too tight. So it's very uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

Yeah. You I mean you lose feeling anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah. It's quite chilly.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

But I still have my waders that you uh hooked me up with. They're ready to go. Just need some fish. The fish are there. Fish are ready. We're coming.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

To quote the guide that took Clint and I fishing. They love it when you slap the water. That guy's like, could you do that last time? Oh, they love it when you slap the water.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Let's them know. Stay away from this area. This guy is a rookie. Yeah. Yeah. All right, man. Well, here we go. Let's get into it. 100% maybe. You guys, how are you? We're so glad to have you join us. This is episode 20 something, eight, twenty-seven, twenty eight, something like that. Don't even know. We got so much going on. Awesome. We are so excited. You are jacked. You came in here just hopping. Man, great Bible study this morning. Study mine was great last night. There's conversation, there's question, there's a lot of thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 2:21

Weather's beautiful. Things so nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

This is my kind of coming out of the winter. You like late winter. Yeah. If I could get an entire winter of this, I would be just fine. Nice. Yeah. It's like California weather. I've never been to California. I don't know. I don't know. I don't think it is.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

I don't think it is. It's not there's nothing dry about our weather right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_05 2:47

Let's still offend the entire left side of the world.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

There's some pollen in the I'd said their weather's great in California.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

Yeah, I mean by by pretending that we know what it is and we're not even close.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I've never been, but that you know, Southern California is supposed to be. There's songs about that, right? There is. Okay, good. Yeah. Uh little little too much pollen in the air for me right now. Oh, we bit. Yeah. Got some allergies. I don't know if it's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 3:10

The trees are flattering off.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

There's a lot.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

Little crosses in the trees. The east you don't know anything about that? No. The pine trees? No. Oh, that you'll you'll see it. It'll come out on Facebook here before long. Oh. Right about Easter time, the way that the when they dump all their pollen, it looks like the the way the pine tree reaches up. It looks like a little cross that comes out of the end of each branch. It's very interesting. You you'll get a picture of that taped to your door this week. Okay. From somebody that's watching on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

That's like the seeing Jesus in your grilled cheese sandwich. You see him everywhere. Everywhere you go. Crosses. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. I'll be looking for that. That's good. Um, well, let's get into it, man. I know there's a lot to talk about with this passage. Is passage is is a lot, yeah. It's a lot. So last week we had 10 verses you were mad about. There's not enough information. We're making stuff up. Preachers are making stuff up. You're putting an identity on Zacchaeus that we're not even sure about. That's right. Um, but I thought you did a beautiful job connecting all those things. And you you got you got 40 minutes out of it out of 10 verses. I knew you could do it. Well, we got done on time. We did. Maybe you got 35 minutes out of it. That was good. Uh no, it was great.

SPEAKER_05 4:26

20 verses this week. So 80 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Right. So get ready. Kids men, get ready. It's gonna be a long possibly go wrong. Um but are you I know you're excited. Is it just this passage or is it the whole leading up to Easter and Holy Week? It's the story.

SPEAKER_05 4:45

It's the s it's the greater story. We're about to we will next week be in Holy Week. And to me, nothing it's not a traditional thing. It's the fact that more people get to connect because of the story. That's my favorite thing, man. I mean, I want people to yes, connect to Jesus, but I think you connect to Jesus by connecting to the story. So when you get to experience Maundy Thursday, you get to experience Good Friday, you're walking the road that Jesus walked, then the scripture becomes real. This is a real story about a real um about the Son of God that walked this earth. And and and it's all there for us. His life unfolded in a way that it we may not be able to understand it because of what Rome was like during the time and and actually truly wrestle it to the ground, but we can connect to it and be a part of those those movements. So love it.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Is this with Palm Sunday, which this passage is known as a triumphal entry, is this do you usually do Luke? Do you do this every year as far as this passage?

SPEAKER_05 5:46

We will cover the triumphal entry.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:48

It it's too and maybe we wouldn't preach an entire sermon on it. It does fit what we're gonna do for an encounter, but um just decided to use a Luke because it kind of it fell after last week's sermon. It kind of falls into the rhythm. So in terms of the greater story and how we're looking at it, it makes sense. The other ones, you know, Matthew's gonna be way more Jewish, uh, Mark's gonna be tighter, tighter story. Luke gives us some information that I just I thought fit better with the encounter.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Okay. Matthew gives us an extra animal in there. He does.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

He's it's the bonus the bonus animal, whatever. I've heard more about horses and animals and have you learned a lot about that this week. I am not the equestrian type.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

No?

