Getting Noticed

Getting Noticed

John 12:12-19

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

12 And the next day, a great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took boughs of palm-trees, and went out to meet him. And they cried, and said: Hosanna, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel! 14 And Jesus found an ass, and sat upon it; as it is written 15 Fear not, daughter of Sion. Behold, thy king cometh to thee; and he rideth upon a colt, the foal of an ass. 16 These things understood not his disciples, at that time; but when Jesus was glorified, then his disciples remembered that these things were written of him, and that they did them to him. 17 And the multitude that had been with him, testified that he had called Lazarus from the grave, and raised him from the dead. 18 And for this reason, great multitudes went out to meet him, as they had heard that he wrought this sign. 19 But the Pharisees said, one to another: Do ye see, that ye are gaining nothing? For, lo, the whole world is going. (from the Peshitta)

Was Yeshua a threat to the Pharisee’s way of life? From the reaction of this group, it was. Yeshua’s preaching and actions had become popular, and that upset the religious leaders. They were losing people from their control and that was worrying them. Also, this entry celebration was at the beginning of the Passover. After the Romans occupied Jerusalem, the Zealots would have a riot during this festival. The Torah instructed the Jews to travel to Jerusalem for the feast. Of course, not every Jew could get to the city. However, the 30,000 person population of the city would host over 300,000. That placed a deep strain on the city’s resources. The Romans kept a garrison in the northern part of the Galilee to stop any revolt or riot. Usually, on the days of Passover, the governor would bring the garrison into the city.

The Roman emperor wanted to move the legion from north Galilee to the battle against the Parthians in the east. They could not move the legion until Pilate stopped the rioting in Jerusalem. They sent Pilate to Jerusalem to make that happen. The people knew this, and yet the Zealots continued to instigate trouble. Pilate explained the situation to the High Priest and clarified that if he goes, the High Priest goes. Therefore, something had to be done because Yeshua’s followers were looking like a riot. The Roman governor noted the entry festivities and now through this act Rome was on the side of the High Priest. Both wanted Yeshua out of the picture.

So, what can we learn from it today? I remember taking my children to the York Country fair. York county is a part of Pennsylvania. There were the animals, the rides, the food stands, and the soapbox preacher. For the times I took the kids to the fair, the soapbox preacher was there. He preached about the end of the world and how if you did not know Jesus Christ, you would end up in Hell. Today I understand Jesus’ message and I am not disagreeing with his message. In fact, I would agree. What the problem was is how he was doing it.

You might think that one or more churches would have liked to help him spread the word of the Gospel. That never happened. This guy was alone in his quest to save souls. I always wondered why no church supported him. Is not the church supposed to spread the Gospel? I thought so. But churches are not doing this today.

The soapbox man at the York fair got noticed, but it was not the notice that is beneficial for evangelism. What will get a church noticed is what it does for the community. I was appointed to a church that ran a thrift shop for the town. There was a small sign for the church in a side window of the shop. Therefore, most people did not know that it was a church sponsored thrift shop. When I spoke to the leaders of the shop, I was interested in what they did with their yearly profits. In 2007, the shop had a $50,000 profit.

I was told that they gave the money to over 30 different non-profit organizations. I asked the leaders to consider making a big splash in our town instead of sending the money elsewhere. The church had built a 7,300 square foot gymnasium/all purpose building. The town desperately needed an after-school program to get kids off the streets. I asked the thrift store to sponsor this town activity. This kind of activity would have gotten the church noticed by the town’s people. It would have generated interest in the church.