Great Expectations March 24th, 2024
God of all wisdom and knowledge, in the reading and hearing of your Word, help us know you more clearly so that we may love you more dearly. In loving you more dearly, help us follow you more nearly, day by day. In Jesus name we pray.
This morning’s Gospel lesson comes from the Book of Matthew and is the traditional Palm Sunday reading concerning the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem just as the Festival of Passover was about to begin. As is the case with much of the Bible, there are many lessons which can be learned from just a few lines of scripture, but the point I’d like to focus on this morning is on the expectations of the crowds who greeted Jesus that day while he was on his way to Jerusalem.
At this point, Jesus’ time here on earth was quickly coming to an end. After the announcement of his birth to those shepherds on the hillside in Bethlehem and the visit by the Wise Men to his cradle, Jesus had slipped into obscurity for the next 30 years. There are few records of his life during that period, the single story which is recorded for us in the Bible is the one of him being left behind in the Temple in Jerusalem by his parents.
That episode occurs in the Gospel of Luke where we’re told that when Jesus was 12 years old his parents took him to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When they began their journey back to Nazareth, as was the custom in early times, they travelled in large groups. They failed to see that Jesus wasn’t with them, thinking that he was with some of their relatives. But the next day, not finding Jesus, they returned in a worried rush to Jerusalem. It wasn’t until three days later that they finally found him in the Temple, listening and questioning the rabbis who were teaching there.
Here’s how Luke described that scene, “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.”. This was to be a forerunner of things to come, but for the moment, Jesus slipped back into the shadows for another 18 years.
At the time of this morning’s reading, Jesus was somewhere between 33 and 36 years old and his ministry on earth was coming to an end. We find him preparing for the final few days of his life as he got ready to enter Jerusalem for a last time. A lot had changed since he was that 12-year-old boy sitting in the Temple, listening to, and questioning the rabbis who were there.
And during his years of preaching and teaching his fame had spread. Certainly, the message he taught was a good one, full of wisdom and understanding, with many radical ideas on how to treat your fellow man. Yet, for the man in the street, it was the miracles that caught his attention. By now, Jesus was well known for his many miracles.
His first miracle, that of turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana, would have been long forgotten, overshadowed by his various healing miracles. Whether it was restoring a blind man’s sight, healing a young child, or bringing someone back to life, these were the ones that stuck in people’s minds. Just like today, their health was foremost on a person’s mind, and even more so then since they lacked the many miracles of today’s modern medicine.
And these crowds, wanting to see the next miracle, or, if they were fortunate enough to get close to him, be part of that miracle, had followed Jesus to Bethphage, a village close to Jerusalem. Word had spread that he was preparing to enter the city for the Passover festival, so the anticipation grew.
But first of all, Jesus needed a ride. Certainly, he could have walked, just like the rest of the throngs who were heading to Jerusalem, but that wouldn’t do for the arrival of the predicted Messiah. And only not that, Jesus was not the least bit proud, we know that he was humble from the many stories of him healing the blind and helping the beggars, as well as having meals with the tax collectors and common people of Israel.
No, his mode of transportation was required to fulfil the prophet Zechariah’s prophecy that we heard in our Old Testament reading this morning, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”. So important was this prophecy that Matthew, in our Gospel lesson, quotes this same verse from Zechariah to ensure that his readers understand the significance of the prediction that the promised Messiah for Israel would arrive in Jerusalem riding a donkey.
So, Jesus gave these instructions to two of his disciples, ““Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.””. They did as he commanded and went and brought the donkey and her colt for him to ride.
For us, in today’s world, riding a donkey in a parade would be relegated to the clowns, but not in the time of Jesus. We’re told that the symbol of a king entering a city on such a lowly animal was a sign of peace. If he had come to do battle, he would be mounted on a great stallion, not a mere beast of burden.
And this is where the crowds who lined the streets to greet him went wrong. Matthew tells us, “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!””. From their excitement we can see that they were expecting a warrior Messiah who would free them from the oppression of the Roman occupiers. The word Hosanna means “save us”.
In fact, when the Apostle Luke, in his Gospel, tells of this event, here’s what he says, “As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”” So, the crowds were anticipating the arrival of a King who would depose their Roman overlords. But soon they were to be sorely disappointed, and in their anger, they would lash out at Jesus.
But, for the moment the excitement was electric. We’re told, “The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.””. It was Passover time in Jerusalem, the biggest festival of the year, so the crowds were immense, and many would never have heard of Jesus and the miracles he had performed. But word of mouth would have spread the word quickly and everyone was saying, “The promised Messiah has arrived!”
Yet, they weren’t sure who Jesus was, Matthew writes, “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”. Because of the Passover festival the city was abuzz. The crowd was swept up in the moment. Word was spreading that the Messiah had arrived, yet the people weren’t sure what that meant. People were caught up in the moment and they were saying, “Who is this Messiah? Who are we hailing? And they were perplexed.
And they weren’t alone, even the disciples were confused. The Apostle John writes of this event, “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.” It wasn’t until Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in them that they finally got the picture. They didn’t understand the message of the Cross until the Spirit of God revealed it to them. Jesus was sending a message to the people.
Our Messiah, Jesus, didn’t come to make war with Rome, he came to make peace with God for men. He didn’t come into the world to make war with Rome on behalf of the Jews, but to make peace with God on behalf of all people on earth. He came as one offering peace. Yet the crowds in Jerusalem at that Passover festival wouldn’t accept Jesus on his own terms, so by the end of the week, they cried for his blood, and they cried for his crucifixion.
And that’s where many people go wrong, even today. The world is still like that. People are open to the Jesus they want, the Jesus of their own definition. If he gives them what they want: health, wealth, and happiness, they’ll believe in him. But as soon as he asks them to acknowledge their sinful nature and seek to turn their hearts toward God in true salvation, they turn away from him. That’s not the Jesus they want. That’s not the king they want. They want a Messiah who suits them.
But we have to take Jesus for who he is, not for whom we want him to be. That’s how it is with Jesus. He offers himself as a King of peace who brings salvation and makes men right with God. He doesn’t offer a kingdom here on earth, always filled with health, wealth, and happiness. No, he offers a kingdom in the future, Heaven. A place for all eternity where we’ll rest in God’s presence forever. That’s what Jesus offers when we are ready to accept it.
Let us Pray:
Heavenly Father, on this Palm Sunday, please help us to better understand your word. Help us to accept Jesus as our Saviour on his terms, not ours. May we hear the voice of the Spirit of God calling us to see and to know and to embrace Jesus as our Lord. Open our hearts to him who came to die for us and to rise again for our salvation. May grace, mercy, and peace go with us this day and always. In Jesus name we pray. Amen