Boleslaus II was the king of the Polish Monarchy, but he
didn't like the job. One day while hunting he slipped away
from his companions and disguised himself as a common
laborer in marketplace. He hired the use of his shoulders for
carrying burdens for a few pence a day. A search was made,
of course, and when his majesty was found there was an
indignant cry among the elite that he should debase himself
by so vile an employment. He responded that the weight he
bore in the marketplace was nothing compared to the crown.
He said he slept more in the last four nights than during all
his reign. He told them to choose whom they would to be
king, for he was through with the madness. He was forced,
however, against his will to return to the throne and reign.
In his book Royalty In All Ages, Thiselton-Dyer tells of
many kings in history who have longed to get out from under
the crown and escape from the robes of royalty, and live
among the common people. In contrast to this, Jesus was a
king who all His life lived among the common people, and
only at the end did He ever wear a crown, and then it was a
lowly crown of thorns. Jesus was born king of the Jews, but
all His life He managed to do what so many kings have tried
to do and failed. He managed to disguise Himself and dwell
among the people, and learn of their needs and longings in
life. No son of royalty ever got to know his people better than
did the Royal Son of David. He not only lived among them,
he was one of them.
There were times in His public ministry when the crowds
were so excited about His miracles that they tried to take
Him by force to make Him king, but Jesus avoided this.
Right up to the final week of His life Jesus remained a king in
disguise totally removed from all that had to do with royalty.
Palm Sunday, however, brings us to that one day, at the
beginning of His final week, where He removes the disguise
and proclaims Himself to be the king-the Royal Son of David;
the promise Messiah, and the King of Israel. This act did not
sever his roots from the soil of the common man, however. In
fact, everything about Palm Sunday exalts the common man,
and everything common. Jesus never became a royal snob
who looked down on any man. The very way in which He
rode into Jerusalem revealed Him to be a king of the common
people, and not one who would cater to the elite and
powerful.
Jesus did not ride into the holy city on a noble Arabian
stallion to appeal to the military like any other king would
do. Instead, He rode on a colt. Matthew tells us this was to
fulfill the prophecy of Zech. 9:9 which says, "Tell ye the
daughter of Zion, behold, thy King cometh unto thee meek,
and riding upon a donkey and upon a colt a foal of a
donkey." Jesus did not come as a king of war, but as a king
of peace. He came in the tradition of the Patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were not men of war like
the kings of Israel. They were men of peace. Only once was
Abraham forced into military action. Jesus too was forced
into violent action on this occasion, but primarily the
Patriarchs and He were men of peace.
The colt was symbolic of the fact that Jesus was a king of
peace, and a king of the common people. Jesus is a king who
exalts the lowly, and the poet describes even the donkey
responding to those who mock his worthless hide.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet;
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms about my feet.
The Apostles that Jesus chose were common men, and if
you check the backgrounds of the great men He has used in
history, you will find lowly tinkers like John Bunyan and
William Carey, or shoe salesman like D. L. Moody, or the
great Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte who was born out
of wedlock. He was unwanted by men, but Jesus wanted him
and used him, for he was, and is, the king of the unwanted.
And it was because he did care for the common man that he
was so angry on that first Palm Sunday. Jesus was very
seldom angry, but on this occasion He was so filled with
righteous indignation that He could not be content to give
only a verbal lashing to the offenders as He had done before.
Here we see Jesus engaged in violent action to express His
anger.
Before we examine the cause of this unusual display of
emotion, it is important that we note first of all that nobody
was hurt by Jesus. There was no injury inflicted upon any
man or animal. Jesus upset some of the furniture, and drove
out those who were corrupting the house of worship, but
there is no hint of any suffering He inflicted. It is important
to note this so that we do not link His action with any kind of
revolutionary tactics that destroy, injure, and kill. No such
violence can be justified by pointing to this passage of an
angry king. The only thing Jesus hurt was the pride and
pocketbook of these corrupters. The only blood Jesus ever
shed was His own. Keeping this in mind avoids
misconceptions where this passage can be abused by
justifying violence.
The anger of Jesus was the righteous anger of a king who
saw a system which deprived His people of their right to
worship, and robbed them of what little wealth they
possessed. If there is anything that is clear in Scripture, from
one end to the other, it is the fact that God despises any
system which discriminates and is a respecter of persons.
