Political parties and their “parties” confetti, hoopla, nice nice, we are for things, until they affect us in a way we don’t want
i saw Bob Dole in Bloomington IL. Hoopla surrounding him. Shake his (good) hand.
He is revered and revealed as King of Israel AND the World, even if some are misunderstanding what that kingship means.
Crowds and polls are fickle
Jesus faced similar swing in popularity
Text: Matthew 21:1-9
Contrasting the Messiah of expectations and who he was. The fickleness of the crowd (immediately and as they yell “crucify him!” a few short days later)
Big Idea: The People and Events around Palm Sunday and what we call the Triumphal Entry call us to praise Jesus for the King he really us and not for who we want.
The real Jesus is the one:
1. Who Was Promised a Long Time Ago
v. 4,5 Fulfillment of prophecy
Matthew’s penchant for showing “fulfillment” of OT in Jesus.
What that says about God: He keeps his promises and takes care of our deepest needs
2. Who contrasts to Our Kings, Presidents, Dictators
Zechariah 9 background
Zec 9:8 But I will defend l my house
against marauding forces. m
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
for now I am keeping watch.
Prophesying the exploits of Alexander the Great. Emphasizing his brutality in conquering surrounding nations.
The “king” will be the Messiah. But an unarmed, plainly clad civilian riding a donkey contrasts sharply with an armed soldier astride a war horse.
• in contrast to most kings (such as Alexander), he is humble or gentle (cf. Isa 53:2-3, 7; Matt 11:29).
• he is peaceful, for this is the meaning of his riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey, though it possibly suggests both peace and humility. At any rate, he does not come on a war-horse (v.10).
Leonard SWEET:
• Adam Hochschild has itemized certain common characteristics of deposed dictators:
i. A chestful of self-awarded medals (think of Idi Amin of Uganda’s chest; or Emperor Bokassa of Central Africa)
ii. sunglasses
iii. strong wives
iv. Endorsement by Mother Teresa. She was repeatedly a guest of both Enver and Nexhmije Hoxha (Albania) and Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") and Michele Duvalier (Haiti)
v. Great stress on the proper mode of address: Emperor Bokassa, Field Marshal Amin.
vi. Last-minute conversion to Islam when in need of Saudi money.
vii. Extrication by the US when things go wrong.
viii. No gainful employment in exile.
-- Adam Hochschild, "Lovely Chaps," Times Literary Supplement, 28 February 2003, 36.
***
• The world’s most interesting reigning dictator? Dictator Saparmurad Niyazov of Turkmenistan. He renamed the months of the year, April after his mother, the other months after his first and last names and self-given title "Father of all Turkmen." Also renamed the days of the week.
The first reason for rejoicing is the coming of the King (v.9). The second reason is the establishment of his kingdom—a kingdom of universal peace in Israel and among the nations and universal sovereignty (v.10). Again in contrast with Alexander’s empire, which was founded on bloodshed, the messianic King will establish a universal kingdom of peace. Kenneth Barker Zechariah9:9-10EBC Commentary,
(his goal is peace and salvation for God’s people, not for destruction/fame/honor for his own glory and vanity)
The fulfillment quotation generally follows the wording of the LXX but omits the lines “Shout, daughter of Jerusalem” (unnecessary repetition) and “righteous and having salvation” (probably because Jerusalem was not now being saved but judged; salvation will come much later)
3. Who Is there for the people
Bible Context:
Healing of the Blind just before our text
John refers to the crowd who had been there with Jesus when Lazarus was raised
His love for poor, afflicted, humble of heart, children
Would you describe Jesus as “gentle, fierce, or mysterious?”
4. Who Can’t be pinned Down or Boxed in
We talked about this last week: we have to wrestle with who Jesus is, accept all of him, confront our own weaknesses and blindspots
Text:
He is gentle on the one hand—on a colt, caring for oppressed, but the next day is clearing out the temple.
He is encouraging Peter just before the denial (grace), but blasting the leaders of the temple and Jerusalem for hard heartedly rejecting God and living hypocritically
• Chapter 23
If i had a little white box song (i really don’t like that song!)
When we praise Jesus, we need to praise him for who he is, not just for who we construct him to be.
Requires us to get into God’s Word and wrestle with him.
5. Who longs for even the most hostile to accept his Kingship and Salvation
Mt 21:5 (Call for Jerusalem to rejoice)
Although Jesus was acclaimed Messiah at his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matt 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-15), his own people nonetheless rejected him and his peace (cf. Luke 19:39-44 and, later, his crucifixion).
Knows the hostility that is there
Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Mt: 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
Jesus desire is for even the most hostile to come to him. His call is to them
Paul/Saul was hostile
6. Who calls for a decision
Theme: Truth isn’t found in running with crowds. Truth is only found in daring to follow Christ.
He is a King of God’s own Making, Not ours
Jesus chose a peaceful entrance into Jerusalem. He restrained the crowd’s exuberance by his actions. He accepted their joy while recognizing that it was based on false assumptions. Jesus arrived as King, but not by the crowd’s definition. Their perspective was limited to the immediate historical moment: They wanted a political Messiah. Jesus insisted on remaining the timeless Savior. His contemporaries couldn’t see beyond the Roman occupation; Jesus saw the needs of the world held hostage to sin.
