THE
PASSOVER KING: Palm Sunday 2020
John 12:12-16
Introduction: This is Pastor Steve, coming to you once again, for now the
third Sunday, from the office of Boothbay Baptist Church. Our government
authorities have urged us to extend our “social distancing” for another month
during this Corona-virus crisis outbreak. And so, we meet again “virtually.” We
want to do our part as good citizens to end this pandemic.
During this
important season on the church calendar, today we remember, Palm Sunday, which
leads into the Passion week, and next week, Resurrection Sunday. It is so
strange not to be together as we celebrate! I hope and trust that before too
long God will make that possible. Thank God we have the technology today to have
these “online” meetings. Please send me any prayer needs by PM, email, text, or
telephone. The elders and other leaders are committed to be there to help, as
we are able, with the situation we are facing together. If you are staying
home, this is a great time to develop and deepen good habits of prayer and
Bible reading. I would also invite you
to send me your e-mail address if you are interested in participating in our
Wednesday night prayer and praise meeting this week. On Wednesday past, at 6:30
PM, we had our first “Zoom” prayer meeting, and I think it went pretty well!
We were reminded
the last two Sundays, as we looked at a couple of psalms, about the importance
of sound theology. The God who is, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe,
has spoken. He has revealed himself to us in the Bible. At the same time, we
live in a fallen world… and believers are not exempt from suffering. This
pandemic has left us isolated, some of us alone. We feel uncertain about
the coming days, and maybe even fearful about how things will develop,
concerned for our loved ones. Know this: God is bigger than this crisis.
He created the universe, and it was “good.” Human sin brought death and
suffering. Pandemics are a part of that. Don’t let the news scare
you, let it remind you, that is why Jesus came. God gave hope from the
beginning that a Rescuer would come. And in the fullness of time, He sent forth
His Son. He did not come to simply visit us; He came to redeem us. He came to
satisfy the righteous wrath of God against sin. He came to lay down His life
for His sheep. He is Lord, He is the Son and King described in Psalm 2. He
is also the rejected and suffering King of Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, the righteous
sufferer of Isaiah 53, the Passover Lamb whose blood would be shed so that we
could live. Today is Palm Sunday, but we have to read this account in the
light of what will unfold in the coming week…
I decided to go
to John’s account of the Triumphal Entry today, and focus on his telling of the
story of that first Palm Sunday. The Gospel writers had different
emphases, but they all want us to know Jesus, to understand who He is and why
He came. So today (before returning to our series in I Thessalonians) I
want to look at the story of the Triumphal Entry of Christ in it’s context in
John 12:12-16. Let’s read the text…
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the
feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet
him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord, even the King of Israel!" 14
And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 "Fear not, daughter of
Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" 16 His disciples did not
understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they
remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to
him.
On the one hand, we want
to join with the revelers celebrating Jesus, the coming King. But we celebrate Him
from a different perspective than the Jerusalem crowd that day, almost 2000
years ago. We have the whole story... we know what had to happen that week, what
they did not yet understand: the King was also the Lamb, He was both
Sovereign and Sacrifice. It is Palm Sunday, and Jesus is hailed as King. But
Good Friday is just days away, when he’ll be rejected, handed over to the
Romans, and crucified. But he would be delivered by the plan and foreknowledge
of God. Through His suffering and death, He would open the way for us to enter
the Kingdom as citizens and sons! He is the sovereign Lord, no one could take His
life. It was His plan to lay down His life for His sheep.
John especially, among
the gospels, wants us to celebrate the deity of Christ, and to worship Him. He
wants us to marvel at the love shown in the Cross, and to love Him in return.
He invites us to believe in Him, to entrust ourselves to Him, and to submit to
His Lordship. In the Bible we see hundreds of prophecies that
were made about the Messiah fulfilled in the life, ministry, death and
resurrection of Jesus. God had a plan, that plan was revealed, in
part, in advance, in the Scriptures, yet most people, including the disciples,
did not yet understand. Palm Sunday leads us into the last week of Jesus’ life
before the Cross. The story unfolds as God had planned —confirming Jesus’
identity, inviting us to respond in faith.
Context: Let me remind you how this passage fits into
John’s Gospel. After the raising of Lazarus in John 11, the Jewish leadership
conspired to put Jesus to death. Unwittingly, at the end of that chapter, the High
Priest even prophesied the substitutionary death of Jesus (11:49-51).
Chapter twelve begins with a reminder that Passover was only days
away. Since the very first chapter the reader of the Gospel has had to
struggle with the idea that Jesus is both God’s Messiah (1:41) and “the
Lamb of God” (1:29,36). How could this be? What did the
approach of Passover portend? Both the anointing of Jesus by Mary “for
his burial” (12:1-8) and the plot by the leaders to also kill
Lazarus (12:9-11) sound an ominous note as the story unfolds. The
contrast with what is about to happen here, at the triumphal entry, is an
example of Johannine irony. The crowds, even the disciples, did not
understand the fully the meaning of what was happening, what it really would
involve for Jesus to fulfill His role as the “King of the Jews” (see
12:16). So, we’ll see…
The Maine* Idea: In the context of the Passion
Week, the triumphal entry invites us to worship the Passover King, the Lamb
upon the throne, and calls us to love Him, trust Him, and obey Him.
