Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome. We're glad that you've chosen to join us this morning. It's a great day to worship Jesus. Amen. And so today we'll open his Word. We will see what he has for us this morning in the Book of John, chapter 12. And today we're going to be in particularly verses 12 through 19 and looking at a story that I'm sure many of us have heard before. And perhaps this morning it'll be a slightly different look at this than you have.
[00:00:27] So if you would join me in prayer and then we will jump into God's word together.
[00:00:34] Lord Jesus, we are firstly pausing from the busyness of life, from the things on our minds that happen to have happened yesterday or the day before this past week.
[00:00:45] Hard things that may have happened or good things, stressful things, whatever those things may have been, we want to pause this morning and lay them before you. We know that both in our lives, in our community, in our state and in this country, there's all sorts of things going on that draw our attention, that draw our hearts. And so this morning help us to lay them before you and recognize your sovereignty over all things.
[00:01:07] And because of that, we can have peace this morning, the tension that may exist or have existed in our hearts from before. Lord, we need to be reminded this morning that you're the one in control of all things. And you've called us back to your throne. You've called us to the cross to recognize your power, to recognize the grace that we're able to experience in you and the freedom that we're able to experience because of what you have done. So with that in mind, we open your word this morning expecting to hear from you, expecting our lives to be different because of what you want to teach us. This morning, I just ask the things that I say be from you and guided by your spirit in the ways that they're heard. Again, that your spirit would intercede in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:56] Things aren't always as they appear.
[00:02:00] Sometimes what looks like a win is actually a loss.
[00:02:06] And what looks like a loss can actually be a win.
[00:02:11] Sometimes what looks good actually isn't. And what looks bad actually is actually very good.
[00:02:17] Not only do we find this reality in our own lives, but we also, as we look through scripture, even from Genesis, the beginning of Genesis, what looked good to the eyes of man?
[00:02:30] What looked desirable to the eyes of man when they took and ate of it, Was it good?
[00:02:38] Not so much.
[00:02:40] We this morning, as we looked in God's word, in chapter 12 of John, we entitle and maybe your Bibles do as well entitle as triumph. Jesus has very different feelings about now. Why? Why does he have different feelings about this than even the way many of our Bibles describe this account that we're looking at this morning. Now, I will just let you know, you'll have to wait and listen till the end to find out. But things aren't always as they appear. Sometimes you have to look deeper to understand the reality and why it's important even in our own walk with God. And so together this morning, let's just journey through this passage and other passages that speak of the same account and see why and how. So this reality is true, that things aren't always as they appear.
[00:03:34] So chapter 12, verse 12 is a continuation of a chapter we started last week as we kind of kicked off this year. Looking at last week, I should say that Jesus being anointed in Bethany. You can see that in verses 1 through 11. We looked at that last week. You can go back and listen to that if you'd like. Jesus is now beginning what we call Passion Week. It's the journey up to the cross. And John spends the first 11 chapters. I said this last week, the first 11 chapters of his book on the first three, three and a half years or so of Jesus life. And the last half of John is all focused on this last week. And so really, we're gonna through this whole year, unpack each little portion of this entire last week of Jesus, as well as a few other days afterwards, and see what God has for us. There's some powerful stuff here. So chapter 12, verse 12, we're gonna pick up here. Jesus has already entered Bethany, which is quite near Jerusalem. He. He's been anointed by his feet by Mary. We saw that last week. And so now it starts off in verse 12. The next day, a large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out. What did they cry out?
[00:04:47] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, fear not, O daughter of Zion. Which was another name you've been looking in the Old Testament. You'll see that name particularly pointed at the city of Jerusalem. Fear not, O daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming. Sitting on a donkey's colt.
[00:05:12] His disciples did not understand these things at first. How many of you have ever read the Bible and not understood it at first, okay, company but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he raised Lazarus out of the tomb, which we saw in chapter 11, and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness. That is, they continued to speak about this incredible miracle of Jesus raising somebody who was dead for how many days?
[00:05:43] For four days. That has never been done before.
[00:05:46] The reason, verse 18, the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard that he had done this sign.
