John 12:1-2, 9-19
Jesus performed an incredible miracle in raising Lazarus. It made huge waves. It wasn’t the first person Jesus raised, but it was the first who had been raised after the Jewish belief that the soul had left the body. According to the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 90b-91a) the soul lingers near the body for three days, protesting the death, before returning to God. By the time Jesus reached Lazarus, all hope of life was gone—yet Jesus raised him. This caused a lot of religious leaders to come to faith and caused great interest in the general population.
So when Jesus returned to Bethany the night before heading into Jerusalem for His final week before the crucifixion, word got out.
It sets up what we call the Triumphal Entry—or as we call it: “Palm Sunday.” The background is this stirring up in both the religious leaders and the people—the story was coming to a head—something had to happen and they were wondering if this was it—make or break time—4th quarter with two minutes left on the clock.
Luke 19:28-44
In this account we see the crowds that had gathered in response to Jesus coming to Bethany—the one who raised Lazarus—now lining the way to Jerusalem. They laid their robes on the ground as show of respect for a leader like the Israelites did when Jehu was proclaimed king in 2 Kings 9:13. Mark 11:8 tell us that the people spread “leafy branches cut from the fields.” As we saw in John’s gospel, they laid palm branches on the road—thus our name: “Palm Sunday.”
Matthew 21:11 tells us that the people were proclaiming Jesus as a prophet.
All Four Gospels
The account of the Triumphal Entry is found in all four gospels. It was a pivotal moment in world history when the ticking of a prophetical clock struck an important hour. Back in Daniel 9 we hear a prophecy about the coming of “Messiah the Prince.” The prophecy states that from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there would be a period of time until Messiah the Prince would come to Jerusalem.
Without going into great detail here, suffice it to say that from the time that command went forth in 444 BC, until the day we see here, followed that prophetic time clock exactly. If ever the Jewish Messiah was to be revealed, it would be on this day we are reading about.
The Expectations and the Realities
What I would like to focus on today are the people that surrounded Jesus on that day—what were their expectations for the Triumphal Entry and what did Jesus do in response to those expectations?
What did the people want?
What the crowds wanted: to throw the Roman bums out. Someone to cheer—a hero—a new king. They sang “Hosanna” which means “save now.” They were tired of Roman rule and wanted Jerusalem brought back into the prominence they felt it deserved. They saw Jesus as more of a revolutionary who would ride in and take control.
What His men wanted: a new political system with Jesus at the top and them right underneath. Power and position. In Matthew 20 James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked that her sons get the offices to the left and right of Jesus in His kingdom. Like any good Jewish mother she wanted her sons to get ahead. When the other men heard about it, Matthew says they were “indignant” which suggests to me that they weren’t so much hurt by the terrible hubris of these brothers but jealous that they didn’t think of it first.
What the religious leaders wanted: for Jesus to keep quiet, calm down and go away—just stop making waves. The religious leaders were concerned with one thing and one thing only—the status quo. They wanted to stay in power and they were feeling pressure from above and below. From below here was this Jesus and the people were proclaiming Him king. Instead of submitting to these men who were keeping people away from Yahweh, He told them to their face that their father was the Devil (John 8:44). And now since the Lazarus incident, many of them were starting to believe He was in fact the Messiah. They also felt pressure from above that if this ruckus continued the Romans could come in and claim that a riot had started—and no one hated riots more than Rome. They worried that the Roman authorities would say “if you can’t keep the peace then we are kicking you out.”
So the people wanted a revolution, his men wanted position, and the leaders wanted Him silenced.
What did Jesus give them?
Jesus would not devalue the day.
It was Palm Sunday. It was the day of visitation for Jerusalem. It was the day to declare that Jesus was the Messiah for all who had been listening to all the Scriptures had taught. It was a day that even the creation would testify to if man was silenced.
He came as a King, but one of peace, not war.
Jesus’ visitation this time was on a donkey, to symbolize peace. He came to make peace between a rebellious humanity and a loving yet Holy Father not by flinging the sword but by allowing the sword to kill Him.
He came as a leader who gives up power and position, and dies
Philippians 2:5-8 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
He came as one who will upset every tradition and everyone in power in order to renew relationship with Yahweh
He will leave here, cry over Jerusalem, go into the Temple area and throw out those who had coopted it for thievery, stand up publically against the religious leaders, declare Judaism dead (the fig tree) and even stand up to the Roman governor Pilate. But the purpose was a carefully orchestrated plot to force them to kill Him on the exact day and in the exact manner of His choosing so that His mission could be accomplished—paying the penalty for our sin so that the relationship broken with the Father in the Garden of Eden would be restored for those who trust in Him alone for their eternal life.
So what does this mean to us?
Sometimes we just want to God to fix whatever jam we find ourselves in. Like the people, they saw Rome as the problem and Jesus’ takeover as the solution. The real problem was sin and the real solution was Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Let Jesus lead you to His solution which will likely not be the solution you thought you wanted or even solving the problem you thought you were facing.
Sometimes we want to be valued. Like Jesus’ mean—they wanted power and position—to feel important. But Jesus shows us by His example that it is by giving, not receiving that we are blessed. Further, we want to feel secure, but a feeling of security comes from knowing Him, not having power and position.
Sometimes we don’t like Jesus rocking the boat. We’ve figured out survival strategies and though life is far from perfect, at least we have a modicum of control. Jesus wants us to cede that control to Him. Let Him shake things up in your life, let Him make changes so that you will be different, but better.
Finally, let us honor the day Jesus visits. Jesus approaches every life riding on a donkey of peace saying “let Me in to cleanse rule and reign your heart.” He is knocking, will you answer?
