WELCOMING THE KING
John 12:12-19
Today is Palm Sunday, a day that is a very significant day on the church calendar. It is the day that we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry in to Jerusalem. It traditionally begins what the church has called “Holy Week” which is the last week of the Lenten season. Usually we give very little thought to this day. Most of the time, we are already focused on Easter and the glorious hope of the Resurrection. Traditionally most Pentecostal churches, due to our fear of “falling into a ritual”, let most of the events surrounding Holy Week go by unnoticed. I believe it is unfortunate that we don’t use these events to enrich our faith and testimony for the Lord.
The passage of scripture that I read to you this morning is about the Sunday before Passover and before the Lord’s crucifixion. This story is one of the few stories from the life of Christ that is in all four Gospel accounts. I believe that the Lord, in His wisdom, placed this story in our Bibles so many times because He wants us to pay attention to it. Here Jesus rides into Jerusalem with a large crowd surrounding Him, shouting shouts of praise as they went. They were welcoming their King.
I have discovered that one of the joys of parenthood is taking a long trip with children in the back seat. In addition to the stress of the road, traffic, construction, and other problems, you must learn patience in dealing with a child that continues to ask, “how much longer is it going to be?” I remember when we lived in Nebraska, of traveling for the holidays. Now, it is over 1000 miles from Carrollton to Fremont, Nebraska, but a child doesn’t have the concept of 1000 miles. Usually after about an hour on the road, you’ll hear, “Are we close to getting there yet Daddy?” Try explaining to a six or seven year old that it will be many miles and many hours before you reach your destination. It takes a long time. It has taken a long time for Jesus, but now He has reached His destination, Jerusalem and finds a crowd of welcome, welcoming their King.
Here John tells us that much people were in Jerusalem that day. Josephus, the Jewish historian estimates that there may have been close to 2.5 million people in Jerusalem for Passover. Streets were crowded and the city was full. Now John doesn’t tell us some of the details leading up to this. We are told in the other Gospels that Jesus sent two disciples ahead of Him to find the animal that Jesus rode. He had told them to go to a certain place and there they would find it. He told them to loosen the animal and bring it to Him. They acted in obedience and they found it just as Jesus said. Isn’t it great when we let God make the plans? They then took Jesus and set Him upon the donkey and begin to head toward Jerusalem. As they drew close to the city, Luke tells us that in Luke 19:37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Let me tell you something about praise, praise is contagious. As the disciples begin to praise the Lord, others from the city begin to join in as well. The shouts took on a Messianic flavor for the crowd begin to shout from Psalms 118:25-26 Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is He (the King/Messiah) Who comes in the name of the Lord. They were taking the words of this Messianic psalm and applying it to Jesus and calling Him the Messiah. They let their emotions totally take over and begin to shout aloud for Jesus. Let me share with you this morning several details from this Messianic entry or welcome, of Jesus into Jerusalem because there are several dangers here that we need to be aware of. There were many in this crowd, caught up on the spur of the moment that begin to praise the Lord, that in just five more days would also call out “crucify Him, crucify Him.” How do you welcome the Lord?
I. FIRST I WANT YOU TO SEE THAT HE WAS WELCOMED WITH EXUBERANT DEVOTION.
1. I have no idea how many people were there that day, but the crowd was huge. I don’t think the entire 2.5 million were in attendance, but there must have been thousands upon thousands that begin to praise Jesus as He entered into the city.
2. One of the Old Testament prophets had foretold of this event.
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
3. Here the prophecy foretold that Jerusalem would welcome their King with great rejoicing. Prophecy was being fulfilled before their eyes.
4. Now notice that Jesus was riding a donkey, just as the prophet had said. One of the customs of the ancient Mid-east, was that, whenever a city was conquered, the victorious king would ride into the city at the head of his troops. The type of animal he chose to ride was extremely important. If he was seated upon a horse, it was a sign that the city would be put to the sword for the king was riding his “warhorse” as a sign of judgment against the conquered people. However, if the king chose to ride a donkey, the city could breathe a sigh of relief, it meant that the king was coming in peace (you can’t fight a battle on a donkey).
5. One writer said that John was the only person to see both comings of the Messiah. He was there that day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem as Messiah, and God gave him a revelation on the isle of Patmos to see the coming of the Messiah the 2nd time. John wrote:
Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
6. I want you to note the different, the first time, on a donkey, the second time, on a horse, the first time, He comes in peace, the second time, to judge and make war, the first time as a sacrifice for sin, the second time, to judge and rule the nations with a rod of iron.
7. Here in John 12, the people began to praise the Lord. Thousands upon thousands begin to shout for Jesus. That must have been a sight to see. The disciples had taken off their cloaks and laid them in the street before Jesus, preparing the way, very similar to the red carpet treatment celebrities get today. The crowd broke off palm branches from the trees and began to wave them before the Lord as He entered into the city. For a short time, the people of Jerusalem focused all their attention on the Lord.
8. It started out with just a few disciples, but as I told you earlier, praise is contagious. Luke gives us an insight to what is going on, he said in Luke 19:37, that they begin to praise the Lord for “all the mighty works that they had seen”. John tells us in verses 17-18, that many of the people who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead were there and they bare record, or testified of it. They were having a praise session with a testimony meeting right in the middle of it. Bethany was just a small village outside of Jerusalem and many had heard about this miracle so their curiosity got the best of them so they too came out and they got caught up in the emotions of the moment and they begin to praise Jesus.