We reduce God when we demand his attention only to our concerns. True, God encourages us to bring our daily needs to him in prayer. But God refuses to be a private deity. When we treat him like a house idol or a village god, he graciously fails our expectations. If we answer the question “How big is your God?” by mere human measures, we will diminish the King of kings and Lord of lords. We can be confident that God can meet our daily needs when we have a clearer picture of his greatness. Have you limited God to your expectations?
We can’t blame the lack of praise for God on lack of opportunity. Certainly there are appropriate times for formal worship. But a genuine relationship with God ought to find expression beyond “official” structure. Do you use hymns and choruses in your private times with God? Do you look for opportunities to give thanks to God? What does “Hosanna” mean to you? What, in your experience, would be similar to spreading your coat for Jesus to walk on? Make sure your worship includes action and tangible expressions.
The people “rolled out the red carpet” for Jesus. Their spontaneous worship puts much of our worship to shame. How often in your church does the presence of Jesus cause a genuine stir? Are the “rules for worship” defined so narrowly that spontaneous expressions of praise for Christ are frowned upon? Also, lest we blame the church too quickly, how often does your experience with Christ cause you to want to praise?
ONE BRIEF MOMENT
For one brief moment in time, lots of people greeted Jesus with enthusiasm and honor, respect and celebration. It’s a great experience to be part of such a crowd. Consider attending the national convention of a major Christian organization or movement, volunteering to help in a large-scale evangelistic crusade, or traveling to an overseas missions conference or national church gathering. Every once in a while, it’s refreshing to be reminded of how large the church really is, how enthusiastic are today’s disciples, how diverse their means of celebrating God’s love. (not sure where this extensive quote came from, if you know, please tell me)
[the following is word for word from Len Sweet, Are You Running? http://www.preachingplus.com/DisplaySermon.aspx?id=136 . I must have been rushed this week and didn’t take time to paraphrase or reduce. My apologies to Len and the readers. This is material I thought was good and probably ad-libbed to my congregation as I spoke. I leave it here, because what Len says is good]
We love big crowds and we welcome big crowds. Dressed in new spring clothing (and probably freezing in it!), those who aren’t quite regular attenders will swell our numbers next week as the church celebrates the spring miracle of Easter. It’s exhilarating to be part of a big crowd, a great gathering of happy, expectant worshipers reaffirming our faith and refilling our spirits with the hopes and promises of the resurrection.
No wonder everybody shows up.
Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus and his disciples were journeying to Jerusalem during the same kind of anticipatory days, amongst the same kind of growing crowds and excitement. In the writings of the first century Jewish historian Josephus (Bel. vi 422-425), he notes that in the years immediately preceding the Jewish war (c.66) the crowds of Passover pilgrims number over two million! While Josephus’ headcount might be creatively augmented, his report nevertheless confirms that it was typical for huge crowds to migrate into Jerusalem for the Passover festival.
It’s a portion of those massive crowds that go out to meet Jesus. His reputation as a teacher—and more recently as the one who had miraculously raised Lazarus from the dead (see John 12:9)—had preceded him. This crowd greets Jesus joyously, with all the spur-of-the-moment pomp and circumstance they can muster. Palm fronds are brandished to wave the wonder-worker into the city. The psalmist’s cheer of praise Hosanna (Psalm 118:25) was chanted by some, while those who knew their Scripture continued with Psalm 118:26, proclaiming "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."
What the crowd really anticipated, however, was demonstrated by the part of their welcoming chant that was not from Psalm 118. In its exuberance the hopeful crowd added on a gloss to Scripture—"the King of Israel"—a title which, while theologically correct, was obviously understood by this throng as a nationalistic, political, even militant title.
As is common with crowd assessments, crowd judgments, crowd conclusions . . . they were wrong.
There’s an old saying: "Put it to a vote, and they’ll always vote to go back to Egypt." There’s something about the anonymity of crowd decisions, the headlong, headstrong energy of the pack, that makes wrong decisions seem so right, bad choices seem so flawless, cruel actions seem so sensible.
Time and again in Scripture, in story after story, when the crowd spoke and its majority vote was taken, it was a big mistake:
1. Adam and Eve’s fateful decision in the Garden (They were a majority);
2. The building of the tower of Babel;
3. Noah, one man standing against the whole world;
4. The 9 to 1 vote of Joseph’s older brothers that resulted in his enslavement in Egypt (although Gen. 50:20 puts an interesting slant on that);
5. The golden calf thing with Aaron and the Israelites at the bottom of Mt. Sinai while Moses was up top, Aaron being put in the position as leader.;
6. Joshua and Caleb’s minority report (they were outvoted 10-2);
7. Gideon stood in the minority in Judges 6 against his whole town
8. Electing Saul as a King (even though Samuel and God thought it a bad idea)
9. Absalom "stole the hearts of the people."
10. Elijah versus the prophets of Baal in the contest on Carmel
11. All the disciples fled and left the one man, Jesus
And possibly the most inexplicable and worst crowd decision ever made . . .the crowd’s response to the choice Pilate offered them: "We want Barabbas!"
Jesus was crucified by majority vote, by a crowd mentality. In fact, I can’t find a single majority vote in Scripture in which the majority voted right. Can you?
