Hope Stirred

Next week is Easter, or better yet, Resurrection Sunday.  So today we are going to pick up the story of what happened to Jesus one week before his death and resurrection.  It is generally referred to as the "Triumphal Entry."  If you could boil the excitement of Jerusalem on that day down to one word it would probably be HOPE.  Over the next month we will look at this issue of hope.

Hope is a strange thing.  It is sometimes very reasonable and many people share it.  And, then again, it can go beyond reason and few may hold to it.  In the dictionary hope is often defined as, "the feeling that what is desired can be obtained."  As you dig deeper you see that hope is more than a feeling.  In fact Hope can refer to the emotion as already described, the target of our desire, and the foundation or reasons for our believing it will be obtained.  So Hope has a Target, a Foundation, and an Emotion.

The reasons for having hope can be as varied as there are people on the earth.  Perhaps we gain some perspective and see that the circumstances aren't as bad as we first thought.  Or maybe we see someone or something that is going to assist us.  Perhaps we hope simply because the alternative is too scary to contemplate.

Whatever the reasons for our hopes, it is important to understand that God wants us to have hope.  He doesn't want us to be a bunch of Eyores, convinced that a hurricane is coming.  But, He wants us to hope for the right things (target) and for the right reasons (foundation).  To feel hopeful when you have the wrong target and foundation is foolish.

Today we are going to see how Hope was God's idea in the beginning.  Hope was his gift to mankind, the gift that he stirred up, all the way back in Eden.  But let's start at the triumphal entry in Luke 19:37-44.

The People Were Hopeful that the Perfect King Had Come

The passage says that Jesus was on the Mount of Olives, which is across a valley from Jerusalem to the east.  As he descended down the valley towards Jerusalem, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God for all the things Jesus had done.  They loudly proclaim a scripture found in Psalm 118:26.  The teachers of Israel had recognized this Psalm to be talking about a coming leader who would save Israel.  The terms Messiah, Christ, Anointed, and Son of David are synonymns and refer to this awaited savior.  When they loudly proclaimed this verse they were clearly declaring their belief that Jesus was the fulfillment of this long awaited hope.  How long awaited?

Let's just take a bit of time to trace back where this hope for a Perfect King came from.  It starts in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had sinned.  In Genesis 3 God is giving out punishments for the rebellion.  Yet, in the middle of this, He gives some hope to mankind.  In Genesis 3:15 God tells the parties involved that eventually a Seed from Eve would crush the head of the Serpent.  God recognized that Satan had taken advantage of Adam and Eve's innocence.  Thus he gives hope to mankind, but no such thing to the Serpent.  The hope that a son would be born who would rise up to crush Satan's head even though he would be injured in so doing.  This is the beginning of hope.  This forward looking idea enabled them to not be paralyzed or to kill themselves, but to trudge forward under the curse, knowing that one day they would be freed.

This attitude of hope was picked up by Adam's descendants, but not always for the good.  In Genesis 11 we see a group of people led by a "great Hunter" named Nimrod.  God had commanded mankind to spread out and fill the earth.  But, Nimrod had a different plan.  He would make a great name for himself and the people who would band together with him.  He had the hope that not only could he reject God's plan, but also that he could succeed in elevating his own glory to the heavens.  In their eyes God's plan to scatter had diminished their hope for greatness.  So they created a different plan that didn't involve God.  Notice their target and foundation of hope were in the wrong things.

Hope was also encouraged by the prophets throughout the Old Testament.  In Deuteronomy 18, Moses spoke about a coming Prophet who would be like him (to do a new thing in Israel).  He told them that it would be imperative for them to listen to him.  So Israel waited for the Seed of the Woman and the Prophet.  David spoke about God's Anointed One who would be from David's lineage.  This Anointed King would save Israel and live forever.  Thus Israel awaited the Anointed Son of David. All 17 books of the Old Testament prophets offer hope in the midst of judgment and hopelessness.  No matter how much they excoriate the nation of Israel for its sins, they always come around to say, "but."  But, God will raise up his Anointed and save us by his own right hand.  Not because of our great righteousness, but for his own name's sake.

Thus when Jesus showed up that day, Israel had been waiting for the Perfect Righteous King for nearly 1,500 years.  And all mankind had waited for the Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent's head for something around 4,000 years.

The Leaders Rejected Jesus as the Fulfillment of this Hope.

In verse 39 of the Luke 19 passage, we see that some of the Pharisees called to Jesus from the crowd.  They were telling Jesus that he needed to rebuke these followers of his.  They knew exactly what was being done and they had already rejected Jesus as a possible contender for being the Messiah.  In a sense, they are putting him on the spot.  They want him agree with them and publically deny that he is this awaited Messiah.  Jesus responds by saying that even if the people quit saying that he was the messiah then the rocks would cry out.  The Bible employs many metaphors in which inanimate objects do personal things.  Trees clap their hands and the heavens rejoice.  So I don't believe that Jesus is saying the rocks would literally start speaking.  However, they would start moving somehow and their movement would be testimony to the truth about Jesus.  Think about how there was a great earthquake that tore the temple curtain in two at his death.

Clearly Jesus is saying that the people should not be rebuked.  What they are saying is true of him.  If they didn't say it then God would make it clear one way or another.  Jesus very clearly declared himself to be the King of Israel who would come forth in righteousness and save them from their enemies.

The Hope of Israel is Deferred.

 After this encounter, as Jesus continues towards Jerusalem, He began to weep over the city of Jerusalem and his people.  He knew that though many were declaring his praises and messiahship today, within a week the leaders would raise up a cry to crucify him.  And?  The masses would join them.  When God the Father finally brought forth the Seed of the Woman, we rejected him.  The very thing that was our hope, wasn't hopeful enough for us.  So we killed him. Yes I say we because Israel colluded with the greatest Gentile power of that time.  It wouldn't matter if it had been America and Iraq, we would have done the exact same thing.  Why?  Because, just like Nimrod, our flesh cannot stand to be diminished and must have its glory.  Jesus was a savior who did not fill Israel with pride before the nations of the world.  He says in verse 42 that this was "their day."

Can you imagine if you had planned for a wedding and when it came for the wedding day, you slept in.  Then you get a call from a friend asking where you are.  Of all days to be rebellious and stiff-hearted this was the worst.  They could have had "Peace."  But because they would reject it, God was going to "hide" it from their eyes.  Then great trouble from the nation of Rome would come against them because they didn't understand the timing of when God would visit them.  The pain and suffering that their decision led to was the result of rejecting the righteous Jesus.  But, Israel's rejection of Jesus opened the door for the gospel to go to the Gentile nations.

Friend, let me just say to you today that now is the day of salvation.  Now is the time that God wants to come into your life and stir up hope.  Not just any hope.  Not just any target and any foundation.  But to stir up your hope in him.  Do you have hope in the future of this world?  Ask yourself what that hope may be based upon.  Is it on mankind's abilities and technology?  Is it upon some future enlightened leader that we can create through superior education?  Is it through the collective human reasoning as we overcome cultural barriers?

Hope is a good thing if it is centered upon that which God has said he will bring us to and is based upon trust in Him.  We must hope for that which is good.  But we must also trust in God doing it not ourselves.  This message may seem contrary to sound reasoning, but if history has taught us anything it is this: men will always find a way to ruin a good thing.  Let those who have ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to his people. 

Hope Stirred