Do You Go After Him? – Sermon 24 March, 2013

Do You Go After Him?

Today is Palm Sunday. It marks the day that Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem the Holy City. It marked the beginning of the last week that He would spend as a man on this earth among His disciples. Jesus asks us to follow Him on the Road to Jerusalem. Following His leadership, walking His road leads us to life. There are basically only two main roads to travel in life; the road that leads away from God, and the road that leads to Him. Which road are you on?

The final week in Jesus’ earthly life begins with an outpouring of public recognition. This story of Jesus’ messianic entry into Jerusalem is found in all four gospels.

I. A delighted and overjoyed acceptance (12-13)

On the next day, which was probably the Sunday before the crucifixion, the large crowd which had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem went out took branches and welcomed Him. Thousands of Galilean pilgrims had come to the Passover, and they had seen many of His mighty works. Previously He had rejected the role of a political Messiah (6:14-15); “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surly this is the Prophet which is to come into the world’. Jesus, knowing that they intend to come and make him king in force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself”. But, they thought, perhaps now was the right moment. Jerusalem was the city of the great King and Jesus was coming to it.

To understand the events of that day we must try to realize how rapidly, and, as the rulers thought, how dangerously, excitement was rising among the crowds (estimates range from 100,000 to 2 million plus) who had heard of the raising of Lazarus. It looked as if the resuscitation of Lazarus was going to be the great event this time, and so, on the Saturday, the rulers had made up their minds to have Lazarus killed in order to stop the current that was flowing of accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

Because of this popular feeling it might have been expected that Jesus would, as He had until now, discourage the crowd, but Jesus knew that Scripture must be fulfilled so He allows this honouring and worshiping.

This crowd simply did not come to greet Him, they laid out a royal carpet for Him as verse 13 states that they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”

With a high Messianic anticipation the crowds welcomed Jesus. Waving their palm branches as symbols of victory, the people were shouting Hosanna! The cry “Hosanna” in Hebrew means “Please save” or “Save now” (Ps. 118:25). It was a shout of praise to God. Quoting Psalm 118:26, they ascribed messianic titles to Jesus as He who comes in the Name of the Lord.

The next praise, “Blessed is the king of Israel!” is not in the psalm and departs considerably from its intent. We thus understand that the crowds are greeting a national liberator.

“Triumphant entries” were common in the ancient world. A conquering hero or king would return to his city, bringing stories of conquest. This imagery would not be missed. When John says that the crowd “went out to meet him,” this is a common expression used for cities meeting their triumphant, returning king. In a Jewish context, “Hosanna” was used to greet such incoming kings.

II. A Prophetic fulfilment (14-16)

Jesus accepted this enthusiastic royal welcome and worship. Yet as we see in verse 14 He chose a donkey instead of a horse to make the statement that He was a different kind of King or Messiah than they expected. Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it.

The selection of Jesus’ mode of entry is significant. Matthew 21:1-7 tells that Jesus sent His disciples to find a specific donkey and colt. He could have sent them to find any animal He chose.

Jesus’ riding into the city on a young donkey was a sign of peace. He did not ride a war horse or carry a sword or wear a crown. Nor did He ride in a wheeled vehicle, as did many kings. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to symbolize a concept of messiahship different from that of the crowd. They wanted a conquering hero that would establish an earthly kingdom of dominance and power. But Jesus came as the humble Prince of Peace who would liberate His followers from self, sin, and Satan.

John records an shorter version of the prophetic fulfilment of the entry in verse15. “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

His manner of entry fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy which contrasted Jesus’ coming (Zech. 9:9) with the coming of earthly kings Great (Zech. 9:1-8). Daughter of Zion is a symbolic way of referring to God’s true people, those born out of Zion, the spiritual centre of Jerusalem. Here, in quoting Zechariah 9:9, Jesus is called the coming King. Verse 10 of Zechariah’s prophecy proclaims Him world-wide sovereign. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

This “humble king” is not a man of chariots and war horses, swords and bows (Zech. 9:10), but one who will bring peace to all nations. His gift is a gift of life, not conquest. Hence, Jesus is forcing a messianic reinterpretation of His purposes for the crowd. These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, and then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. The disciples did not understand because they lacked the perspective of the Cross, the Resurrection and the ascension. It was not until Jesus was glorified and they were filled with God’s Spirit that they understood the real significance of what was happening (Jn. 14:26). It is always the Spirit of God who leads us into understanding the truth of God.

III. A sign acknowledged (17-19)

John reminds us in verse 17 that the catalyst for the crowd’s excitement was the raising of Lazarus. So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him to a different group what they had seen. Thus the news of the great miraculous sign spread throughout the city.

Verse18 tells why the crowds looked for Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. The size of the crowd kept increasing. Groups of people surged out to meet Him. It is significant that it was because of the sign Jesus performed that the people came out to see Him. The raising of a man four days in the grave is a sign full of meaning. It was the means of teaching men a spiritual truth and pointing them to God. The raising of Lazarus demonstrates Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life Who overcomes death.

The implication is also there that in their misunderstanding they came looking for Him believing that One who called a dead man back to life would certainly be able to deliver them from the power of Rome. For when He did not give them what they wanted the crowds would turn against Him.

The disciples and the people did not fully understand, but the authorities understood what was happening, and as verse 19 states, it was not to their liking. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”

The mass reception of Jesus made the Pharisees’ plans to kill Jesus impossible. They feared He would begin leading a band of freedom fighters to free the people from their present authorities and leaders, both Roman and Jewish. They were anxious because their previous attempts to stop Him had meet with failure and their time to stop Him was getting nearly gone. So they continued “looking for some crafty way to arrest Jesus and kill Him. But not during the Feast, they said, or the people may riot” (Mark 14:1-2).

They acknowledged, “the whole world has gone after Him.” Though they thought He was winning over the world, the irony is, most of those people did not really believe in Jesus. It was a day of great popular praise for Jesus, but sadly the people had little spiritual insight. The struggle between light and darkness was reaching a climax. The light is shining with brilliance in the world; calling people to come and see themselves and the world as they truly are. At the same time, the forces of darkness are working to extinguish it and keep the world in ignorance and sin.

Jesus is still the humble King who offers peace. He is coming to us once again. Our signboard says: “He is in town today”. And we are sure that the forces of the evil are doing their best to keep us back. The question is will we accept it before time runs out? Will we go after Him? The answer is up to you.

Krikor Youmshajekian