Not everyone was having fun.  Not everyone was thrilled that Jesus was doing Zechariah 9:9.  Remember Zach 9:9 from last week?  500 years before Jesus was born, Zach proclaimed there would be a new king who would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  And that is exactly what Jesus was doing. He was riding into Zion proclaiming himself the new king.  But not everyone was happy about it.  The pilgrims gathered around Jesus; those who had been healed, those who had been saved, those who had been blessed, were singing the Hallel psalms proclaiming Jesus as the King who comes in the name of the Lord.  But not everyone was singing.  The Pharisees weren’t having any fun... at all! 

Luke 19:39  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"  

In a matter of days, Jesus’ blood would congeal in the dust below the cross.  In a matter of days, his collapsing lungs would be in a doomed competition to draw every breath.  In a matter of days he would strive in single handed combat with the lord of the abyss, but at this moment, during the Triumphal Entry, he was the new king. At this moment he was doing Zach 9:9.  At this moment he was going to be praised for who he was! 

Luke 19:40  "I tell you," Jesus replied, (to the Pharisees’ rebuke your disciples) "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

It was imperative, now, that the new King be ushered onto his throne with praise!  God could only take so much.  God would have to endure his son being arrested.  God would have to tolerate his son being whipped and beaten.  God would have to stand idly by and watch his son struggle to carry the cross up the hill of Golgotha.  God could only weep as his son was crucified.  He could only take so much, so in this moment as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, he had to be praised.  If the pilgrims didn’t do it, every rock along side of the road into Jerusalem would burst out in song, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"  It was mandatory.  Jesus would be glorified as the new king!

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But the Pharisees weren’t happy about it and the strange thing is, that broke Jesus’ heart.  The very next verse makes me scratch my head and wonder if Jesus was bipolar or something.  I described the scene last week.  Right before Jesus got to the Mount of Olives he sent his disciples ahead to get the donkey so he could do Zach 9:9.  He waits right where the pilgrims would begin to sing the Hallel songs.  He then is ushered over the top of the mountain and down the other side towards the city.  The group around him is praising him. He is the new king!  The Pharisees whine about it and Jesus says, “The rocks would cry out.”  And then it is as if he looks up from his donkey for the first time and sees Jerusalem.  He stops listening to the pilgrims’ praise, he no longer hears the hallelujahs, he is deaf to his disciples all he can see is his City. 

It is like one of those movie scenes when the hero has a flash back of all that has happened.  Jesus sees the history of Jerusalem.
-He sees David, the beloved king, conquering the Jebusites and making their Jebus his Jerusalem.
-He sees Solomon building that marvelous temple and remembers being a part of the glory as he filled the Holy Place with his presence.
-In quick succession there are images of good kings and bad kings who ruled from its throne.  He sees good King Josiah and the terrible Manasseh. 
-He sees the prophets standing before the kings, Nathan, and Elijah and Jeremiah.  He remembers Hosea demonstrating His love for Jerusalem with his love to Gomer. 
-He remembers that sad day when Nebuchadnezzar destroys the city and hauls so many of his children into captivity.
-But he also delights in their return from captivity to rebuild the place of connection between the spheres.
-He remembers when Zach wrote Zechariah 9:9.  Right there in that place he prophesied of this moment.  He could still see the anticipation of a new king in Zach’s eyes.
-He sees himself as a child being dedicated and named Joshua; the savior.
-He remembers when he was 12 and that time when he was busted by his mom for scaring everyone. Dad thought he had lost the son of God.
-But all that history, all of that love, all that relationship with this beautiful city was going to end.  It was almost over.
-A scene begins to play on the screen of his inner eye that is not remembered, but is yet too happened.  37 years in the future it will all be over.  It is a scene of destruction.  It is a horrible scene of devastation. It is a scene where thousands of his precious children die horrible deaths of starvation, mutilation, and brutalization.  As Jesus experiences the future of Jerusalem, he begins to weep, even while the pilgrims sing, “Hosanna.”