God will not tolerate injustice to the common man. When
Jesus saw the corruption that had developed in the temple, it
made His royal blood boil, and He struck a blow for the
rights of the people. Jesus started the long history of the
battle for the common man to have equality, and religious
and economic freedom. If you study the history of social
reform and civil rights, you will discover that most of the
great leaders have been men and women who acknowledge
this angry king as their Lord and Master.
We only have this one portrait of Jesus in anger, but it is
all we need to tell us how he looked upon injustice. It gives
us a balanced picture of the perfect man. We see He cannot
truly be perfect by being always kind and gentle. There are
times in life when a just man encountering injustice must in
anger strike a blow to stop it, or be guilty of the sin of
omission. It would be a sin to see evil and not try to stop it if
you had any power to do so. Jesus as the king of Israel now
had the authority to cleanse the temple of its racketeers, and
He does so. This angry act of indignation is a clear evidence
that Jesus is declaring Himself the King of Israel. He was the
highest authority in the land. Doubtless, it was a shock, not only
to the money changers and officials of the temple, but to His own
Apostles. Many would be frightened by His anger, and they would
want to give this advice.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Why have you suddenly gone so wild?
If its true the house of prayer
Has been corrupted anywhere,
Why not go through regular channels,
Appoint a committee-discuss it on panels.
If you continue this stepping on toes,
You'll create for yourself a host of foes,
And a future filled with many woes.
Jesus knew that this show of authority would lead Him
straight to the cross, for it was an attack on the
establishment. He made a whole new group of enemies by
this action of anger. Before this cleansing of the temple the
priests had little to do with Jesus. The Pharisees were His
primary enemies, for He violated their legalistic system, and
debated their interpretations. Later the Saducees began to
oppose Him because He became a political nuisance. But
now, after He invaded the realm of priestly authority, He
brought their wrath upon Him also. Luke tells us about after
the cleansing in Luke 19:47. "The chief priests and the
scribes and the principle men of the people sought to destroy
Him." Their only problem was the crowds of common people
who loved Him, and this made the leaders afraid. Jesus was
a hero king among the masses.
For Jesus to deliberately oppose all of the authority of
Israel, and, thereby, to guarantee a departure for Himself out
of the world, He had to have a very good reason for what He
did. Jesus had always lived a balanced life. He was not a
fanatic. A fanatic becomes all excited about things which are
really of no great importance. Jesus is not angry over some
mere triviality here, but issues of basic importance. He could
deal calmly with people who had fallen into personal sin, but
here was organized sin. It was deliberate and planned
injustice, and no righteous man can look upon an evil system
and remain calm.
In the first place, the whole system of selling sacrifices
turned the court of the Gentiles into a stable instead of a
place of worship and prayer. Jesus quoted from Isa. 56:7
where the prophet said, "...For my house shall be called a
house of prayer for all peoples." Jesus said this ideal was not
fulfilled because the court of the Gentiles had been turned
into a den of robbers. The racket of selling and changing
money, and the noise of animals made it impossible for the
Gentiles to have a place of reverence for prayer and worship.
Business had pushed worship right out the door, and God's
purpose in the temple was being destroyed by greed.
This discrimination against the Gentiles, and the
indifference of the Jewish leaders to their rights to a place of
worship, made Jesus angry. He had come into the world to
be the Savior of all men. He came to die for the sins of the
world. He was to be a universal Savior and king, and it
gripped Him to see the temple of His Father being used to
discriminate against the Gentiles. This cleansing of the
temple was just temporary and Jesus knew it. He knew the
corruption would continue and that the temple would have to
be destroyed. But He spoke of a new temple, the temple of
His body. Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it
up said Jesus. As the Son of God and as the King of Israel,
He was going to fulfill God's purpose for the temple in His
own body. He would create a temple which would truly be
for all people. Jesus would fulfill the ideals God had for
Israel, but which they failed to accomplish. They were to be
a channel by which God would reach the whole world with
His plan of salvation. They forgot why the court for the
Gentiles was there in the first place. They let their greed for
profits destroy the purpose of God.
