The Triumphant Entry
Reading: John chapter 12 verses 12-36.
Ill:
• A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother.
• His father returned from church holding a palm branch.
• The little boy was curious and asked,
• "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?"
• "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honour him,
• So we got Palm Branches today."
• "Typical!” replies the little boy;
• “The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"
• As Christians we believe Jesus shows up every week!;
• But so often he isn’t recognised!
Ill:
When a male baby was born to Jewish parents:
• There hope was ; ‘is this the one?’
• They were looking for the Messiah!
• Yet, when the Messiah came;
• Sadly they failed to recognise him!
Ill:
• The British conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham
• Founded a number of orchestras including the Beecham Symphony Orchestra,
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Once saw a distinguished-looking woman in a hotel foyer.
• Believing he knew her, but unable to remember her name,
• He paused to talk with her.
• As the two chatted, he vaguely recollected that she had a brother.
• Hoping for a clue,
• He asked how her brother was and whether he was still working at the same job.
• “Oh, he’s very well,” she said, “And he’s still king.”
Jesus had visited Jerusalem many times before:
• As a boy, as a worshipper, as a teacher.
• But never as a king.............. that is until now!
• The question is:
• Would the people and the religious leaders recognise him!
The road to the cross was a road of:
(1). Road of Destiny (verses 12-13):
“The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
ill:
Some time ago, a man was trying to trace his family origin.
• In the process of his research he visited several cemeteries
• Collecting information from the various gravestones.
• At one place he came across a monument with the following inscription:
‘Pause now stranger, as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so soon you’ll be.
Prepare yourself to follow me.’
• Next to the marker,
• He noticed someone had placed a board with the following words:
• ‘To follow you, I’m not content
• Until I know, which way you went’.
Jesus was on the right road, heading in the right direction (Quote: verse 12):
“The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast
heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
ill:
• 14th day of Nissan;
• Was a date etched into the minds of all good Jewish people.
• This was the day to celebrate Passover.
• Passover is around March-April and is concurrent with our Good Friday and Easter.
This was one of the great festivals of the Jewish year when the people reminded themselves:
• Of the dramatic way in which God had saved them,
• Miraculously rescued them from their Egyptian task-masters (Exodus chapter 12).
• So it was a time of fun and excitement;
• A party time atmosphere would be in the air.
• Large numbers of people would make the trip to Jerusalem.
• They would come from all over the world!
• For Jesus it was very much the road of destiny;
• Verse 13 informs us of how the crowds welcomed him into the city of Jerusalem.
Ill:
• If someone arrives at your house claiming to be an ambassador of the Queen,
• You would expect him or her to have proof of who they are!
• We would probably ask:
• Where is your identification? Where is your security pass or passport etc.
In a similar way:
• When Jesus arrived on planet earth claiming to be the Son of God;
• What credentials, what proof was there as to who he was.
• One piece of evidence that emerges again and again in the gospels is the phrase like:
• “So that the scripture might be fulfilled”
• One piece of evidence was prophecies written by God in the Old Testament;
• 100’s of years previously and now they are being fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Several are fulfilled in this story:
(a). Example of a broad prophecy:
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the King of Israel!”
• The words that the crowd shouted;
• Are taken from several Old Testament Psalms.
• Although this was a spontaneous act of devotion to Jesus;
• Their was logic and reason in their choice of words.
(b). An example of a narrow prophecy:
• 500 years before Jesus walked on planet earth;
• A man called Zechariah wrote these words (chapter 9 verse9).
"Rejoice 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".
• And in verses 14- 15 of John chapter 12:
• We will read of this prophecy being fulfilled
• Quote: “There were no accidents in the life of Christ”
• He was a person destined to experience certain events.
• The script had been written in heaven;
• And the people were watching it being acted out in front of their very eyes.
Ill:
Peter Stoner in his Book ‘Science Speaks’:
• If you take only eight of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by Christ;
• And determined the odds of one person fulfilling just those eight.
• The results were astounding!
• They calculated the odds at 1 in 10 to the 17th power;
• Or 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.
(2). ROAD OF DEVOTION (verses 14-15).
“Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt”.
• Jesus was devoted to God’s plan of salvation,
• His devotion to God meant he ignored or overcame the danger signs.
Ill:
• The following ad once appeared in a London newspaper:
• "Men wanted for hazardous journey.
• Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness,
• Constant danger, safe return doubtful”
• Amazingly, the ad drew thousands of respondents,
• Because the ad was signed by Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer.
• That name and the adventure he would lead them to;
• Made all the difference!
Now Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing the events that lay before him.
• So devoted was Jesus to God’s plan of salvation,
• That even the danger of what lay ahead could not turn him back.
Ill:
• Holmon Hunt (Raphalite painter;
• Produced a work of art called ‘The shadow of the cross’.
Jesus knew that not only Zechariah’s prophecy would be fulfilled in the next few days:
• But many others relating to his suffering and death.
• 33 different prophecies in one day alone – that first Good Friday.
Quote:
“A man with one watch knows what time it is.
A man with two watches is never sure”.
• Jesus marched to the tick of one clock: He marched to the beat of one drum;
• He was listening only to one voice – his heavenly Father’s!
Ill:
• In his autobiography, A Life in Our Times, John Kenneth Galbraith,
• Illustrates the devotion of Emily Gloria Wilson, his family’s housekeeper:
• It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls,
• While I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang.
• It was President Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.
• "Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson.’
• "He is sleeping, Mr. President. He said not to disturb”
• "Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him.”
• "No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you.”
