Title: Into the Crowd with Jesus
Text: Mark 11:1-11
Thesis: Faithful Christians follow Christ whether it is trendy or not, because we know that in the end, Jesus wins!
Introduction
I did a quick check on Thursday to see what the top ten internet search subjects were on April 2 and this is what I found: (I confess that despite thinking of myself as fairly well informed… I must be out of touch when it comes to subjects of interest for internet searches.)
1. ’American Idol’ -- Megan Joy falls short of the Top 8.
2. ’Guiding Light’ -- Soap to end in September after 72 years on air.
3. Lady GaGa -- Hits number 1 on Billboard with ’Poker Face’.
4. ’Biggest Loser’ -- Castoff Nicole preparing for wedding.
5. Yellow Fever -- Mass grave found in Alabama from 1870 Yellow Fever epidemic.
6. ’Life on Mars’ -- Sam’s time runs out at series finale.
7. Diablo Cody -- ’Juno’ writer joins guild of female writers called the ’Fempire’.
8. Mariah Carey -- Celebrates her 40th birthday!
9. Cigarettes – State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) tax hike motivates smokers to quit… problem – it seems in order to fund the program the government needs to recruit 22.4 million new smokers by 2017.
10. Isaiah Washington -- Evicted from LA home. (http://hotsearches.aol.com/)
There is no mention of Jesus as being among the top ten internet searches this week. But in all four gospel accounts of Palm Sunday, Jesus was the man of the hour in Jerusalem.
I. Jesus enjoyed unprecedented popularity among the people.
Many in the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut leafy branches in the fields and spread them along the way. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting. Mark 11:8-10
In Matthew 21:10-11 it says the entire city was stirred as Jesus entered the city and people asked, “Who is this?”
In John’s account, when all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead… that was the main reason so many were out to meet him, because they had heard of this miracle. John 12:9 and 18
For a time I entertained the thought that the reason Jesus was so popular was that he was the only game in town. I have wondered if crowds would flock to see him today… after all we are a much more sophisticated people. But are we?
On January 20, 2009, the Huffington Post reported on President Obama’s Inauguration under the caption, Crowds of 1 Million or More Descend on Washington. More than a million people crammed onto the National Mall and people stood 10 deep along the nearly 2 mile long parade route. And hundreds gathered on rooftops and balconies to watch the President elect pass by. At the swearing in, people stood shoulder to shoulder between the Washington Monument and the Capital Building and further away at the Lincoln Memorial and around the Reflecting Pool people watched on large T V screens.
In comparison, President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration drew 500,000 people in 1981. (Nafeesa Syeed, Obama’s Inauguration: Crowds of 1 Million of More Descend on Washington, Huffington Post, January 20, 2009)
So why did the people flock to see Jesus? Why was Jesus so popular? Why would Jesus have been the number one internet search on the day after the Triumphal Entry?
II. Jesus gave people hope! (Jesus made an incredible political statement with a donkey as his transportation of choice.)
And then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it. Mark 11:1-7
Most of us would not think it becoming of a hope-inspiring world leader to arrive on a donkey.
• Project Donkey Photo
None of the G-20 leaders would have arrived in London riding on a donkey this past week.
We expect a hope-inspiring world leader to arrive in something like this:
• Project President Obama’s Limo
But Jesus’ choice of a donkey electrified the crowd because he was making an incredible announcement about himself. Jesus announcing that he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament messianic prophecy found in Zachariah 9:9-10: Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey. I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and I will destroy all the weapons used in battle. Your king will bring peace to the nations and his realm will stretch from sea to sea… to the ends of the earth. Zachariah 9:9-10
We are no different from the people of Jesus’ day. When despair looms large, we are all drawn to those who inspire hope in our hearts. If someone came along with the credentials and claimed to be able to deliver the peoples of the world from all that is despairing… that person would enjoy unprecedented popularity and worldwide renown.
On Thursday the Dow jumped above 8,000 for the first time in two months. This advance came as G-20 leaders meeting in London discussed efforts to fix the global economy. They pledged $1.1 trillion in financing for the International Monetary Fund and declared a crackdown on tax havens and hedge funds.
I don’t know what any of that means but it means something to some people because one market director explained the upsurge saying, “Everyone is feeling in a buying mood. Everyone is feeling good… a lot of it is simply confidence [hope].” (http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20090402/Wall.Street/)
The American people are on the cusp of the curve between hope and despair… despite the despair indicators we are hopeful that job opportunities will open up, that the housing market will stabilize, that IRAs and 401 Ks will regain their value, that investments will recover, that the efforts of the terrorists and extremists will be thwarted, stability will return to the Middle East, and our troops will come home, that sustainable energy policy solutions will be put in place, that our students will receive world class educations, that our infirm and elderly will be cared for with dignity, that health care solutions will meet the needs of all Americans, and the Broncos will somehow survive McJaygate and everyone will live happily ever after… and I’ve likely not mentioned your greatest concern or even touched on the global concerns of others who share our planet...
