Sermon Recap
Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord
Brian Hunter · September 13, 2026
Scripture referenced
- Matthew 23:37-39
- Matthew 22
- Matthew 24
- Matthew 23
- Psalm 118:22
- Psalm 118:24
- Psalm 118:25
- Psalm 118:26
Pastor Brian opened Matthew 23:37-39 with a group of IDF reservists in the room for the second Sunday in a row, and used Jesus’s lament over Jerusalem to work toward a personal question: where have you been treating Jesus as a secondary option rather than the cornerstone of your life?
What was said
Jesus’s words in Matthew 23 come at a specific moment. Chapter 22 was his final address to the general public, chapter 24 would be his private words to his disciples, and chapter 23 is his final address to the religious leaders. That context matters, because the things he says there are blunt in a way that would have felt offensive to the people he was speaking to, and Brian said that was intentional.
The emotion behind “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem” was where the message started. Whether Jesus said it once with overwhelming feeling or literally twice, the literary repetition in the text is there to carry weight. Brian pointed to the gospel accounts where Jesus wept over the city, and suggested the tears are audible in the words. What followed was not condemnation but longing, the image of a hen wanting to gather her chicks, and the grief of being refused.
Verse 38, “your house is left to you desolate,” would have sounded absurd to anyone standing in the crowded temple courts during Passover week. Brian described it as a deliberate provocation, Jesus saying something so ironic that people would stop and think. Spiritually, the temple was already empty. Prophetically, he was describing what the Romans would do to Jerusalem roughly forty years later.
Verse 39 sets a condition on Jesus’s return. He will not be seen again until the words “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” are spoken. That phrase is not something Jesus invented. He was quoting Psalm 118, and Brian walked through how a rabbi’s listeners would have instantly recognized the reference and filled in the surrounding text themselves, including verse 22: “the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” By quoting that psalm, Jesus was pointing directly at what the religious leaders had done to him and telling them plainly who he was.
What will it take for Israel to say those words and fulfill the condition Jesus placed on his return? Brian said he would answer that next week. For the remaining time, he turned the cornerstone image toward the people in the room.
The Hebrew word for “rejected” in Psalm 118:22, Brian explained, does not only mean to throw something away outright. It also means to treat something casually, to esteem it lightly, to use it as an addition rather than a foundation. He asked whether anyone in the room had been doing that, not rejecting Jesus as Savior but quietly making him a secondary or tertiary option while trying to handle a difficult situation on their own. He invited people to put up their hands, prayed over those who did, and closed with the image of Jesus saying “get in here” to anyone willing to come back under his wings.
Touch points
- Think about one area of your life where you have been trying to figure things out on your own and have not made Jesus your first option, and bring it to Him in prayer this week.
- Read Psalm 118 in full so you can see the passage Brian was drawing from and sit with what verse 22 says about the cornerstone.
- Read all of Matthew 23 to understand who Jesus was speaking to and why his words there were so pointed.
- If you have been bumping your head against a hard situation, take a moment this week to stop scheming and specifically ask Jesus into that situation by name.
- Come to the closing prayer and worship evening at the TMC when Tribe announces it, and be part of marking what God did there before that chapter closes.
Doing a Bible study?
- Brian described Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and then saying ‘your house is abandoned and desolate’ to a crowd in a packed, bustling temple. What does it tell you about Jesus that his words came from grief rather than contempt?
- Brian said Jesus ‘loves to afflict the comfortable’ and that if you have never been offended by Jesus you probably have not walked with him very long. Has there been a moment when something Jesus said genuinely offended or unsettled you, and what happened when you sat with that?
- Brian pointed out that Jesus could have filled in the blank many different ways, such as setting a date or demanding outright acknowledgment, but instead he quoted Psalm 118 and the image of the rejected cornerstone. Why do you think Jesus chose that particular condition and that particular image?
- Brian drew a distinction between flatly rejecting Jesus and simply treating him casually, as a secondary or tertiary option when life gets hard. Which of those two does he suggest is the more common pattern, and which one do you find harder to recognize in yourself?
- Brian closed with the image of Jesus saying ‘get in here’ under his wings, with no ‘too late’ and no ‘no room for you.’ How does that picture sit alongside the stern, blistering tone of Matthew 23 that Brian described earlier in the sermon?
Resumen en español
Brian tomó como punto de partida las palabras de Jesús en Mateo 23:37-39, donde Jesús llora sobre Jerusalén con una mezcla de angustia, lamento y frustración, porque quiso reunir a su pueblo como una gallina reúne a sus polluelos, pero ellos no quisieron. Brian explicó que estas palabras fueron el último mensaje de Jesús a los líderes religiosos de su tiempo, y que aunque el templo estaba lleno de gente en esos días previos a la Pascua, Jesús declaró que la casa estaba espiritualmente abandonada y desolada, una afirmación que también resultó ser profética: cuarenta años después, Roma destruyó Jerusalén y el templo.
El pasaje central de la noche fue el versículo 39, donde Jesús dice que no será visto de nuevo hasta que Israel diga “bendito el que viene en el nombre del Señor.” Brian señaló que Jesús estaba citando el Salmo 118, y que los líderes religiosos habrían reconocido de inmediato la conexión con el versículo 22 de ese mismo salmo: “la piedra que los constructores rechazaron se ha convertido en la piedra angular.” Con eso, Jesús les estaba diciendo sin rodeos que ellos eran los constructores que habían rechazado la piedra más importante. Las condiciones para el regreso de Jesús, y lo que llevará a Israel a decir esas palabras, serán el tema de la semana siguiente.
Para cerrar, Brian dirigió la conversación hacia cada persona presente. Explicó que la palabra “rechazar” en hebreo no solo significa desechar por completo, sino también tratar algo con indiferencia o darle un lugar secundario. La pregunta que dejó fue personal: ¿hay algún área de tu vida donde has estado tratando a Jesús como una opción más, en lugar de como la piedra angular? Invitó a quienes se identificaran con eso a reconocerlo ante Dios y a volver a hacer de Jesús su primera opción, y varios en la congregación respondieron levantando la mano para recibir oración.
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Pasajes bíblicos usados
- Mateo 22 (mensaje final de Jesús al público general, mencionado como contexto)
- Mateo 23:37-39 (texto principal de la noche)
- Mateo 24 (mensaje final de Jesús a sus discípulos, mencionado como contexto)
- Salmos 118:22, 24-26
Topics
Cornerstone Israel Jerusalem Jesus Return Making Jesus First Temple