Luke 19:41-44  As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-- but now it is hidden from your eyes.  The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Last week I read to you Psalm 118.  In that song there was a line that appears on some posters and in some of our own songs.  “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  The day that Psalm 118:24 is referring to is the day Jesus was experiencing.  The day was the day of the Triumphal Entry.  The day should have been a day of rejoicing for everyone. It should have been everyone recognizing the new king.  The day should have ushered in a new era of peace and rejoicing.  But, on the day Jesus wept because his beloved city of Jerusalem, Jerusalem didn’t even recognize what day it was.  They did not recognize what kind of King he was.  They did not recognize God coming to them on a donkey.  And that breaks Jesus’ heart.  Jesus goes from glorying in the praise of being the Zach 9:9 King, to weeping over the city, who mostly doesn’t get it. 
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His bipolar day continues.  He has one more thing to do.  It is another demonstration of who he is.  It is another fulfillment of prophecy.  It is another extension of his disappointment in Jerusalem.

Luke 19:45-46 Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling.  "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

Jesus, still with a broken heart, enters the temple.  And the reason for his distress is evident all around him.  The Temple, the place where he has met his people for ages is no longer a place of connection, but a place of separation.  Instead of being a place where people are drawn closer to God, it has become a place where people draw closer to money.  We know how Luke feels about money.  So, Jesus drives out the robbers and makes it his place of teaching.

Luke 19:47-48  Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.  Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

Isn’t it interesting that everywhere Jesus went he forced people to make a choice? Every step on this crazy day forced choices. On the Mount of Olives everyone was given the choice to praise or not to praise. Everyone either recognized him as the Zach 9:9 king or demanded silence.  Everyone had a choice to accept the new kind of peaceful king or rebel against Rome.  Everyone either chose to hang on every word or kill him.  It was a day of choice. 

And that is the point of this sermon.  You have a choice to make.  There is no middle ground.  You will either be one of the disciples who praise the new king in a loud voice or you will be one of the Pharisees who demanded silence.  You see, Jesus left no middle ground.  Jesus, intentionally, with 500 years of forethought, boldly fulfilled the Zach 9:9 prophecy.  Jesus, without waffling, stepped into Psalm 118 and announced himself to be the one who comes in the name of Lord! 

Some would have you believe there is a middle ground.  Some advocate that Jesus was a great teacher.  He was a harmless man.  He was a man who loved everyone.  They would say you don’t really have to make a choice.  You can acknowledge he was just a good man.  But not God. “Come on, God?  He was just a great man.” 
But Jesus doesn’t allow for the middle ground.  He is either the king or he was a liar.  When he sat upon the donkey and did Zach 9:9 he said he was king!  When he allowed the disciples to sing Psalm 118:26 about him, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” he is demanding our allegiance to him as king.  Either Jesus is king or he is a liar.  There is no room for this “Only a good man” middle ground.  It was a day of choice then and it is a day of choice now! 

I have never understood half-hearted allegiance to Jesus.  You know, this kind of, “Well I like Jesus and I go to church some and I hope he saves me;” wishy-washiness. “I am going to dabble in Jesus but I have my own agenda.  I go to church because I want my kids to be good.  I want to cover all my bets so I go to church just in case.  I’ll give God an hour or two each week. That ought to be enough to get me into heaven.  I need to have some friends so I think I’ll go to church.  My mama raised me to go to church.”  What?

Jesus is either the king who demands our righteousness, our total commitment, our humility, or he is not.  We should either give it all to him or forget it.  He is King.  We are his subjects.  It makes no sense, to me, to doodle with Jesus.  Kings don’t like to be doodled with.  Either give him your heart or ignore him.  Don’t waffle in your allegiance to the new king.   

The Triumphal Entry was a day of choice.   Some made the choice that day and proclaimed Jesus the Zach 9:9 king; “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Others, like the Pharisees demanded silence.  The chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders chose to kill him.  Today is also a day of choice, what will you do with Jesus?