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Sermon of the Week

  

             

7/12/97.

            

 

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

 

Mk 11:1-25

Psalm 118:15-29

 

Imagine that the Dalai Lama has been invited by the Chinese Government to return to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He decides not to fly in, but to walk there over the Himalayas from India, to make a pilgrimage back to the spiritual centre of his religion. Imagine the excitement in the city as he approached; the anticipation; the jostling by the TV networks for the exclusive rights to cover it; the lines of people waiting to catch a glimpse of him; the cheering as he passed through the ancient city walls and came to the main Buddhist Temple of the city. Imagine the celebrations that'd follow.

 

Well, I guess that would be something like what it was like on that first Palm Sunday. The city was buzzing. The word had got around. Jesus, the great teacher and healer was coming to Jerusalem, despite the danger from the Jewish leaders. Word was that he'd even been talking about death, predicting that he was going to be crucified, and saying that people had to be willing to take up their cross if they wanted to follow him. Yet at the same time he was still healing people, he was still teaching with authority, and most interestingly for the ordinary people, he was still arguing with the Pharisees.

 

So when Jesus came to the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem, the crowds were ready. When he appeared at the gates of Jerusalem riding a donkey rather than walking, as was the normal practice, they got really excited. They took off their cloaks and threw them on the ground in front of him. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. They started crying out "Hosanna". That is "God save you". Just like we loyal subjects might cry out "God save the Queen" if she drove through the streets of Melbourne. And then they added "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!", a quotation from Psalm 118, which is addressed to pilgrims on the last stage of their journey to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. They clearly recognised that here was an important figure, someone to be revered. And that this was a significant moment in history. Here was Jesus, the latter day prophet, completing what might be his final pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

And there may have been other thoughts in their minds as well. They may well have been hoping that this might bring a showdown with the Romans, because they also cried out "Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David!" As we'll see in a moment Jesus arrival on a donkey would have reminded them of the arrival of the First son of David, Solomon as he rode into Jerusalem on David's own mule, to claim the Kingship; and the prophecy of Zechariah of the Messiah who was to come. Perhaps they thought that here at last was someone who would command a popular following. Someone who, unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, would oppose the Roman occupation. So they were very excited.

But notice how quickly their excitement fades. No sooner has Jesus entered Jerusalem, than we find him alone again with the twelve, and returning to Bethany to spend the night. The enthusiasm has died down and he's left on his own again. Perhaps they were disappointed that he hadn't made any move towards the Romans. Perhaps they were just worn out from the excitement of the day. Whatever the reason, their enthusiasm was only temporary.

But lets think for a moment about what Jesus thought was happening. What was in his mind as he neared Jerusalem? Well, certainly, as we saw last week, he knew what was ahead of him. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus' words about his imminent betrayal and crucifixion and his subsequent resurrection, spoken as he was nearing Jerusalem. So he knew what awaited him when he entered the city. But why did he suddenly go so public? Up until now his ministry had always been hidden. It's not that long since he'd withdrawn into the hills because the crowds wanted to take him by force to proclaim him King. Just two chapters before, we read that they'd moved around Galilee in secret because Jesus didn't want anyone to know where they were.

So what was in Jesus' mind? What was he doing? The clearest indication we have is the symbolic action he takes in sending his disciples off to bring the donkey for him to ride. As I just said, When Solomon needed to establish his claim to the throne at the time of David's death, David told Zadok the priest to take him out of the city, set him on David's own mule and bring him in again to the shouts of the people, "Long live King Solomon." (1 Kings 1:32-35). But there's more to it than just that. Jesus' riding of a donkey is a sign of the promised Messiah. Mark doesn't highlight this, but Matthew does, when he reminds us of the prophecy of Zechariah, ch 9. "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" What Jesus does by this act is to make a public claim to be that Messianic figure promised by Zechariah. It's as if he's saying, "if you have eyes to see then look and see. Here is the King that God promised all those years before."

And this public claim is also a call for a response. He wants them to understand who he is and to follow him. As we'll see in a moment, to have faith in him.

Now as I said a few minutes ago, there would have been some in the crowd who would have recognised this symbolic act for what it was. But what they thought it symbolised wasn't what Jesus had in mind. They were looking for a King who would come and liberate them from the Romans, who would raise a popular uprising, like the Maccabees had a couple of hundred years before, and drive out the invaders. But that's not what Jesus had in mind at all. The passage from Zechariah 9 that he chooses is very significant. You might like to look it up. (2nd last book in OT) "9Rejoice 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. 10I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth." - The King that Zechariah talks about is gentle and humble. He doesn't enter Jerusalem on a war horse or riding a chariot. He enters on a humble donkey, a beast of burden whose role is to serve, not to conquer. He carries with him his own authority, given to him by God, not by those he's defeated. And perhaps the key phrase here is that he comes to them righteous and having salvation. The salvation that Jesus the King will bring will be a salvation based on his righteousness, which he'll impart to those who have faith in him. And its a salvation that'll come from his submission to death; from his being not a conquering King, but a Servant King. \\\

The sad thing about this symbolic act of Jesus, is that rather than sparking the faith of the people, it rather, highlights their lack of faith. Despite the great opportunities they'd had in the past, as God's special people, to hear God's word and to understand the nature of the salvation he was offering, they'd failed to grasp it. As the next incident in the passage indicates, they'd failed to bear the fruit that belongs to the Kingdom of God.

