Today is Palm Sunday, so called because when Jesus had His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the people were exuberant and waved palm branches and placed them in the road where the Jesus, riding a donkey, walked into Jerusalem. It is interesting to note that palm branches, in that day was nationalist symbol for the nation of Israel. This did not go unnoticed by the powers that be. This event, according to John:
John 12:12–13 (NKJV) The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!”
Hosanna is praise from the Hebrew meaning to “save us.” It was used as a messianic hope from Psalms 118:25-26. It is clear the people want Jesus be their king and to recuse them from the Romans.
It is funny how fickle people can be. When it became clear that Jesus was not there to be king, many of the same people, 5 days later were shouting:
John 19:14–15a (NKJV) Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!”
Let’s examine this morning the rejection of the Messiah, the rejection of the only means of redemption. This was not the first time Jesus was rejected.
Imagine a church that grows from a dozen members to well over 5,000 --- in just 3 years. They have strong leaders, enthusiastic members, and a fantastic preacher. Miracles are happening every day. The whole country is talking about it. Then one morning … after the Preacher gives one short little sermon … boom … the congregation goes from 5,000 back down to the original 12.
That’s what happened to Jesus in our focal passage today (John 6:60-71). Jesus had developed a huge following. His congregation grew to the point that no building in Galilee could hold them. Look back to the beginning of chapter 6 - All 4 Gospels describe one meeting where he fed 5,000 men … not even counting the women and children. (Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9). After that, the people wanted to grab Jesus, make him their King, and march to Jerusalem in a big Victory Parade.
John 6:15 (NKJV) Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
That’s when Jesus ducked out. The 12 disciples set sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and Jesus walks out on the water and meets them in the middle of lake late that night . But the next morning his determined fans tracked him down. Instead of feeding them breakfast, Jesus preached a short sermon where he told them “I am the bread of life.” The people were bewildered. Their stomachs were growling. Their blood sugar level was getting low. Their mouths were watering for bread and fish. What did “I am the bread of life” mean? The crowd started grumbling. As the day went on, most of them “quit the church” so to speak. Even many of the 70 disciples that Jesus had sent out as missionaries left him. When Jesus looked around at the end of that day, only the 12 remained. [1]
John 6:60 (NKJV) Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”
“A hard saying” can also be translated as a harsh saying, meaning they find the teachings of Jesus as offensive. “Who can understand it” was a nice way of saying, “Who can stand to listen to this trash, this offensive message." Jesus was just saying how he is the bread that came down from heaven:
John 6:41 (NKJV) The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”
Then Jesus goes on to say that they must eat his flesh and drink His blood (verse 53). They obviously did not take to it very well.
John 6:61–62 (NKJV) When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
“Does this offend you?” The fact is, the teachings of Jesus is offensive to a sin sick world. Just bringing up the name of Jesus will offend many. They were offended that Jesus claimed to be from Heaven. So He asks how will they take it if they see Him return from where He came from. And sure enough, some of them will.
John 6:63 (NKJV) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
But unless we have the Spirit of God, we miss out on the spiritual teachings. Obviously, Jesus was talking about the spiritual when he was talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. These people had been thinking in terms of Christ’s literal flesh, but here He told them that eternal life was not gained by eating flesh but by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Flesh cannot give life; only the Spirit can do this. They had taken His words literally and had not realized that they were to be understood spiritually. And so here the Lord Jesus explained that the words that He spoke were spirit and they were life; when His sayings about eating His flesh and drinking His blood were understood in a spiritual way, as meaning belief in Him, then those who accepted the message would receive eternal life. [2]
John 6:64–65 (NKJV) But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Belief here is not an inability but an unwillingness. They did not like what Jesus was teaching, and they chose not to believe it. Not only that, Jesus attached their pride: “no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” This takes away our ability to do anything. We cannot even believe unless God gives us the ability. But even with the ability to believe, many decide to reject Jesus. Case-in-Point:
John 12:42–43 (NKJV) Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Belief by itself is not enough. “Even the demons believe and tremble” (James 2:19) Jesus calls for true disciples – those who will believe and obey.
