Resurrection | The Unexpected King - Matthew 21:1-11 | March 24
Generated Transcript
Morning, okay, as the kids are exiting
sometimes I feel like after kids moment, we probably could just do the last song and then go right like it's like, actually like I oftentimes am so moved by the way that we communicate with children, right. And it's actually a kingdom ethic is that we enter into the kingdom as kids. So pretty thanks for that. And yeah, today is Palm Sunday, right Palm Sunday is the has been celebrated for 1000s of years by Christians. It's the moment when we celebrate Jesus entering into Jerusalem to start what we consider and called Passion Week. This is the last week that we're going to be celebrating this. This week in our time, we're reliving and remembering this last week of Jesus's life, right? What did he do? Where did he go? And how did it culminate?
This is also the near we're nearing the end of the tradition of Lent. This is like a time that probably many of you even are engaging with right now where Christians press into spiritual growth through fasting or abstaining from different foods or things around us so that we can grow in our nearness with Jesus. So this is where we pick up
on this Sunday's is Palm Sunday, at the end of Lent, entering into Passion Week. And so today, we're actually going to be looking in Matthew chapter 21. And we're going to be looking at the entry of Christ into Jerusalem.
This is often referred to as the triumphal entry, as Brad mentioned. And we'll talk a bit about triumph. But before we do that, I want to show you a picture. And so this picture, as you can see, is a picture that is known as Warner Solomon's Christ. It was painted in 1940. And it actually became the most widely distributed image of Jesus in history, there are over 500 million copies sold. I know in my tradition and upbringing, I was very
aware of this painting, it was in a lot of places that I would go perhaps for some of you, you've seen this image, and it's shaped how you view Jesus, and how do we see it right? It's Jesus, his eyes are softly looking at the father, it's a very peaceful Jesus, a very serene, Jesus, he's got a nice flow going, a good beard that's full, you can't see here, but his eyes are actually blue. This is a very beautiful picture of Jesus, and it communicates things that might help us understand who God is. And it sets our expectations of, of who maybe we expect Jesus to look like. Now, I want to contrast that with this picture here. This picture does not look like that other picture. This was created by a group of forensic scientists, and archaeologists who in the mid 2000s, went to
modern day Israel, ancient Palestine. And they scanned a number of schools, and then through forensic science, that is way above my paygrade, they were able to create this image from the schools in
ancient pictures and paintings that are around there.
These two images actually look very different from each other. But this is what a ancient Palestinian Judean man would have looked like, in the first century, this is a, perhaps
an average what an average person would have looked like. I'm not saying that, that this is a picture of Jesus. But I'm saying that this is more a more real picture of what Jesus could have looked like than the one on the left.
And the reason I bring these pictures up is not because we we can't look at that picture on your left and say, we like we can't look at that anymore. But what I am saying is sometimes our expectations of what we want Jesus to look like or what we think he looks like, or perhaps even what we've been showed him to look like, don't actually map on reality.
And so as we step into this, I want us to empathize with the followers of Jesus, as they are watching him come in on the donkey and live his last week of his life. I want us to approach it with empathy.
So, we'll look in Matthew 21. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there and I want to set the stage for what we're about to read. This is the week before Passover, Passover was a holiday celebrated and actually still celebrated by the Jewish people that celebrates the day
that the angel passed over the doors of the people in Egypt, the Jewish people who painted the blood on the doorposts. And then it is a celebration of victory, a celebration of freedom from the oppressive regime of Egypt.
In first century Jerusalem, scholars estimate there were about 80 to 100,000 people that lived in
Jerusalem.
At the time of the Holy Week of Passover, that population is estimated to have grown to over a million people. So what do we have as Jesus is coming in on the donkey, we have a city that has grown well beyond its capacity. People are coming and they have a religious, it's like us around Christmas. There's this religious zeal, this hopefulness around this time to be set free. For the people of Israel. They're remembering, being freed from Egypt. And perhaps they're mapping that onto their current situation with Rome, and they're hoping to be freed from Rome. So there's a very religious buzz and there's also a political buzz.
To more notes on the background, before we get in, Jesus, up to this point, has been conducting his ministry around Judea. He has been known as a prophet who's taught, and he's healed.
