The Saint
Worship is personal, yes, but IT IS NOT PRIVATE!
The Seeker
Standing just outside the threshold of a house still leaves you outside.
The Sceptic
You don’t have to know everything about something or someone to trust.
It was a beautiful Spring day. The city was bustling with out of town visitors and the excitement could be cut with a knife. One reason for the excitement was that it was the most important holiday of the year. People came from around the known world to celebrate deliverance from slavery and freedom that hadn’t been experience for 100s of years.
We have a similar celebration called Independence Day or 4th of July when we gather as a nation to celebrate our independence and freedom from English tyranny. We have friends and relatives over, throw big parties and bbqs and celebrate that seminal event in our history.
On this particular Spring day, the Jews were in the midst of a 7 day celebration of their independence from they tyranny of Egypt and its Pharaoh. 7 days. Can you imagine a 4th of July celebration that lasted 7 days? Yikes!!
But for the Jews in Jesus time, they had no cars, no planes and most would travel 2-3 days to get to Jerusalem where the celebration was. Others would travel for weeks. So when you got there, it needed to be more than just a couple of hours. It was a week long celebration, set, not by custom, but by God Himself for this new Hebrew nation and their Exodus from Egypt.
It was called Passover. It was a time to remember and celebrate when God sent the death angel to convince Pharaoh to let his people go. And the Jews who splashed the blood of an unblemished lamb on the doorposts of their houses were spared the death of their first born.
That 1st Passover was at the foot of Mt. Sinai a year after the Exodus. The year was probably in about 1500 B.C. But this Passover week we’re about to read was about 30 A.D. And as we read this you will see the other major reason for the buzz in the city: Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the culmination of His earthly life and ministry.
Turn in your Bibles to Luke 19:28-40; 47-48. Today we begin a new series entitled Look Again. We’ll be examining the final week of Jesus earthly, fully human life & ministry. When you read the events of the wee, it reads like a Hollywood Movie Script: Celebration, Rejection, Betrayal, Defeat, and a Never-seen-before Ending. Many of us in the room have been knowing this story for years and years. And there in is a problem: the more familiar we become with something the tendency is to approach it with a casualness or even callousness and miss the life-changing dynamic. So we’re going to look again at the events of that final week and look again for God to overwhelm us with His once in history amazing act that opened the door for humanity to be reconciled to Himself.
Luke 19:28-40; 47-48 (on screen) with comments Most everyone in the room has read or heard this story many, many times. So don’t your familiarity with it cause you to miss a fe morsels that can enrich your life. Look again!
v.28 ‘going up to Jerusalem’; Jesus had been making His way to Jerusalem from Jericho. Jericho is northeast of Jerusalem (map) about 15 miles. Jericho is in the Jordan River valley about 800’ below sea level. Jerusalem is about 2500’ above sea level, so this 15 mile journey goes up about 3300’.
v.29 ‘Bethphage and Bethany’; these were 2 small villages about 2 miles across the Kidron valley on the east side of what is known as the Mt. of Olives. (pic). Would have been walking down through the Kidron valley to the Easter/Golden gate. (pic)
v.30 ‘young donkey’; a donkey colt
v.36 ‘putting cloaks’; Matthew, Mark, & John all mention in their gospels that palm branches were also waved at the coming Jesus and laid before Him. This of course is why many call this Palm Sunday. Matthew states that this fulfilled one of the key prophecies of the coming Messiah, that he would enter Jerusalem like a king, riding on a donkey colt to His adoring subjects.
vv.38-39 The crowd that had gathered had at least 3 elements in it. One element was the crowd that had heard about Jesus and heard how He had healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and caused the lame to walk. So they were all excited and began to chant Psalm 118:26 as Jesus approached. Matthew adds that they also quoted v.25 of Psalm 118.
Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna means, “Save us, we pray.
That was one element. Another element was made up of people but really didn’t participate in the celebration. They were following along, but didn’t really enter into all the hoopla.
