Introduction: Jesus knew that his time to be delivered into the hands of his enemies was drawing near. He had told his disciples on two previous occasions that He must go to Jerusalem, and that there He would be turned over to the Religious leaders. He went on to tell them that He would be ridiculed and tortured, tried and convicted, and finally crucified on a Roman cross.
The disciples really didn’t understand Jesus’ ministry and mission on earth. Peter even attempted to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem. But Jesus remained obedient to the Will of The Heavenly Father.
Jesus sent two of His disciples on ahead of the rest of the group. He told them to make the necessary arrangements for His entrance into the Holy City of Jerusalem. He told them to go find a colt and a donkey, untie them, and bring them to him.
When the two men returned with the animals, the Disciples placed their cloaks on the colt for Jesus to sit upon. The stage was now set for Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem, the Capitol city and the Holy City of Israel.
As He reached the outskirts of the city a large crowd began to gather around Him. They started shouting praises to Him, and called Him the "Son of David". Many in the crowd took off their cloaks, or took palm branches and laid them down in front of Jesus. This was their way of honoring Jesus. All of this created quite a stir in the city, as you might imagine. And when Jesus and His entourage entered Jerusalem and the people saw Him they ask "Who is this man?"
Not only did they wonder about who Jesus was, I’m sure they must have also questioned His purpose for coming to Jerusalem.
Just as we are often quick to jump to conclusions, or to form an opinion of someone, I’m sure it didn’t take long for the people of Jerusalem to make up their mind about who Jesus was, and what His purpose for coming to town was.
This morning I want us to look at four different groups of people, and consider who they believed Jesus was, and how that affected their lives.
I. The first group were known as the "Zealots."
The Zealots believed that Jesus was the long awaited Political leader who would lead the revolution against the Roman Empire. They were very loyal to their Jewish heritage, their traditions and their religious ceremonies. They despised the Romans, and everything that Rome stood for. The Zealots opposed the use of the Greek language in Palestine, and even the payment of taxes to the Roman Government.
They were anxiously awaiting the coming of the "Messiah", the "Promised one". They believed he would gather together the remains of the 12 tribes of Israel and lead them into battle against the Roman Empire. They knew that the person they were looking for would have to be a strong leader. Someone who could unify the various factions within Jewish society. The Zealots had been observing Jesus during his public ministry, and they had noticed that Jesus was a very charismatic Leader. There was just something about Him that attracted people. There was something about him, that caused people to leave their jobs and their families behind to follow Him. Everywhere Jesus went, people flocked around Him. The Zealots were hoping that Jesus would use his Charisma to sway public opinion, and lead the people in a revolt against the Roman Government.
The Zealots had seen Jesus perform a variety of miracles. They saw him feed over 5000 people with only five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. They saw him heal the sick, and they even saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. It was obvious to them that Jesus possessed supernatural powers. And they were hoping that Jesus would use these divine powers, to overthrow the Roman government and establish a New Jewish government, in its place. Of course they fully expected to play a major part in any government that was formed.
Unfortunately for them, they did not understand God’s purpose for sending Jesus into the world. And they certainly didn’t understand what He was doing in Jerusalem. Consequently as the days went by and Jesus continued to refuse to become involved in a political rebellion, their opinion of him changed dramatically. Instead of wanting Him to become their leader, they wanted to see Him killed.
Some people today are making the same mistake the Zealots made 2000 years ago. They see Jesus as someone who can be a leader for "Their cause". They don’t really care about His teachings, they just want to use Him to further their own self - serving cause.
Unfortunately there are some people who are using the Name of Jesus to inflate their self-centered ego’s and further their own political agenda’s.
II. The second group of people I want us to consider this morning are the Jewish Religious leaders.
This group can be broken into two sub-groups, "The Pharisees" and the "Sadducees". These two groups felt threatened by Jesus for a couple of reasons. Like the Zealots they had been watching Jesus very closely throughout Him public ministry. They had seen his popularity with the people grow and grow to the point that the people of Jerusalem were singing "Hoseanna’s" to Him. Perhaps they were afraid that the people would turn against them and refuse to give them the honor and respect that they felt they deserved.
They were also threatened by Jesus’ teachings. In fact they had tried on more than one occasion to trick Jesus into sayings something that they could use against Him. But on each occasion Jesus was somehow able to turn their plan around and use it against them. This infuriated them to the point that they began thinking of ways that they could get rid of Jesus once and for all.
These were the men who were supposed to be the religious leaders of the day. They knew the Law of Moses, and the Prophets by heart, yet they did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Instead they saw him as a trouble maker or a religious fanantic.
Some people today are making the same mistake the Pharasee’s and Saducee’s made. They are very religious people. They do and say all the right things, but they have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Then there are others today that believe that Jesus was nothing more than a religious nut, and pay not attention to Him or His teachings.
III. Next, let’s consider the Ruling Roman authorities.
At first the Romans didn’t pay that much attention to Jesus. Of course they had heard about everything that he was doing. But as far as they were concerned, He was just a Religious fanatic, and really wasn’t anything for them to worry about. But eventually, after the Jewish religious leaders started making false accusations about Jesus, and continued to put pressure on the Romans, they were forced to take a second look at Jesus.