[00:05:52] So the Pharisees said to one another, see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world is going after him. Now, if you look in your outline, you'll see at the bottom and even in some of the points there that we'll see today. There's some other passages that are referenced in both Matthew, in Mark, in, and Luke. And then I just read from John. And so we see this account, unlike many other accounts actually through the Gospels, is spoken of in each one of the Gospels. So there's many things that happen in Jesus life. There's things that happen that only Matthew talks about, or maybe even only Matthew and Mark, but not Luke and John. There's some things that Matthew, Mark and Luke all talk about, but not John. For example, the birth of Jesus, which we consider pretty important. But John doesn't even reference or speak about the birth of Jesus. But this account is interesting because not only not one, not two, not three, but all four Gospels speak about this account, this coming of Jesus into Jerusalem. When Jesus says something once, is it important?
[00:06:52] Yes. Even though it's only once, it's important. Sometimes Jesus says something twice or he draws attention to it. You might read in some of your Bibles, verily, verily or truly, Truly, he's saying, pay attention. This is important. So he's referencing it. When you jump over, for example, to Revelation, there's a word that we see, holy, that's not referenced once, that's not said twice. But how many times is holy used? 3 times. So that draws even more attention, particularly as we look at the original text and the way things are written. As you read through your Bible, when you see something once, it's important. Obviously, when you see something twice, really pay attention. When you see something three times, this really better grab your eyes, your ears and your heart. But here today, in the fourth Gospel, we see all of them talking about this particular account. And so we know this. It's important.
[00:07:40] Our eyes, our hearts, our ears should be Drawn to this. Of all the feasts, Passover, which is spoken of here, was the most important and most well attended there could have been. Based on what we see in history, up to and even maybe over a million people in and around Jerusalem. One city that's a lot of people. This is a major feast and they would have traveled for miles. In your outline, you're gonna see some things you can fill in. And we're just gonna kind of walk through different characters or groups of people or things, if you will, items that we can learn from as we go through this particular account. And we'll look at both Matthew, Mark and Luke. I'll read through that and some of them will be on the screen. Firstly, Jesus starts off this journey before he even has people coming with palm branches and coats. There's one particular character, a young donkey, a colt. And you can write that in. We'll just learn about this for a moment. The cult is what you can write in on point one.
[00:08:40] Now imagine this. Imagine and there's a nice picture of a donkey.
[00:08:45] Imagine for a moment that you have made plans to go pick up food somewhere. You didn't tell someone else who was coming with you. And you walk into whatever restaurant this is perhaps, and they didn't know that you called before. And you walk in and you know the little grab and go wall things that they have that like, we already pre ordered your food. You walk in, they think, oh, we're just gonna go and grab our food. You walk in and you just go and pick up your food. Now they would probably think that you ordered the food ahead of time, right? Or that you're stealing somebody else's food. It's one or the other. In this situation, what we see is this colt was prepared beforehand. But the disciples didn't seem to know this, but Jesus did. He had prepared ahead of time this colt, this donkey to be ready for him. Matthew speaks a little bit more about this and it's just a great passage that kind of gives us a little bit more insight into the beginning of this story. It's on the screen as well. Matthew 21. If you want to flip your Bibles over to chapter 21 of Matthew, you can do that as well. Now when they. That is Jesus and his disciples. This is from Matthew 21. It's on the screen as well. When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, go into the village in front of you immediately. You will find a what A donkey tied and a colt with her, untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says to you, which I would imagine if you went to go and take somebody's donkey, what are you doing? You shall say, the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Zechariah. 9. 9. If you want to write that in, that's what we're talking about. The prophet saying this. Verse 5 of Matthew 21, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble, mounted. On a what? On a donkey? On a colt full of a beast of burden. And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them. I'm sorry. John 12, 14, 15a, which we're getting to here. Jesus says he found a donkey. This is where he found it. He had planned this ahead of time, most likely. Or whoever owned the donkey knew Jesus already, because notice the owner of the donkey didn't say the Lord, who? Who are you talking about?
[00:11:00] And Jesus knew where the donkey would be, obviously, because he's God, he knows all things. And they said, Mark speaks about this. They said, we will bring the donkey back as soon as we're done with it.
[00:11:12] Now, why a donkey? One of the customs of the Mid east was that whenever a city was conquered, the victorious king would ride in on a donkey, on a horse. They would ride in, showing, I'm here to conquer with this city, or I have conquered this city. The type of animal he chose was incredibly important. If he was seated on a horse, it was a sign that the city would be put to the sword. And the king was riding this war horse approaching the city. And everybody in the city would have had great fear because they know this powerful army is coming. And the one riding in front of all of this massive parade of soldiers is riding on a horse, or particularly a war horse. We need to be concerned. Now, if they're riding on a donkey, they can breathe a sigh of relief because you know, they're not here to kill us all. They come in peace.
