THE ROAD TO THE CROSS
Palm Sunday)
© 1997 by Mark Beaird
Text: John 12:9-19
It was one of the most inspiring sights of World War II. Four chaplains were standing on the deck of the USS Dorchester, hand-in-hand, singing the old hymn "Nearer My God To Thee." But then, these were inspiring men. And this was a scene the men of the USS Dorchester would never forget.
George Fox was the oldest of the chaplains. A veteran of WW I and a recipient of the Silver Star for bravery. He had become a public accountant after the war and then a minister. When WW II began he told his wife he would have to go. "I know from experience what our boys are about to face," he said, "They need me."
Alexander D. Goode was the only Rabbi in the group. A father of four and a medical doctor, he was patriotic to the core.
Johnny P. Washington came from a poor Irish immigrant family. He grew up in the slums of Newark, New Jersey, but went on to become a Catholic priest. He was known for his laughter and his love of music.
Clark V. Poling, the youngest of the four chaplains, was a minister from the Dutch Reformed church. Clark was the seventh generation in an unbroken line of ministers. However, he wanted to be a fighting soldier instead of a chaplain. He didn’t want people to think he was "hiding behind the church." But when he found out that the mortality rate of the chaplains was the highest of all he felt he would be doing his full part as a chaplain.
It was a stirring sight to see these four men united, hand-in-hand, on the deck of that ship. But they weren’t conducting a service for the men as you might think -- they were preparing to die. It was in the early morning hours of February 3, 1943. The ship was bound for Greenland with 906 men on board. Suddenly a torpedo from a Nazi U-boat ripped through the hull and the ship began to sink in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Fear gave way to panic among the soldiers. Rushing to the deck, many left their lifejackets below. The chaplains helped calm the panic by helping the men escape the sinking ship. Then, with the lifeboats full, they gave their own lifejackets to soldiers who had none. The ship completely sank in only twenty-seven minutes.
As the men who had escaped looked back at their doomed ship they saw the four chaplains standing on board the sinking ship hand-in-hand and listened as the men lifted their voices to God. It was a sight that would forever be etched in their memories.
Had the sovereign hand of God directed each of them down the same road or had they chosen it for themselves? What we know for sure is that they chose to give their lives for others. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13) Jesus was traveling this road into Jerusalem to do just that -- lay down His life for His friends.
This "triumphal entry" was actually a road of sorrow He chose for himself. It too was an inspiring sight for those who can see it for what it was.
In his song, Ride On To Die, Michael Card writes of Christ’s journey to the cross:
Sense the sorrow untold
As you look down the road
At the clamoring crowd drawing near.
Feel the heat of the day,
As you look down the way,
Hear the shouts of Hosanna the King.
Oh, daughter of Zion,
Your time’s drawing near;
Don’t forsake Him. Oh, don’t pass it by.
On the foal of a donkey
As the prophets had said,
Passing by you, He rides on to die.
Soon the thorn-cursed ground
Will bring forth a crown,
And this Jesus will seem to be beaten.
But He’ll conquer alone,
Both the shroud and the stone,
And the prophecies will be completed.
Oh, daughter of Zion,
Your time’s drawing near;
Don’t forsake Him. Oh, don’t pass it by.
On the foal of a donkey
As the prophets had said,
Passing by you, He rides on to die. (Card, 141-2)
I. THE ROAD TO THE CROSS WAS A ROAD OF DESTINY (vv. 12-13).
A. Jesus had come to save the world and now was His time.
In v. 13, the word "Hosanna" is "an Aramaic expression meaning ’Save now!’ used either literally as a petition for deliverance or as a technical term ascribing praise to God." (Michaels, 222)
The people were ready for deliverance—but from what? Jesus had come to save them from their sins, not from their political situation.
B. The people perceived Christ as the One who would “come” from God.
At this time He was the people’s choice for Messiah. He had given the blind their sight, made the lame to walk, and raised the dead. Surely He was sent from God.
The prophet Zechariah had prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." (Zechariah 9:9)
II. THE ROAD TO THE CROSS WAS A ROAD OF DEVOTION (vv. 14-15).
A. His entrance into Jerusalem announced His commitment to the task ahead.
But do not forget that His journey did not begin there on that dusty road nor was He there by accident.
In his book And the Angels were Silent, Max Lucado writes, "Forget any suggestion that Jesus was trapped. Erase any theory that Jesus made a miscalculation. Ignore any speculation that the cross was a last-ditch attempt to salvage a dying mission. For if these words tell us anything, they tell us that Jesus died...on purpose. No surprise. No hesitation. No faltering.
No, the journey to Jerusalem didn’t begin in Jericho. It didn’t begin in Galilee. It didn’t even begin in Bethlehem. The journey to the cross began long before. As the echo of the crunching of the fruit was still sounding in the garden, Jesus was leaving for Calvary." (Lucado, 15)
B. His humble arrival was evidence of His submission to God.
The people wanted a king so badly that they would have gladly taken Him, by force if necessary, and made Him king. They dreamed not of the Kingdom of God but of deliverance from Roman rule—not of doing God’s will but of winning a great military victory. But for the man the people hoped would be king, the donkey He rode was His only throne.
Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
III. THE ROAD TO THE CROSS WAS A ROAD OF DISCOVERY (v. 16).
A. The people would discover that their idea of the Messiah was all wrong.
“They greeted Him as a king, though ignorant of the nature of His kingship." (Tasker, 147) That is the essence of their problem. They did not understand the nature of His kingship or kingdom.
B. The disciples would discover the plan of God.
The fact that they did not understand the significance of His actions until later is not to be held against them. It was all happening so fast and all the pieces of the puzzle had not come together. On the contrary, it is to their credit that they put all the pieces together after Christ was resurrected.
IV. THE ROAD TO THE CROSS WAS A ROAD OF DELIVERANCE (vv. 17-19).
A. The path Jesus took was the way of salvation for mankind.
“There is a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey to a city. Before the two men could reach the destination they were caught in a blinding blizzard. They lost their direction and were unable to reach the city before nightfall.
The next morning concerned friends went searching for the two men. They finally found the master, frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant -- cold but alive. He survived and told how the master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live.” (Lucado, 22-3)
The road to the cross is certainly no fable; but like the master in the story, Christ knew that He must die in order for others to live.
B. This was a road to deliverance that satan could not block.
“His continued popularity with the people as a miracle-worker was creating a dangerous situation for the authorities, who are forced to admit that their counter-measures have not yet proved effective. It almost seemed as if Jesus had the world at His feet!" (Tasker, 147)
CONCLUSION
Someone wrote, “When we view the cross I think that somehow we must learn to see our complicity in it. We cannot dismiss this as an act by self-righteous Jews and brutal Romans. We must so, somehow understand the horrible fact that Satan sometimes uses religious people to accomplish his means. We distort things and before long we call evil good and good evil. Every time we allow sin to seduce us with its distortions, we nail Jesus on the cross once again.”
“There is an old episode of MASH, in which a rather cocky young pilot comes to the MASH unit because his plane has been shot down, but he is not seriously injured. He tells everyone in a rather boasting voice that flying really gives him a high. If I could not fly this war would really by a drag, he says. He brags that every time he flies a couple of missions they send him back to Japan for several weeks of R & R. The war to him was really quite a lark.
Then one day a Korean child is brought to the MASH unit and her arm has been horribly mangled in an air attack. The young pilot is taken back. Even though it was not his plane who did it, for the first time he must face his own complicity in the brutality of war. For the first time he sees things not from the perspective of 10,000 feet, but in the eyes of a child.
There is a danger in romanticizing the cross. I love the old hymns just as much as anyone. But the cross is not meant to lull us, it is meant to jolt us.”
--www.SermonIllustrations.com, April 2000
Alternate ending:
The decision had been made. The troops had been deployed and the battleships were on their way. Nearly three million soldiers were preparing to slam against Hitler’s motion. Responsibility for the invasion fell squarely on the four-starred shoulders of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The general spent the night before the attack with the men of the 101st Airborne. They called themselves The Screaming Eagles. As his men prepared their planes and checked their equipment, Ike went from soldier to soldier offering words of encouragement. Many of the flyers were young enough to be his sons. He treated them like they were. A correspondent wrote that as Eisenhower watched the C-47s take off and disappear into the darkness, his hands were sunk deeply into his pockets and his eyes were full of tears.
The general then went to his quarters and sat at his desk. He took a pen and paper and wrote a message—a message which would be delivered to the White House in the event of a defeat.
It was as brief as it was courageous. "Our landings..have failed...the troops, the Air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches itself to the attempt it was mine alone."
It could be argued that the greatest act of courage that day was not in a cockpit or foxhole, but at a desk when the one at the top took responsibility for the ones below. When the one in charge took the blame--even before the blame needed to be taken.
Rare leader, this general. Unusual, this display of courage. He modeled a quality seldom seen in our society of lawsuits, dismissals, and divorces. Most of us are willing to take credit for the good we do. Some are willing to take the rap for the bad we do. But few will assume responsibilities for the mistakes of others. Still fewer will shoulder the blame for mistakes yet uncommitted.
Eisenhower did. As a result, he became a hero. Jesus did. As a result, He’s our Savior.
Before the war began, He forgave. Before a mistake could be made, forgiveness was offered. Before blame could be given, grace was provided. (Lucado, 18-19)
There’s not much about the scene of Christ riding on a donkey into Jerusalem that lends itself to the idea of a “triumphal entry.” It’s not an impressive scene, unless you can see beyond the vision of the human eye. It was a day of triumph because He was on His way to pay the price for our sins, committed and uncommitted. Man could not stop Him and satan could not stop Him. It was for this that He came. He came to travel the road to the cross!
References
Card, Michael. (1990). Immanuel: reflections on the life of Christ. Nashville: Nelson.
Lucado, Max. (1993). And the angels were silent. New York: Walker and Co.
Michaels, J. Ramsey. (1993). John: New International Biblical Commentary. Peabody: Hendrickson Pub.
Tasker, R. V. G. (1989). John: Tyndale New Testament commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing.