SPEAKER_05 6:32

No. My wife is. She was she's from Oklahoma, and her whole family, which some of you may be listening, they all like can you say barnyard animals? They're so cattle ranchers, uh, farmers, um, farm animals. Yeah, and and cousins that uh you know, well accomplished in the areas of roping and barrel racing and all of those. So when we would go to visit, their favorite thing to do was to put me on the back of a large animal.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

Uh uh professionally trained barrel racing horse or roping horse, whatever the horse is that goes out that you throw the thing around the thing, and then you're gonna go. Yeah, whatever. That's right. Yeah. Put me on the horse. After everybody else is on their horses and gone, they put me on it, and and I'm like, well, how do what they just don't worry, it'll take you there. And we go. And I'm like, oh we takes me all the way to the riding thing thing, and we pulled up beside the fence. It pulled it pulled me up beside the fence, and I just got off the horse onto the fence and handed the reins to somebody that looked like they knew how to drive a horse. And I and I and I decided I was done.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:47

Not a cowboy. Only in dress.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

I guess it's good to know yourself and know where your land is, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 7:55

Oh, I know I don't belong in that lane. God bless those who can do that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, it's cool. They're amazing. I got to grow up around a little bit. My stepgrandad was a legit cowboy dairy farmer, rancher. So I had horses in West West Texas, so I'd spend summers and spring break out there and learn to ride and go riding in the pasture and all that stuff. It's cool. It's a different world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

Yep. I I can feed cows. The little truck that pulls the thing, that puts the thing up on the hay on the big rail bales of hay, and I can do that really good. That's about what they trust me with. I can also throw a rope around a cow and they love taking videos of that.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 8:31

Yeah. I'm that guy. I need to get some of those.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Just send them my way.

SPEAKER_05 8:36

When we go to Oklahoma, the only thing I'm missing is is the rodeo clown paint. Like if they put that on me, they were ready to go. Oh, we got it. We see it. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Maybe that is your true lane. I'm here to bring joy in whatever scenario it is. You know, now that you say that, I can see it. Rodeo clown. Rodeo clown. That fits. Yeah, just not the speed. I'm the one that gets hit by the cow. Right. Not the roper, but the clown. Yeah, that's right. All right, man. Well, let's get into it. So we're in Luke 19. That was a big deal. Yes. Um, 28 through 48. Uh, we leave Zacchaeus. This makes sense in our story. He's in Jericho. We talked about that road that would have led to Jerusalem. That's where they're headed. That's where Jesus and his disciples are going. He has this encounter with Zacchaeus. Um, I don't know how much you'll get to get into it, but then he tells a parable there um going into what we consider the triumphal entry. So any thoughts as to that? Just last moment of teaching he has before he enters Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_05 9:39

Yeah, you did it to me right off the start of the podcast. So I I I was trying I'm trying to not have to dive into all of that because there's a lot of context around the kings. He starts off by saying, um, as they were, no, no, no, no, it was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that a kingdom of God was a pyramid. It was a nobleman who went to a distant country to get a royal power for himself and summoned um ten slaves. He gives out the You have this whole story, which he tells in parable form, but clearly it lays over a narrative that would have happened in their historical time around kings. Yeah. So they knew specifically what he was talking about because he ends with this last phrase, um, but as but as for these enemies of mine who do not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my presence, you know, that that's a that would be a reality that they would have had to live through, and they knew what they were talking about. We read it and we're looking at it like, what's this parable mean? Doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Seems random, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Would not have been lost on them. So you have the the it's not the talents, it's the minas. We my Bible translates it to pounds. Um, but it it's about using the things that have been given to you and or not using them, and then the curse when you choose not to, and then what happens? Then the triumphal entry. And I think the bigger point is uh to prepare people for ushering in, and you've been given a talent or you've been given a a gift, everybody ha everybody's given the same amount. What you do with it matters, and so do you tie the end of that with uh bring them here and slaughter them in my presence? It's hard. I don't if I'm gonna teach that on Sunday, it's very difficult to hold because that's a whole nother sermon to have to try and explain. Right. But we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:27

You know, it's context and it's important, so I gotta wrestle it to the ground. But I don't know what I want to say about it here other than it's there.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Right. I just like to put you on the spot every now and then. Oh, I know. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_05 11:38

Um for having somebody to put on the spot.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Thank you for being here. Um well I just had a thought as you're talking about because the parable, and we assume, oh, they would have known, but sometimes the whole point of the parable was that they really sure they missed the greater truth. Sure. They maybe got the literal okay, he's talking about this king. And if you if you study up on it, there's an actual king that he's referencing that had a similar situation. So it makes sense that that's who he's referencing. But what about just that idea of the king, the coming king? Because then he's entering in in this pomp and circumstance. Let's talk about that because he's coming in um timeline-wise, we believe scholars believe the Sunday, right? As he's going into the holy week. If you kind of look at the Passover.