• When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his pleasure.
• President Lyndon Johnson said; “tell that woman I want her here in the White House”.
Jesus was listening only to one voice – his heavenly Father’s!
• Such was his devotion, his commitment to that voice;
• Nothing would persuade him (not even death) to change course.
Ill:
In the second century,
• A Christian businessman went to Tertullian (early Church fathers);
• And explained his problem.
• He had been contracted to provide materials for a pagan temple.
• The man ended his story by saying to Tertullian,
• "What can I do? I must live!"
• Tertullian replied "Must you?"
Ill:
• A story is told about Rabbi Joseph Schneerson,
• A Hasidic leader during the early days of Russian Communism.
• The rabbi spent much time in jail,
• Persecuted for his faith.
• One morning in 1927, as he prayed in a Leningrad synagogue,
• Secret police rushed in and arrested him.
• They took him to a police station and worked him over,
• Demanding that he give up his religious activities.
• He refused.
• The interrogator brandished a gun in his face and said,
• "This little toy has made many a man change his mind."
• Rabbi Schneerson answered,
"This little toy can intimidate only that kind of man who has many gods and but one world. Because I have only one God and two worlds, I am not impressed by this little toy."
(3). The ROAD OF DISCOVERY (verse 16).
“At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realise that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.”
As we have noted the way Jesus entered into Jerusalem was calculated & quite deliberate:
• He was claiming to be the promised king;
• The Messiah that the people had been waiting for.
Ill:
• We tend to think of a donkey as a lowly animal;
• But to the Jew it was a beast fit for a king:
• Israel’s greatest King, David rode on one (1 Kings chapter 1 verses 33-34).
• In war, kings would ride horses, but in peace, they entered the city riding donkeys.
The disciples like the crowd would soon discover that their idea of the Messiah was all wrong:
• They greeted Him as a king,
• But they were ignorant of the nature of His kingship.
Ill:
In the year 165 b.c. the Jews had thought he had discovered the Messiah:
• A heroic leader called Judas Maccabeus.
• He helped the Jewish people throw off years of oppression by Syria.
• And in similar fashion to what happened to Jesus;
• They streamed into the rededicated temple carrying palm branches,
• And singing Psalm 118, a song for the king.
• But they soon discovered Judas Maccabeus was not the Messiah,
If the disciples and the crowds thought Jesus had come to destroy the Romans,
• They were about to discover they were way off track.
• He had come to defeat a far bigger enemy than Rome – sin, Satan, death!
Ill:
Birthday card which read;
• Outside: “Darling you are the answer to my prayers”
• Inside: “You’re not exactly what I prayed for but apparently you are the answer”
Josephus, the Jewish historian estimates that there may have been close to 2.5 million people in Jerusalem for Passover.
• Had you asked them about the Messiah,
• I would suggest that nearly all would have been looking for a political Messiah.
• But had they read their Old Testaments a little bit harder;
• They would have seen that before he can reign he must die, cross before the crown.
Ill:
• 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 & told how the master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant;
• So the servant could live.”
• He was willing to surrender up his life;
• So that his servant might live!
• In similar fashion God’s Messiah would lay down his life;
• So that those who did not deserve it, could live!
(4). The ROAD OF Decision (verse 17-19).
“Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
This public parade into Jerusalem is the only time Jesus allowed a public demonstration on his behalf:
• One of the reasons Jesus allowed this to take place;
• Was to force the Jewish leaders to act.
• Matthew chapter 26 verse 3-5 says;
• "That they had hoped to arrest him AFTER Passover".
Quote Ken Gire in his book ’Intense moments with the saviour’:
"In so coming Jesus forces the hand of the religious aristocracy.
After this public act, they would have to cast a public vote.
No more meetings behind closed doors. No more plotting in private.
They would have to come out in the open.
They would have to confess him or curse him.
Crown him or kill him".
By entering Jerusalem in the manner Jesus did:
• He is removing all doubts from the religious leaders minds,
• He is making his claim as the Messiah, the king perfectly clear.
Quote: Luciano Pavarotti
• “When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,
• He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice.
• Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy,
• Took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college.
• On graduating, I asked my father,
• ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’
• “‘Luciano,’ my father replied,
• ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’
• “I chose one.
• It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance.
• It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera.
• And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book
• Whatever we choose - we should give ourselves to it.
• Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”
Quote Ken Gire in his book ’Intense moments with the saviour’:
"In so coming Jesus forces the hand of the religious aristocracy.
After this public act, they would have to cast a public vote.
No more meetings behind closed doors. No more plotting in private.
They would have to come out in the open.
They would have to confess him or curse him.
Crown him or kill him".
Quote: William James
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”
Ill:
• When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions,
• He took a bold and decisive step to ensure the success of his military venture.
• Ordering his men to march to the edge of the Cliffs of Dover,
• He commanded them to look down at the water below.
• To their amazement,
• They saw every ship in which they had crossed the channel engulfed in flames.
• Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat.
• Now that his soldiers were unable to return to the continent,
• There was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer!
• And that is exactly what they did.
Listen:
• The choice, the decision this day is not that complicated!
• But it may well be one of the most important choices you ever make!
• Actually the most important because the choice we make regarding Jesus,
• Affects not just this life but the whole of eternity!
• If you leave this building without making Jesus Christ your Lord & Saviour;
• You have made your choice and the answer is you have chosen is no!
Bible teaches everyone will acknowledge Jesus as King:
• We can do it willingly today;
• Or one day we will be summoned into the presence of King Jesus!