[00:12:01] And so that's what Jesus does. He rides on this donkey, this colt of a donkey that had never yet been ridden. Now, a few things you may not have thought about or seen in scripture as you've read through it. One, this donkey's never been ridden before. And does the donkey start bucking Jesus off? That wouldn't go well. That would be a different story that we are reading here, wouldn't it? But rather the donkey is at peace, having never been ridden before, not broken, but probably. And I'm not. It would be interesting to like, find out about this and what animals knew about Jesus.
[00:12:33] But I wonder, don't you? Like, what would this little donkey or the mother have realized? Would they have even. I mean, he's their creator, right? He's God riding on this donkey that has never been broken. What also you might not have thought about before is notice how many donkeys are riding, are going down this road together to Jerusalem. Not one, but two. Notice what it says. He took both the colt and the mother, which also probably would have provided a level of peace for this young donkey who has never been ridden before. The mom is staying with the young donkey. You have this picture of Jesus not coming on a war horse, but coming not just on a mature donkey, but on a young donkey that has never been ridden before. He does this to fulfill what scripture has said about him, Zechariah 9:9 that I pointed to earlier, that Jesus would come. And the people seem to realize this is significant. Jesus is showing up to bring peace. Now we know that they have been sitting under Roman oppression for a long time, and they're hoping that Jesus is going to come and free them. But they also see that Jesus is fulfilling scripture as the word of God has said, this Messiah is going to come, the king is going to come. And so maybe also this Jesus will free them from oppression, from the oppression of the Romans. Before we go on to the second point, there's a powerful point we need to connect to. Jesus rode in to bring peace to people's hearts, didn't he? He rode into Jerusalem preparing to go to the cross. And because of the cross we can have peace with God. So Jesus riding into Jerusalem came to bring spiritual peace, not political peace. There was still going to be all sorts of conflict in and amongst the nation of Israel, particularly Jerusalem some 40 years later. There was going to be major conflict there. But Jesus came because spiritual peace was first important, first and foremost. But Jesus is coming again. Amen. And when he comes again, he won't be riding on a donkey.
[00:14:32] Revelation 19. Listen to what it says.
[00:14:35] Particularly note Jesus mode of transportation when he comes. Verse 11 of Revelation 19. Now John speaking. So this is John in what we just read in the Gospel of John. Jesus is coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Same John years later, sees Jesus coming again, not on a donkey. Look at what John, same author says some years later as he looks into heaven. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he who sat on it was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes not peace but war.
[00:15:09] His eyes were like flames of fire and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written on it that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name called the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. It's a very different parade, isn't it, this imagery that we have here? And the armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them. With a rod of iron, he himself will tread the winepresses of fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.
[00:15:59] Jesus will come again, not riding on a colt. And when he comes again, he's not saying, here's peace to the nations. He's saying, I'm coming to bring war. And the question that you and I have to ask is this, where are you with Jesus today? Because when we see Jesus coming, if you're sitting under the cross this morning, you can have peace even though he's riding a war horse. And if you have rejected Jesus to this day, if you've rejected Jesus when he comes again, there should be great fear in your bones.
[00:16:32] It all matters. Whether or not it's war or peace that he brings is where you sit with Jesus right now.
[00:16:39] Jesus is one who loves. Yes. And he's one who judges. He's one who shows mercy and he speaks truth. He is one who welcomes the humble and he refuses the proud. This cult is significant because it speaks about Jesus coming in peace, fulfilling prophecy. But also it causes us to look forward. He's coming again. Amen. And that's a good thing for those who are sitting under the cross of Jesus this morning, no matter where they are in the world. There's another C word that we'll look at. It's the crowd. It's the crowd. So verse 12 of John 12 and then also 17 and 18 speaks about this large crowd. How many people did I say that? It could have been up to a million people. This is a lot of people in and around. And they would have heard, heard about Jesus in the city and they would have gone out. Bethphage and Bethany are about 2 miles or so outside of the city. So they would have heard Jesus is coming. They would have rushed out this massive amount of people. Look what it says. The next day, this large crowd had come to the feast. They heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. Verse 17 and 18. The crowd that had been with him when they called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. In other words, those people that had heard that Jesus had raised him from the dead said, jesus is coming. Have you heard? There was a guy, he was dead for four days. And this man, Jesus, he walked over to the tomb. He told him to roll the stone away, and he called the guy's name and he came out. And everyone else, how many days was he dead? And they would have replied, four days. I've never heard of anyone doing that before. And then they would have thought, you know, if we want to get rid of the Romans, you know, who would be good to have on our side? Someone who can raise the dead. That is a great person to have on your team. Maybe he might be the one that we have been waiting for. As Passover comes around and people consider what they're celebrating at Passover, particularly when Jesus brought freedom to them as a nation, from what country?