SPEAKER_05 12:30

Yeah, but yeah, it was been the beginning of the week. The there is, and boy, I'm not gonna be sharp on the actual people who quoted it, but there is a gentleman out there that went through a lot of historical context to pin down the fact that this would have been the exact day when they would have been choosing the Passover lambs, the individual families. So the way that the history went is you chose your Passover lamb or you got your Passover lamb, and then that lamb would stay with you during the holy week, and then that's the lamb that you would slaughter to use for the Passover meal. So if we're gonna think of Jesus being the Passover lamb, and that's the day when Jerusalem was choosing their Passover lamb, Jesus was very specific in this being the day that he came in. Yeah. So you have the literal, actual thing of what's happening, and then you have the figurative but actual thing that's happening in the life of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Literal, but also the more meaningful.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

None of this was happenstance.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Right.

SPEAKER_05 13:27

It Jesus either scripted it and it unfolded, or andor God allowed it to all happen, right? So there's pieces that, um, like I know you might bring it up, but in your Bible study last night, I already heard because some of it came out this morning. The question of go and ask this person for a cult, and when they say, Why do you need it? just tell them the Lord needs it. And then we think, oh, how kind of that person to say, Yeah, take my cult. More than likely, Jesus orchestrated every single step of this because it was very important. This is a Jesus is setting up this triumphal entry, is Jesus preparing what would resemble the entrance of a king into the city paralleling David, coming in on a cult, not a Roman warrior on a war horse with all of his armies. Yeah. But there is a picture of it, and his armies would have been disciples. Not 12 young fishermen. Fishermen, yeah. In front of him, and he's on so there's a it's like you have this great theatrical music.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

And here comes the horse, the donkey. It's like it could be a Monty Python sketch. Could be. You expect you got Alexander the Great, and you know his horse's name? I don't. Bucephalus. That's come on.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Come on, I gotta know that there you go.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

But you got what, Pegasus, you got these great horses. He was mythological, of course. Had wings, I think, but 100%. Um yes, the picture of the the conquering king on a giant stallion. Yeah, and we get the son of man on a donkey.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

On a on a work animal. It's never been ridden. That's never been ridden. Oh man, we had some uh back to the equestrian side. I I he there were so many conversations about this would have been a wild animal. It would have been how did you control it? It was a it was a donkey, a cult can still be a donkey. Yeah. Okay, I don't know. Uh this I've had an I've been reading and I only know what I know. That was not ridden. So would it have been a wild bucking thing, or would it have been a young donkey? So what would how much bucking would this thing have done?

SPEAKER_01 15:34

I don't think they like to be ridden.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

I I in the beginning like to be in that situation, so why would they?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

But also, he's Jesus. Like if anybody can sit on an animal and and and break him, I'm thinking it's gonna be Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:52

Man, so much talk about donkeys. I think we can get into all of those. I don't want to call them weeds or ditch, but it all fulfills prophecy. Yes. The thing I probably have to start with on Sunday is that this section of scripture fulfills more prophecy than you could ever imagine. Yeah. Daniel, Zachariah, I mean, just go down the list of all the things that are unfolding. The choice of an unridden, the choice of a cult, all of those things were spoken of before. Jesus was very specific in every single one of them because he is fulfilling scripture.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah. Could be noted, he didn't need to ride in. They could have walked in, there is a fulfillment of what's happening here. Yeah, that's right. Intentionality. Um is there a I'll tell you what I've been kind of sitting with, and it was it did stem from last night. We had there's the very, I guess, supernatural, and then there's the very practical in the sense of when you're looking at the story and the way he puts things together, and you think, oh, well, he pre-arranged it, he sent some people out, he connected that. This would have been a source of income for this person. Not um, they believe too, not uncommon for people to actually rent out their animals, rent out their homes during Passover. There's a lot of money to be made. There's a million people coming out.

SPEAKER_05 17:08

This is the high time to make money, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

So it wouldn't have been unusual for somebody to lend out an animal, but it would be probably for money or you know, borrowed for a time. So that's actually not that uncommon for the time. Right. But you think, okay, so did he did he send people out and plan this, or is this somebody that just had that when when the statement is made the Lord needs it, is that almost that supernatural uh presence of God going before, and those people say, Yeah, absolutely. You don't get resistance.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

And what did you what do you I don't know?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

It's a I I just wrestle with it. My my wife, she's like, I don't believe that he like pre-arranged it. And I said, Okay, and she's like, I don't have anything to back that up. I just, you know, she leans less practical and more in the supernatural, and I always find that a really fascinating place to to live because I know you are very, very practical. Not not absent of supernatural, but you know, there there are ways that you think your wife, and I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 18:08

It's not, it's this is one of those hundred percent maybes, right? Yeah. I I try to, I the way that I read scripture is for me to be able to say, okay, that makes sense, right? I I don't I don't it it doesn't make sense to me that you would that a bunch of dudes would walk up and start to untie your cult at the highest time where you could rent your cult or you could you or you needed it, and they're like, Yeah, the Lord needs it, and you're like, Okay, great. Yeah, go ahead and use them. I I think it makes more sense because of Jesus' connection to all the things that are going on. We also can't forget, Luke 9.51, he turns his face towards Jerusalem. He'd been preparing, sending, sending disciples. He sent the 70 out in front of him. He's preparing for the triumphal entry even then.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:51