John 8:31 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
That little word abide, means to live in the word. Know the word and obey the word. For many, obedience to someone else is offensive, and they reject Jesus. That is why evolution is such widely accepted even though science is thoroughly against it, if there is a creator, then we are answerable to Him.
Now for one of the saddest verse in the whole Bible:
John 6:66 (NKJV) From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Jesus was not what they wanted him to be, a King, right then and there, not a Messiah, not a Redeemer. They tried to make Him King at the triumphal entry, then 5 days later they crucified Him. They rejected their only hope for redemption. They all left, except the twelve. But wait . . .
John 6:67 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
Jesus was asking the question more for their benefit. The whole world was leaving and the whole world couldn’t be wrong could they? Now Simon Peter, often the spokeman’s for the group of 12 piped up:
John 6:68–69 (NKJV) But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
We know who you are. We know there is no plan B. No one else has the very words of eternal life. Where else could we go?
Here are some critical words in Peter’s statement: “believe and know” not know and believe. We believe first then we gain the knowledge. Belief is so very important, even before understanding. But Peter makes one small error here. He says we, meaning the twelve. Peter assumed he was speaking for all 12 but in fact he was speaking for only 11 of them.
John 6:70–71 (NKJV) Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
We need to be careful with these verses. Jesus chose the twelve. Jesus choses to to make Himself known. Then Judas either never really believed it all, or he chose to reject it all. Maybe he recognized there was money to be made. We do not know. We do know the devil, Satan influenced him. We are told in John 13:27 that Satan entered Judas and here in this verse(verse 70) Jesus called Judas a devil.
I want to point out that Judas, like the other disciples, was sent out and preached the gospel, healed the sick, and casted out demons. Judas had first-hand witnessed the miracles, yet he chose, like those who walked away, to reject Jesus. Like those who shouted “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ only to later shout, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”
I don’t think it was so much as matter of dis-belief with Judas, but dis-obedience. Judas wanted it all his way. I often get questions that tells me a lot about a person’s heart.
“If I become a Christian will I have to give up ____.” You can fill in the blank with almost anything. Will I have to give up living with my girlfriend? Will I have to give up smoking? Will I have to give up my pet sin? These questions tell that me we want Christianity on our terms, not on Jesus’ terms. Here is the facts, it is not about us, it is all about Jesus.
We all can be like Judas, and be like those who walked with Jesus no more. We can reject and betray Jesus. How? We will say, “But I would never betray Jesus!” We betray Jesus when we live life contrary to His word. We betray Jesus when we chose to live our lives our way, instead of His way. We betray Jesus when we claim to know Him and yet we chose not to obey His commands.
1 John 2:4 (NKJV) He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
You see we do not get to choose what commands we will follow. The commands of the Lord is not based on what we think is right or wrong. I don't ever recall the Lord asking me for my opion on right and wrong.
Isaiah 55:8–9 (NKJV) 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
The fact is, Jesus is offensive to the world. To live for Jesus, to call Him Lord and Savior means we follow Him where ever He leads and how He leads. To be a true follower of Jesus means we will stick out like a sore thumb to the rest of the world. Jesus never promised the road in that He will lead us will be easy, quite the contrary, He said:
Luke 9:23 (NKJV) Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Daily we are called to deny who and what we are and to pick up our cross and follow Him.
The fact is, the world is full of people who say “Hosanna” one day and shout “Crucify Him” the next. The call to follow is not for the faint hearted. We are called to believe and obey. The knowledge and understanding will come.
The call today is to believe and we must respond to that belief. It is not a call to understand, we need to realize that understanding will come with belief and obedience. We come as we are. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves presentable. We let the Holy Spirit do the cleaning up.
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/what-is-the-heart-of-a-disciple-k-edward-skidmore-sermon-on-discipleship-84299?ref=SermonSerps
[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1506–1507.
