The Road to the Cross
Moving Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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We have followed the life of Jesus through the writings of Matthew going back even before Jesus was born.
Matthew started his gospel by showing the bloodline, the lineage of Jesus. Beginning with Abraham (Matthew 1:2) he listed the generations that came after all the way through David (Matthew 1:6) and ultimately through Jospeh, Mary’s husband (Matthew 1:16).
Now, as we get too Matthew 21, Jesus is 33 years old. For the last three years he done what he was sent to do. Jesus, Immanuel (Matthew 1:23) God himself, wrapped in human form, has been going out, teaching, performing miracles, all with one goal in mind:
Matthew 4:17 (ESV)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He has made it very clear who he is:
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Throughout our study we have learned many things from Him:
How to resist temptation
How to deal with anger, lust, oaths, and divorce
How to love, even our enemies
How to pray
How to stand boldly even when faced with persecution
How to know that we are a believer, by our fruit
These are just a small amount. So many things we have learned. But the greatest lesson we will learn begins right here in Chapter 21.
***CBC Creed***
1 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, 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.”
So going back to Chapter 19, Jesus moved from Galilee into the region of Judea (Matthew 19:1)
We know that before he entered Jerusalem, he stopped in Bethphage, which was near the area of Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem. This day is Sunday. Sunday of the last week of his life before he is nailed to the cross. He would be nailed to the cross on Friday, and this is the Sunday before.
As they arrive in Bethphage, he tells his disciples that they should go into the village and bring him a donkey and a colt. He was specific. He told them where to go, how to find it, what to say to the owner or anyone who asks. Matthew points out that what Jesus did fulfilled two spoken prophecies from the Old Testament. One from Zechariah and one from Isaiah.
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
The first part of what Jesus said: “Say to the daughter of Zion” comes from Isaiah 62:11 “11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.””
And the second part comes from Zechariah 9:9 “9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The disciples did as Jesus said and on that Sunday, and before he sat on the donkey, the disciples did something that I want you to see. They put their jackets (cloaks) on top of the donkey and colt before he sat down. Now this may not be a big deal to us, maybe you see that today as taking a piece of fabric and cleaning the chair before you sit down. But what the disciples did and what we see the crowd do, is preparing the way for the King.
Look at verse Matthew 21 :8-9
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!”
They were treating him like a King! And yes, he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but the crowd thought that their King had finally come to defeat their enemies, the Romans. They welcomed him!
Hosanna!
Greek: ὡσαννά
Hebrew: הושיעה
In the Greek it is HO_San_AAH translated from the Hebrew word oh-She-Uh
These were words directed at a King. The only time that oh-She-Uh (Hebrew) were used in the OT was for the meaning of save, rescue, or savior
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
They were happy! Their savior had come. But what they didn’t understand is that he wasn’t there to save them from death and oppression at the hands of the Romans, he was there to save them from an eternal death.
His death would replace theirs.
I think it is important for us to understand what the crowd was thinking that day. If you were a Jew in the crowd, you knew the Old Testament Scriptures. And maybe you were thinking about the words of the prophet Malachi:
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
This was before Jesus, hundreds of years before, and the Lord was speaking through the prophet Malachi.
This is why they were so happy. Finally, all the things the prophets said had come true. It was time for God to refine and purify his people. again, they didn’t fully understand wha that meant.
This was a Sunday. By Friday he would be hanging on the cross.
The next day Monday, Jesus enters the temple in Jerusalem.
Matthew 21:12–17 (ESV)
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 and lodged there.
As Jesus entered the temple, he did not like what he saw. There were people them setting up business, selling things, making money. That wasn’t what the temple was for.
Why did he say, “den of robbers?” When people would journey to the temple to make sacrifices, they would need animals for the sacrifice. And some of them because they were from a different land would have to exchange their money for what was accepted in Jerusalem. And the people who exchanged the money would cheat those they did business with. They would charge them more and keep much of their money. It seemed that going to church had become big business.
But that wasn’t what the temple was for. Jesus points to the words of Jeremiah & Isaiah. It was a place of prayer and devotion to the Lord God.
Look at the authority that Jesus has here.
He has authority over the temple.
Matthew 12:6 “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”
2. He has authority over disease.
Matthew 21:14 “14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.”
3. He has authority over all people.
Matthew 21:15-16 “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’?””
4. He has authority over all creation.
Matthew 21:18-22
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
As Jesus cleansed the Temple and cursed the fig tree, he was pointing to the religious life and worship of God’s people. And maybe specifically to Israel’s leadership, the Pharisees. Think about the fig tree. It looked good from the outside. It had leaves. And it looked healthy enough to produce fruit. But it didn’t. The Pharisees, even many of God’s chosen people did the requirements of the Law. They looked religious. But they were lacking. They were more interested in their traditions, than in the heart of God. They looked good on the outside, but there was no fruit.
As Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last week of his human life, he came in humility. Riding on a small donkey. He will humbly go to the cross. We saw that last week in the film. He didn’t fight, he didn’t resist. He came to save sinners. And he is still doing that today. There is still time for people to come to him. Repent from their, and begin to follow him. He humbly waits for those to seek him.
But there will come a time, when he will put away the humility of a humble servant who rides a donkey towards his death. There is coming a day when he will climb on a majestic horse and he will have a different purpose. The Apostle John describes it...
Revelation 19:11–16 (ESV)
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
The day that this happens will be much different than the day he humbly entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He will not come to rescue sinners, he will come to rule sinners. He will not come to be crucified as King, he will come to be crowned the King.
Here’s the question: Is he your King?