So the narrative, the miracles, the he the the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Resurrection?

unknown 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

Is that what we'd call that? Yeah. Resurrection of the um he didn't raise him from or raising from the dead, whatever you want to call it. Right. Um, he he was preparing for this big crescendo even before. Yeah. So I okay, but I can't, we don't know for sure. Maybe that was a moment of faith. Right. But but then you also have to say when he goes, go into town, find a dude with a bucket of water on his head, and that he's gonna take you to a house to make preparations for the Passover. I I just find it hard to believe that in the high holy time, you would just say, you know what, I think God's telling me not to rent this place out because somebody may need it. Oh, here comes a whole team of people. I I believe, I'm not uh boy, I'm not trying to mock your wife, I would never do that. I I think that Jesus, it makes more sense that Jesus to me. Yeah. Makes more sense that Jesus planned this stuff out, orchestrated it because it all mattered. And and so here's where the change happens for me. There is a point in this, as you get later on, where he isn't physically in the natural able to handle it. How is it that he is crucified at the time he is when the lambs are being crucified in the tomb before Passover? Three days counted from the time, so before sundown, during the whole day, and at sunrise, three days, not three, not 24 times three, but in three counted days for that to be able to happen to fulfill scripture, it wasn't just he couldn't orchestrate that in the natural. Yeah, he could get close, he couldn't orchestrate once he was in in uh captured and in prison how to orchestrate it all. But when you look at it, the things he could control in the natural, he did, the things that he couldn't, God did, and he's God. So pulling it all together, it all works. Yeah. So maybe faith, maybe he organized it. I don't know. I just know that it all happened the way it was supposed to.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

And I'll shut up.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

No, and I I I don't think it's bad to think through that, and I think you can end in a place that you don't know, we don't know for sure, because we don't get the other side of that with the people that allowed that, we don't know what their level of faith and and uh connection was to any of that. But um, but you know, there are those moments I think you just now um you know, you just feel like God's you know, sure talk to that person, like you just you get those feelings from the Lord and from the spirit's prompting where you're just like you know, just being aware of those. Jim Bell would call them uh your spiritual antenna, but having that up, you know, and just being prepared for those encounters, I think, I think is important. But let's talk about the crowd. He's coming in, everything's uh seeming super positive.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

Yeah, you get the feeling that the disciples start. So Jesus gets on the donkey and he says, Okay, boys, let's go. He doesn't say that, but you get the picture that Jesus gets on the donkey and then they start to roll, and the disciples start to the chant and they go in front of them, and then momentum starts to pick up, and it it moves to a point to where it causes so much of a stir that the religious leaders come out and go, All right, shut them up. Cut this out. Out. That comes from a place of fear from the religious leaders. They're trying to keep peace in the city. Rome has extra soldiers there to make sure that things stay calm. Because in all of the Roman Empire, Israel is the most rebellious. And that's not that's historically accurate. They were the ones that, you know, and there are others that did that, and Rome would go in and squash them, but they were they were historically rebellious, and people that would be appointed Roman uh pilot didn't want to be here, but he's in charge of this place and these rebellious people, and he's frustrated, so they have extra troops that are there. Yeah. So when a parade breaks out and a guy on a donkey that is that is you know, parroting doesn't mean trite, but but replaying the entrance of David into Jerusalem, so reminding them of a king that's coming in.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

A conquering king.

SPEAKER_05 22:54

A conquering king, they're going, Oh, you gotta stop this. This is a problem. Yeah. And you're gonna start a revolt and we're all gonna die. Right. So they're actually speaking out of a place of fear. Like you can't you can't do this.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah. And I don't know if you'll be able to get into it, but man, this is, I'm telling you, this is like a movie, like the culmination of all this happening. Because if you go back to John 11, which is the raising of Lazarus, Lazarus, that is when the Pharisees say, he's gotta die. He's gotta die. Because if we get out of hand, Rome is gonna come in and wipe us all out. And remember, that's where that line is said about better to want for one to die than the whole nation. And we talked about that in that episode. Oh my gosh. Like the the foreshadowing and the depth of that statement, even not knowing, not even understanding it, it will be the death of one for all, but they just completely had that reversed.

SPEAKER_05 23:52

Bethany's right over the hill from entering into Jerusalem, so it's really close to Jerusalem. So if you're a rabbi that just raised somebody from the dead that's been not just dead, but dead dead for a period of time, that news travels fast. And here he comes into Jerusalem on the day when they're picking out the Passover lambs, moving towards Passover, which is the remembrance of how Egypt was del Excuse me, of how Israel was delivered from Egypt. What a party. Like you'd get really excited about this. And the religious leaders who are more concerned about keeping peace for the sake of control. I don't I don't know, we could probably talk about that for days. We don't need to try to stop it. So you're not, you're not wrong. That would have been a fever pitch. All of the things that were happening were leading to this moment of celebration.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah. And he had Jesus knew he had a price on his head. They had already decided he's got to go. So he knows by going into Jerusalem this is it. This is gonna be the end. Um this crowd, even uh 40, if they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers. Even the stones would cry out.

