As we all know, today is Palm Sunday. Today is the day that the historical triumphal entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is celebrated. And today is the day that marks the beginning of the last week of our Lord here on earth. Needless to say that at this point in time, Jesus was very well known. It is just like many say when they speak about some one that is popular or famous, His reputation preceded Him. In other words, many of these people had either witnessed or heard about His miracles and signs. Many of these people had either witnessed or heard about how He healed numerous people; restoring sight to the blind, making the lame walk, casting our demons, healing the lepers, and perhaps the most powerful of all the signs, how He had made returned Lazarus back to life after four days of being dead. His reputation and ministry has a great impact in the world back then, and that is why the people poured out into the streets to receive Him. The people poured out to receive the one that they saw as the Messiah, but something happened that that changed the minds and opinion of these people who had gone to receive Him so joyfully. What happened? And, why did it happen? These are the questions that we Hill be exploring today.
John 12:12-19 - On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, 15Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 16These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. 17The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. 18For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. 19The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him.
As I always say, to have a better understanding of the message that our Lord has for us today, it will be necessary that we perform a brief review of history. The first thing that we see here is that there was a multitude of people in Jerusalem that had come for the celebration. But, what celebration was this? The celebration was the “Passover.” This is something that not many of us understand, so I will give you a brief description. The name "Passover" comes from the Hebrew root Peh-Samech-Chet, meaning to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare. It refers to the fact that God "passed over" the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt. The root of this word is seen for the first time in the Bible in Exodus 12:23 when we read “For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” The Israelites did not share of this plague because they had done as God had indicated to Moses and Aaron. Therefore, this date marks the birth of the Jewish nation as they were liberated from the enslavement of the Pharaoh, and were made servants of God. It is for this same reason that God ordered that this date be observed as a day of celebration, as we find in Exodus 12:14-17 when we read “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.16And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.” As we can see here, this celebration was something, and continues to be something up until today that is very special to the Jewish people. It was and continues to be a time of family gatherings, great feasts, prayers and mucho more. In Israel the Passover is a seven day holiday, and the first and last day are celebrated with a grand festival. With this brief description of the Passover meaning, let’s now continue our study for today.
As we can all see, these people had a joyful spirit, but unfortunately this condition was something temporary. The reason why it was something temporary is because the harsh reality was that they were not free. These people were under the dominion of the Roman Empire who governed them with an iron hand. In all reality these people felt impotent and oppressed because Rome imposed tariffs and taxes on them, and very strings restrictions; and crucifixions (the favorite method of execution by the Empire) was something that has become a common occurrence. It is for these reasons and many others that the Jewish people were anxious for the Messiah to arrive. The people were anxiously waiting for the king to arrive who would free them from the suffering that they were experiencing, and when Jesus rode into Jerusalem riding a colt, and due to his reputation, these people all saw it as a prophesy coming true. The people saw it as the prophet had said in Zachariah 9:9 when we read “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” As I said, they were anxiously waiting for this prophecy to come true, there were anxiously waiting for the arrival of the king who would defeat the Roman Empire. Due to all of this they were fairly convinced that He would fulfill the prophecy, and that they would finally be free. Another description of the joy that existed in the hearth of these people is found in Matthew 21:8-9 when we read “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. 9And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” This multitude was praising Jesus and they were lifting up their voices in joyful celebration, but most important of all, they were lifting up their hearts to Him. They were doing this because hey felt in their hearts that the Messiah had arrived. How many of us here today see Jesus in the same light? Who can lift up his voice right now and shout with the same joy Hosanna to the son of David? Who can lift up a shout of joy right now and say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord? Who can lift up his voice and shout Hosanna in the highest? Wake up the person next to you and say, PRAISE GOD!
All of us here can lift up our voices and joyfully spout to the Lord. All of us here can lift up out hands and heart to God, and welcome Him into our life. But what happens after He enters our life, but does not act the way we wanted or expected? What happens when everything that we had is turned upside down because of Him? Do we continue to shout, Hosanna in the highest? The sad reality is that in the majority of the cases, this does not happen. The sad reality is that in the majority of the cases that fervent love that we once felt when we welcomed Him into our life grows cold. The sad reality is that in the majority of the cases, when God does not act or perform the way we think He should perform, the joy turns to anger, and the praise into rebellion. This is exactly what happened with these people. What do you mean pastor? Let’s think about this for a brief moment and let’s see if what I am telling you makes any sense.