I. Jesus is the King, and most people still don't
understand!
(12:12-13).
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to
the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So
they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,
"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King
of Israel!"
As John tells us the
story of Jesus, there is a lot of irony in how it unfolds. The Jews were
expecting a Messiah, a King, a greater Son of David who would restore the
kingdom to Israel. They had somehow lost sight of the truth that the
coming King was also to be the Suffering Servant. The title “King”
doesn’t show up frequently in John’s Gospel, until chapters 18, 19 when in
Jesus’ trial and crucifixion it is the charge for which He is executed. But the
few times it does appear are clues that John gives his reader early on about the
nature of His kingship…
The first time Jesus
is called “King” in this Gospel occurs in the first chapter, the confession of
Nathaniel: John 1:49, “Nathanael answered and
said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of
Israel!’" Before this confession however, the reader has heard
John the Baptist, twice, calling Jesus God’s Lamb: in John 1:29 we
read "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world!”; then again in John 1:36 “…And
looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’" We
read that and take it for granted, we’ve heard this language applied to Jesus
in church. But imagine the disciples when they first heard
it. Imagine John’s readers when they first read this Gospel: for a Jew
in the first century, “Lamb” whatever else it might mean, implied
sacrifice. Lamb and King? Both Sovereign, and Sacrifice? How
could it be?
The second time in
John’s Gospel that the word “King” appears, is in Chapter 6, and comes in
response to Jesus miraculously feeding the 5,000 with 5 small loaves of bread
and a couple of fish. John 6:14-15 says,
Then
those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the
Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived
that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king,
He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
In response to this miraculous provision, they wanted to make
him king by force. Jesus knew their thoughts, what they intended to do, and
went away. It wasn’t time for the king to be revealed. John had just
reminded the reader of the Gospel, a few verses earlier: “Now the
Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near” (John 6:4). After
hearing John call Jesus “the Lamb,” the reader of the Gospel has a clue
as to what is coming – the disciples still don’t understand. He is the King –
but also the Lamb.
The third use of
“king” in John’s Gospel comes that first Palm Sunday, in the triumphal
entry. The crowd quotes from Ps 118:25-26, which says,
“Save
now [Heb. hosanna], I pray,
O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of
the LORD.”
Notice that they add something to the text, they “…took
branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!"
(Jn 12:13). They understand the coming One to be the King. What they
said was correct, and this time Jesus allows it, even though there is little
doubt the crowd was still clueless as to what it meant, what was about to
happen, what had to happen. The reader of the Gospel, has
had several clues…
1. Passover was coming in a
few days; the Lamb would soon be sacrificed, “Six days before the Passover,
Jesus therefore came to Bethany…” (12:1).
2. Mary had just anointed Jesus, and
he said it was “for his burial” that she had done so (cf. John 12:2-8).
3. The chief priests were plotting
to kill Lazarus, because his being raised from the dead was irrefutable proof
that Jesus was from God, and they wouldn’t hear it (12:9-11). Even raising a
man from the dead could not convince them! Their minds were made up, they would
not consider the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah (see Peter’s word in Acts
2:22).
Part of the irony here
is that the crowd, in quoting from Psalm 118 had forgotten part of the
context: “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief
cornerstone...” (Ps 118:22). That rejection would reach its climax in
just a few days when the leaders insist: “We’ll not have this man to be our
king! …We have no king but Caesar!” They, like their fathers
before them, were looking for a king like the nations around them. Jesus
is King, much more so than any merely human king. He is the Lord of
all creation, our Sovereign Creator and Redeemer. A merely human
king can demand our obedience, but not our heart. Jesus is the Passover
King who would lay down His life for his sheep. God showed us his love,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Palm Sunday
invites us to celebrate Jesus, the Passover King, the Lamb on the throne, and
calls us to worship, love, and obey Him.
II. He is the King, and He came in fulfillment of the
Scriptures (12:14-15). John takes us from the shouts of the crowd, which were
ironically true, even though they didn’t understand correctly who Jesus was, to
the actions of Jesus, taken in deliberate fulfillment of Scripture:
Then
Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 "Fear
not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey's
colt."
John is saying that Jesus’
actions were a fulfillment of the words of Zechariah 9:9, written 500 years
earlier… The main point is that God had a plan, and the plan was
revealed in the Scriptures. Every action of Jesus was taken in submission to
and in fulfillment of the Father’s will. This week would lead to Calvary, to
the cross. Yet the cross was not a failure, it was not an accident, it wasn’t “plan
B.” Peter would say on Pentecost that Jesus was delivered up by the
predetermined purpose and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). That Is how much
God loves us. He planned the Cross, He gave the Son to die for us
(cf. I Jn 4:9; Rom 5:8)!