SPEAKER_05 25:01

Prophecy.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

Yeah, Psalms, prophecy. So so once again, Jesus is is letting you know this is the creation. What's happening is the big crowning moment of all of creation, what's taking place. Um if they if they didn't, the whole world, in other words, the whole world recognizes what's happening right now. So let them celebrate, even if you can't see it. But if you silence them, still the rocks are gonna cry out. I think that's a that's a note to um how significant this the moment is. I love that you got lots of notes today. I do have a lot of notes.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

I'm trying to think how to uh how to what are you trying to get into?

SPEAKER_05 25:39

What is it you want to I know you're fishing, you're trying to get to a bigger question.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

This guy, man, he's always trying to set me up.

SPEAKER_05 25:45

That's why they pay me the big books. But when he thinks I'm not, he thinks I have answers. I'm really making stuff up. I don't know. No, I know you are. The the the idea of here here's the interesting thing. Jesus starts the parade, the disciples start the parade, it catches on the momentum of all the miracles and all the things that they've seen really starts to carry, carry them to a crescendo. But then you get to the top of this mountain before he kind of descends down into the Kidron Valley, and Jesus stops and he weeps. Even in the middle of them recognizing the moment, he recognizes it they have no idea. Right. And he looks at Jerusalem, couple different thoughts here. I don't know if I'll get to it on Sunday, but he looks at Jerusalem and he says, You only you, if you knew what it makes, what what makes for peace. So in that moment, we're talking about the encounter, he's talking uh and I'm I'm trying to frame this in my mind for the sermon. That that has to be more directed at the nation. So if you only you knew what it took for peace, they're thinking about peace as in overthrow Rome and give us back our peace. The absence of control, the absence of war, we can serve God in the way that we want to. And and he's thinking, Oh man, you're missing it.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:00

It's so much bigger than this.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Here the Prince of Peace is coming into his kingdom, and they're thinking, peace by war, ironically.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Peace by overthrow. Here's our political savior, not our Lord.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

And you can't really blame them because they wouldn't have known different, right? Like, I don't know that they would have thought peace in the heart, but that's been his message all along. His message all along has been about transformation of the heart. You know, you can't, you know, you I you heard it say don't commit adultery. I say don't even lust after a person inside of inside of your heart. Right. So it's the message has always been an internal transformation of what's what's happening. So as he's appro here's the math you gotta do, the God math. He's approaching the temple. We know now that our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit, a temple of God. So in a natural sense, what he's gonna do next after this, he look, he looks, he weeps. If you only knew what would take for lead for peace, then and then he prophesies, and all of the things that he prophesies about are gonna happen when Rome overthrows them. Eventually, yeah, Rome overthrow them. Then the first thing he does is he goes into the temple. So think natural temple, natural cleansing. Temple cleansing back to the heart. So what happens in the natural also happens in the spiritual. What he's asking us to do. Isn't it interesting that he he calls for peace, and then the first thing you do is you have to get this stuff out of your heart, get the stuff out of the out of the temple. That's a I don't and there's 12 sermons we can preach in all of this.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

I don't know what to want to do. Yeah. So talk about the temple. You mentioned this yesterday. I thought it was an interesting piece about how they would have even had it set up and two thinking through the Pharisees were they had access. They were the ones with access, but there was even a setup that they had with a courtyard, the Gentile market. So there was a an avenue where people could come, see about this God of Israel, and then they had this whole other financial system that they had put in place to make themselves wealthy and limit access.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Yeah, you want to talk about that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Because this is, yeah, Jesus could run.