Another thing that made Jesus angry about the whole
setup was the fact that it robbed the common people of their
money. The animals and birds sold for sacrifices had to be
bought with special temple money, and to get it you had to
exchange your regular money for it. The fact that Jesus
called it a den of robbers makes it clear that they were
gypping the people in the exchange. They had a monopoly
and nobody could do anything about it. Many people may
think that Jesus was too other worldly to be concerned about
economic matters, but this is not so. Jesus was very
concerned about money. When people's money was taken
from them unjustly, or with inadequate return, it made Him
angry. God's wrath fell on Israel in the Old Testament
because of unfair business practices. In the second chapter of
Amos we read, "Because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of shoes-they trample the head of the
poor into the dust of the earth-and in the house of their God
they drink the wine of those who have been fined." Like
Father, like Son- the very things that made God angry in the
Old Testament make His Son angry in the New Testament.
King Jesus was going to establish a temple and a religion
which no longer depended on sacrifice, or any material
objects that had to be purchased. He would end the
sacrificial system by His own sacrifice, which was once for all,
and which would abolish forever the need for sacrifices.
There is no longer any need for special things or special
places to worship God. All that is necessary under the
kingship of Christ is free. Never again would the common
man need to depend upon a human system to worship God
and gain His best. It is true that clever men were still able to
keep the masses in ignorance about this liberty in Christ.
They would set up again many corrupt systems even in the
church. The church became a den of robbers many times,
but the fact remains that the angry king set us free from all
man made systems of corruption. That is why it is so vital
that the Bible be kept available to the common man in all the
world.
Verse 14 shows that Jesus gave His service to the people
without charge. He healed them freely. He could have set up
a booth and made a fortune for His healing, but there is not
one record of Jesus ever accepting a payment for any of His
miracles of healing. He was the king of the common man-a
king who came to set them free from the bondage of sin, and
all of the man made burdens of religion. That is what makes
Palm Sunday a day for rejoicing. John Wesley wrote,
Rejoice, the Lord is king, your Lord and king adore;
Mortals give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
The leaders of Israel rejected His kingship and plotted to
crucify Him. They did not realize that the cross was the road
by which Jesus planned to ascend to the throne as universal
king. He said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men to Me." The
cross is where He gained the right to be the king of all
men, for there He did what no other king could do for men.
He died for their sin and set them free. He is the King of
Kings because He is the Lord of Liberation. He, and He
alone, can save kings, for He alone has defeated the kingdom
of darkness and death which has power over kings as well as
all other men.
He alone deserves the allegiance of all men, for He is the
only king who ever lived that made it possible for all men to
enter the realm of royalty. John said, "But to as many as
received Him to them He gave the power to become the sons
of God." What other king ever invited the masses of
common men to join His royal family and become joint heirs
with Him. There is no other king like Jesus, and that is why
God exalted Him to the throne of the universe, and gave Him
a name above every name.
The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now;
A royal diadem adorns
The mighty Victor's brow.
The highest place that heaven affords
Is His by sovereign right;
King of kings and Lord of lords,
He reigns in perfect light.
Scripture says He must reign until all enemies are put
under His feet. In other words, the glorious king is still an
angry king as he was on that first Palm Sunday. He is still
fighting against those who hinder the progress of His
kingdom. What does the king want? He wants what God has
always wanted. He wants us to do justice, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with our God. He is a king of relationships,
and not one of pomp and ceremony.
Justinian had a great church built in Constantinople. It
required ten thousand masons to build it. Marble was
ransacked from the whole Roman Empire. Justinian walked
through the completed church on the day of its dedication in
the year 538. He exclaimed, "Solomon, I have surpassed
thee." He had, and it was the supreme expression of
Byzantine art, say many scholars. But is that what the King
of Kings really wanted according to His own actions on Palm
Sunday? What our king wants is for us to make Him Lord in
our lives, and to look upon all people as He did. The
Christian who sees people with compassion, and longs to be a
part of the answer that leads them into a relationship with
God in Christ, has caught the message of Palm Sunday. If
you want to be great in the eyes of your king, you will be a
servant, and minister to the needs of people in all classes. If
you do this you will please your king, and in relationship to
you, He will never be an angry king.
