As we spoke of at the Transfiguration, Luke’s Gospel account is all heading to one place. It’s heading to Jerusalem. That is the place where we heard of Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus about His great exodus. They were speaking with Jesus about his departure.
Jerusalem is the holy city. Jerusalem is God’s city that He has established. It’s meant to be the place where The Lord is at work. It is the place where the temple is located. Holy Hill This is the Lord’s house. His people gather around His temple. It is his place of dwelling. It is where His people live. He says it, “You are my people and I am you God.” But not only that, Jerusalem is God’s city for the world. Where in the promise to Israel, they would be the people who are a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. Jerusalem plays an important part not only for the people of Israel. Jerusalem is a city of God’s presence for the sake of the world.
But Jerusalem had a pretty tumultuous history in the Old Testament. They were often in need of repentance. They often followed other gods and were idolaters. They often turned their backs on the Lord’s Law. Yet, every so often, The Lord would send a prophet in their midst who would announce repentance. A call to turn from their evil, repent, and The Lord would forgive and have mercy.
But we all know that hearing when you err is not something that we like to hear. We get defensive. Hey, you don’t understand the circumstances, we say. “I was just doing what I thought was right.” But it simply doesn’t work that way before The Lord and His Word. There is no mistake or misunderstanding. When The Lord calls us to repent it is because we have been found guilty without a shadow of a doubt. There is no such thing as claiming that we are without sin. We know the truth. More importantly, God knows the truth.
Jerusalem did not want to hear that message and as a result, a great many of these prophets were locked up is prison or they were killed. The Lord’s city has too often been the city where the blood of the prophets flows.
Jesus is not worried about Herod when these pharisees come to warn Him. No his face is set to Jerusalem. It is clear that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. Jesus is on His way to announce the Lord’s action to save them. He has set his sights on the Holy City.
But this city, just like it would not receive the prophets, will not receive their King. He wanted to gather them together under the protection of The Lord. Like a hen gathers its chicks under its wings. It’s wings stretched out wide and open for protection from judgment. To the repentant, The Lord promises the shelter under His wings.
But Jesus speaks the words of Psalm 118:26, you surely will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of The Lord.” They will not See Jesus again until He comes for the great Sabbath feast. This is the saying that they were to say to the people who arrived for the feast.
Yet, they reject it. They will not repent. The Holy city. The place that the place that The Lord had declared to be his city. The place that The Lord had declared to be His missionary outpost to the world didn’t want The Lord’s outstreched protection. They refused to repent.
What do they do? They crucify Him. Instead of welcoming the King, they reject Him and place Him outside of the city to be killed. Jerusalem is not just the city of Israel, it stands for the whole world. It had Jesus killed. Jerusalem’s killing of Jesus is our killing of Jesus. It’s our blood that is on Him. It is our sin that put Jesus on the cross.
But Jesus speaks the words of Psalm 118:26, you surely will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of The Lord.”
Jesus foretold His coming to the city once again on that Palm Sunday. This has a great and deep meaning. Because in that same psalm, we hear the words, “The stone that the builders have rejected has become the corner stone.” Following that, that is when we hear, “blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord.”
It’s saying that even though Jerusalem rejected Jesus, He has become the cornerstone. He has become the stone in a building on which the entire structure depends. Jesus in being rejected, God has exalted Him far above all, so that at the name of Jesus, all knees should bow and tongues confess that He is Lord.
In an amazing and miraculous work of God, the very act of Jerusalem and not only Jerusalem, but the whole world, in rejecting Jesus outside of the city, is the very act how God redeems the world. Our rejection of Jesus, God has made into our redemption. Because Jesus has taken our hate, our sin, our shame, our rejection of him, all to the cross, where He has atoned for us. He has born our sin and even the wrath of God in our place. Jesus takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. Luther called it the great exchange. It’s pure grace. We are the ones who get the benefit out of this trade. Jesus takes our sin and gives us His righteousness.
And now for we who stand on this side of Jesus’ first coming, those open arms of the cross, are open arms that have born the wrath and judgment of God against sin. Those arms that Jesus spoke of how he might gather His people under his wings, take on a new meaning. Those arms were spread far and wide and now they show us the extent of the love of God to gather us all under His protection. We, repentant, under the shadow of the cross have been gathered together to receive the grace that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Jesus bore our iniquities, even our rejection of Him. He has born your iniquities. He has born your rejection or Him. He has turned it into your salvation.