[00:18:31] Egypt. They would have been thinking, when is Jesus gonna come, bring freedom again?
[00:18:37] This anticipation in the hearts of this crowd would have been massive.
[00:18:42] And then they heard that he was riding on a donkey. And they would have been, wait a minute. Said, wait a minute. I remember this. There's a passage in our Old Testament that speaks about someone coming riding on a donkey.
[00:18:56] So Jesus, he steps onto the scene. He's not like anyone else who's claimed to be the Messiah, which there were others. He's not like any other zealots who talked about freedom. He's not like any other leaders. He has a following of fishermen and outcasts. Jesus is not like any others. He actually has a proven track record of miracles, not just magic tricks. The buzz about Jesus was massive, major.
[00:19:20] Now, who were these people that came?
[00:19:23] Who was this crowd that made up this crowd? It was all those who had been waiting for Jesus to come. It was people who had been healed. They would have been saying, jesus, I used to be lame, but now I can walk. I'd like to go see this one, this guy. I was blind, but now I can see. My cousin was blind. My sister was blind. My dad was blind or couldn't walk. The guy who healed him, he's coming, and I think maybe he's about to take on, take the throne.
[00:19:47] Now, what's important for us to understand is this their intent. Maybe Jot this down somewhere. Their intent was seeking Jesus out.
[00:19:55] Their heart in searching for him, was because of the misunderstood identity of Jesus.
[00:20:01] They thought the misunderstood mission of Jesus. They thought that he was coming to freedom from the Romans.
[00:20:09] They thought that he was there to make their physical problems go away, not their spiritual problems. Doesn't that problem exist today? That confusion exists today. I think Jesus is going to make all of my earthly problems go away. That's why I run to him. That's why I follow him, because he's supposed to make my earthly problems go away. And so people rush to Jesus because of things they've heard or promises that people have made. When Jesus says, first and foremost, I want your spiritual problems to be taken care of, we fall into this trap, don't we? We often, for example, in our prayer life, we pray for our physical outward problems before we pray for our inward problems, don't we, God, I pray that you'd make this problem go away and this problem go away and that you'd fix this out here rather than God, can you fix me first?
[00:20:55] Before you fix all the things out there? I need you to fix this in here.
[00:20:59] We have a similar problem, the similar clashing, if you will, why we run to Jesus. And I think it's important for us as followers of Jesus, to first and foremost recognize Jesus cares about my heart, this relationship, before we fix all of these things out here. So spend time with the Lord, ask him, what do you want to fix in me? That's why I'm gonna run to you first, because I care about what's going on in here. Because I know that's what you care about first and foremost.
[00:21:27] Point three, this crowd did something significant when they came running to Jesus.
[00:21:33] Point three talks about this. They laid their cloaks and they cut branches. Cloaks and cut branches is what you can write down in your outline. Verse 13, the first part of it, it says this. So they took branches of palm trees and they went out to meet him. Matthew speaks a little bit more about this. It says they brought the colt or the donkey, and the colt, again, notice, not one donkey, but there's two donkeys there. And they put their cloaks on them and he sat on them. Most of the crowd, they spread their cloaks on the ground and they cut down the branches. Now, what is this saying? The act of doing what they just did, pulling out palm branches, taking their cloaks off. They would have just unstrapped their cloaks, they would have taken it off, they would have laid it on the ground here's what they're saying. I am ready to follow you. I'm with you, Jesus. Whatever you are going to do. Here am I.
[00:22:22] Sounds like Isaiah in Isaiah 6, doesn't it? Here am I. I'm ready to follow you even to the point of death. Because they're desiring political freedom. Jesus is saying, I care about your spiritual freedom.
[00:22:38] As they lay down their cloaks is a sign of respect, honor, honor, submission. They lay down palm branches, a sign and realization of his power to bring political influence and change to their nation. This crowd is ready to use Jesus for their political freedom. We can sometimes do that too, right? I want to use Jesus to get what I want.