This prophetic
fulfillment also speaks to the reliability of His Word. The Scripture, written
centuries before Jesus’ birth, was fulfilled precisely: He is the Lord of
History! All four of the Gospel writers point out the fulfillment of
prophecies in Jesus’ life and death, Scriptures written centuries before His
birth. These fulfilled prophecies are one more testimony, another witness to
the messianic identity of Jesus. Ironically, even as He was rejected by the
leaders of the Jews, their very rejection of Him vindicated His messianic
claim, it fulfilled their own Scriptures! Remember, after the resurrection,
when Jesus appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus? As they recounted
to this “stranger” what had happened in Jerusalem, and revealed their confusion
and shattered hopes, Jesus said,
"O
foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ
should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 And
beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning himself.
They needed to understand God’s plan: the Messiah is King, He is also
our Passover who was sacrificed for us. John doesn’t emphasize Jesus’
humility in the same way as the other gospels. He was emphasizing Jesus’ power
and control, His sovereignty and glory. He is the King of Kings! Jesus
is in control. Later, when they come to arrest Him in the Garden, remember
that they couldn’t even touch Him unless He allowed it (Jn 18:5-8). This King,
the Sovereign who created and rules the universe, chose to give himself as the
Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Palm Sunday
invites us to worship Jesus, the Passover King, the Lamb on the throne, and
calls us to obey Him. And so…
III. He is the King, the Passover King, both Sovereign and
Sacrifice (12:16).
16 His disciples did not understand these things at
first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they
remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to
him.
John steps back for a moment and
explains from his position years later what he and the other disciples were
thinking at this point in the story, it was only when “...Jesus
was glorified, then they remembered that these things...” The disciples didn’t understand at first what
all of this meant. Even though he had repeatedly, explicitly told them
about the necessity of his death and resurrection, they couldn’t grasp it. It
was only “…when Jesus was glorified then they remembered…” When
was He glorified? In John, it is especially on the cross that Jesus is
glorified (see John 3:14,15). The cross was his lifting up, his
exaltation, his glorification, because it proved who he is, fulfilling the
Scriptures, and it accomplishing what he came to do, giving his life for our
sins (Lk 24:44).
Notice a little further
down in the near context, John 12:27-28,
"…Now
My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this
hour?’ But for this
purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name…"
Later in the Gospel,
speaking to Pilate, Jesus referred to the nature of His kingship in John 18:36,37:
“My
kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My
servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but
as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered,
"You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born,
and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth…”
You see, He is the King, but not like the kings of this
world. He is the Passover-King. That is truth. How will we respond?
What is God saying to me in this passage? Palm Sunday invites us to worship
Jesus, the Passover King, the Lamb upon the throne, and calls us to love Him
and obey Him. What the crowds said on Palm Sunday was true,
but they didn’t grasp the full import of their own words. Jesus was not a
victim. He was in control. And as Sovereign, he fulfilled the Scriptures, and He
gave His life as a ransom for many.
In Revelation 1:5 He
is “…the ruler over the kings of the earth… [He] who loved us and
washed us from our sins in His own blood…” In chapter five, John in
his vision sees One “…in the middle of the throne as a lamb that had
been slain…” (Rev 5:6). The Passover King, exalted, on the throne of
heaven, worthy to open the scroll and loosen its seals (Rev 5:7, 22:1-3.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. The One who was, who is, and who is to
come.
What would he have me to do in response to these truths? Our response can only be to
stand in awe of the matchless grace of God, to love the One who so loved us.
Maybe you’ve been housebound lately, and “just by chance” came across this
message. Or perhaps you went looking for “church” in some form today simply
because it’s what you always do on Palm Sunday. Could it be that God has
directed your steps, and he desired you to come across this study today? Does
the Word ring true? Do you feel hope welling up in your heart? It may be
that God, who so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son, is, by His
kindness, drawing you to repentance and faith. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give to them eternal life and
they shall never perish.” Worthy is the Lamb who was slain! He is the
Passover King, who gave His life, so that we could
have life. Praise him for his indescribable gift. Trust Him, receive Him. All
hail King Jesus!
And if we believe who He is, we
must also recognize His authority. Later in this Gospel He will tell his
disciples: “As the Father sent me, so send I you…” At the outset of His
ministry He warned them, “If anyone would be my disciple, he must deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” That means loving God,
and entrusting yourself to Him. And then it means loving your neighbor so much,
that it becomes your life mission to show them Jesus, to point them to the
truth. Will you love the King who so loves you? Will you obey
Him? Is there someone in your sphere of influence you can encourage
this week? Don’t despair as you hear of the contagion spreading around
our world. God is still on the
throne. Jesus came so that we could have life, and have it more abundantly!
Trust Him, consider His word, worship Him this week. AMEN.
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