Luke 19:37-40

Luke 19:37-40

And while He approaches – now to the descent of the mountain of olives – the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God while rejoicing by a great sound regarding all the powers they saw, saying, “The one who comes is having been praised – the king in the name of the Lord.  In heaven peace and glory in the highest.”  And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  And after answering he said, “I say to you all, if these will keep silent, the stones will cry out.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus continues His trip towards God’s will.  As He heads out, notice that His disciples can’t help but rejoice.  Of course, let’s keep this in perspective.  They are rejoicing because of the powerful things that they’ve seen.  They may well be rejoicing because they are expecting Jesus to head to Jerusalem and become the Messiah!  Jesus has had a powerful influence on their life and they were expecting that to come to a whole new level.  Of course, they weren’t wrong.  But I am willing to bet that events unfolded differently than they expected when they were celebrating Jesus on His way down the mount.

Do you find it natural to celebrate in the presence of Christ?  What helps bring the celebration out of you?

Second Thought:

Naturally as we have seen all along, Jesus’ disciples are rebuked by the religious elite.  The opposition will be there into the bitter end.  The religious elite cannot bring themselves to partake in the celebration.  They cannot bring themselves to see God at work.  Instead, they reject.  The desire to be in control and in power continues to lead these religious elite down the wrong path.

Are you surprised by the continued presence of Jesus’ enemies?  Why do you think that Jesus’ enemies were never far from Jesus?  Why do you think their criticism was so sharp?

Third Thought:

I love Jesus’ response, although it is rather humbling.  Jesus tells the religious elite that the stones will cry out if nobody else will.  This is a really expression.  God will be praised.  If human beings don’t lift their voices, creation will uphold the creator!  So why is this humbling?  It shows us once more that God truly does not need us.  He can get what He desires from rocks if He has to.  However, we should not stop here.  Because while this is a humbling realization, it should also be uplifting.  God can get all the praise He desires from rocks; yet time and time again He continues to choose us.

Why should you feel uplifted at the realization that God desires relationship with you?  How do you humbly live in the glory of our relationship with the Lord?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 19:41-44