[00:23:00] These palm branches throughout Scripture is a sign of great joy. You can look through scripture and you find that over and over again. But particularly for the nation of Israel. 2 Kings 9, 13. There was a King Jehu, when he was gonna be crowned as king, people took off their coats and they laid it down. This is a common sign of, I am ready to follow you. And they did that with Jesus. I also love this palm branch concept. Cause we see that not only for the nation of Israel, but Jesus holds onto this. We see that palm branch is in heaven. Did you know that in Revelation 7, 9, this is what it says after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. This is powerful. This is a powerful picture of Jesus coming and them saying, as we might maybe take out an American flag and wave it, or lay it down and say, this is someone who's going to bring political freedom to me. There is rightful unrest in the hearts of these Israelites. And they're hoping Jesus will bring about salvation.
[00:24:21] As we look at this, as you think about this laying down of their cloaks and these cut branches, I'm reminded of Romans chapter 12. We're called to. It says, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. I just immediately picture us saying, God, I'm ready to take off whatever it is that's kind of covering me and lay it down before you and say, I'm ready to follow you wherever you want. And hopefully our intent is the same, that of Jesus. For his glory, not our own. For peace in this relationship before it, for our own convenience.
[00:25:01] We look, not only are they running to Jesus, are they taking off their cloaks and are they laying them before Jesus? And these palm branches, are they waving them and laying them down before Jesus? There's also cheering that's going on. The words that they say might be the most important for us to hold onto this morning. The cheering. You could write that in for point four. The cheering.
[00:25:19] It says in verse 13, the second part says they were crying out. What's the word? They were crying out.
[00:25:26] Can we do that together? Hosanna. Hosanna. What does hosanna mean?
[00:25:31] Save us. Yes, save us. Save us. The culmination of everything that's going on here is Jesus, will you save us? We need salvation. And now, particularly, what they're referencing, hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Even the King of Israel. They're referencing the last part of what's called the halal, from the Old Testament Psalm, chapter 116, I think through 118, at every Passover, there would have been a choir of people that sung this, that declared this. And the last part of it in 1:18, verse 25 and 26, is what these people are declaring over Jesus. Hosanna or save. Blessed is he who comes in the name of. Of the Lord. Mark speaks about this as well. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. Hosanna in the highest. We have songs like this, don't we, saying, come save, come save. It's them recognizing we need salvation. And their call is for Jesus to come save them. From who?
[00:26:37] Who they want freedom from the Romans and Jesus. He came to bring salvation, spiritual salvation. And we're going to see that Their expectation of Jesus was one thing and the reality was different. Things are not always as they appear to be. And so we have this conflicted parade of people.
[00:26:58] The people are declaring, yay, he's going to get rid of the Romans. And Jesus is saying, I'm here, yes, to save, but because your hearts are far from me and you need spiritual salvation first. Let's take this a step further. Why would they want Jesus to save them? Perhaps also this because they realize that their religion isn't enough. Their religion isn't enough. We can go, we can sacrifice, we can do all of these actions, but it's not enough to bring us peace. We see later on the early followers of Jesus who are still under oppression. They have peace because they have a right relationship with God. Religion isn't what gives you A right relationship with God and gives you peace. Following Jesus is what gives you peace, no matter the political situation. And so even today, friends, we can look at the political situation and be in much angst, perhaps, or even in much joy. And if our joy or our angst is based in the political situation around us, we're missing Jesus. Because you look at, particularly the early church, you look at the joy they were able to have even as they sat in chains or as they went to the cross, or as they were burned at the stake. Were they anxious because of the political situation? No, they had joy because they were right with Jesus.
[00:28:21] The cheering would have been much more beautiful if they understood what was really happening.
[00:28:29] Worshiping is good, but worshiping in truth is vital.
[00:28:34] We'll see that. Because their cheering was based in feelings, not truth, their cheering would soon turn to jeering, not many days later. Good things that they're declaring very, very good. He is the Messiah. He is the King coming in the name of the Lord. All of those things very, very true. Yay. And we're going to see in just a little bit what Jesus feelings were as this was going on. And it's not maybe what we think it was. The competition point five. Look in your outlines with me.
[00:29:06] Chapter 12, verse 19. And then Luke speaks about this as well. Look at this. So the Pharisees said to one another, see, you are gaining nothing. Look who's gone after him. The world. That's not really the whole world, because that'd be a lot of people. But it's a hyperbole. Look at how many people are following Jesus.
