I’ve been reading and re-reading the Palm Sunday story this week, not so much for the story itself because that is familiar to all of us – Jesus comes to Jerusalem for Passover, He sends His disciples off to steal a donkey (it’s ok – I’m sure they took it back when Jesus was finished with it), and then He rides it into Jerusalem while crowds cut palm branches and lay them on the road and shout “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!! Hail to the King of Israel.” We are familiar with the simple story and we celebrate it every year as it leads us quickly to the cross and the empty tomb.
So my reading and re-reading this week hasn’t been for the story, but rather I’ve been trying to really understand the bigger context, and trying to see what it really means for us. I’ve always noticed the contrast between the crowds – Palm Sunday they are shouting of Jesus as the king, leading Him into Jerusalem like a king returning from a great victory; and then 5 days later the crowd is shouting “crucify him! crucify him!!” It is a huge contrast; what changed? How could it turn from welcome and victory and celebration to death?
What’s really going on?
Reading around the Triumphal Entry story in Scripture, we get a much bigger picture of what is really going on. Jesus spent a lot of His ministry time in Galilee, which is in the north part of Israel and quite far from the capital city of Jerusalem, where the temple was and all the religious and political leaders were. He made several trips to Jerusalem, but it would be fair to say that Jesus was “headquartered” out of Galilee for much of the time. Because of His teaching and His miracles, word had gotten around, and the leaders had begun to see Jesus as a threat to the established order – which He certainly was!
It was getting close to the celebration of Passover, which was the largest and most significant celebration of the year for the Jewish people. Think huge crowds, logistical nightmares, an extremely important religious ceremony, and an undercurrent of political unrest and history of violent confrontation with the established military occupying force from Rome. Can you imagine being in charge of the festival in that type of climate? You would be very, very stressed out!
Now we add Jesus like a blazing torch into a pile of dried out straw. He had been around, and the leaders knew they had a potential problem. The whole city was talking about this Jesus guy who apparently could heal the sick and could tell stories that cut right to the heart of the matter, and the leaders had been trying to find a way to eliminate the threat to the established order that this “outsider” represented, especially as the Passover celebration drew closer. But then Jesus withdrew for a while, and the talk in the city changed to “is Jesus going to come?”.
Outside the city, Jesus had withdrawn to be with His disciples and He gets a message that His friend Lazarus is sick. Now Lazarus (with Mary and Martha) live in Bethany, which is right outside Jerusalem. Lazarus dies, Jesus goes and raises Lazarus from the dead and calls him out of the tomb after 4 days of the tomb being sealed. All right on the doorstep of Jerusalem, which was full to overflowing with all the visitors from all over who had come for the Passover festival and who were all wondering if this guy, Jesus, which they had heard all kinds of crazy-sounding rumors about, was going to show up in Jerusalem for Passover (and if so, what was going to happen?).
John 11
45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”…
53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. 54 As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
55 It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?” 57 Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.
Do you get a little sense of the volatility of the situation? We tend to see Jesus as this nice guy who was soft and gentle and welcoming and quiet, but that is not the Jesus that Scripture describes. He was a threat to order and the established system, and the leaders in place at the time were not happy. And the Triumphal Entry story will seem to be their worst fears come true.
John 12
12 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
A whole bunch of things are obvious in this short story. First, the “arrest warrant” had gone out from the Jewish high council and it was being very deliberately ignored – a celebration dinner with Jesus – the outlaw – as the guest of honor. It is also obvious that Lazarus and Mary and Martha are very wealthy people; for Mary to even have a bottle of perfume worth a year’s wages proves this. In 2013 Canadian terms, those 12 ounces would have cost about $45 000. So we have a wealthy family on the outskirts of Jerusalem throwing a huge party with an outlaw as the guest of honor, six days before Passover begins. Does that sound like Jesus as a nice quiet gentle compliant guy, or does it sound like a revolutionary?
