All Hail King Jesus!
Matthew 21:1-17
Introduction: The final week of Jesus’ time on
earth had arrived. It would be a week full of irony. He came and fulfilled the
Old Testament prophecies of a suffering Messiah to the letter, including those
which pointed to the fact that he came unto his own but his own received him
not. We’ll see children involved in this
story as they often are throughout the ministry of Jesus. Children seemed to be
attracted to Him in the gospels, and he told his disciples to let them come!
Wouldn’t you have loved to see Jesus talking to children, leading them along toward
faith? Some of you are gifted in holding
the attention of kids and conveying sometimes profound biblical truths in ways
they can understand. Sometimes after prayer meeting I am able to come over and
hear the children receiving their Bible lesson at Word of Life Olympians. I am thankful for those who God has given us
to work with our kids in this church! One
of the challenges in teaching children for me is that they are always asking questions!
Part of the motivation of the gospel
writers seems to have been to answer some difficult questions. The gospel writers all, from different
perspectives, respond to the question: How
could it be that Jesus was the promised Messiah, yet he was rejected by his own
people? They all want to show that
every detail of Jesus’ life and death happened in precise fulfillment of
Scripture, and so all of it in fact vindicates his claim to be the Messiah. Questions are good, it was part of the way
rabbis taught their students, and we see that in Jesus’ ministry. As we approach a biblical passage like this,
we can ask some questions about the text, and I think that can help us uncover
the message God has for us. I think it was Rudyard Kipling who
gave us a short poem that we can use as a guide:
I have six faithful friends who
taught me all I know;
their names are What? and Where? and When? and How? and Why? and Who?
Those are some good questions that we can take to the
biblical text, and we’ll see that…
The Big Idea: There is no question that Jesus came
into Jerusalem in full control, intending to fulfill the Father’s plan. He is
the King, who took the form of a servant.
Context: The first two questions we might
ask in this context “when” and “where”?
The timing of Jesus’ visit that we celebrate on Palm Sunday, the visit
known as the “Triumphal Entry,” is in relation to the approach of Passover, one
of the “pilgrim feasts” of Israel. Jewish Law and tradition required faithful
Jews to travel to Jerusalem for these feasts.
Though the synoptic Gospels don’t tell us much about Jesus’ ministry
outside of Galilee, we know from John that this was by no means the only time
Jesus had made this trip. Way back in Luke 2 when Jesus was only 12 years old,
Luke gives a little vignette of one
of those trips. You remember that the boy Jesus was left behind by Mary and
Joseph, and they came back and found him in the temple speaking with the
rabbis! He no doubt knew well the road to Jerusalem. But from the perspective
of the unfolding drama of redemption this trip would prove to be the most
important. Passover was cause for all Jews to look back and to remember how God
had delivered his people from bondage in Egypt. The final plague, the death of
the first born in all of Egypt, the deliverance of the firstborn of the Jews, those
whose doors were marked with the blood of the Lamb, that night set into motion
the Exodus. When Jesus spoke with Moses
and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration some days earlier, Luke tells us
that they spoke of His “departure” which would soon be accomplished in
Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). The word “departure” used there is “exodus,” the only time it appears in the Gospels (it is used only
one other time in the entire New Testament, in 2 Peter 1:15). Coincidence? I don’t think so. Just as
Passover led to the Exodus, a delivery of the nation from Egyptian bondage, the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God would lead to the deliverance of a people for him
and to him. That is the “when” and the “where”
of the triumphal entry and the beginning of the Passion week…
1. When was
this happening? Passover was approaching… Later Jesus directs his disciples about
making arrangements for the Passover meal.
As I noted, Passover was one of the “pilgrim feasts” of Israel (Ex 23;
Dt 16). Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to the temple for
worship and sacrifice. What makes this
Passover stand out is that Jesus knew it would be his last, that his hour had
come, the Lamb would indeed be slain, once and for all.
2. Where
did Jesus come from and where was he going? This
was the final trip to Jerusalem (Mt 20:17-19)…
17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took
the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 "See, we are going up to
Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and
scribes, and they will condemn him to death
19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and
flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."