But often when he's healed, he's taught people and instruct them to stay quiet. Over four times, he says, See that you tell no one about this when he heals a blind man when he transfigured when he was a lame person. So Jesus has tried to conduct his ministry with a level of quietness. But as we'll see in the story, the cat is out of the bag, and that will be no more. And then the last thing I want to note is, since Matthew 16, Jesus has had his sights set on Jerusalem for this moment. So for probably what were weeks or months, Jesus has been journeying all the way to Jerusalem, and he knows what he's doing. He's been telling his disciples, I'm going to Jerusalem, where the chief priests are going to put me to death. And we know it's this up like Peter's like No, Jesus don't do that. Right. So that's what we're stepping into. We're stepping into this burgeoning city, where there's political and religious buzz and with a Jesus that is now stepping in, to know to be known fully.
So let's read Matthew 21.
As they approached Jerusalem, and came to Bethpage quick note that translates to house of figs. So as you read the stories going on, and then Jesus cursed the fig tree, it's interesting that he's seeing aspects Okay. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus and two disciples, saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her coat by her,
Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to us say that the Lord needs them, and He will send them right away. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, say to the daughter of Zion, See, your king comes to you gentle, and riding on a donkey, and on the colt, the fall of a donkey, we can go to the next slide. The disciples went and did his Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him, and those that followed, shouted Hosanna, to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked Who is this? The crowds answered? This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.
What what is going on here? I mean, we are all very familiar with the story, I imagine. But as I was studying it, I realized there were a number of things that I just did not have a grasp on. I mean, the people are really excited. And they're taking off their clothes, and they're putting them down. And that doesn't make sense to me. When when a
popular person comes by in our society, we're not taking our clothes off, right? Like we're not I mean, maybe some people are. But
like, this is not like something that's in our cultural context. And a donkey. I mean, Bree was mentioning like, what, what does that mean? Like, why a donkey and
palm branches?
It just doesn't make sense to me. It didn't make sense to me. And it left me thinking there has to be something more here that I'm I'm missing. So
I want to highlight the intentionality of Christ as he's going in on his last week. And I actually want to highlight also the intentionality of the gospel writers to include all of the details that they did. And so what I'd like to do is explore three vignettes.
Three stories that perhaps could help us enter into what the expectations of a first century Jew would be as they're taking off their cloaks, as they're cutting down these branches as Jesus as they see Jesus riding in on a donkey.
And we actually will start by looking at a gentleman named Judas Maccabee. Are you guys familiar with Judas Maccabee? You guys heard of the holiday of Hanukkah. So that's a
story about
a rebellion in about 160 BC, and in this time, there is the saluted empire that was in power. The descendents from Alexander the Great, so they're in power, and they control ancient Palestine. And as they control it, this man and tie and kiss epiphanies is in power. And what he's doing is he's trying to Hellenized or remove all of the Jewishness from the Jewish people. And He does this by There's a passage in a book in what's called the apocrypha. And I want to make a note, as I kind of look at this story, I'm not attempting to elevate the Apocrypha to the the Word of God, but I am wanting us to be informed about what would be in the mind of a first century Jew, these stories will be very familiar to them. And it is helpful and instructive for us to see that so anti kiss epiphanies is a Jew hater. Who would actually there's a story where he would fry people alive, he would take them and if they did not turn from their Jewish nature, he would like a gentleman in Haiti called BBQ fry these people alive, so he's a bad guy, and this family
starts a revolt. And Judas Maccabee takes on this revolt and leads it against the Seleucid Empire. And he had multiple battles where he had victories that left 1000s upon 1000s dead.
And there's a quote at the end of one of these battles where Judas Maccabee enters in to Jerusalem, and he purifies the temple. And it says, Therefore, carrying IV read wands, and beautiful branches, and also palm fronds. They offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success, purifying his own place. So these people are, imagine Judas Maccabees walking in after defeating the Seleucid Empire in killing, and Tikus epiphanies are enticing. Tikus epiphanies is dead now. And they're praising and they're waving these palm branches. And another passage it says that they entered praise the enter Jerusalem with praise and palm branches with harps and cymbals with stringed instruments, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel. So if you're a first century Jew, you're stepping back and you're seeing that time about 160 years ago, knock man I wish. As I look at the Roman Empire, I wish that that could happen again. And then you see this prophet who's coming in who's mighty and word and deed and like, maybe, maybe he can be the sky, maybe he will be the one that will be like Judas Maccabee. Maybe he will be the one to remove this great enemy from Israel. You see, I think we can look at the people, the first century Jews and and wonder if they expected a liberator, right, they waive these palm branches. And we know that these palm branches are emblematic of the nation of Israel, it'd be like us going out and waving our American flags. They ancient coins used to have palm branches to refer to Judea, and Josephus and historian would write about, Judea, the land of palms. So these palm branches are this act of national pride and symbol of freedom from the oppressors.
