Matthew 21-26 Palm Sunday, 2003
Jesus the Conquering Warrior
You might wonder if speaking on the Palm Sunday passage as “Jesus the Conquering Warrior,” is wise with all the war going on in Iraq and all the bloodshed in the world.
I think that now is the right time to talk of Jesus as Warrior, not to glorify war, or violence, but to show the vastly different way that God does battle, and the vastly different battle that God is involved with.
Let’s remember the story:
Matthew 21:1-11
Up until this point in the Gospels, although Jesus has had a very public ministry, in many ways he has tried to stay quiet – for many of the people that he healed he told them not to tell anyone, he mostly remained in the lonely places so that people had to come to him, when asked about his identity he gave cryptic answers. Of course, the whole country still knew about him because people did not keep him secret - but now he comes out in the open. He is declaring himself to be the Messiah.
The people who were waiting and watching would have known the Scripture in Zachariah 9:9 which says:
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zachariah 9:9 NIV)
And Jesus knew the verse as well - to come into the city during the Passover riding a donkey colt when all the other pilgrims were walking was a powerful sign and statement that said "I am he, I am the one, I am the Messiah!
We might think that a donkey is a pretty silly way to travel – Jesus looks like Juan Valdez, but a donkey did not have the same connotations in Bible times; quite the opposite – if a King rode into the city on a donkey it was a sign that he was victorious, and although the battle has yet to be fought, Jesus is so sure of the out-come that he has his victory parade first!
The picture that we have in this the last week of Jesus’ life is not of a weak soul – not like the pictures of Jesus that we have been handed, no he is not a worn-down man heading for his final fall, no he is a warrior heading for his greatest battle.
In the Movie Braveheart, Mel Gibson plays William Wallace. In the first big battle, the Scots have come down from the highlands to fight their English oppressors. At the sight of the huge army, and the realization that they might fight, but the only one to really benefit is the Scottish lords, many of them start to leave. The lords go out to meet the English lord to try to negotiate a deal that will buy them more lands and power. That is when Wallace shows up – in a rousing speech, he convinces the men to stay and fight, not for the lords, but for their own freedom.
At the end of his stirring speech, the men are cheering. They are ready. Then Wallace’s friend asks,
‘Fine speech. Now what do we do?”
“Just be yourselves.”
‘Where are you going?”
“I’m going to pick a fight."
While the nobles jockey for position, Wallace rides out and interrupts the parlay. He picks a fight with the English overlords and the Battle of Sterling ensues.
When you read what ensues after the triumphal entry, you might imagine that Thomas saddles up beside Jesus and says, “Nice parade, now what are you going to do?”
And Jesus responds: “I’m going to pick a fight.”
The fight that he picks is with the religious leaders of the day.
He goes straight to the Temple. The temple was set up with different courts for different people to worship
The inner sanctum was the Holy of Holies – the most Holy place where the Priests would enter only once per year to offer sacrifice, then their was the Court of the Priest where the priests would make daily sacrifices and minister to God, then there was the Court of the Israelites – where Jewish men would come to worship, then the court for the women to worship, and lastly the court of the gentiles – where people who were not Jewish, but recognized that God is the true God could come and worship. The priests and religious leaders had allowed merchants to set up stalls in the court of the Gentiles where you could buy animals for sacrifice and where you could change secular Roman money for “holy” temple money to offer. Both these items had huge mark-ups – it was worse than buying a burger at the Sky Dome!
If any Gentiles wanted to come and pray – they had to do so in what was for all intense purposes a marketplace! It was huge disrespect for these Godly people and for the God that they serve!
Jesus sees this and he is incensed.: He throws over the tables, pulls down the stalls and drives the merchants out with a whip. Then he starts to heal the sick, the blind and the lame. The Children love it – they keep crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The priests and religious leaders, on the other hand are none to happy – they have just lost a source of income, and been shown up for the thieves that they were.
The next day he comes back and he tells three stories:
1 – TWO SONS
28"Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, "Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’
29"The son answered, "I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.
30"The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, "Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.
31"Which of the two sons did what the father asked?"
They said, "The first."
Jesus said, "Yes, and I tell you that crooks and prostitutes are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. 32John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.
THE EVIL TENANTS
33"Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. 34When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
35"The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. 36The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. 37The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. "Surely,’ he thought, "they will respect my son.’
38"But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. "This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all for ourselves.’ 39They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.
40"Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?"
41"He’ll kill them--a rotten bunch, and good riddance," they answered. "Then he’ll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it’s time."
42Jesus said, "Right--and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:
The stone the masons threw out
is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!
43"This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. 44Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed."
45When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. 46They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.
THE WEDDING BANQUET
"God’s kingdom," he said, "is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn’t come!
4"He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, "Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!’
5"They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. 6The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. 7The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city.
8"Then he told his servants, "We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren’t up to it. 9Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.’ 10The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on--every place filled.
All these stories are against the religious leaders of the day – the people who act like they obey God, but in reality their hearts are far from him. If they don’t get the stories, in Chapter 23, he says it very plainly.
MATTHEW 23
JESUS WARNS THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2"The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. 3So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.
5"Everything they do is for show. …
13"Woe to you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you won’t let others enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and you won’t go in yourselves.Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are.