And so Jesus was on
His way to Jerusalem. Luke tells us way
back in 9:51 of his Gospel, the beginning of that final trip to Jerusalem, that
Jesus “…looked resolutely toward
Jerusalem…” He was not simply looking at a geographical destination, he was
looking toward the unfolding plan of the Father, all that would happen when he
got there. The disciples understood that they were going to celebrate Passover
there, but they did not seem to hear and understand what Jesus told them about
what would be happening when they got there: including his betrayal, scourging,
crucifixion, and resurrection! They are so oblivious that what is the first
recorded response to his prediction in Matthew 20? We read in the very next verse, “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to
him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something…”
(Matt 20:20)! What?! Jesus’ actions will epitomize selflessness, thinking first
of the needs of his sheep. Even willingly laying down his life for his friends.
The mother of James and John, “…with her sons…” comes, revealing still selfish
hearts. “Can we have the best seats in your Kingdom?” What Jesus just spoke of,
including scourging, and the cross, are seemingly brushed aside in favor of
“what’s in it for us?” The disciples
still had much to learn. There must have been questions. But there is no question that Jesus came into Jerusalem in
full control, intending to fulfill the Father’s plan. He is the King, who took
the form of a servant.
Part I. The Arrival of
the King (1-11)… The
ESV translates the scene as follows,
Now
when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,
then Jesus sent two disciples, 2
saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you
will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to
me. 3 If anyone says anything
to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at
once." 4 This took place
to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of
Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" 6 The disciples went and did as
Jesus had directed them. 7
They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat
on them. 8 Most of the crowd
spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and
spread them on the road. 9
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,
"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 10
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who
is this?" 11 And the
crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee…"
(Mt 21:1-11)
That brings us to
question 3. Why did he give such a strange order to his disciples? Jesus
and the disciples arrive at Bethphage, just on the northeast outskirts of
Jerusalem, near the Mount of Olives. It is from there that Jesus will later
give his famous Olivet Discourse, and talk about his return and the End of Days
(Matthew 24-25). But now the time had
come for him to pause and prepare to enter the city, at the beginning of the
Passion Week. This entrance would happen in fulfillment of Scriptures, revealing
that he is the One of whom the Scriptures speak, He is in fact a King, but a
different kind of King than even the disciples understood or imagined.
Why such an odd instruction? V.4
explains, “This took place to fulfill
what was spoken by the prophet saying…” And what follows is a quote
from Zechariah 9:9. Two things stand out:
1) the idea of “fulfillment,” and 2) how unexpected this is, that the king
would come in such a “lowly,” i.e., “humble,” manner. First, the gospel writers, from the birth of
Jesus to his death and resurrection, take pains to show that every aspect of
the life of Jesus was revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures. As the story unfolded, those fulfillments
were a witness to who Jesus is. Dozens of prophecies being precisely fulfilled
would leave no question, Jesus is the promised one, and everything, including
the Cross, happened exactly as the Father had planned.
Secondly, the means of his entering the
city, intentionally choosing the humble mode of entering the city on a donkey,
hinted that this Messiah was coming in the unexpected garb of a humble servant.
Messiah, a Servant King? That was the plan the Father had woven into the
Scriptures and that almost everyone in the time of Jesus had failed to
recognize and discern. He came “gentle
and lowly, seated on a donkey.” Would you have planned an entrance like that? For
a King? I might have thought of a white stallion, or chariot drawn by a team
of horses! He is a king, the King of kings, but Jesus would later say to
Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world…”
He is a different kind of King, a servant king.
That brings us to
question 4. What was the meaning of the actions and words of the crowd?