[00:29:30] Everyone. I mean, the amount of people. They would have been standing off in the distance watching this massive parade of people. They would have seen a donkey walking there, a couple donkeys walking, Jesus riding on one of them. They would have seen palm branches and people taking off their coats. They probably would have looked off in the distance and there's probably some Roman soldiers standing by waiting to see is this gonna get ugly or is this gonna stay peaceable? Because if it got ugly, the Romans are gonna step in very quickly.
[00:29:55] So they're probably having some angst one inside of them because they're not knowing what's gonna happen to this massive parade of people that we've never seen something this big before. They're wondering, are the Romans gonna step in? And also thinking maybe if we had done something earlier, this wouldn't have happened. And it's almost like the way this is written, like they're almost blaming one another, like they're almost sitting next to you. If you had done something. What? If you had done something like Jesus is going, the world is going after this Jesus. They're following him and we haven't stopped this. They're nervous. Verse 38 and 39 of Luke 19, look what it says on the screen. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd, as Jesus kind of approaches where they are, says to Jesus, look what it says, Teacher, rebuke your good disciples. And he answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very what stones would cry out. There's a response, right? As he probably looks around, most likely what he's talking about is they're kind of riding off. This is a massive journey, right? So it could be at least over a mile of journeying of people. So imagine a mile, kind of have that in your head from here. Imagine a mile out that way and imagine it full of people. That's a lot of people, right? Have that in your head there. Here we are a mile out there. Jesus is at the front. These people are declaring hosanna over and over again. And you have the Pharisees as Jesus approaches, kind of yelling over the crowd, telling him, tell them to be quiet. And Jesus, with the amount of people praising him, going on so excited. He says, if I were to tell them to be quiet, probably looks back over at the other side of the Mount of Olives. There's a cemetery there. There's tombstones. If I were to be quiet, he might have even glanced over, looked over, maybe even moved his hand over that and says, even these stones would cry out. Perhaps even imaging something like, the people who are dead are going to praise me. If these people who are alive don't, I am worthy of this praise. I'm worthy of it. He doesn't say, oh, you know, that's a good point. They're kind of loud. Or yeah, the Romans, they might get upset by this. He realizes, I am worthy of this. And if the people alive don't praise me, the people who are dead, they're going to, because I'm the king. I'm the king. Jesus is worthy of our praise.
[00:32:10] Who is anyone to say otherwise? And the dead one day will praise him, won't they?
[00:32:16] Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he is Lord. So before we go to point six, let's quickly just review if you have been writing some of these things down. What have we seen so far? What characters, items or emotions have we seen?
[00:32:29] 1.1 in your outline, you saw this, the colt with its mother, Peaceably riding into Jerusalem as Jesus is sitting on it. Secondly, there's a crowd anticipating the coming of the Messiah, declaring Hosanna. The cloaks and the palm trees, palm branches, a sign of joy, a sign of surrender, though short lived for Jesus. Point four, the cheering, realizing Jesus as their king and seeing prophecy fulfilled. Point five, the competition, the Pharisees who are angered by Jesus popularity and this whole parade. Also probably hoping this doesn't get out of hand.
[00:33:13] And then point six, and this really is the crux of it all. We come back to something like this and on some level we need to realize no matter what all, what Jesus thinks and feels about something should matter most to us.
[00:33:26] Matter most to us. And we're going to just spend a few more minutes here at this last point because Jesus perspective of all of this, most notably what we'll see happens before and what happens after, gives us a glimpse into the reality of how conflicted this parade truly is.
[00:33:45] The King's conclusion is what you can write in. Imagine you go to a sports game. How many of you have been to a sports game before? Football, baseball, basketball, something like that, you're watching, you're cheering the team on, and you know how the game goes. So you know when to cheer and when not to cheer. So let's say, hey, we go to a basketball game and you go in, you sit down and maybe imagine on one side there's the people cheering for one team. And your side, there's people cheering for your team. And you're sitting there and your team. The game is close, right? How many of you experienced that? The game is really close. Maybe you're watching a game and you're just. Who's gonna win? There's only a few seconds left on the clock and you watch somebody in this basketball game, the score is tight and somebody throws up and shoots the basket, a three pointer and it goes in. Now what's gonna happen?
[00:34:36] Peace? Quiet?