They noticed that his popularity with the people had continued to increase. This concerned them, because they knew the Jewish Revolutionary groups like the Zealots were always looking to stir up trouble for them. And they realized that if Jesus agreed to join forces with the Zealots, that it could pose a serious threat to the stability of the region.
IV. The next group of people I want us to consider, are those who recognized Jesus as a "Prophet of God."
These are the people who had heard him teach, or had witnessed him perform miracles. Maybe they had been there when Jesus turned the water into win, or when he Healed the Man who had been born blind. They recognized that Jesus was a prophet, sent from God. But they did not listen to His call to "Repent" any more than they did John the Baptist’s or any other of the Hebrew prophets.
1. The Rich young ruler - This young man came to Jesus to ask him a question about eternity. He said, "Teacher what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" and yet when Jesus told him to go and sell all of his possessions, and then to come back and follow him, the young man left and never returned. He recognized Jesus as a prophet, but refused to accept Him as Lord.
2. In the Sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, we learn that many of the Disciples who had been following Jesus, deserted Him -after Jesus told them what would be required to be His disciples.
They recognized Jesus as a prophet, but refused to believe that He was actually the Son of God.
Many people today are making the same mistake. Many of the religions in the World today teach that Jesus was a great prophet, but they refuse to believe or teach that Jesus is the Son of the Living God.
V. Finally, let’s consider a small group of people who not only recognized that Jesus was the long awaited "Messiah", but were willing to risk everything in order to follow Him.
According to the First Chapter of the book of Acts, this group consisted of the 11 Apostles and about 110 men, women and children. When you stop and think about the thousands of people that Jesus preached to, and ministered to, during his 3 year public ministry, that’s not a very good percentage. Yet these believers realized that there was something special about Jesus. They may not have understood all of the parables He told, and they may not have understood him when He said, "The Son of man will be crucified, but on the third day he will be raised to life." But they did realize that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He could change a person’s life. In fact their own lives were testimonies to this. His followers included those who used to be tax collectors, those who used to be prostitutes, those who used to be lepers and the outcasts of society, and even those who used to be possessed by evil spirits.
So in order to keep that from happening the Romans decided to have Jesus arrested, and question Him themselves. Pilate, the governor of Palestine questioned Jesus himself, and found no basis for the charges that the Jewish religious leaders were making against him. He wanted to release Jesus, but the Jews became furious. So when He found out that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Jesus to Herod, who ruled over that particular region of Palestine.
When Herod found out that Jesus was on his way, he got all excited. You see, Herod had heard many things concerning this man named Jesus, but He had never had the opportunity to see him in person. He was hoping that Jesus would perform a miracle or do something spectacular. But instead, Jesus just sat there in silence. Even when the Jewish religious leaders continued to make false accusations against him, Jesus refused to say anything in his defense.
When Herod and his men realized that Jesus wasn’t going to perform a miracle, or do anything spectacular, they decided to have a little fun, at his expense. They dressed Jesus in an elegant robe and preceded to ridicule and make fun of him. When they tired of that, Herod ordered for Jesus to be sent back to Pilate.
The gospel of Luke tells us that Pilate then called together the chief priest, the rulers and the people and said, "You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him." Luke 23:13-17
But they all cried out in unison, "No, Away with this man" "Crucify Him, Crucify Him." Pilate once again stated, I have found no reason to have this man put to death, I will punish him, then release him. But the crowd shouted even louder, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him." Pilate, finally, gave in to their demands. Perhaps he was simply trying to avoid a riot, or perhaps His political advisors convinced Him that Crucifying Jesus would strike fear into the hearts of the Jews who were still resisting Roman rule. Whatever the reason, Pilate gave the order, and the soldiers began preparing for the crucifixion.
Many people today are making the same mistake Pilate and Herod made. They are looking for signs and miracles, and when they don’t see any, they dismiss Jesus as simply a religious revolutionary, who ended up getting himself killed.
Others are like Pilate, and allow the crowd or popular opinion to influence their decision about Jesus Christ.
all of these people, had come to realize that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and they had put their faith and trust in Him. Because they humbled themselves before Him, and made themselves available to be used by Him, God used this small group to make a tremendous impact on their world for Christ.
In fact,
"No army that has ever marched,
No king that has ever lived,
No invention that has ever been invented,
No medical breakthrough that has ever been discovered,
No scientific discovery that has ever been made,
has changed the world as much as the Life, Death, and Resurrection of a Simple carpenter from Nazereth, named Jesus.
Who do you say Jesus was? Was He a prophet of God or a Religious nut?
Was He the Christ, or was He nothing but a trouble maker?
A more important question Than "who do you think Jesus was," is "Who do you believe Jesus Is?" Who is He to you today? Do you have a personal relationship with Him. If Not, you need to decide what you are going to do with this man called Jesus.
Will you accept Him like the Apostles did, or reject him like the Pharisee’s and Saducee’s?
The choice is yours. Like Pilate, you must decide what to do with this man named Jesus who is called Christ.