So as the Jews
that are celebrating the entry of Jesus are waving their crying save us, Hosanna save us Jesus. Perhaps it's wrapped a little bit in this idea that they want Jesus to save the the national identity of Israel. They're longing for a Messiah to redeem Israel from the nations.
And we know, right, the end of the story that Jesus does redeem Israel, but he doesn't redeem Israel from the nations he actually redeemed Israel for the nations that the nations might know, Jesus.
And so Jesus is the fulfillment of this true and deep desire, but he's operating in a reality that is much deeper and truer than his followers expected.
So so perhaps that's one aspect of it, right? They're waving these palm branches. And perhaps in their mind, they have this story of Judas Maccabee, this great rebellion leader. But I want to look at another story and this we find it in Second Kings chapter nine. It says a story of a man named Jay who he's a general in the king's army. The king at the time is the son of Ahab, and you might remember Ahab to be a very bad king. He was married to Joseph Bell, and he led people in Israel away from God.
We can say
are in verse four.
So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. I have a message for you, Commander. He said, For which of us asked Jay, who for you, Commander, he replied, So Jay who got up and went into the house.
Then the Prophet poured the oil on Jay whose head and declared this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, I anoint you, King over the Lord's people, Israel, you are to destroy the house of Ahab, your master and I will avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets in the blood of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel.
When J who went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you? Oh, you know, the man and the sort of things he says J who replied, that's not true. They said, Tell us, J who said here's what he told me. This is what the Lord says I anoint you king over Israel. So they quickly took off their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted Jay, who is king.
So here we have a story of a coup.
This is a general who a prophet sent by Elijah to anoint, to kill the current corrupt leaders and establish his own physical kingdom. Jehu goes on, to drive his chariot furiously and kill the corrupt leaders of of his time.
We see here that when he is anointed in the inner room, when he comes out his followers, his friends, they take off their clothes. This is an image of in thronging. So as we look at Jesus, and as everybody's taking off their clothes, we see that they perhaps in their minds are thinking back to the time that Jay who is enthroned, and then he goes out, and he kills and destroys the corrupt leadership of his time.
And perhaps that's what they wanted.
Perhaps they wanted Jesus to remove the wicked and corrupt leaders and establish a kingdom of flesh and blood.
Perhaps this was an image of enthroning Christ. And they sought to initiate his kingdom and they wanted to be a part of it. And as a matter of fact, I think I think we actually
know this to be the case, there's a story, right before Jesus enters into Jerusalem on the donkey, where James and John and their mom, a good helicopter parent moment, if you are interested,
they, they approached Jesus and you're gonna put on the screen and
we'll read it in then we'll talk about it. It says, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him being Jesus with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked him for something. And he said to her, what do you want? She said to him, say that these two sons of mine are to sit one at your right, and one at your left, and your kingdom? And Jesus answered, You do not know what you are asking, are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink? And they said to him, No, we're able. So I always thought this would was meaning that the mother of James and John really, were looking forward to the kingdom of heaven and wanted them to sit at Jesus's right and left hand, and Jesus's heavenly throne. But the more I sat with it, the more I wonder if perhaps, the mother of James and John very much were
she was very much asking that when Jesus establishes his physical kingdom, if her sons could sit next to him.
And Jesus's response, I think is what gives it away. He says, You don't know. You don't even know what you're asking. You don't know how I'm going to enter into My Kingdom. Do you think you're able to do that? And ignorance, like I often experience or maybe some of you as well, but yeah, we can totally do it, we can handle that. And Jesus says, No, you will, he ends up saying you will do that. But it's actually not my place to give.