The crowd
apparently is making the connection with that prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, they
hail him as a messianic figure, as a king riding into the city in victory. 200
years earlier Judas Maccabee had entered the city and was hailed by the
people. “Could it be that he was
the messiah?” they apparently wondered? That “victory” proved to be transitory. Here,
the crowd cites Psalm 118, “Hosanna to
the Son of David… Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord…” They
speak the truth, but still their words fall short of adequately describing who
Jesus is. He is the Son of David, in
terms of his human descent. Later, when asked, they’ll call him the prophet
from Galilee. But He is so much more. He is a prophet, but much more than a
prophet. There is no question that Jesus came into Jerusalem in full control,
intending to fulfill the Father’s plan. He is the King, who took the form of a
servant. So we see the unexpected arrival
of the King followed by a demonstration of His authority…
Part II. The Authority
of the King (12-17). What would be the first action of the
King in arriving in the city? Not what you
might have expected! We read in Mt
21:12-17,
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who
sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the
money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is
written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of
robbers." 14 And the
blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and
the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out
in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were
indignant, 16 and they said
to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them,
"Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise'?" 17
And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany...
In answer to question 5, “Who
did Jesus encounter?” we see several
groups in these verses, the money changers and venders (well, that wasn’t a
happy meeting! They are chastened for their business in the temple!), the blind
and the lame (who he heals, a little glimpse of the blessings of the future
kingdom, the kingdom is present because the King is present!), the chief
priests and scribes (who are indignant and who he rebukes for their
unbelief), the children (who hail him as messiah and deliverer). Instead of what we might have expected at
this moment (like a discourse on the arrival of the Messianic age or something
like that) Jesus enters the Temple area and drives out the money changers
and venders! That was a business that was perhaps providing a service to
the pilgrims who came to worship, but it didn’t belong in the temple area, that
was a place for prayer and worship. So we see a contrast between contentment
and seeking, between unbelief and faith.
The sixth question: How did He demonstrate His authority to
do these things? Notice that immediately v.14 follows, and the miraculous
healing of the blind and lame confirmed his authority to do what he had done.
Remember back in John 2, at the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, He
had a similar encounter in the Temple.
The response to the leaders then is an interesting contrast to here…
18 So the Jews said to him, "What sign do
you show us for doing these things?"
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up." 20
The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,
and will you raise it up in three days?"
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body (John
2:18-21).
Then the
leaders asked for a “sign” to show Jesus’ authority and He made what must have
been an enigmatic prediction of his death and resurrection. Now, that
time had come and Jesus is in the Temple again. This time He gives a sign, but
the leaders do not respond. The signs were evidence that the Kingdom was at
hand, because the king was present, exercising his power and authority. No
one could do these things except God be with him! Yet rather than recognizing what this
revealed about Jesus, the leaders saw the “wonderful things” he did, the
miracles, and heard what the children were saying “Hosanna to the Son of
David!”, and rather than recognizing the truth and joining right in with them,
what did they do? They “became indignant”! Palm Sunday, triumphal entry,
yes, but the seeds of Good Friday, betrayal, the Cross, had taken root in the
hearts of men. Jesus knew that full well, yet He came.
A seventh question that
we always need to ask when we come to the Bible is “So what?” What difference
does this make to me?
First of all, the question is always
how will we respond to Jesus?
Will we agree that He is so much more than a prophet or teacher, He is
God, the Son, and that he is worthy to be praised? “Worship” means to bow down before Him. Is
that your desire? Are you overwhelmed by His majesty?
Secondly, consider
his example, Him, the creator of the universe, also the servant-King, who came
to give his life as a ransom for many.
To the Philippians Paul said, “Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, although He existed
in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be
grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant and being made in
the likeness of men…” Do you want to
have the mind of Christ, to think like him? Attitude is demonstrated by
actions. Are we willing to put others before ourselves? Are we willing to serve Him by serving
others?
It also means He
has authority to send us as his witnesses. In the Great Commission He said, “All authority is given to me in heaven and
on earth. Therefore go, and make
disciples of all the nations...” That is not a suggestion; it is an
imperative, a commission that the Lord of Creation gave to the apostles and
through them to us. We are here to know God and to make Him known. Next
week we will specifically focus on the Hope that we have in Christ because of
the resurrection. It is one day of the year when some folks who normally don’t
come might be open to an invitation. Is there someone in your sphere of
influence who you can invite to be here?
Let’s share the sure hope we have
in Jesus, AMEN.
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