Palm Sunday: John 12

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0:00 All right, we're looking at John chapter 12 because we are gonna look at the story of Palm Sunday together, a triumphal entry. Feels like, we've been talking about Sabbath for like three months. Hopefully that was encouraging for you. It has been for me. I'm not done talking about it. So if you wanna hear any more about it, I would love to keep talking about it. Really energized by what it's gonna mean for me.

0:30 Really a fruitful Lent. We're going into, of course, the last week of Lent, sometimes called the Passion Week. So you might commemorate at your house, Monday, Thursday. You might wash each other's feet at your homes, parents, wash your kids' feet. That would be a good way to celebrate Monday, Thursday to remember that leaders are servants to those who are below them. Spouses wash each other's feet. That's a great way to commemorate Monday, Thursday at your house, to remember that Jesus came to serve,

1:03 not to be served, and the same call is given to us. And so we serve those that we love. Parents wash kids' feet. Spouses wash each other's feet. That could be really powerful. Then Good Friday, we'll be here. We'll commemorate Good Friday together at 7P here together. And then we'll be here for Easter morning. And we can talk more about that as we get on. But Palm Sunday kicks off Passion Week. And each of the Gospels have a retelling of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

1:35 The one that I want to look at is John chapter 12. And remember, like we were looking at, I can't remember how we got into it, but a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the story of Jesus raising Lazarus and I think it's in Luke's account where he goes back. He's been out in Galilee outside of Israel and found out that his friend, the brother of Mary and Martha Lazarus was sick.

2:07 And he waits. And then he goes and he finds out that Lazarus has already died. And he miraculously and beautifully calls dead Lazarus up out of the tomb and Lazarus walks out of the tomb with his grave clothes on. And in the story, the way that Luke remembers it or the way Luke retells it from someone who told him is that after he raises Lazarus from the dead, he, people start to mob him and it's too soon.

2:38 And so he goes to retreat near the wilderness in Ephraim with his disciples. And then when it comes time for Passover, they come down out of the wilderness retreat and they have a meal with Lazarus and Mary and there's a whole crew of people still there. And that whole crew together comes with Jesus and his 12 disciples and they're moving now from Lazarus and Mary's house down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem together. Along their way, they go through Jericho.

3:10 Remember Jericho is the big city where the walls all fell in the Old Testament. It's been rebuilt and it's a populated city. It's a busy piece of road there. They move through Jericho down coming into Jerusalem and just outside of Jericho, there's enough of them moving together that there's a blind guy sitting on the street outside of Jericho. He would sit there because a lot of people would pass on that road and he could make a decent living for himself, at least enough to take care of himself because he can't see or get anything done.

3:42 But he hears them walking by and he calls out Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And what's happening here critically is people are starting to recognize who Jesus is, even the blind who cannot see are calling out who Jesus is. This story we're not gonna get into, I'm just gonna retell it to you real quickly. He calls Bartimaeus up. The disciples try and keep him quiet, say we're doing important things, we're going to pass over this guy's raising folks from the dead, you're a beggar on the outside of the street. Don't worry about it.

4:13 Jesus says, don't hush him, bring him here. And in the middle of all of them, he asked Bartimaeus, what would you like? Blind Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus in an act of courage and faith says exactly what he would like. Risks looking like a fool. I'm not gonna heal you, Bartimaeus, you're a beggar, why would I do it? You're a sinner, that's why you're blind anyway. He risks being embarrassed, being made a fool of, being scapegoated, encouraged and faith,

4:45 Bartimaeus acts exactly what he would like, and Jesus gives it to him. We think that probably we know Bartimaeus' name because he sticks with him. Shoot man, I've been a beggar, I can see where we going next. They go together now into Jerusalem. You can see how Jesus is bringing a crew with him, right? On his way to the Passover. Because the guy is raising folk from the dead,

5:17 he's healing blind people, and he's going to celebrate Passover in the capital city. Fantastic, right? All right, and then he pauses outside of the city and he's like, guys go get me a donkey, man. And he tells him how to do it, remember? And so they do, John doesn't recount the story of the donkey, but you see here in John chapter 12, verse 12, the next day the large crowd that had come to the feast

5:47 heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him crying, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it that says it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified and they remembered

6:19 that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. And then the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and when he raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done the sign. So the Pharisees said one to another, you see that we are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.

6:52 There's another, oh wait, oh here it is, keep going. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and said to him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And Philip went and told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus and Jesus answered him, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And then he goes on. I like that phrase, the hour has come

7:23 for the Son of Man to be glorified. In one of the other retellings, they remember the Pharisees, the leaders of the Jewish law coming up to Jesus and saying, Hey man, tell your people to be quiet. They're calling you the son of David and they're screaming, Hosanna, to you. Right? And Jesus says, hey now is the time for the Son of Man to receive glory. If they are quiet, the rocks will cry out. That's so cool, isn't it?