But those were not the things that inspired hope in the people in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Their situation was akin to what the Tibetans have been experiencing since the Dalai Lama was forced into exile in 1959 by the Chinese communists. The Tibetans have thought of themselves as an independent country despite the fact that they have always been claimed by or subordinate to China. They chafe under the boot of the People’s Republic of China. The indigenous Tibetans and the other ethnic peoples who make their home at an elevation of over three miles, in a place called “the roof of the world” do not like having the Chinese army occupy their country.
The people of Jerusalem were living under the boot of the Roman Empire. The Romans had built a fortress named Antonia, after Marc Anthony, next to the Temple. In addition to the large fortress and the guard towers overlooking the Passover Festivities, there were likely Roman soldiers positioned among the people and on roof tops throughout the city. The Romans so controlled the religious activities of the Hebrew people that they kept the ceremonial robes worn by the priests locked up in the fortress and only allowed them to be worn on the Passover and other holy days. The Israelite people were an oppressed people. (Kevin Miller, Regime Change, PreachingToday.com)
Such tyranny is hard for us to imagine in that we have not been occupied by a foreign army since the ouster of the British during the Revolutionary War. But the thought has not escaped Hollywood. In 1984 the Red Dawn story set in the fictitious town of Calumet, Colorado (actually a ghost town near Walsenburg, CO) was the site of a Soviet-Cuban-Nicaraguan invasion that pitted the Soviet/Latin bloc against the United States and the British Empire. It was a cold war story of underground resistance against the communist invaders of our country. Some say Red Dawn played a small part in Ronald Reagan’s re-election.
If such a thing were to happen in our country, we would understand the desire of oppressed peoples for freedom and peace. (www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2000/reddawn.html)
So when Jesus came riding into the city on a donkey, visions of sugar plums danced in their heads as they saw the King riding into town… the Messianic King who would remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and destroy all the weapons used in battle. He was the King who would bring peace to the nations and his realm would stretch from sea to sea… to the ends of the earth. Zachariah 9:9-10
That is what all the laying of coats and cut palm branches in way was about. That is what all the singing and chanting was about.
The people of Israel were drawn to the one person in the entire world, who inspired hope in their hearts… the first hope they had felt in a long, long time. So they sang: Praise God! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel! Bless the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven! Mark 11:9-10
And then Jesus promptly disappointed the crowd…
III. Jesus knew his popularity would wane when he did not meet the expectations of the people.
So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple… Mark 11:11
Jesus did not go into the Roman fortress and drive the Romans army out of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Jesus went into the Temple… the same Temple we spoke of a few weeks ago when we talked about going with Jesus into Sacred Space. It was the same Temple to which he would return the next day to overturn tables and drive all the money-changers, merchants and their creatures destined to be sacrificial offerings out into the street.
As you know, his actions caused quite a stir among the religious leaders who promptly set about trying to figure out how to kill him and Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead some time before.
In the account recorded in the Gospel of John: The leading priests decided to kill him and Lazarus too, for it was because of him that many of the people deserted them and believed in Jesus. John 12:9-11
And now we also understand that Jesus was about to lose his burgeoning approval rating with the people… in fact he would become so unpopular in the days that followed that he would be crucified as public enemy # 1.
It was this foreknowledge of his ultimate rejection that he wept over the people of Israel as he looked down upon the city saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” Matthew 23:37
Conclusion:
Of course, we are superior to those folks because we know the whole story:
• We know Jesus does not die for long;
• We know that he rose from the dead;
• We know that on the Day of the Lord, all the wrongs of this world will be righted;
• We know that one day, “the government will rest upon his shoulders. And these will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace;
• We know his ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. And he will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. Isaiah 9:6-7
But that is not to say that we are never disappointed with Jesus. Let’s face it, we live in a “what-have you-done-for-me-lately” world. But maybe this day the larger question is this:
Is Jesus disappointed with us? Are we a lot like the folks on the first Palm Sunday… fans who swoon over him when we anticipate he that he will come riding into the city with his saddle bags filled with:
• Health care for all,
• A secured Social Security,
• A stimulus package for the economy,
• And a solution to the quagmire that is the Middle East?
I do not watch the Golden Globes or The Academy Awards on Oscar night, but on the day after I am fascinated by the images of the celebrities who walked the Red Carpet… Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Winslet. Penelolpe Cruz. Robert Downey Jr. Renee Zellweger. Dustin Hoffman. All those beautiful people making their way along the Red Carpet and all the eyes of all the star struck fans deciding who is wearing a fashion fit and who is wearing a fashion flub.
I think Jesus wept over the city largely because as he was about to take to the Red Carpet that day, he knew the expectations of the people were temporal and trendy. He knew they were not in the least given to thoughts eternal.
But that is precisely our advantage today… we can see way beyond the Red Carpet of Palm Sunday. We can see beyond the cross of Good Friday. We can see beyond the empty tomb of Easter morning. We can see that being a follower of Jesus Christ is of eternal consequence.
And so we believe and we follow Christ in this life, whether it is trendy or not, because we know that in the end, Jesus wins and so do we!
