John 12:12-19
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The Anticipation of the Passover.
The Anticipation of the Passover.
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
The crowd that is here at this point in time is the crowd who came every year at this time for the Passover Feast.
Jerusalem’s streets at this point of the year was flooded with Jews who had made the trek in order to celebrate what most call the most important feast on the Jewish calendar.
Josephus was a Jewish historian who wrote 35 years later that there was 2.7 million people in Jerusalem when the Passover was going on.
Thats about half the population of South Carolina gathered in Jerusalem.
The Passover commemorated the event of God bringing His people out of Egypt and more specifically dealt with God showing them grace by giving them the opportunity to apply blood across the door post of their homes in order to save the firstborn.
So this was an important event. For a Jew, the most important event and time of the year.
Ironically, its during this particular event that the most important event in human history happened, that is the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We need to understand that the next chapters in John deal with the final days before Jesus’s death and then we have a detailed account of his death and resurrection in the final chapters of the book.
We have entered, at this point within the book of John, to the last week before the death of Jesus Christ.
The have come to the point where they are now seeking to kill Jesus.
Jesus has been the topic of conversation among the Jewish leaders and they have devised a plan to kill him. To come after him with full force.
And all this happened as a result of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
We cannot approach the last week of Jesus’s life without mentioning his last and greatest miracle in the raising of Lazarus.
It cannot be overstated what this miracle did in the lives of those who loved them and the lives of those who hated him.
For those who loved him or were at least open to him, it gave them confidence that what he said was true. That who he claimed to be was true.
But for those who hated him, it furthered their hatred. It incited them more against him.
And its here we see those two sentiments toward Jesus come together and collide.
Jesus is on his way toward Jerusalem, one of his last trips there.
And this crowd of people gather together to welcome him. Keep in mind the amount of people that were probably included in the crowd.
Lets look at the welcome he will get. look in verse 13.
The False Anticipation of an Earthly King
The False Anticipation of an Earthly King
took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”
They take palm branches and waved them at him as he entered the city.
Now why on earth would they do this?
These people have demonstrated time and time again that they misunderstand the ministry of Jesus.
Palm branches were used during this time to refer to a celebration of victory.
Jesus has not come to liberate them from Roman oppression, but that is what they want.
They think they have their man in Jesus who will finally come, and lead a victorious revolt against their Roman oppressors.
After all, this is the man who raised Lazarus from the dead. This is the man who gave them food where their was none. This is the man who healed the sick Restored sight to the blind. Surely, Rome and its power would be no match for their Messiah.
This is their greeting for their conquering king. For their Messiah.
This is what they do for the man they deem to be the great liberator of the Jewish people.
Make no mistake, this is why they cheer. This is why the seemingly worship him.
They Cry out, “Hosanna” meaning save us now… or give salvation now.
They even quote a passage of Scripture.
O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
they quote and they desire salvation.
They even temporarily hail him as king of Israel.
But the question is what kind of salvation do they want?
We need to understand something here. They do not want the salvation that Jesus is offering nor do they want the type of salvation that is offering.
Jesus is not their to do the kind of saving they want.
They want freedom from Rome.
They want a restoration of their power and prominence.
They want the yoke of Rome off their collective backs.
But Jesus came to do more than that.
He came to do something much better than all of that.
He came to free them from sin and sin’s power over them.
He came to restore them back to God.
He came to restore them back into a relationship with the Father and to exercise his power of death, sin, and the grave.
He came to remove the yoke of sin and Satan off the back of all those who will believe in Him.
Understand something here, Jesus is not the kind of Messiah they are longing for, which is why in just a few days, the same people here crying Hosanna, will cry out Crucify Him, Crucify Him.
And we must stop here and ask the question:
Do we want the salvation Jesus offers or do we have something else in mind for Jesus?
If I may be so bold, Sometimes I think we may :
Want freedom from the hardships that oppress us in this life.
We want Jesus to give us prosperity and prominence in the world that we live.
We want Jesus to take the yoke of hard times away,
But he came to do much more than that.
So, their cry is cry is correct. Their hearts are in the wrong place.
We should cry out Hosanna “Save us Now,” but we should submit to his salvation and realize the salvation he has for us is much better than any political, financial, or social salvation that we could conjure up.