Back to Scripture (John 12):
9 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. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
12 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors 13 took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted,
“Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hail to the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: 15 “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”
16 His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.
17 Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. 18 That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign. 19 Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”
So let’s continue looking at the bigger picture. A “large crowd of Passover visitors” has just gone and escorted Jesus into Jerusalem like a king. I bet a lot of them were from Galilee, and were routing for this “local guy”. They proclaim a new king… while the established leaders have issued an arrest warrant for him. The “popular opinion” has shifted, especially in the light of the news that a guy that was dead for 4 days has been raised back to life. This is the kind of guy they have been looking for, waiting for, praying for – here comes a Messiah, who can deliver Israel from oppression and restore her to a great and powerful nation. It’s like Moses showing up in Egypt, like Saul and David forging a great free nation, like Nehemiah leading the exiles back and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. It’s like God has heard the cries of His people and is sending them a long awaited Messiah.
There is just one problem. Jesus is not that kind of a king. He knows He has come to Jerusalem, at Passover time, to die. He’s been talking about it all along, trying to warn and prepare His disciples and followers, but they just can’t grasp it – which makes sense to me, because death is pretty final… and if Jesus dies, then the movement dies as well. (unless, of course, Jesus is resurrected from the dead…). And in the talk of death, He has been saying that we have to die as well.
And all this talk of death undermines Jesus as the Messiah in the eyes of the people who want to make Him king. Here is the last part of the story for today:
20 Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration 21 paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
27 “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to your name.”
Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.
30 Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate how he was going to die.
34 The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”
35 Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. 36 Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”
After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.
37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.
Application:
We’ve walked through a lot of Scripture together, now let me draw out a few lessons for us:
1. This Jesus we follow, and claim we want to be like, was no “nice guy” that was easy to ignore. He challenged the status quo, He rejected the existing system of power where comfortable people with comfortable lives just carried on, without seeking justice for the oppressed or food for the poor. In our lives and society today, are we the “comfortable people” or are we working and sacrificing for revolutionary change in our world? Especially convicting and challenging on this point are Jesus’ words in Jn 12:25: “25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me.”
2. Lesson two I take from the fact that everybody was talking about Jesus. Like Him or not, believe in Him or not, didn’t matter – everybody was talking about Him. Jesus was impossible to ignore. The Jewish leaders couldn’t ignore Him. Visitors from Greece who came for Passover asked for a meeting. The crowds in the temple were all asking and wondering. Verse 17-18 is one of the best examples: “17 Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. 18 That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign.” And here is the question for us – are we talking about Jesus? This is Easter week, Easter is about Jesus, I suspect most of the people in your circles know at the very least that you “go to church”, the video I showed at the beginning is actually true (many people in our culture are interested in and willing to go to church on Easter Sunday), so are we talking about Jesus? You don’t need some prepared sermon – that’s probably not even a good idea! You don’t need a 4-point object lesson. You don’t need to have your life all perfect. Do you love Jesus? Love what He has done for us? Then we should be talking about Him! Inviting people. We have some creative plans for next weekend which we have shared, and they are great opportunities for you to invite people to come and be a part of.
3. Finally, this whole story has a strong theme of death running through it. Jesus knew He was going to die in Jerusalem at Passover, He planned it that way. Lazarus’ death shows us how deeply Jesus hates death, how it is an enemy, how it is emotional. I didn’t read the story but it says Jesus had a deep anger in Him when Lazarus died. And yet at the same time Jesus embraced His own death, talking about this kernel of wheat that must fall into the ground and die so it can “produce a plentiful harvest of new lives”. It is complicated! And it should be; the Easter season is a complicated time. And when I try and distill it all down, it comes to this: the road to true, real, vibrant life runs through the death of Jesus and includes the requirement that we also put our old sinful nature to death with Jesus, so that we can then live. We will pick this theme up on Friday and again next Sunday, and it is a theme that runs through a song I want to play for you as we close.
Conclusion:
MY FAVORITE LIE (Words and music by Carolyn Arends)