SPEAKER_05 29:23

They feel good to preach, and I and I think they're largely accurate. We know the pieces of the this is accurate. You said that they're limiting access to God. Uh because it's a temple system and there's a sacrificial system, they're they are limiting not access to the temple, they're limiting access to God because they stand between the people and God, and they're charging exorbitant prices for it. Some of those things were temple tax. You would take your currency and then you would go in there and you would exchange your currency for temple currency. And the temple currency would never be exchanged at an even rate. Right. Why would you do that? So you have to pay to exchange for the temple currency, which then you would use your temple currency to buy the temple sacrifice. And if you're gonna buy your lamb because your lamb wasn't approved, or whatever it was, you would have to pay that price. And so there's this whole system, and we could belabor this point forever, and I don't know all the Levitical laws, but if you had to make a sacrifice for a particular sin, and maybe the penance for that or the cost for that was two turtle doves or two doves or a lamb or whatever, they would have the the priest-approved sacrifices. Yeah. And you would pay for them. Well, where those things were set up were in the were in the um, boy, the the name of it just jumped out of my brain. I think it's the court of the Gentiles. So on the Temple Mound or Mount, there was um there were different sections and people could go into different sections, but if you were a Gentile andor, I believe, female, you could only go into the the court of the Gentiles. You couldn't go into other areas unless you were male, Jewish, and then and then it just gets the the restriction gets tighter as you move into the Holy of Holies, obviously. Right. So if you think in the larger scope of, and I'm I'm hoping this is one of the main points on Sunday because it really speaks to our ability to spread the good news. But if you step back and you think about Israel and God choosing Israel as the nation to bless and to multiply and to work through to reveal himself, that you will be what's the what's the prophecy to Abraham that you'll be a blessing to all of the nations, right, of the world. Um, so if as you get through to this nation, there's a court of the Gentiles where you think if I'm a Gentile and I want to discover or hear about the teaching and go maybe worship God, that's where you would go. That's where they were doing all of the selling and the bartering in that. So the area that should have been the extension of God to the rest of the world is now a marketplace where they're selling God to the world, or let's let's just let's be as kind as possible. They're restricting access to God. Yeah. Maybe that's not kind, that's less. There's but they're selling God. I don't I don't know what that would look like for us. Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

What if we're selling prayer handkerchiefs? Yeah, coming in or teaching that you know, the way to get more of God access or favor is the more you pay.

SPEAKER_05 32:37

Yeah, or you can't have a Bible unless you do this, this, and this, and pay this amount. Yeah. Or um, you know, whatever it would be that would restrict a person from experiencing a relationship with God to put a monetary amount on that. That is exactly what was happening. Right. And Jesus goes in there, and boy, I still haven't done this work yet. But he says, I'm gonna look it up while you're talking because so have something to say here in a second, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

So he's coming in, he clears the temple. Verse 46. There's a lot to um of the connection with the timeline about during these couple days after he's come in, that when they would have been going through the lambs and and inspecting, basically. Okay. And so there's a thread there about busy. This his teaching is directly connected to this when they're trying to find blemishes on the lamb, he is actually at the temple, you know, clearing it out and teaching. And since he we know he is that replacement of the of the Passover lamb, that's what he becomes and takes upon himself. So there's a whole lot of connection and imagery too about what was happening in the in the very real, you know, practical sense, and also what Jesus was doing in the uh in the supernatural.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

So go um, so re what what is the verse where he talks about when he goes into the temple, what does he say?

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Um the scriptures declare my temple will be a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a den of thieves.

SPEAKER_05 34:08

Thieves, robbers. I want to see. This is interesting, and I only this is only top of my mind because we just did this sermon, um, The Thief on the Cross. Yeah. Is it the same word? And you're gonna find out live here, verse 39. It is not the same word, Dadgum it! That'd have been so good to preach. Um you have to come up with something else there, preacher. They call it coragos. The other one is Lestees. Um, so it it's interesting that he calls them turn them into a den of robbers because he also says um the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. You and I talked about that the other day, right? So they're robbers that are stealing from people the ability to be able to connect. Anyways, I thought that would have been a whole better sermon. Wow, wow. Just make it up. I'll make it up. No, I won't. Context matters. Oh, that's right. Context matters.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Dang it. Okay. Um, yeah, so this is always funny to me uh when people say, ah, Jesus turned over tables, so so can I. And uh this is the this is the Jesus some people like the angry. They like angry, mad Jesus flipping tables. Yeah, but there is there is a element of of Jesus, yeah, that that connects with people that are he's not afraid to disrupt, to, to be rebellious to what was going on. Oh, buddy.

SPEAKER_05 35:26

Yeah. No, let's talk about this for a second. Okay. Because people that like to say that usually justifies their anger out. Yes. Jesus flipping over the tables is a picture of what we are to do inside of ourselves. So the temple, cleansing the temple, it's not about how I can go torture you for doing that thing. It's about me getting the garbage out of my life and preparing myself, my temple for that thing. So anybody that uses that text to justify being mean to somebody else is missing the point of exactly what Jesus did. That's another great sermon that you could have in all of that. So, what did I say on Sunday? Put that in your theological pipe and smoke it. That one got me. And that was only during the nine o'clock service.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

It was.

SPEAKER_05 36:13

Yeah, the Council of Nicene got together afterwards and said that.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

There was an emergency meeting in between. Emergency meeting afterwards and quit talking about smoking theological pipes. That's right. Yeah. But hey, that really resonated with some people.

