In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Think for a moment on all the pictures of Jesus we have around this building. I'm going going to say there are countless pictures, because while I could count them, I'd probably miss some of them. Or think of the pictures of Jesus at home or on books. In the vast majority of them, Jesus is smiling. Maybe on some He looks serious and a little stern – probably painted by a German. But now, out of all that art, out of all those pictures, how many of them can you think of with Jesus crying? With Jesus weeping? Because that's where we start off our Gospel lesson today. When we come across Jesus He isn't having a good time – He's weeping.
And it stands out all the more strongly in contrast when you remember that our Gospel lesson is on Palm Sunday. Jesus is drawing near to the city on the back of the Donkey, with the crowds surrounding Him – shouts of Hosanna, Hosanna! And yet there is Jesus... weeping. When [Jesus] 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.” The praise of God is echoing all around Him – blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest – and Jesus weeps. You don't get it, you don't see what is going on! You do not know the things that make for peace.
Oh, Jerusalem knew there was a king coming, but what sort of king were they wanting? Were they wanting a king of peace? Not really. They were wanting a King of “fix things now the way I want them.” They were wanting a King of kicking the Romans out of town. They were wanting a King of the glorious revolution – and let's face it, you can't have a glorious revolution without some wanton bloodshed and destruction first, but don't worry, only the bad people will get it. That's what we want here, Jesus – you to slaughter the bad guys and then pat us good guys on the back and give us stuff. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!
It goes badly for Jerusalem. Jesus told them it would. 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. By the end of this week, Jesus is crucified. But that's not what brings Him to tears. No, Jesus knows how this is going to play out. If Jerusalem persists in rebelling, in wanting to fight, as she will, she will be destroyed. It had happened in the past with the Babylonians, and Jesus knows it will happen with the Romans, but even worse. In 66 AD, Jerusalem rebels. In 70 AD they are surrounded by Rome and besieged – and it's one of the most brutal sieges in the ancient world. 5 months of people crowded in because they had come for passover, and when Rome finally takes they city, they level it. The temple is destroyed, blown apart by superheating the limestone and exploding it. The temple is never rebuilt – that's why modern Jews today don't even mention sacrifice – the temple's gone, there's no longer a place for sacrifice to take place. It's utterly devastating... and it happens because Jerusalem didn't want the truth and final sacrifice – Jesus! Jerusalem didn't want a king who makes for peace.
This text, my friends, is a warning and a reminder to us today. It makes us ponder the question of whether or not we desire the things that make from peace. Do we desire peace, or do we crave our own way, our own wealth, our own power? Do we want to see our enemies forgiven, or do we want to see them crushed and defeated? We are surrounded by so much anti-peace today. Politics doesn't seem focused on peace, business doesn't seemed focused on peace, education half the time seems like it's more focused on creating future protesters to stir up never ending cycles of agitation and disdain. Do we desire peace? And more importantly, do we desire, are we focused upon Christ's peace?
Think on how often Peace is proclaimed here in Church. After hearing the sermon, after the truth that Christ Jesus has died and risen for you and that your sins are forgiven and everlasting life is yours – I will say, “therefore the peace that surpasses all human understanding....” After the consecration, I will point to Christ's Body and Blood for you and proclaim, “the Peace of the Lord be with you always.” Christ Crucified for you for the forgiveness of sins is what is Peace. The Word of Christ's Forgiveness, His Supper – these are the things that make for peace, true, lasting peace, peace in the face of sin and death. Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! Do we recognize Christ Jesus and His peace as the most important thing in the universe, or do we push Christ into a corner, squeeze His peace out of our calendar, and instead get focused on the issue of the day, be it politics, money, power, or whatever petty thing comes down the pike?
Because these distractions of Satan can come fast and furious, and they can attack the church, too. 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.” John notes for us that Jesus actually makes a whip of cords and lashes the moneychangers out of the temple. The next time someone drops an offhanded “what would Jesus do” remember that literally whipping people who try to mess with His Church is a legitimate answer. Because Jesus wants His peace to be known – He wants His House to be a place of prayer, where prayers for mercy are heard and answered by the preaching of the Word and the giving of His gifts of salvation. And when a Church, when a congregation ceases to be a place centered on Christ Jesus and His peace, it will fall. Of course it will, because Christ and His Word build the Church, support the Church, sustain the Church – and if Christ and His Word of forgiveness and life are tossed aside for the sake of worldly power – well, you turn the foundation to sinking sand, you see what happens. And sadly, we do see it, if we look around – we see what Satan is trying to do, to ever squeeze out Christ and His peace from our lives and from the Churches of the world.
Boy, Pastor, this is a kind of gloomy-doomy sermon – I think think we want you going to any more synodical conventions. Nah, it's not that bad. But we should recognize the dangers, the ways in which Satan attacks us, because they are serious. Satan desperately wants you to ignore Christ and His peace, His forgiveness. And that is a deadly problem. However, even with all the sorrow, the anger we see from Jesus in this text, how does it end? And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His Words. How does the text end? With Jesus preaching, and the wicked of the world unable to do a single thing to stop it. In fact, they even kill Jesus – doesn't stop Jesus from preaching. Jesus rises from the dead and He sends out His apostles who preach throughout the world, and they send out more, and on and on even to this day. And in His mercy and love to us, Christ Jesus had preserved this place, this congregation, this house as a place where His peace is forgiven.
And that's literally my job. My call document, the official document denoting me as your pastor, spells this out. In the name of the Triune God and by His authority, in order that we might carry out His mission to the world, we hereby authorize and obligate you: To administer to us the Word of God in its full truth and purity as contained in the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and as set forth in the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as found in the Book of Concord. To administer the holy sacraments in accordance with their divine institution. That's how my standing orders begin – to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments – or in other words to see that this House remains a House of Christ's peace and prayer. And that's what you are to hold me to, what you are to demand of me – preach Christ and Him crucified. It's the plaque on the pulpit that Pastor Royer put up here and all over the area – Sir, we would see Jesus.
But it's also what I'm to hold you to. The call document also notes that you as members of the congregation obligate ourselves... to make faithful and regular use of the means of grace. Together we are to be focused upon Christ and the things that make for His peace. Why? Because Jesus doesn't like crying over Jerusalem. He doesn't like getting angry over His house being corrupted. Because Jesus actually wants you to know His peace. Because Jesus rode into Jerusalem not to receive the praise of the crowds but to go to the Cross to win you peace. He rode into Jerusalem to institute the Supper, to seal your forgiveness with the New Testament in His Blood. And this is what He has done – He has won you a peace that goes beyond anything we can think of in the world. He's won a peace that forgives you, that forgives your enemies, a peace that undoes death and raises to new life, a peace where the Apostle Paul stands side by side with Stephen whom he had put to death and together they praise Christ and rejoice in His mercy forever. Sin will seek to distract you, but Christ still today proclaims His forgiveness, His life, His salvation, His peace to you. The peace of the Lord be with you always! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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