9. John tells us that the Pharisees were bothered by this, so they remarked, “behold, the world is gone after him.” Luke tells us that the Pharisees told Jesus to “rebuke His disciples” to which Jesus replied that if they didn’t praise Him that the stones would rise up and praise Him. This was a day of exuberant devotion and praise.
II. NEXT, I WANT YOU TO SEE THAT JESUS WAS WELCOMED WITH EXPECTANT DILIGENCE.
1. I suppose a better way to say this would be to say diligent expectation. What I want you to see is this, that this crowd, right in the midst of their praise, begin to diligently place their expectations upon Jesus.
2. They begin to cry out “Hosanna, hosanna”. Do you have any idea of what hosanna really means? Hosanna is a transliteration of the Hebrew hosi a na’, which meant “give salvation now”, or “God save us right now.”
3. You must remember that Jerusalem was at that time, under the Roman government. For a long period of time, the Jews had been governed by Rome. Herod called himself a king, but he was really just a puppet for Rome that oversaw Galilee. Pilate a Roman, was Rome’s representative that oversaw the affairs of Jerusalem. The Jews were a proud people and it was an insult to have a heathen man, from a heathen nation, rule over their affairs. Roman soldiers were noted for their cruelty, they had the right if they were walking and saw one of the Jews, they could force that person to stop whatever they were doing and carry the Roman’s items. The Jews hated having the Romans rule over them.
4. So in effect, what the crowd was shouting when they shouted out Hosanna, was Jesus, save us now, from the Romans.
5. What many people today don’t realize was that these very words had been sung out before. About two hundred years before, Simon Maccabee, after having driven out the Hellenistic Gentiles from Jerusalem, re-entered the city to the very same shouts of praise with the crowd waving palm branches. Part of this story is found in 1 Mac. 13:51 which says, On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred and seventy-first year, the Jews (with Simon Maccabee at the head) entered it (Jerusalem) with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel. This crowd knew their history, and they were expecting Jesus to do the very same thing with the Romans.
6. The crowd was so much like us, Lord, we want to praise You, but we want You to do things our way. Isn’t that just like us? We praise God when we think He will do things our way, but what happens when things don’t work out the way we planned?
7. I can’t help but wonder, how many would have came out if they knew the real reason Jesus came to Jerusalem, not to drive out the Romans, but to die on a cross? How many would have shouted out praise if they knew He came to give Himself over to the Romans to die? I’m afraid that there would have only a few if any, for even the disciples thought that was the reason He came to drive out the Romans.
8. I learnt something when I was studying for this message that I never, never came across before, from years of private study, through four years of college and three years of seminary, I never saw this until now. From the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, it was characterized by the miraculous. At the wedding of Cana, He turned the water into wine, He healed the sick, opened blinded eyes, healed the lame and infirmed. Even as He journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem, as He came by Jericho to Jerusalem to die on the cross, He healed blind Bartimaeus, even raising Lazarus from the dead. But did you know, after His entry into Jerusalem on this day, outside of cursing the fig tree, the miracles stopped until the cross? His last week, He healed no one. For Someone who did miracle after miracle, I find that very significant. What do you think that means preacher? I’ll tell you what I think it means. I believe Jesus was saying, “You have seen what I can do by raising Lazarus, but this week, I’m not here to be just your miracle worker, I’m here to be your Savior.” “I’m not here just to do what you want Me to do, I’m here to do what needs to be done.”
9. Some of them had saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave and they thought someone with that kind of power would surely do what they wanted. We want to serve and worship God but so often, only when He does what we want Him to do. However the greatest need wasn’t deliverance from Rome, but the greatest need was deliverance from sin and that’s why Jesus came to Jesus. What would it be like to like in a city free from the Romans yet still doomed to an eternity without God?
III. FINALLY THEY WELCOMED HIM WITH EXTREME DECEIT.
1. I find it so very interesting that no doubt, so many from this crowd from Jerusalem, in less than a week would cry out at the urging of the priests, “crucify Him, crucify Him.” I don’t believe that they were true in their praise but rather insincere.
2. Maybe deceit is too strong a word to use, perhaps insincere or artificial would be a better choice , but I don’t for one moment believe that their whole heart was involved in praising Jesus. Luke tells us regarding this same event.
Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
3. Why did He weep? I believe because He realized their insincerity. One preacher said, “He realized the cheering crowd was filled with people who were caught up in the excitement, but they were not truly recognizing Him as the Messiah. Before the end of the week, the cheers of the fickle crowd would turn to boos. Why? These people were looking for a Liberator to make their lives easier. Instead Jesus invaded their religious comfort zones and upset them. In the next verse after this passage, He scattered the tables of the crooked money changers. Over the next few days He would say things that were neither popular nor politically correct. Some of the ones shouting “crown Him” would be the same ones shouting “crucify Him.” Instead of “Hail Him” they’d be shouting, “Nail Him.” Jesus saw their superficial belief and it broke His heart.”
4. While Jesus did not perform miracles that last week, He did talk and preach strongly on commitment. This was the week that the rich young ruler came to Jesus. Jesus told him, sell what you have, give it to the poor and follow Me.
John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
5. You see, it’s not enough to praise Him as King, you must follow Him as King.