[00:34:38] No. Imagine one side leaping to their feet with great joy. And probably the person who threw that basket is probably going to be pretty excited as well, right? And probably the rest of the team on their side is going to be rejoicing with them and picking them up and throwing them over their shoulder and there's going to be so much joy. Now imagine all of those things are in place. He throws the basket, he makes it and he walks away crying.
[00:35:08] Meanwhile, the people are cheering. And imagine you're sitting and you're watching.
[00:35:13] You'd probably be a bit confused, wouldn't you? You'd probably be Thinking, doesn't he know what he just did? He won the game. This is great.
[00:35:23] Things aren't always as they appear.
[00:35:26] And so we would imagine Jesus being the center of the celebration that's going on. He would be like the person who just threw the three pointer and won the game, rejoicing with everybody else. But let's look at Jesus actual response.
[00:35:40] He set this whole thing up. Okay, you have to kind of have that in the back of your mind. This isn't an accident. Jesus planned the cult being there. He planned coming into Jerusalem during Passover. He planned this whole thing. So you would think he'd be pretty excited. This is called the triumphal entry. Let's celebrate. But Luke chapter 19 gives us a slightly different perspective. It gives us the perspective of Jesus. One that we need to pause and consider because the perspective of Jesus matters. And I think one that brings all of this, the entire message, to great conclusion. Let's read together chapter 19, verses 41 through 48.
[00:36:25] So we know that Jesus has. He's been anointed. He's about to go into the city. He's orchestrated this whole event. When he drew near, he's already picked up the donkey. He's riding on the donkey. When he drew near and saw the city that is the city of what? Of Jerusalem.
[00:36:39] He what?
[00:36:43] Hold on a second.
[00:36:45] You orchestrated this massive parade.
[00:36:48] Why are you weeping? We see Jesus weeping in other portions of scripture. We don't always get a clear explanation as to why he's weeping. But here in Luke, we get a clear explanation for why he is weeping. Look what it says saying. Here's what he's saying as he's weeping. And this weeping is not one quietly to himself. This is something that would have been noticed. Would you. Would that you even you had known on this day the things that make for peace.
[00:37:18] 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. And they will not leave one stone upon another. Because you did not know the time of your visitation, you didn't recognize that it's me here, the Messiah.
[00:37:42] But wait a minute. Didn't they say, hosanna, save us?
[00:37:46] Their view of Jesus was very different. Their perspective of why Jesus was coming was very different than reality.
[00:37:54] So we see Jesus saying this weeping, obviously loud enough for people around to hear him, because it's recorded.
[00:38:02] Then Jesus enters the city we have the interaction with the Pharisees and then look at what happened. This is kind of the front and the back end of this entrance, this massive triumphal entry. Look what it does. He doesn't go into the city and rejoice and have dinner and celebrate with everybody. Look what he does. Verse 45. We go on. And then it says, he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying, it is written, my house shall be a house of what prayer? But you have made it a den of robbers. And he was teaching daily in the temple.
[00:38:33] Do you see what has taken place here? The Jewish people are overjoyed that their king is here. They rush out to the city carrying palm branches with them, coming to Jesus, riding on a donkey's colt. They start praising him, not pausing long enough to look into his eyes and see the tears running down his face. They declare him as king, calling him to save them. They escort him into the city where they probably wonder what is going to happen next. It's packed, so many people. People probably with sheep attached to them in their leash because they're going to the temple to sacrifice. Thousands of sheep would have been sacrificed. So Jesus would have been as the Lamb of God, come into Jerusalem with a bunch of other lambs. They escort him into the city.
[00:39:21] They're wondering what's going to happen now.
[00:39:24] But they see him head towards the temple. They begin to follow. That's it. He's going to the main place of worship. Finally, this is it, what we've been waiting for. And Jesus, with almost no responsibility, recorded words in this entire parade, fights not against the Romans, who they were hoping he would fight against, but against the Jewish people themselves.
[00:39:47] He attacks the heart of their worship, the very place they thought were doing the right thing.
[00:39:54] This would be like us as Christians. Imagine a massive parade of Christians praising Jesus as he comes into the city of woodland.
[00:40:04] Coming. We're declaring he's here and he comes into our churches and he yells, heresy.
[00:40:13] That would have gripped their hearts.
[00:40:17] What is going on here? We just declared him as king. He's supposed to save us.
[00:40:25] They would have been confused. Jesus would have looked at this and said, you missed the point.
[00:40:32] Why was he weeping?
