John 17:1-26
February 17, 2007
The Road to the Cross
You can tell a lot about a person by the way in which they face their own death. Some people are afraid, others bold, some are angry and selfish, while others are calm and selfless. Seeing someone in their final days can evoke a sense of fear, sadness, or of inspiration depending on how that person deals with death. The picture we see of Jesus in his final days will show us a lot about who He really is. While death is a natural part of life, Jesus faced it very differently than anyone else. Everyone who is born will someday die, that is the way of life, but Jesus is not just waiting for a natural death, Jesus was born to die. The very reason He left the throne of Heaven was to come to Earth and ultimately to die. For His death is unlike any other that this world has ever seen. For through the death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead we have a chance to enter into eternal life with our creator God.
We are only five weeks away from the most important day in the history of the world. On this day the event that has effected the world more than any other event in all of history took place. That event is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No event in all of history comes close to the importance, significance, or impact on society that the resurrection has. Now we are only a few weeks from Easter, the time in which we remember the resurrection. So in light of the importance of this event we are going to spend the next few weeks leading up to Easter looking at the events that precede the resurrection of Jesus Christ, more specifically looking to the cross and its significance in a society far different from our own. It is not uncommon for a Christian to spend time looking at the cross…however it seems that we rarely spend time looking at the path that was taken to get there. This path is important because it shows a lot more of the man who died on the cross.
As we look at the road to the cross we see Jesus in His final days before His death. This picture will show us a lot about who Jesus really was. Let me set the stage for you so that you can see the background for this scene. It is nearing the time of Passover. This was a time in which many Jews would travel to their Holy City- Jerusalem to celebrate the single most important feast of the Jewish religion. Passover was to the Jews what Easter would become to the Christians. Passover week has just begun. Jerusalem would be busting with last minute preparations being made as pilgrims from all over the country made their way into the city. The city would be buzzing with excitement, and energy, and anticipation for the feast to come. This would certainly be a site to see. Travelers flocking into town in masses, people dashing all over the place making preparations, markets alive with business, picture trying to get all your last minute shopping down for Christmas the day before and you might have a little idea as to what Jerusalem probably looked like. Crowds were everywhere. The people were filled with excitement. The religious fervor in the air was probably intoxicating as it grew closer to this feast of celebration. But this year would be unlike any other year. This was certainly going to be a Passover to remember.
On the Sunday before Passover Jesus has just made his way to Bethany which is only about two miles east of Jerusalem. There He spends some time with His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. They will have a feast for Him and many will come to see Jesus and will put their faith in Him. From Bethany He will head to Jerusalem on a donkey which is very unusual. Up until this point Jesus has walked everywhere He went. He even walked on water once rather than take the boat. Why now, only two miles from His destination does He mount a donkey? It’s not like Jesus was just tired of walking. This seems very strange. Why of all animals a donkey? Why not a horse? But Jesus is not without His reasons. Look at Zechariah 9:9, we can look over these verses and of this story in the Gospels and see what they say…without ever understanding what they mean. There is so much more to this story than meets the eye. The events that are recorded do more than just tell us the facts, they are showing us who Jesus really was. The details found in this text are important. In order to truly understand what unfolded in the last few days of Jesus life on earth we have to look backstage to see what else is going on. This is a very exciting day. Not only is Passover on the horizon but this man Jesus is coming to town. While there were some who didn’t like Jesus…rumors about who He truly was had certainly started to spread and everyone is wondering if this could be the time in which they are delivered. Zechariah 9 will show us a little bit more as to why this particular Passover in different from all the others:
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zec 9:10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. Zec 9:11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Zec 9:12 Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zec 9:13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.
So we see why Jesus mounts a donkey. Jesus is no stranger to fulfilling prophesy, but the amount of prophesy He will fulfill in these last days is mind boggling. For years rabbis had understood this passage from Zechariah to be Messianic. The prophesy actually depicts the Messiah with great clarity. Rumors are starting to spread, hope is starting to rise. The Jews have been waiting for the Messiah for hundreds of years. Now it could very well be that Messiah had come. The anticipation was great…the fervor filled the air. Could it be that Messiah had arrived? And in all of this we see Jesus riding on a donkey, in a brilliantly subtle way, Jesus makes a Messianic claim.
On Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and was hailed as king. Jesus has made quite a name for Himself. He has performed a number of miracles in public and people from all over the country have heard Him speak. Perhaps the most significant thing though, is that two months ago, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Crowds swarm around Him waving palm branches and laying them down in front of Him for his colt to walk on. This is a very political gesture, the crowd is welcoming Jesus as king into Jerusalem. They believe that the Messiah has arrived and are ready to follow Him in the revolt that they assumed would follow. Jesus is the perfect candidate for the Messiah. He can heal the sick, He can feed the masses, He can even raise the dead. Think about it, who better to lead a revolution than a man who can feed the armies with even the smallest amounts of food, and who can raise any soldiers who are killed back to life. If Jesus would lead them, the Jews would be unstoppable. The people are ready to crown Him king. This is actually the second time this has happened. The first is in John 6 after the feeding of 5,000 men. The sheer mass and volume of the crowd would have turned some heads. Here is a man who could very possibly be the savior the Jewish people have been waiting for, for so long and He is entering Jerusalem just as Zechariah said the Messiah would come. So the people cry out ‘Hosanna’ ‘Lord save us’, which very fittingly comes from Psalm 118 and is also understood to be a reference to Messiah. Jesus enters Jerusalem as a king. This is bad news for those who have opposed Him. Not everyone was happy with Jesus arrival. The Sanhedrin and the religious leaders have been trying to trap Jesus. It was no secret that they wanted to assassinate Him and Lazarus. Now however, He had so much support, He was an even greater threat than before. Jesus has won. He was victorious where the Pharisees failed. While some might take a little grim satisfaction in overcoming their enemies…Jesus does not.