"Blind guides! Woe to you,! For you say that it means nothing to swear `by God’s Temple’--you can break that oath. But then you say that it is binding to swear `by the gold in the Temple.’ Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? …
"Woe to you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law--justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat; then you swallow a camel!
"Woe to you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy--full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too.
"Woe to you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
"Woe to you, teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, `We never would have joined them in killing the prophets.’
"In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of being the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.2Go ahead. Finish what they started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. You will kill some by crucifixion and whip others in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. As a result, you will become guilty of murdering all the godly people from righteous Abel to Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary. I assure you, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries will break upon the heads of this very generation.
Wow! Can you imagine how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of that word! You have to realize the difference of our situation to Jesus’ – we can complain and rant against our rulers anytime well like, and as long as we don’t say anything violent, it just part of free speech and is a very Canadian thing to do. For Jesus to speak so strongly against the religious rulers would be like walking into Sadam Hussein palace a few months ago and telling him all that is wrong with him and his regime and the whole history of his people – you better make sure that “all your things are in order” before you do, because you won’t be coming out the way you came in!
In the 5 days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday Jesus picks a fight with the religious leaders of the day. Previous to this, he was possibly an irritation to them, some one to tolerate, maybe with some interest as to where this is all going. But he has pushed it too far – it is bad enough that this untrained usurper would set himself up as messiah, but to then come against God’s appointed rulers, that deserves death!
If Jesus had said all these things and they were wrong, the rulers could just argue with him and show him to be a fool, the problem is, He is right. Therefore the only way to deal with him is to get rid of him.
So… at the beginning of Chapter 26 Matthew writes: “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. 5"But not during the Feast," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people."
A little while later, Judas realizes that this whole Jesus thing is not turning out like he thought it would, the other Gospels say that the Devil entered him, and he went to the rulers to set up an arrest away from the crowds for the price of a slave.
While Jesus does wrestle with God his Father in the garden about what is going to happen, once he makes the great resolution “not my will but yours,” He does not turn back – he doesn’t flee or fight when the mob comes to arrest him, but he goes with them willingly. He barely opens his mouth to his own defense in the trials that he endures, and when he does it causes him more trouble.
When we see Jesus riding toward Jerusalem on a donkey, he is not riding into a battle where he will have to fight for his life – He is riding into battle where he is fighting for his death. As Jesus rides into Jerusalem he has his eye set on the cross. To any human eye it looks like he is playing to lose, but it is only through his losing that He wins, and it is only through his “losing” that we win.
God’s war – no “collateral damage, no bombs, no guns, no weapons of mass destruction, just a strong, resolute man going to the cross.
2 Corinthians 10
3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Jesus Goes to battle, not with a sword, spear and shield, but with his own life to give. Even though it is with the religious leaders that Jesus picks the fight – it is not even them that the battle is against.
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
To understand this cosmic battle that Jesus enters into – we have to go back to the beginning.
God created us to be in deep relationship with him – to be his friends, to be his children. When humanity first sinned trough Adam and Eve, there was a great barrier that was placed between us and God. He is a holy God, and because of that we cannot be in His presence. The wrong things that we do in our lives stop us from being the very people we were created to be: friends of God.
You might say, Why doesn’t God just forgive us? Whay do we have to go through all the business of Jesus dying on the cross. Bill Hybles says, that if you back out of your driveway and hit my car, I might forgive you, but someone still has to pay for the dint in the car! The bible tells us that when we sin, the payment for that sin is our own lives – because we do wrong we deserve death. God loves us so much that he takes us and forgives us, and Jesus comes and purposefully dies on the cross as a payment for all the world so that we might be able to return to relationship with the God who loves us.
We speak about a great victory that has been won on the cross – it is an insane statement, unless you know what is really going on. A man dying on the cross hardly looks like a victory. But because Jesus is paying the price for our sins, he is doing great damage to the kindom of darkness.
In the Middle ages the Christians used to talk about the cross as a divine ruse – that Jesus Goes to the cross making it look like the Devil was winning, but it is his actual dying that the Devil loses not just the battle, but also the war for our souls.
This cartoon catches the idea really well
http://rev-fun.gospelcom.net/2002/04/20020401_highres_color.gif
Jesus tells this parable in Luke 11: “21"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.”
In the parable, Satan is the strong man, we are his possessions, and our sins are his weaponry – this is how he keeps us away from God and in his possession.
Jesus’ death on the cross removes our sins and thus takes away Satan’s weapons of mass destruction – he no longer has the power to hold us, and we are free to live in an eternal relationship with God.
This is why Paul thumbs his nose at death by writing:
"Death has been swallowed up in victory."[7]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[8] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(1 Corintinans 15:54-58)
Jesus wins the battle for our souls, not by killing the enemy, but by giving up his own life as payment for the things that we have done wrong.
This teaches us two things
How we come to God
We come back into relationship in the same way that Jesus bought our freedom – by giving up our lives to him, by saying that we accept his death on the cross to pay for our sins, and telling him that our lives are not our own any more – we belong to him.
How we fight our battles.
We often feel like we might be in a battle of good against evil, but as Christian, we must learn to fight as Jesus did, not by talking up arms of any sort and pounding our enemies into submission, but by giving up our lives for them and winning the battle through self sacrifice.
Paul writes in Romans 12 17-20
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
We are in a battle – Jesus did not fight like we would expect, we must learn from his example and fight in his way.