So we see that perhaps the disciples and the followers of Jesus wanted him to establish this physical kingdom. They wanted him to kill the corrupt leaders of his time, they wanted him to
establish a rebellion that would remove Rome.
And I want to look at one last vignette. One last story, to help us kind of understand
maybe maybe a little bit more about what is going on in the mind of the followers of Jesus who are
with him right now. And this is the story of Solomon. We pick this up in First Kings, and in First Kings we have David on his deathbed. He's had a very long rule, and he's on his deathbed and his first son, Adam Nyjah, the eldest living son says, I will be king. Now David and Bathsheba had had a conversation before this where David promise was Shiva that Solomon
Would Be King. So Bathsheba runs into David's room and he's like David, whoa, dude, that's not you can't have Adonai should be king. It's my that's my son's spot, right again a good helicopter parent moment.
And so this is what David says. He says, As I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, thing, Solomon, your son shall reign after me. And he's just sit on my throne in my place, even so will I do this day. And the king said to them, take with you the servants of your Lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own, you'll bring him down to Gihon. And let zadock The priest and Nathan the prophet, their anointed king over Israel, then blow the trumpet and say, Long live King Solomon. There's zadock, the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet. And all the people said, Long live King Solomon and all the people went up after him playing on pipes, rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise. So our alarm bells are not alarm bells, but our our bells should be ringing in our head and think, Wait, I've seen this seen before. This is like David or Solomon is writing down to the spring of Gihon, which would have been the spring right by the Temple Mount. Now we know Solomon would be the one that built it. So it's not necessarily built right now. But it's a very similar moment where you have a king riding on a donkey and the people are shouting, and praising and glorifying this king. And
and we see that happen again with Jesus. Solomon's Kingdom goes on to be established as the most economic and politically powerful moment in Israel's likely history. scholars talk about it, and there's references to the great wealth and prosperity. So so perhaps is Jesus is riding in on this donkey. His followers are looking and they're shouting save us, and they see him riding on the donkey night. I mean, I remember, I remember when Solomon did that. And I remember what happened after
the kingdom of Israel had a lot of political and economic wealth, there was prosperity.
And I would love it if Jesus would do that again. I would love it if he would redeem us.
And there's, there's a lot of more depth that I encourage you this week to be looking into Zechariah nine, right that that quote
that talks about Jesus coming riding on a donkey, there's there's a lot there that we don't have time to get into. But
if Jesus is this unexpected King, if he isn't, isn't going to meet the expectations of his disciples.
What What is he doing?
And we see a moment in this last week of Jesus's life, where Jesus is in an inner room, and he gets anointed. And again, I would encourage you to spend time meditating on this, if you have it this week, and look at the differences. But this should call to our minds.
The story of Solomon, and the story of Jehu, and the story of David, all of these great people who are anointed, yet when Jesus is anointed, he doesn't say what we'd expect. We'd expect it perhaps for him to say, Oh, yes, she's anointing me, for my coming kingdom.
What Jesus says actually is, as his disciples are a little bit upset,
she didn't know me.
From my kingdom, he says, she anointed me for my burial.
And perhaps what what has been standing out to me is our king, the king that we serve the kingdom that we are a part of, is entered into not with great shouts of joy and rapturous praises our King is crowned with gold and jewels. It's our kingdom our King enters his kingdom through burial. Our king is crowned not with the golden jewels that we'd expect like Solomon or Jay who are king is crowned actually on a cross. And he's crowned with
with what we can look back to you as the curse from Genesis three right? He's got this crown of thorns resting on his brow. And we it takes us all the way back to Genesis three where what is the ground curse with its crown? It's cursed with thorns and thistles and that's what rests on the brow of our King.
Unlike Judas Maccabeus Judah, Jesus's Kingdom is not a liberation from the nations but it's to all the nations. Unlike Jay whose kingdom Jesus His kingdom is not established through violent bloodshed and political maneuvering. It's established through his own death. And unlike Solomon's kingdom, Jesus His kingdom will not reestablish the political and economic ascendancy of Israel. It will promote the kingdom ethics of generosity,
mercy,
love and forgiveness.