7:55 I love that. Jesus so often in the story of the gospels is like, hey guys, don't be quiet, don't tell anybody. He's always like telling people, let's just be cool, try and keep this to yourself. We're working in a direction. The Son of Man has to be lifted up. He can't just be stoned on the outside of town. So I can't run this too fast. But the level of confidence, I mean, I don't know what a rock crying out sounds like. But the level of confidence to be like,

8:26 if you try and keep these things quiet, the rocks will cry out because now is the time for me to let people know what is happening. Fantastic. I love that moment for him. I wish I was there. I've said that before. There's a lot of moments, I guess I wish I was at the gospel store, but this one would be cool, super cool. Actually, Matthew recounts a story of Jesus where he says, at the end, we will be there. Remember? He says, at the end, Jesus will come in, riding on the clouds,

8:57 and all of his elect will be with him. Riding with him on the Great Parade in the last day. Jesus had said, we all will see it and be with him in it, in all the glory. Glory's a weird word, it's hard to figure out. And you know, you can somehow give glory. The center idea, I don't have any reason for this definition other than my own sense, okay?

9:28 So we might look it up and find out, I'm completely wrong, but for us it will work, I promise. I like this idea of glory. Things as they really are. Things revealed as they really are. Jesus says, now is the time for the son of man to receive glory. Who is Jesus really? The Apostle John at the beginning says,

9:58 in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And through him all things were made, and nothing that has been made is not made through him, but everything finds its origin in him. Imagine looking at Jesus and seeing the font of all beauty that you've ever seen in the world, and realize it all has its origin in this one. Imagine looking at the face of Jesus of Nazareth, and realizing that every urge of justice, and rightness you've ever had in your life

10:32 originates from the mind and heart of this one. You look at him and you feel the fullness of justice. Imagine that you look at him, and you recall every moment, every little taste of peace you have, finds its fullness in him. When Jesus comes in all his glory, you will realize that everything good that comes down as a free gift from the never-changing father of lights who finds his fullness in the person of Jesus glorified.

11:03 They got a little glimpse on the parade into broken little Jerusalem. Jesus on a donkey, no wonder they got the palm fronds out. Jesus in his glory would be something to see something, it would be something to see Jesus in his glory. No wonder we commemorate this day, Hosanna to the son of David.

11:39 It's interesting that they caught it that time, isn't it? That they figured it out. It's interesting, so many people missed who Jesus was so reliably through his whole life, his family thought he might be crazy, the right Herod and his wise men couldn't find him.

12:09 The Magi from the east had to find him. The disciples, God love him, can't figure it out. Even here, John's like, to be honest guys, we didn't know what was happening at the moment. It wasn't until after Jesus was ascended and we got the spirit of God that we were like, oh, I see the donkey, right. But something happened in that moment where enough of them got it, why did they get it?

12:40 And it's the clue that John gives us in the quote. It's set off in my copy of the scriptures, I don't know if it is in yours. But he quotes from Zachariah, a fear not of daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's cold. This is why they got it. So Zachariah is a prophet for God, we've talked about this before, but it's worth reminding you in the Old Testament,

13:12 in the Old Covenant, before we have ascended Jesus and a dispatched spirit of God, before we have a new creation in us, in the Old Covenant and the Old Testament, when God wants to communicate to people, not everyone can contain or handle the spirit of God. So he gives a special dispensation of the spirit to individuals who speak on God's behalf. In the Old Testament, we call them prophets. There's one of these prophets, Zachariah,

13:42 whose prophesy and speaking on behalf of God to the people of God, as they've returned to Jerusalem after their Babylonian exile. You can imagine, they're all excited, right? Because they get to go back. They're rebuilding the temple, Cyrus, the king of Persia, gave them money to go back, say here, whatever we took from you originally, let's get it back out of the thing and let's send it with you. And not all the Israelites want to go back, so but the ones who stayed in Babylon gave them money.

14:13 So now they're going back, the families that are going back, across the desert, the rough places playing, the narrow places straight, the crooked places straight, they're walking on the land that's been freed by their deliveror, Cyrus, back to the promised land to rebuild the temple, they're all excited. Now we get to be ourselves again. And what they find out in very short order is sure Cyrus let him go back, but that dude is still a despot like the one before him, right?