As I have said, these people were waiting to be freed from the Roman Empire. They were anxiously waiting for the king to arrive who would round up an army, and who would drive the Roman occupational force from their land, but this did not happen. What happened? This man named Jesus in whom they had deposited their faith. This man named Jesus who would be their next king according to prophecy, sis not try to assemble an army. This man Jesus in whom they had deposited their faith did not try to unite the people and leaders of the different communities. This man Jesus did the unexpected. What did He do? Instead of uniting the leaders and community, He revealed their sins and wicked ways. This is something that is very evident in Matthew 21:12-13 when we read “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
This man who would be the next king according to prophecy did not say that He would lift the tariffs and taxes that they now paid Rome. Instead He told them to pay it. Look at what He said in Matthew 22:17-21 when we read “Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20And he saith unto them, whose is this image and superscription? 21They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”
This man who would be the next king according to prophecy did not attempt to unite the leaders and raise an army. Instead he uncovered their sin and wicked ways for all to see. This is something that is very clear in Matthew 23:27 when we read “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” Do you realize what Jesus did? Jesus did everything that they did not expect; Jesus did everything that they did not want. This is why their praises were silenced and the joy they felt in their heart turned to anger. As I stated before, this attitude manifests itself among believers even today. Why do I say this? I say it because it is very easy to praise God when everything is going well, or going the way we think they should go. It is very easy to praise and worship God when the circumstances appear totally favorable. It is very easy to maintain the joy in our heart when Christ glorifies Himself and the obstacles in our life are vanquished. But, what happens when things don’t go our way? What happens when the circumstances do not appear so favorable, and we experience difficulties? What happens when God just won’t act the way we want Him to cat, or expect Him to act? If we are honest with ourselves, all of us here will admit that the joy in our heart simply dissipates, and praising and worshiping God becomes something difficult to do.
One very true fact about our God is that on occasions He will NOT give us what we ask; but we can be sure of one thing, He will always give us what we need. This is something that is very well reflected in Philippians 4:19 when we read “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This small verse lets us know without a doubt that God will provide for our needs. But as I said, the problem is that what we need is not always what we want, and vice a versa. This is what happened to these people, and still happens today. These people wanted something specific, they wanted to be liberated from the Roman oppression. But because they focused only in what they wanted, because they only focused on the circumstances that surrounded them, they failed to see that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords had in fact arrived in Jerusalem. In John 1:10-11 we read “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Because they did not follow their heart, and instead followed their fleshly needs, they failed to see that the Messiah who they were so anxiously expecting had arrived to liberate them from much more than just their earthly needs. Because God did not act the way that they were expecting and wanted, they failed to see, and these people to this day fail to see, that He was in fact opening the doors to the kingdom of God. Because God did not act or performed the way that they expected, they failed to understand, and to this day do not understand, that He came to give them eternal life. They wanted to be liberated from the Roman oppression, but God’s plan was much, much more. God wanted to liberate them from Satan’s dominion. But because they could not understand these things, because Jesus did not act the way they expected Him to act, the joy of His arrival quickly died, the praises to His name were silenced, and they all separated themselves from Him. Because Jesus did not act the way that they expected, everything that they had learned, everything that they had witnessed, everything that they had heard, all of the miracles, all of the signs, everything but everything, was as if it had all been erased.
In conclusion. The Jewish people wanted to be liberated from the Roman Empire, but Jesus arrived to liberate them from much more than that. The Jewish people wanted Jesus to act in a certain way, but Jesus did exactly the opposite. Jesus acted to accomplish the will of the Father, and not the will of men. They failed to realize that the prophecy had been fulfilled, and that the King of King and Lord of Lords had arrived in Jerusalem. They failed to understand all of this because their sight was focused on their earthy needs and wants, and not in the will of God. And you, do you continue lifting up your hands, and raising your voice in joyful celebration saying Hosanna in the highest? Have you permitted the circumstances of this world or perhaps your own opinion kill the joy in your heart? Don’t allow that the same things that stopped these people from seeing His true nature stop you. Don’t allow anything to kill the joy that knowing Him can bring you. Don’t allow your way of thinking or your expectations to distance you from God. Lift up your heart to Him right now, and surrender your life to Him. Shout out with a joyful voice now “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