The truth of the triumphal entry is that it's the Celebrate
Shouldn't have a new kingdom, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
It instructs us to realign ourselves with not the Jesus that we expect or want, but with their Jesus that really is.
So I guess the question remains, how do we discover who this Jesus truly is. And I want to look at one last story, and this is in Luke 24.
So this is after the death of Jesus and Luke. And actually, it's after three days after his death, which we now know to be when he was resurrected. But we have two disciples that are walking on a road to Emmaus, and a quick sidenote, Emmaus was the great victory for Judas Maccabee. It was a site of political or of, of a defeat of the Greek Empire or Greek army. And so as we read it, we want to be think it'd be like us saying, and two disciples were walking to Gettysburg. Oh, yes, I know, Gettysburg, that's familiar to me. So
that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
And he said to them, what is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad?
Then one of them named Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he said to them, what things the irony is so rich.
And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who is a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God, and all people, how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him.
And this is a kicker, but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. You have these disciples who are devastated by the death of Jesus, because they were so excited for His kingdom. They were pumped to see his kingdom inaugurated. And they see him die. And they say, Man, I, I really thought he was going to be the one. And you think like just a picture Jesus standing there like, Oh, God, you have no idea. Like, you have no idea what I just did.
And Jesus goes on to then do what was the greatest Bible study ever known to man? Right? So he started with Moses, and went through all the prophets and interpret them and all the scriptures that things concerning himself. So they're walking, and Jesus is like, yeah, and when Isaac is taken up, right, that actually points to me, or like all of these times, like he's just timing himself. What's fascinating to me, though,
I would think this is the moment that their eyes will be opened, that as Jesus is pulling out scripture upon scripture upon scripture, and how it all points to him, I would think that the disciples eyes would be able to be like, Wow, this is Jesus. But that's actually not what happens. And that's really surprising to me. What happens is when he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, did our hearts not burn within us? While he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?
How do we know this Jesus? How do we encounter and engage with him? How do we discover who he truly is?
I want to put forward that it's actually this moment of communion. It's when Jesus breaks the bread. And we know that this bread would have been brittle bread, it would have been
mutters what it's called, but it was easily broken. And it actually is emblematic of his body, that the body of Christ was was made to be brittle and broken that we might know him.
There's, there's so much that we can meditate on here.
For these disciples and for us, as we are about to step into communion,
it's not this rote practice this ritual that we do because it's familiar to us. No, it's, it's actually the reason why Jesus came in and I was actually reading this last night.
It says a book by a man named St. Irenaeus. He was alive like 100. Anyway, he says,
For Jesus, by whom all things were made and who in the last times became a man amongst men visible, palpable
He came in order to abolish death,
to demonstrate life, and to affect communion between God and man.
Perhaps the disciples eyes weren't open when they open the Scripture, because it's actually the communion between God and man that we were created for. It's this communion that, that Christ allowed us to experience. That is the moment where we,
our eyes can be opened to see Jesus. So if the worship team wants to come up, we're just going to
pray and then and then take communion. But but we know that we have
inaugurated a king, that as Jesus entered into Jerusalem, he was spending the last week of his life, and he was preparing for his kingdom. But it wasn't a kingdom that we expected, wasn't necessarily a kingdom that we wanted.
It was a kingdom that is entered into through death.
It is a kingdom where the least of these are greatest. It's a kingdom where you have to be a child to enter into it.
Sometimes I realized that I want the power and the prestige. I want the king that like Solomon establishes strength and glory in what I would expect it to be. But when we look, we actually see how those kingdoms turned out. And I realized that in me it's a faulty desire. It's a lower desire.
So God, may we see rightly,
May we see your son King Jesus as our King?
May we align ourselves not with what we want you to be or what we expect you to be but with who you truly are.
And you communion would we experience your nearness?
You say that your Spirit will reveal the deepest and truest things about you, to us. So may we have our eyes opened? As we break the bread of your body? May our eyes see you ever clearer.
As we celebrate your victory over death, may we join you in it? May we enter into your kingdom through the baptism of death. So to experience the fullness of life.
Jesus we love you and we see that you are enthroned. Above it all. We see that you willingly chose to die that we might find a life and communion with your father.
You shunned the power grabbing nature of our humanity and your Embrace to be active ethic of the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus would you teach us to do the same.