14:44 And yeah, we got our temple sort of, when they rebuilt the temple after the Babylonian exile, they wept and not for joy for sadness at how small it was compared to the one that Solomon had built. They're like, we are in some shell of a life here, occupied, occupied, occupied, taxes, taxes, under the foot of some despot. And God heartened by the trouble of his people living in a world

15:21 that was unjust and less than what they were destined for, whispers in the ear of Zachariah, tell them a day is coming when they will be liberated. And so that's what Zachariah does in chapter 9, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation

15:51 as he humbled and mounted on a donkey, right? I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off and I shall speak peace to the nations and his rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. He is talking about a king coming, banishing war, and setting up the rain. He's like, this is the day that you are looking for. There will be one who comes, who throws off the despots,

16:23 who sets up a rain that you can live under. And this term, Hosanna, it only appears actually once in the Old Testament in a Psalm. What's interesting is that Hosanna is a Greek word, well, Hosanna for us is an English word, this is fun. It's an English word, but we've transliterated it from the Greek word, meaning we took English letters and figured out how to make the same sounds that the Greek letters make for those sounds so we didn't translate it, it's just a word in Greek, Hosanna. Then you go back and you look at the Greek word

16:54 and you realize that the Greeks did the same thing. They just transliterated a Hebrew word, which is found once in the Old Testament in Psalm 118, right? And it's used in Psalm 118 is crying out, God saved me. And just the very next phrase is deliverance comes. Almost before the Psalmist has saved me, come out of his mouth, deliverance comes. So what the scholars think is that by the time the first century has arisen, this word, Hosanna, becomes an exclamation,

17:26 not a request. Salvation is here. This is why it's like it's two words compressed into one, transliterated a couple of times, and now is idiomatic phrase. Salvation is here. The Israelites in Jerusalem watching Jesus with Lazarus and Bartimaeus coming in to celebrate Passover. It goes, the day is here. Salvation has come.

17:59 This is the part where I had new thoughts this year. It's always fun and a new thought. How many times have I thought about Palm Sunday? And you still get new thoughts. Most of the time, well, what salvation do you think that they're hoping for? Or exclaiming has come? A just king, right? Kick off the despots, man. We have been Babylonians, Persians, Romans, like everybody,

18:33 just beating us up, taking the taxes, letting us do our worship sort of, but we've got to have brutal. Finally, here he comes. They're thinking political. They're thinking proximate. They're thinking in this life, the ruler to whom I answer has changed. Salvation has come. And I have always thought, boy, those, I don't want to say dummies, but dummies.

19:07 They missed it. This year, I don't think they did. Isn't it a kicker? When you look at the story of Zechariah, what God was trying to tell Israel is now this world, there's coming a day where this world will be different.

19:37 The reason that the way of Jesus upended the Roman Empire in less than 300 years is because those dudes recognized they now had a new citizenship with a new king. The reason they got in trouble over and over and over again is because they said, look, I know the emperor claims to be a god, the dummy is not, ours was raised from the dead. He's the king of all the kings. He's the prince of all the peace.

20:08 And he's coming back on clouds will ride with him to set all things right until then. We live under his reign right now. The people at the triumphal entry of Jesus crying, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the

20:50 the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the

21:20 king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king, the king

21:50 his mercy, his creativity it's very hard it's a very hard thing to do because, and I don't understand why he would bring his reign, I'm going to give a word that Beverly and I talked about a couple weeks ago that I love it's a very church word

22:21 I don't understand why Jesus was bringing his word proleptically, great word proleptic we would define that usually as now and not yet at the same time he brings his kingdom fully in the moment it breaks into reality and on Palm Sunday it's so apparent that if people miss it the rocks will cry out, nature will testify to him and then it shrinks in different moments and becomes less visible

22:52 less apparent not any less real just less noticeable and then it breaks out in other moments and I can't predict when the reign of God breaks out in all evidence and when it retreats I just know it is always there and the invitation for us is to always live under it but I recognize that if God were in charge fully right now we wouldn't have to deal with all of the brokenness that we deal with we wouldn't have to deal with all of the injustice we wouldn't have to deal with all of the greed and the miserly and the self righteousness and the self sufficiency

23:29 and the fear and the guilt and the anxiety we wouldn't have to deal with it all it breaks in and ruptures and so this is why the last verse for us is from 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul writes to the believers and says if it is only for this life that we have hope then we are the biggest of fools to be pitied but our final hope is in the resurrection of the dead when the reign of God exists unbroken unimpeded

24:01 unmitigated full and real we taste it now proleptically and hope for the future permanently Hosanna to the son of David let's pray hey Lord thank you that you would come now that you would not wait till the end of all things but give us a foretaste of your reign now

24:32 let it be enough for us give us faith to live under your reign now faithfully that we might join you on the clouds when you return in Jesus name we pray amen