The next day as he's going towards the Temple, Jesus sees a fig tree in leaf, apparently earlier in the season than normal, but when he goes to see if there's any fruit on it, he finds nothing but leaves. So he says "may no-one ever eat fruit from you again." Now this isn't just a fit of pique. He isn't just angry because he really felt like a fig and was disappointed. No, Jesus is making a statement, not about the fig tree, but about the nation of Israel. They've had their chance. They've got all the outward signs of belonging to God's kingdom, but the fruit isn't there, and so their opportunity is about to be removed. Remember, Jesus has made a visit to the temple the night before, and from what he does to the merchants in the temple in the next passage, we can tell what he thought about it. He wasn't impressed! Their attitude to worship was as flawed as it had ever been. The Temple was to have been a house of prayer for people of all nations, but they'd made it a den of thieves, designed to rip those people off. So the nations would no longer come to them to be fed.

Notice how he responds to Peter when Peter notices the dead fig tree the next day. He says "Have faith in God." Above all, this is what Jesus wants of his disciples. He wants us to have faith in God and in Jesus himself. But it must be faith in the real Jesus. This was part of the failing of the crowds who welcomed him so excitedly then disappeared just as quickly. They failed to understand the nature of Jesus Kingship, the significance of his humble entry to Jerusalem. Jesus came as the Christ but he wasn't the Christ of people's imagining. He was the Christ, the Messiah, who's the suffering servant.

The difficulty we have with that of course, is that a suffering Messiah is much harder to have faith in than a conquering Messiah. The preachers of a gospel of health and prosperity will be much more popular than those who speak of suffering and death. Those who see life in black and white terms will be far more popular than those who are working through the ambiguities and struggles of life. I say that because these words of Jesus here, are the very thing they'll quote (v24): "Have faith in God.... I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." But what they forget is that just three days later, Jesus himself prayed that the cup of suffering might pass from him, and then added, "but nevertheless your will not mine be done." Even having encouraged his disciples to have complete faith in God when they pray, Jesus knew that not every prayer we pray will be answered in the way we want. You see the essence of faith is belief in the true and living God, that is the true and living God, and his son Jesus Christ. If our faith is in a God who suffers because of the nature of this fallen world, then there are going to be times when we too will suffer. If our faith is in a Messiah who conquers through weakness, then there are going to be times when we too will be called to persevere in weakness. And there are going to be times when we'll have to wait patiently, like the first disciples, to see how God will bring about the salvation that we're longing for, even when on the surface it looks like nothing's happening, or worse still, like God's losing out.

But having said that, we're in a much better position than the first disciples, because we can look back and see how God's salvation has worked out, so far at least. We can have confidence in this servant King. We can have confidence in the gospel we proclaim: not because the logic of it is so compelling, though I think it is, nor because it appears so attractive on the surface, but because we see that this King who arrives in Jerusalem, humble and riding a mere donkey, comes bearing righteousness and salvation for all who accept him as their King. Because we know that this suffering servant who has died has also been raised from death to eternal life, and now offers life to all people. Because we know that although God seems at times to work in strange ways, and at times seems to be slow in doing what we hope he'll do, in the end he does carry his plans to completion.

But notice the little rider Jesus adds at the end of his advice about prayer. He adds "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." He seems to be saying, don't think you can ask God to grant you your prayers when you're out of fellowship with another believer. You'll find a strong correlation in Jesus teaching between our forgiveness of one another and God's forgiveness of us. / Do you have things you're holding against someone else at the moment? Some grudge? Some hurt that you haven't forgotten? We used to call them Pepsi Cola tops. They're a bit like Brownie Points only the other way round. You store them up and bring them out when the moment is ripe and you need some ammunition to fire at that person. Well, if that's the case, Jesus is saying, don't think you can ask God about some need you have, because you won't really be praying in faith. I guess he's saying you can't pray in faith when the attitude of your heart is hardened towards some other person. To pray in faith implies having a heart that's in line with God's heart. That is, it's a forgiving heart. So what about it? If this is speaking to you, and you're here today to pray to God, I guess this is the time to show the sort of forgiveness to that other person that God offers you. Then when you pray you can pray with confidence. ///

One final thing. Despite what some preachers would encourage us to hope for, we won't all be healthy and prosperous in this life, if we only have enough faith. But what we can be sure of is that if we have faith in the true and living God, we will have riches in heaven, we will be given a new and imperishable body in the world to come, one that will never wear out. That's where health and prosperity are guaranteed!

There's a certain weakness in the gospel that doesn't fit with modern expectations of success and power. Jesus isn't the sort of figure that Nike or Coca-Cola would sign up for an advertising campaign. I mean, who rides a donkey!? It looks ridiculous. You wouldn't find the Murdochs and Packers fighting over the television rights for his entry into the city. But let's remember that it's his very weakness that's his power. It's his submission even to death that leads to life for us and for any who'll come to faith in him. And so lets be encouraged to have confidence in this King who rides a donkey, to pray to God in the midst of our struggles, knowing that he understands, and that despite his appearance of weakness, he in fact has great power to save those who believe in him. And lets continue to worship the God who emptied himself and took on human form, until he returns, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess him to be Jesus Christ, the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

     
 
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