The Week In Review

Celebration – Inspiration - Communion

Luke 19:37-38 – And when he was come nigh, even now at the (1) descent of the mount of Olives, the (2) whole multitude of the disciples began to (3) rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they have seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.


There were some interesting patterns within the Gospel of Luke. The first interesting structural pattern was the usage of the phrase “And it came to pass.”


This phrase was used 35 times starting in chapter 1:8 and the last time in chapter 24:51. This phrase is used when the movement or action transitions from one event to another, stating the completion of something. It is used in this chapter in verse 29 as this story of Jesus unfolds.


Luke also uses contrasting in his Gospel. One example is the speech by Mary (1:46-53).

From Low Esteem to blessed of All Nations (1:48)
How God will put down mighty to God exalt the low (52)
How God will fill the hungry with good to God making the rich empty (53)


Luke’s purpose for writing this Gospel is to present the evidence of Jesus and the fulfillment. He does that with his detail and themes throughout the writing of his Gospel. These verses follow that same pattern of the writer. We see some important points in these verses that correlate with Luke’s message of the fulfillment of God’s purpose through Jesus.

The first point is with his descent of the Mount of Olives. This dramatic visual shows Jesus coming down riding on the donkey to where the people stand waiting. All that are standing there see his approaching and Jesus coming to where they are. We can celebrate and take inspiration or encouragement because Jesus chose to come down to where you and I are. In the Old Testament, if you remember only Moses could go up the mountain to be in the presence of God. But now we have God, through Jesus coming down to be among the people. This picture shows us a glimpse of the love that God has for us. He shows his love by allowing Jesus to descend down to our lowly state to be our king. Jesus left his place in heaven and descended down to earth to be where we are, and in doing so, lifts us up to where God is. He comes down to be with us, because we were not capable of coming up to be with him. We cannot measure up to God’s standards. For God so loved us he sent his son…

Come back next week for the next installment.