The Defining Moment

INTRODUCTION

All of us are making choices all the time. Most of the choices are completely inconsequential. But sometimes the choices are really important. A long time ago I taught some lessons on business ethics. I read various books on business ethics and based my lessons on them. One book was called ‘Defining Moments’. You can imagine the idea. The author suggested that in business there are critical moments which will define who we are forever. Another book used the phrase ‘Career-Ending Moment’. A wrong choice can end our career.

That was the situation on the first ‘Palm Sunday.’ The people of Jerusalem were facing a choice. Someone called Jesus was coming into the city. What would they do? How would they respond? It was the start of the Passover festival. Lots of people were coming into Jerusalem. But Jesus wasn’t just anyone.

WHO WAS JESUS?

Jesus had appeared on the scene about three years before. The religious leaders in Jerusalem heard about him early on. They sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’

Jesus had done some remarkable things. On one occasion he fed 5,000 people. Later on, he fed 4,000 people. He’d calmed a storm. He’d healed countless people. And just a few days ago, in a nearby village, he’d raised Lazarus from the dead. Crowds flocked to hear him. But he was a controversial figure. He told some people that their sins were forgiven! Who had the right to do that? And he clearly wasn’t impressed with the religious leaders.

One thing for sure was that Jesus wasn’t a nobody. But who was he?

People had all sorts of ideas about who he was. Some people thought he was John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets of old. Earlier in Luke, Peter declared that Jesus was ‘The Christ of God.’ But so far, no one in Luke’s gospel had declared that Jesus was king. That was now going to change.

WHAT DID JESUS CLAIM?

On the first Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he declared that he was king. Well, he didn’t say straight out, ‘I am the king.’ He was a little more subtle!

Jesus has been heading towards Jerusalem for quite a time. Until now, he’s never ridden a horse or a donkey. But today, he wants a ride. Specifically, a donkey.

Luke takes quite some time to explain HOW Jesus got the donkey. It’s clearly significant. Jesus sends his disciples into a village to get a donkey. They are to untie it and take it. Jesus tells them, “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” Why is this significant? By his actions Jesus is saying that he has the authority to simply take the donkey; he doesn’t need to ask. He is acting in a way that’s consistent with him being king.

This is already a strong hint. But Jesus makes his claim to be king much clearer when he gets on the donkey and rides towards Jerusalem. To understand why, we need to know a prophecy in the Old Testament. It was a prophecy made by a man called Zechariah. I’ll give you a little background before I tell you Zechariah’s prophecy.

About 1000 years before Jesus, David was king of Israel. He was succeeded by his son Solomon. After Solomon’s death, Israel split into two parts, Israel and Judah. Many years later, the two nations were attacked by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Israel was destroyed; Judah went into exile. When that happened, Judah no longer had a king. Perhaps 60 years after that, Zechariah started to prophesy. This was one of the things he wrote:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM!

BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU;

righteous and having salvation is he,

HUMBLE AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey” [Zechariah 9:9].

As I mentioned, when Zechariah wrote, Judah didn’t have a king. But Zechariah looked forward to a time when a king would come to Jerusalem, righteous and having salvation, riding on a donkey.

When Jesus got on a donkey to ride into Jerusalem he was consciously and deliberately fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy. He was declaring that he was the king who Zechariah prophesied about, ‘righteous and having salvation.’ Indeed, he was righteous and he brought salvation.

Jesus’ actions weren’t lost on his disciples. They start hailing him as king. ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ They laid their cloaks in front of Jesus – they gave him the red-carpet treatment. They treated him as king.

Jesus didn’t object. If what they were saying wasn’t right, I’m sure he would have told his disciples to stop.