[00:40:34] Because he saw something powerful. He realized the insincerity of their hearts. One preacher said it like this. He realized the cheering crowd was filled with people who were caught up in the excitement, but they were not truly recognizing him as the Messiah. Before the end of the week, the cheers of the fickle crowd would turn to booze. Why these People were looking for a liberator to make their lives easier. Instead, Jesus invaded their religious zone of comfort and upset them in the next verses. In this passage, he scatters the table of the crooked money changers. Over the next few days, some of the ones shouting crown him would also be the same people shouting crucify him. Instead of shouting hail him, they would have been shouting, nail him.
[00:41:22] Jesus saw their superficial belief and it broke his heart.
[00:41:29] He said, one day, because of this, 40 or so years later, the Romans are gonna come in and they're gonna topple these walls.
[00:41:38] Cause you don't see me as your king.
[00:41:42] Firstly, as your spiritual king. Let me conclude with some thoughts here as we like. Consider the weight of great joy to Jesus, sorrow to us today.
[00:41:55] Jesus shows us here that he isn't caught up in the praise of his people if their hearts aren't postured towards worship.
[00:42:04] The people sang the praises of Jesus, but their hearts were not worshiping Him. Their hearts were worshiping or surrendering to their, get this, their own picture of Jesus rather than who Jesus actually was.
[00:42:20] The people sang the praises of Jesus, but really they didn't understand what Jesus came to offer.
[00:42:28] If I could drive this a little bit more pointedly towards us in Christianity today, does Jesus also weep over some of our Sunday mornings?
[00:42:44] Not because our praise is bad, but because he knows Monday is coming? And when it does, our agenda won't be worship and surrender any longer. The laying down of our cloaks, if you will, the shouting of he's here as my Savior. But our agenda will shift on Monday and maybe Sunday afternoon to self to our own gain.
[00:43:09] And we just do that for six more days. Then we wait till Sunday comes around when we praise him again.
[00:43:16] And maybe somewhere in there we open the word, we sing a song or something, our eyes turn towards him, we spend some time in prayer. But I wonder if Sunday mornings might be that where he looks and says, the praise is great and it's true and it's good.
[00:43:31] Where's your heart?
[00:43:33] And it's told by what happens from Monday to Saturday, not just what happens on Sunday.
[00:43:40] And so maybe for you this morning, that's a different look at the Triumph entry, isn't it? Things aren't always as what they seem. Sometimes what looks really good may grip our hearts a little bit more than we thought. And I hope that that's true for you and I this morning. So what do we do with this? What do we do with this weight that I just dropped on you? You're welcome.
[00:44:01] It's this.
[00:44:03] It's we come back to the word of God each day and we say, I want to know you for who you say you are, not who I think and who I want you to be. It's we come back to this and say, I'm gonna look through this and I'm gonna ask you to change me to be more like you. Rather than asking you to fit things that align with my desires and my heart. It's looking through the word of God and saying, I'm gonna believe in your promises as they are written before me, rather than making promises to you. If. If you do what I want, it's laying before Jesus, laying before the cross of Jesus and saying, I'm here as your follower. Rather than saying, will you follow me? Cause I need help. Will you follow me cause I need help. But saying, I'm willing to follow you no matter the cost.
[00:44:49] So that when he looks at our worship, for example, on Sunday morning, he says, that's consistent with what you were doing on Wednesday and on Thursday and on Friday and on Tuesday. Not who are these people?
[00:45:01] That doesn't match what happened in their week.
[00:45:05] This is a conflicted parade. And I pray for us as a church, as we think about healthy church, as we think about being healthy followers of Jesus, that our worship, whenever we come to worship, is not conflicted, but is beautiful, is whole, is right before the King, where he rejoices with us because our hearts are postured in truth. Let's pray together.
[00:45:29] Well, Lord Jesus, we are grateful for the cross. We know that even in the midst of our conflicted hearts, you are a God of grace and a God of truth.
[00:45:40] You're a God who is merciful towards us, who knows that as we sit in the flesh and your spirit abides in us, there is a tension, there is a struggle to look elsewhere.
[00:45:54] You're a God of grace who sees that, who continues to call us to you, who rejoices when we come running to you.
[00:46:03] We thank you that you're a God who saves.
[00:46:06] We truly can say today, hosanna declaring, not a request to save us, but a celebration of the saving work that you have already done.
[00:46:17] We praise you this morning for that truth. We ask that as we sit with you through the week, as we spend time with you, we truly do worship in truth, in Jesus name, Amen.