SPEAKER_05 36:26

It sure did. A lot. What people don't know the this is true confession moment, right? As I'm on stage, I don't, I I have my phone. It's a it's a it's a warm blanket for me. It's in my pocket while I'm walking around, ringers off. But when I say anytime I say something like that or say something funny, my I feel my phone going. I'm preaching while people in the congregation are texting me about what I just said. And they know I can't answer it. So they're just doing it to have fun. Don't don't do that. Yeah. Or do I can't believe you have your phone in your pocket. I didn't know that. Oh no. That means you're gonna be texting me this week. Where's this am I gonna put it? I don't, I'd have to have it. I don't, I don't know. It's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

When I go out and play, I there's no way I'd take my phone out of my pocket. I couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_05 37:11

I just like I don't want to set it on the thing because I'd be distracted by it. But also when I get off stage, I don't I don't know, man. It's like can I where I sorry, I totally deviated to give a shout out to everybody that texts me while I'm preaching. And just I thank you. I think that's really nice that you're thinking of me while I'm preaching, but I also think you're probably maybe wait till 1230, you know, after you're done.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

Or between the two services. That's right. Yeah. Man, there's so much here, dude. Uh a lot of energy today. Yeah, there's a lot because this this is very rich text. Uh, I know you and I both have just had a lot of time to to sit and think through it, but um Jerusalem, let's say the Pharisees, maybe the crowd, the Jewish people, they thought Rome was the problem.

SPEAKER_05 37:56

They thought Rome was the problem. Rome was a problem. And it was, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:00

We can't discount, they were an oppressed people, they were slaves to Rome, like they were they were not allowed to live into the fullness of their people and their Yes. So not to discount that, but was that their true problem? And my question is, what what is that for us today? Like what are what are our problems that we maybe see externally but don't realize what the true issue is of the heart.

SPEAKER_05 38:30

Yeah, and I I think that's the sermon, Jeff. So you just you just took all the punch away, but that's okay. It's fine. It's fine. Great question. I I would say, just on the surface, not for let's let's start here, and then let's work to here. They should have been more concerned about the way they were treating the temple sacrifices, how they'd set up a business that restricted access from God. Uh so yeah, Rome was a problem, but the religious order of the day was a major problem. The way that they taught and they leaned into the law and misunderstood the law, Jesus was framing it. It's not just about what you do, it's about who you are and the transformation matters. So, you know, when that was his message all all along, and he he died because of what he said, but also because of what he said, who he said he was. Right. And that's that's what ultimately ended up kill well, yeah, you gotta die. You you quoted it yourself from from John. So what does that look like in our lives today? Uh pick a thing. Pick the biggest thing in your life. The thing that you maybe a diagnosis, um, a family that's been ripped in two, and all of those are horrible things. Now there's no we can't draw a comparison, and I'm not being tried in any of this, but all of those horrible things might relate to Rome. They're bad. Yeah. They could come kill you at any time. They're gonna tax you crazy. Uh, they can restrict access, they can steal your sons and take them off to war. All of all of those horrible things. A cancer diagnosis, uh, a family that's been ripped into a natural disaster, a car accident, like all of those things. They're horrible things. Jesus says, if you only you knew what made for peace, you can get rid of any one of those things, but then it'll just be replaced by another thing that is that is ripping your peace away. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to offer true peace. This definition of peace, the Irene peace, does not mean the absence of wars. Because, you know, we can we can not have a war but still not like each other. Yeah, or hate each other, or fight or argue, and still absolutely not be a peace. It's taking some go back to the garden. Like there's the restoration back back to the garden, that original fellowship with God where there was no sin and there was nothing standing between us and God. That's what Jesus was working to establish. And I think that peace we can under a peace that surpasses all understanding, we can establish it and allow it to be in our heart, but still in an imperfect world, it's never gonna be perfectly held. Can our hearts be at peace? Yes. Um and I think that's a supernatural thing, but man, you're still gonna have pain, you're still gonna have suffering. Would we love for God to deal with those few those many things maybe in our lives that are just horrible? Yes. But you can have peace in the midst of them. I'm not trying to be trite because man, those things are terrible, they're horrible. But what Jesus is going into Jerusalem to do is to offer peace. Right. True lasting peace. He's the only one that can. The only one. Not getting rid of Rome, not getting rid of the big thing in your life, that'll be temporary, feel good for a little while, and then something else will happen in this broken world that will cause you to be devastated. It just will. Yeah. It's it's what happens. So you know, for me, I think that part of them, and that is, I think, the message for Sunday. So you still have to come. Yeah, you do. You still have to attend, because it could all change between now and then. But um, start working now on getting perspective on those things in your life that you you might look at and go, God, why would you allow me to endure this? I don't know what a different question might be. It might be, God, what does it look like in my life to be able to face that? Or how can I face that? Because what it rains on the just and the unjust. I mean, they're the things that we experience in life. Just because we're believers doesn't mean that we're exempt. Right. In fact, I think we're promised maybe more. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. That's right. I don't like that message. Because it means I've gotta I've gotta stare down the same things.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Right. Well, cl in closing, if the other aspect here in this encounter, a big aspect of it, is the crowd. So they're worshiping there this is the whole span of a week. You got the crowd, they misunderstand, they worship, they resist, and they some of them completely miss Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 42:58

You know, how how does a c how does that happen? We do it every day.