The other element was made up of the religious authorities who were skeptical of Jesus. In fact, as we’ll see in a moment, they were already plotting to kill Jesus.
v.40 ‘cry out’ Jesus said, “Look guys, if these folks weren’t praising me right now, the rocks when begin to cry out praises to me. If this freaks you out, I can promise you singing and shouting rocks will REALLY freak you out.
Now skip forward to v. 47-48 Read
v.47 every day; of passion week
What an amazing day that must have been. Pretty exciting stuff.
So where do you fit into this story? We can’t stay on the outside looking in on this event; to get the most out of it we’ve got to place ourselves in to the story.
The Saint
We’ve talked about this before: in the N.T. the word saint is not applied to a special group of super Christians…it always, always refers to the person who has placed his/her faith/trust in Jesus alone and what He accomplished on the cross just a few days after this story we just read. Is that you?
Maybe the best place to insert yourself into the story is with the crowd that was shouting, “Hosanna Son of David; Hosanna in the highest”. They were excited about Jesus! Their exuberance spilled over into their voices and their bodies. They weren’t ashamed to show it. They weren’t reserved about it.
Jesus said in our text, “If they don’t sing, if they don’t shout, if they don’t get totally involved in praising and worshipping me, the rocks and stones are going to start doing it.
For the almost 50 yrs that I have been surrendered to Jesus, I cannot for the life of me understand believers, saints, people for whom the blood of Jesus was spilt; who know and believe in the great pain and suffering and sacrifice of Jesus and count themselves saints who refuse to get physically, vocally, and demonstrably excited about Jesus!
Worship is personal, yes, but IT IS NOT PRIVATE!
We’re going to sing some songs in a moment and to stand there like a rock, knowing all that Jesus has done for you, is tantamount to blasphemy; it’s insulting to your Savior. Don’t worry about singing off key; messing up the words; concerned about what others think. Be worried about what Jesus thinks, desires, and demands: be all in in your worship.
The Seeker
Maybe you’re here this morning and the best place to insert yourself into the story is with those who might have been hanging in the crowd but not really believing that Jesus was who He said He was.
You’ve been coming on Sundays some. You’ve been searching for God; seeking to find out more about Jesus; wanting to discover how to have a relationship with Jesus. You’re right at the door, but you haven’t crossed over the threshold. Standing just outside the threshold of a house still leaves you outside.
But you haven’t been willing to surrender to Him; to stop putting your faith in yourself and begin a life of faith in Jesus. I was visiting with a guy like that a couple of months ago. He had been coming to church. Had been reading his Bible. Even been praying. But he had never surrendered his life to Christ and put his faith and trust in Jesus alone.
It got to the point in the conversation when I said, “Look, you have been seeking Jesus, but you haven’t stepped across the threshold to enter into a relationship with Him. You’ve been at the door; it’s time to step across and surrender to Him and place your faith in Jesus. Is there any reason why you wouldn’t?” He said, “Not really.” And right there and then he stepped across, out of spiritual darkness and confusion and into God’s glorious light.
That can by you today. In just a minute I’m going to give you the chance to step across.
The Sceptic
The religious leaders of that day were very skeptical of the claims of Jesus. In fact, many of them deeply, deeply resented Him. And maybe that’s you today. You don’t really want to be here. You’ve been thinking this whole Jesus thing is a sham and charade.
And yet…you’re here. It’s no accident. God has set you up. And right now you’re feeling a tug in your heart; something unexplainable drawing you to Jesus. That something is someone. Jesus is drawing you, calling you to follow Him. You don’t have to know everything about something or someone to trust. You can step across the threshold today; in just a moment.
Our text says that the Pharisees began to put plans into motion to kill Jesus on a Roman cross. Truth is, all 3 elements, all of us in this room are responsible for the death of Jesus. Our failure to meet God’s standard of moral perfection is why Jesus came to live amongst us and die for us: to pay the penalty and take the punishment for me, for you. All you have to do is accept that payment He made for you by surrendering to Jesus and placing your faith in Jesus.