Their anticipation and praises are directed toward the right person, but they don’t understand rightly what Jesus has come to do.
But though they have hailed him as the conqueror who will come to bring salvation by the edge of the sword, Jesus is fully aware of his true purpose.
He is coming to be a King, but by all means, His kingdom will not be ushered in by the edge of the sword, but his rise to reign will be through his death.
Jesus doesn’t come wielding a sword, but he comes as a servant.
“Jesus doesn’t come gathering an army of soldiers, but he comes as a shepherd gathering His sheep.” Dean Connor
He doesn’t come to bring death to his enemies, but instead he comes to bring life to his enemies.
And we see this in verse 14-16
Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written,
Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.
Jesus comes riding in on the colt of a Donkey, fulfilling .
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
In this time period, the great Kings an warriors were expected to sit atop a valiant horse as they rode into battle.
A king would only ride a donkey when he came to make peace.
Interestingly enough, Jesus comes into Bethlehem 33 years prior seated in his mother’s womb upon on donkey. Here, he rides in to Jerusalem to bring peace to the world.
But the crowd doesn’t understand this.
John even admits he didn’t get this at first.
These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.
Can you imagine when it all clicked for John and the disciples?
They look back at all he had said, done, having the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them, and they get it.
If you remember, the spirit isn’t given until Jesus is glorified.
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
I believe that when the Holy Spirit is given to these men, the things which previously they had misunderstood, the Spirit bring to their minds and gives them the ability to understand.
In fact this is just what Jesus says in
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
John 16:12
John speaks of this happening.
What was previously murky has become crystal clear to them by the power and indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
And this is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit guides us in the truth of Christ, so that we may know Christ and know his purposes.
Thats what he does.
So though john may have not understood at this point, he fully understands now and he writes to us so that we may understand as well.
John not only can look back and tell us what happened, but he tells us why it happened.
Look in verse 17-19
So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”
So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.
Three groups form all having different purposes and goals:
A group of witnesses
They have seen Jesus’s power and they cannot stop talking about it.
A group of people seeking Jesus to see the great miracle worker
They have heard of Jesus and they cannot stop thinking about it.
The Pharisees who seek to kill him.
They have heard about and seen the results of this miracle they wont stop until he is dead.
And we leave here with this tension…
Jesus, on a donkey, heading to Jerusalem for hour that was organized in eternity past by the Father.
Possibly millions coming out to see him and hail him as the long awaited Messiah.
A group of Jewish leaders who see their power over the people slipping away fighting amongst themselves and seething at the thought of people welcoming Jesus as the new King of Israel.
This is why they say:
So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”
This is hyperbole, although the crowd that was following him probably warranted such a claim.
The Pharisees are getting more and more angry.
It’s important here to note that Jesus is no longer removing Himself from their grasps. Here still knowing their thoughts and intentions accepts the praise of all these people knowing their hearts and desires against Him.
But Jesus is doing this on His time.
It is no coincidence that the resurrection of Lazarus happened just days before Passover.
Jesus has forced the issue. He knows when His time is. He knows the hour.
And He will accomplish the will of the Father on the Father’s time.
All of this is lending to that purpose.
Application:
The long awaited King has come and he is on his way to the cross. Will we embrace his purposes an his reason for coming?
Why do we treasure Christ as Savior?
Are we crying out Hosanna for the right reason?
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Is he your King?
The King over all an Lord of your life.
Or have you rejected him? Bear in mind, there are two groups that reject Jesus in this passage.
It hasn’t been revealed yet, but the multitude of branch wavers appeared to be worshipping, but in reality, they worshipped him because they thought he was doing what they wanted.
There is an underlying principle here:
Jesus has not come into the world to be what we would have him to be or even to give us what our hearts want and desire.
He has come to dethrone Satan through His death.
We must submit to him as Lord.
To follow Christ, you must submit to His purposes and His Lordship, and this will come up more next week.
Jesus at this point enters Jerusalem humbly riding a donkeys colt. He will triumph through his humility.
Surely, no one would think that a man humiliated, stripped naked upon a Roman cross would be bringing salvation, but Jesus is the unlikely Savior.
But now Jesus had