38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”[a]
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.” – Luke 19:38-44
The text above, interestingly does not need too much permutations and combinations, it’s crystal clear. To make it even easier to understand, let me try to break it down with current day examples.
The people had seen a King they believed was chosen by God, and they blessed him with cheer and singing. There was a lot of praise singing and the concerned and highest level of authorities asked the person to whom they were singing praises to control his followers. He responds and informs them, that what they are doing is their assignment – their history or destiny, and that if they failed, other lesser objects will take responsibility.
Then on approaching the city, the king wept over the city, and made a remarkable statement. “How I wish you people understand the way of peace”. He declared that it was late, and the consequences were already set. There will be enemy invasion and many wicked atrocities, all because the opportunity for salvation was missed!
My sincere prayer for Nigerians today, is that we will not miss our opportunity for salvation or our day of visitation, that we will understand the way of peace, and the things given for our peace. I pray that we will escape invasion, pain and turmoil, and that we will save our children and generation after us undue pain.
Make no mistakes about it; our silence in our day of visitation holds gross repercussions for us all. We must live and talk true to our values. We must objectively analyze all who promise us change, and do what is best, not for ourselves, but for the masses of our people!
Here are a few thoughts to chew on and digest.
- The accolades were higher than what should be given to a mortal. “Blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord”. One of the signs for those blessed by God, is that people are willing to go beyond the ordinary for them free. There is an unforced army of the willing. Typical of the days of Gods power, people become willing.
- To show that the accolades are quite high, the leader is asked to control his people. This also suggests that men following the king might do some things based on their passion and exuberance. It is the responsibility of the king to bring his house into order.
- There is a compulsion from each side for people to play their part, once those who are meant to take responsibility delay, others will take it over.
- Egypt, Tunisia, Libya happen when people miss the time of their visitation. Once peace is missed, violence becomes the new order.
- Opportunities for salvation need to be accepted, it’s not time to stay in our prayer rooms, it’s time to go out and take advantage of the opportunities created for our salvation.
Many of the people I hold in high esteem are doing the mature thing to do at this time, stay non-partisan and be “the balanced”, “Unbiased umpire”. Indeed in claiming non-partisan, we have given endorsement to evil. You have seen the perishing and refused to offer them salvation. By being non-partisan we have chosen the new partisan -the silent destructive force that endorses status quo. Of course we understand Machiavelli’s submission on change – that those who believe in it don’t do enough, and those who don’t want it, do everything. I still hold them highly, but I have the word of Martin Luther King Jr. for them. At the end, what will matter most are not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
