I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

The Things that Make for Peace

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 19:41-48 “The Things that Make for Peace”
August 4, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church

In Nomine Iesu
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Almighty and everlasting God, by Your Holy Spirit You have revealed to us the Gospel of Your Son, Jesus Christ: We beseech You so to enliven our hearts that we may sincerely receive Your Word, and not make light of it, or hear it without fruit, but that we may fear You and daily grow in faith in Your mercy, and finally obtain eternal salvation; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 160)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)

The sermon text for today is taken from the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:

And 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… 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.

These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)

In Christ Jesus, who had a sorrow filled heart for you, to care and love you in your failings so He could cleanse you of your sins with His precious blood, dear fellow redeemed:

The year is 70 AD. Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. The city has endured a great famine and the fighting is fierce. After Titus retired for the evening, the seditious attacked Roman soldiers once again. The soldiers gave chase to the remaining stronghold; where the zealots were holed up in the temple. “At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great and undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another solder, he set fire to a golden window, through round about the holy house, on the north side of it. As the flames went upward the Jews made a great clamour, such as so mighty an affliction required, and ran together to prevent it; and now they spared not their lives any longer…Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething-hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did nowhere appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of these bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them” (Flavious Josephus, The Works of Josephus (1982), p. 580-581). The temple and the streets are full of dead bodies and the city of Jerusalem is destroyed. And when [Jesus forty years earlier] 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!

In that lengthy history from the Jewish historian Josephus, we hear the end results for Jesus’ weeping. This doesn’t seem fit for the King as He is riding into Jerusalem. It doesn’t look like the beginning of a week of victory. Yet, this is the definition of Jesus. Isaiah proclaims that, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3). This can’t be about our Savior right? This is the beginning of a crucial week, the most crucial week of them all. This is the week that Jesus is bringing the world “the things that make for peace!” The people of His day are unfortunately missing out.

As Jesus weeps over the city, He continues to explain, “But now they are hidden from your eyes. 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.” In history we see the second part of what Jesus said come alive, as we heard from the historian, but what about the first part? What are the things that make for peace and why are they hidden from their eyes? If today is Palm Sunday in our text, Jesus makes peace for the world with His death on the cross. This is a good thing. Now why is it hidden? Is this deliberate? If the people had been listening to Jesus’ message, they would know what is about to happen and it is a needed thing for the Son of Man to be put to death. Jesus never hid the events that were taking place. The things of peace are hidden simply because the people don’t believe.

What should be great joy for the people of Jesus day as the peace for mankind is with them, it is with sadness we behold Jesus’ weeping for them because they don’t believe in Him. How heavy it must have been on Jesus as He knew what would happen to the city. This is supposed to be the center of worship to God and God is among them in the flesh. Yet this city doesn’t see the Savior has come to them as Jesus finishes saying, “And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” This text hits us hard too. Two thousand years ago might have been the day of Jesus’ visitation, but we would be kidding ourselves if we push off Jesus visiting us right now through the Means of Grace.

The Man of Sorrows doesn’t just weep over this city. He didn’t only carry His chosen people’s sins. He carried the sins of the world. The thanks He receives comes from a people who continue to fail listening to His holy Word. He continues to visit us through it, and in His visits, with the things that make for peace, He is often rejected. Jesus was persistent with His people and ultimately destruction came for them. Jesus continues to be persistent with us. He continues to call us back and wants us to take action. Like the people of Jesus’ day, the people He weeps over, we can’t. We are an evil people to the Man of Sorrows. Our sinful nature rejects His peace. This has made God sad since the fall. Moses wrote, And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart (Genesis 6:6). It is easy to continue to sin until we see our Savior weeping. God could have decided to destroy all of man, but the Man of Sorrows continued on for us, cleansing us with the peace He brings.

To begin His final week of suffering, Jesus goes to the place where He draws strength. 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.” He returns the temple to its rightful condition and it is in the house of prayer where God comes down to man. He brings healing and restoration to His people. How fitting to see Jesus do this at the beginning of Holy Week where He brings comfort and healing to all. Jesus has perfectly been about His Father’s business. Even as He wept for the city, He continues to teach them about the coming of the kingdom of God. He brings them a message of repentance and absolution. The mission is for Him to continue, and He does so willingly even though He knows what will happen at the end of the week.

And the events of this week are the things that make for peace. From the day He was expected to come into this world, He was proclaimed as the Prince of Peace. Peace would be brought with His birth because of the life He was expected to live. He lived out that life perfectly. He put on the sins of the world as hard as they would be to carry. The people struggled with believing in this Man of Sorrows. He walked the hard road of this life to bring peace that only He can bring. Peace that came from His death on a Roman cross.

And as our text ends, that death on a Roman cross wasn’t coming fast enough for Jesus’ enemies. 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. Knowing what was going to happen and how it would all end, Jesus presses on to deliver a lifesaving message. While His enemies are like sharks circling blood in the water, Jesus isn’t shaken from His path. He presses on in the temple of His Father, teaching the people. The people needed this teaching, just like you and I continue two thousand years later to hunger and thirst for the same teaching. Here you are in your house of prayer to find the things that make for peace!

Jesus had you in mind as He wept, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” The things for peace are still for you and still come to you. To be condemned by the law of God is hard to grasp. No one wants to hear how they have sinned or how they are evil in the eyes of God. To stand condemned before God is the ultimate failure. Jesus doesn’t fail you. He stands before you with healing, comfort, and strength. He teaches you His Word and cleanses you with the shedding of His blood on the cross. At the end of the week, the Father saw all your evil and sinful deeds on the back of His One and only Son. He condemned Him so you would live forever. Jesus suffered, and died in your place and with His glorious resurrection from the dead you will rise again in glory on the last day, where in Heaven, there is no weeping or sadness, only peace.

While you wait for that glorious day when you will be called home, you unfortunately must dwell in this sinful world. There are times it is hard not to wonder where that peace Christ brings is? The world wanted Him to bring earthly peace. Until the world is made anew on the last day, Jesus taught it will not get easier. He brings you greater peace. A peace that can’t be taken away from you. Through the Word and sacraments, He continues to come to you, restoring you with His heavenly peace. Peace that you are redeemed even when you have failed. Peace that in asking for forgiveness, your sins are certainly forgiven. There is hope in having renewed obedience to serve your Lord. As He works through you, He will bring you peace. So, in hope and in the faith, you have in your precious Savior who wept and took away your sins on the cross, receive this blessing with thankful hearts. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus, unto everlasting life. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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