Lechem Panim #43 "The Triumphal Entry" (John 12:12-19) Pastor Cameron Ury

Today, as you know, is Palm Sunday. And in light of that, I would like for us to take a look at the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem given to us in…

John 12:12-19 (ESV) The Triumphal Entry-- 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. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Who do we expect Jesus to be?-- As we move towards Easter, I’d like to share a few brief thoughts with you on this Palm Sunday about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and why this celebratory event in the life of Christ is still so very important to us. It says in verse 12…

John 12:12 (ESV)-- 12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

The Crowds-- It is hard to overstate the excitement that Jesus was stirring amongst the people as He was moving from place to place. People are coming to celebrate the Passover Feast; and it is an extraordinary amount of people (all the locals who lived in that area plus all the people from far and wide who have come to Jerusalem for Passover). It is estimated that [the regular population of Jerusalem in this period was about 50,000 and that during Passover it grew to perhaps 100,000 to 120,000.] And of course there is not room for that many people in the city. So you had thousands of people staying on the hillsides surrounding the city.

Hearing of The Messiah-- But as people are coming, and are merging with the people who are already there, they are hearing news about the latest exploits of this revolutionary new teacher who has arisen out of Galilee and was then staying just outside of Jerusalem. Not only were His teachings unlike anything they had ever heard, but the signs that accompanied His words were unlike anything they had ever heard tell of. And one in particular has caught the attention of the crowds. A man who had contracted an illness and died had been buried for four days. And everybody had through that all hope had been lost; because (after all) who could come back from the dead? But Jesus commanded that his tomb be unsealed and opened. And when they did it, he called to the dead man to come out; AND HE DID!!!! So the stories are circulating. This teacher (Jesus) seems to have no limits. What people perceive to be the ultimate power in the world (the power of death) apparently is not the ultimate power. Apparently all this Jesus has to do is speak a word and death itself works backwards and then retreats. And so the many who hear of this and all that Jesus had done in and throughout the course of His ministry conclude that He is the Messiah; the Christ; the one who would come to bring them liberation. And so they seek to honor him as such. We read in…

John 12:13 (ESV)-- 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!”

Triumphal Entries-- Now [“Triumphal entries” were common in the ancient world. A conquering hero or king would return to his city, bringing the spoils of his battles and stories of conquest. 13 This imagery would not be missed on any Greek-speaking audience on the eastern edge of the Roman empire. When John says that the crowd “went out to meet him,” this is a common expression used for cities meeting their triumphant, returning king. {And}14 In a Jewish context, “Hosanna” was used to greet such incoming kings (2 Sam. 14:4; 2 Kings 6:26). In fact, Jewish culture understood these “royal welcomes” so well that it adopted such forms commonly.]

The “Triumphal Entry”— But it is ironic that we call this the triumphal entry because the triumph Jesus was going to bring was very different from the kind of triumph the people expected. They expected Him to bring triumph over Rome, when in fact, Jesus had His eyes set on something bigger; something deeper. Israel had fallen into captivity numerous times before, which was God’s judgment on them for sin. But then they would cry out to God for deliverance and would repent, and God would deliver them. Yet it would be not long after that that they would fall into sin once again. And we see this cycle in our lives as well. We undergo some hardship and find ourselves crying out to God for deliverance. And we promise to live lives more fully devoted to Him; to stop doing the things we know we shouldn’t be doing. And yet afterwards (after He has answered us) we fall back into our old pattern of life.
We see this pattern every time natural disaster strikes; I have seen it in the lives of the men I have ministered to in prison, many of whom promise repentance and yet many (soon after their release) are soon back in prison. We see it in the lives of those who battle addiction. In the human condition, there is something deeper than physical bondage. Israel’s bondage to Rome was a symptom of their disease; the result. They wanted Jesus to deliver them as their Messiah as God had done so often in the past. And Jesus does want to do that; and will do that in the end. But first God has to do something in our hearts in order to ensure that we can live a life of victory rather than a life of defeat; a life that is no longer in bondage to the cycle of repeating the same sins and mistakes over and over again. Christ wants to set us free.

But the people who here cried hosanna were not looking for that kind of Savior. They wanted a Messiah who would pronounce judgment on others for their sin; not deal with their sin. And that is why, when Jesus humbled Himself before His enemies; when Jesus didn’t fight back; when Jesus allowed Himself to be taken captive, all forsook Him and fled. And many of the same people who had cried Hosanna became the very people who cried out at His trial, “Crucify Him!”

And what I want you to think about today is this, “What kind of Messiah do you really want in your life?” A Messiah who will serve you and make your name great or a Messiah who says, “Follow me. Oh and by the way, I am going to the cross.” That is what nobody understood; and even what many people do not understand today. If we we want to understand the real meaning of Easter; what it means to have Christ raised in our hearts, then we have to first understand the cross and what it means for our individual lives.

Giving Your Life to Christ-- I read a preacher and author some time ago who shared a story from his own life that encapsulates it so well. He says: [I remember one night during World War II when I spoke to a group of G.I.’s at an evangelistic service. One of the soldiers lingered afterward to talk. Once we were alone, he said, “I would like to become a Christian.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t want to go to hell,” he replied.
“I suppose that is a good reason.” I responded. “I don’t know if it is the noblest reason, but it is a perfectly legitimate one. All right, then, will you give your life to Christ?”
The soldier stiffened, “Oh, I could never do that,” he said. “Are you sure a man has to do that to be a Christian?”
I turned in my New Testament to read Jesus’ words, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
After a pause, he asked again, “Do I have to give my life to Christ to become a Christian?”
“Yes, you do. Why aren’t you willing to do that?”
“Why, I have plans for my life!” he exclaimed. “How can I give my life to Christ if I already have my own plans for it?”
I wanted to shake that soldier’s hand for his crystal-clear honesty. I had spent most of my life as a pastor dealing with people who felt that there was no contradiction between saying, “I will give my life to Christ,” and saying, “I know what I am going to do with my life.” That man sensed the contradiction.
The priests in Jerusalem felt that there was no contradiction between saying, “This is the Lord’s house,” and then running it in such a way that it was unfit for the Lord. Jesus had to walk in and declare, “You have made a terrible mistake. This is my Father’s house. It must be managed his way.” The priests reacted with panic.
Most of us panic when Christ comes into our lives like this. The foremost reason is our inordinate fear of what he will do with our lives when we allow him to take control. But is there any good reason to suppose that Jesus would make a mistake with our lives?]

​Today, as we think about our Messiah, let us give ourselves to Him wholly completely as the true Lord of our lives. Christ was not on His way to a throne; He was on His way to a cross. And therefore every person He calls to come and follow Him is also called to come to that same cross; to die to their own plans for their own lives and to give themselves completely to Him and to His mission. Jesus gave His life so that we might have life. And so we also are to give our lives to Him and pour our lives out so that others might come to know Jesus.