SPEAKER_05 43:10

Right? I mean I I uh maybe not to that level. You're talking about get to the crucify him piece.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

Well, just the crowd that that turns and and we don't know it's it's a kind of a general term, and we we don't know that it's the exact same people, right?

SPEAKER_05 43:26

I I talked about that this morning, I don't I don't believe it is uh so unmet expectations, I think, is the answer, right? Yeah. They were looking for a David Messiah, David-like Messiah, to overthrow Rome. And my what I like to say is when the first drop of blood from Jesus hit the ground, they're like, Well, that's not the guy. And so their heart shifted. I think it's unfair, and I have taught these sermons in the past, to say that the crowd that says Hosanna on Sunday or whatever day it is is the same crowd that shouted, Crucify him. I don't believe that's Fair, and I'm the older I get, and the more that I teach, and I've taught triumph and every every year. Yeah. Um the more I believe that the timeline shows that Jesus was and we're gonna talk about this on Monday Thursday, was arrested at night, held held in their the high priest court, tried, bounced between Pilate and um Herod. And then on the cross by nine o'clock in the morning, remember they're celebrating their Passover meals, which we joke about on Monday Thursday, but would have had at least four glasses of wine. Now, some of you out there, you believe that the wine was non-alcoholic. I'm 99% sure it was, so we can have that conversation. But four glasses of wine, that would have been the group from the Galilee. So they celebrated on Thursday night. If you're from Jerusalem, you had Passover on Friday night. Jesus would have been arrested, tried, and moved to the cross Friday morning. So either you're sleeping off the Passover meal the night before, or you're making preparations for your Passover meal on and slaughtering the Passover lamb on Friday. Jesus went to the cross in the pure the the largely accepted Jewish timeline. So he was able to eat it because they're from the Galilee on Thursday night. But in the larger narrative, he was dead, dying on the cross while the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in the temple. Now that's getting ahead in the story, but but that's back to the timeline. Yeah. That was a long way to say. I think the crowd that was there early in the morning would have been largely orchestrated by the religious leaders to make sure that Jesus was crucified. A hundred percent maybe. That's probably 70% maybe. I think that I feel a little bit more certain about that than not. Yeah. That's a long I'm I feel like I belabored the point, but it's a beautiful story, and you can't the timeline is so tight and so right.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Only Jesus can. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. But I think maybe the takeaway is there's all of those different ranges of uh reactions or responses to Jesus. And you know, we have we have one ourselves. You know, we're we're one of those people. We're worshiping, are we calling him teacher? Are we calling him Lord? You know, is he um the savior of our soul, not just you do this every week now, you're hitting the mic. Um you know, the fixing our circumstances, those expectations that we have that we come to him to, I think are you know, those are those are things we can hold, I think, today as as we study these encounters that um man, I love I love the timeline piece. I I get so excited when when uh when you think through that and what was happening and the significance of it and knowing knowing what we know about it.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

Back to your question now that I didn't have to talk and think it through. In our own lives we have expectations. Okay, I'm facing this illness. He's not healing this illness. I'm mad at God. That's exactly what they did, and it's what we do every single day. Here comes King David. He's gonna free us from Rome. Oh no, he's not. You know, so well, it's what we do, because we're because we try to pretend that we've got it figured out. We know what makes for peace, so just do what we want. God we've been shaping God in our image since the beginning. Right? Because we're created in the image of God, so there's a there's a residue in us that if not careful, we try to we try to be God. Right. I don't know. I'm I'm once again, I'm there's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 47:28

We're excited.

SPEAKER_05 47:29

Don't miss Holy Week the stuff coming on. I know this is gonna come out on Thursday, and then um we'll get we'll get through Sunday. Sunday's gonna be fantastic, it's gonna be awesome. Getting into next week, Maundy Thursday, it's a communion service. Will not be a Jewish satyr. We're gonna talk through the events of and to try and see what those insights would be. I'm afraid I would offend the entire Jewish nation. You will. So I've I have books that have been given to me from some wonderful Jewish folks here in the in the crowd that all that also believe in Jesus. So uh I don't know if you could say that they're messianic. That's that's problematic words that have been used. Um, but uh, because all all Jewish people are messianic, by the way, uh people that believe in Jesus. And we've talked through that. So we're gonna Monday, Thursday is gonna be awesome, great connecting point. Good Friday's amazing, heart-wrenching to be able to wrestle through those words that Jesus said on the cross, but it prepares you for the Easter services. Yep. Saturday night, six o'clock, Easter service, and then the three services on Sunday morning, 8, 9:30, 9:30, and 11:15, 11:15. And if you're one of our home folks and you could come to the bookend services so we can make room during those busier ones for other folks. But excited about this journey, man. I've belabored the point big time, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

It's all right. But I want everybody to be able to experience it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's gonna be great. So love you guys. Thanks for uh tuning in. Can't wait for the next couple weeks of uh all the things. See ya.

SPEAKER_05 48:57

Going to find me a donkey. No, I'm not sure.