In fact instead of rejoicing that He had won Jesus weeps for the people of Israel. While Jesus certainly is the Messiah predicted by the prophets He is very different from the Messiah expected by the people. He weeps because the people will not receive the peace that He means to bring them. They will not understand the salvation that He came to offer. He did not come to Jerusalem to overthrow Rome. He came to overthrow sin. Jesus did come to save the people but not as a warrior but as a bringer of peace. Jesus came to bring peace between man and God not to lead a revolt against the Roman authorities. Jesus came to give the people what they needed most…but they would not see it. They would not understand. They wanted Jesus to be something that He wasn’t. Jesus will enter Jerusalem as a king…and less than a week later He will be killed as a traitor.
So as we look at the road to the cross let’s look at how Jesus spent His last days. On Monday Jesus enters the temple to find traders using the temple of God to make profit for themselves. Pigeons, goats, and oxen are being sold, currency is being exchanged…the temple of God has been turned into a glorified strip mall. For the second time in three years Jesus clears out the temple. Jesus drives the traders out of the temple overturning their tables, the animals flee, and their coins scatter across the ground. The corruption of the temple was obvious, Jesus put an end to it. With the support of the masses behind Him no one tries to interfere. This happens to fulfill a number of prophesies about Jesus. On Tuesday the religious leaders challenged Jesus with a number of traps, Jesus avoided them all as He taught warned the people against the teachings of the Pharisees. In His last days we see Jesus doing the very same thing He has always done: teaching about the kingdom of God.
We do not know much about the events that occurred on Wednesday. On Thursday Jesus has His Passover meal with His disciples.
1Co 11:23 The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 1Co 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
How does Jesus spend His last night? When nearing His death Jesus does not retreat in fear or hide away as a coward, He spends time with His closest friends. He teaches them, and prepares them for what is to come. Jesus spends His last hours as a free man preparing His disciples to carry on when He is gone. He serves them by washing their feet, even the feet of the man that would betray Him. He warns them of His departure, and encourages them that He will return. Jesus spends His last hours serving His disciples, and teaching them how to live.
Then in John 17 we see Jesus just before He is arrested. What is He doing? He is praying. Jesus prays for Himself that He might glorify God, He prays for His disciples that they will be protected, that they will be unified, and then for all believers that they too would be unified, that they might be saved, that they might truly come to know God. When Jesus finishes praying He heads over to the olive grove where He would be arrested and taken to trial.
You can learn a lot about a person by the way in which they face their death. In His last days Jesus is not afraid. He is not angry. He is not cruel or selfish. In His last few days Jesus is not different than He was on any other day. He teaches, He prepares His disciples, and He prepares Himself to fulfill what God had commanded of Him. Jesus faces His death bravely, boldly, selflessly. For in the last days of Jesus life He is not worried about what He could have done in this life. He is not immobilized with regret. He is prepared, because His entire purpose in coming to earth was to die.
Jesus death on the cross changes everything. We are no longer sinners lost in iniquity and dead in our transgressions. We are no longer at war with God. We are no longer have to fear death. For our Lord, our God, our King has conquered death. We have nothing to fear because for those who believe in Jesus Christ, death is not the end…it’s the beginning.
So in these last few days of Jesus life we see Him for who He really is. He is the King, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. We faces His death fearlessly, because Jesus knows what awaits Him on the other side. Jesus knows the life that exists after this world. Jesus…knowing full well the pain and suffering He is about to face…knowing that He is going to take on the sins of the world and for the first time be separated from the Almighty Father God….does not back down…does not retreat…but boldly faces the death that awaits Him.
Don’t you see? By His death we have life. Through His sacrifice we have salvation. Because Jesus was willing to die we don’t have to. We can enter into a relationship with God because the blood of Jesus Christ washes away our sins. It is through the cross that we are reborn, that we are made new, that we become the children of God.
Jesus is the Messiah, He is the savior. But He does not save us from Rome…He saves us from ourselves. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Our lives…and all that we do should be on the road to the cross. How we live, how we act, how we treat those around us…everything that we do we should do in the shadow of the cross. Our actions should lead us to the foot of the cross…and in our lives we should carry that cross with us, every day.
What does this mean? How do we do this? It’s simple. Jesus lived every day in the same way He lived His last days. He was always pouring Himself out for the betterment of others. We should live our lives like Jesus…on the road to the cross. This means that we should be willing to deny ourselves, to put ourselves aside day in and day out for the sake of others. We should serve the world, our brothers, even our enemies. Everything that we do should be done not for our own interest but for others. We should live each day as selflessly as Jesus did, as though they were our last days. We should live on the road to the cross, treating every day as a preparation for the end. Everything that we do, should be done for the glory of God. Jesus spends His finals praying that God would be glorified…we should spend every moment of our lives trying to bring God glory. And we don’t fear death…for death is just the beginning of a better life.
