Servant or Superstar?

Christ Jesus came as a servant, not as a superstar. His three–year ministry was a powerful example of servanthood—from His first miracle of changing water to wine at a wedding feast to His sacrificial death on the cross in which His own blood flowed freely for the salvation of all who will believe in Him and receive God’s offer of forgiveness from sins.

While visiting villages in India or Africa on missionary tours one of the missionaries spoke of having been utterly overwhelmed by the crowds, young and old, running out breathlessly to meet them. He says they shrink back embarrassed. How can anyone greet them in that way! “We are only men—forgiven sinners as they are,” he said, “Ah, but they were coming with gratitude and joy. We represent the people who first shared the good news with them, bringing salvation and healing. This is why they shout and sing and wave branches. So we join in the celebration.”

Lazarus had been raised from the dead! The word was out! Now the One who raised him was on His way to Jerusalem in spite of all the earlier threats from high places. This must be the Messiah. One could feel the excitement building! But can anyone really grasp the frenzied, the bottled up emotions let loose by these crowds welcoming Christ Jesus to Jerusalem? Those who accompanied Christ Jesus were eager to tell anyone who would listen the amazing things they had seen. In the city, there was a great multitude who had come for the Passover Feast, they had heard He was coming and they surged out to meet Him.

What mighty hopes and expectations they had. He was coming to take over right? If Christ Jesus had raised a man from the dead, surely He could set them free from the shackles of Rome? Hadn't He come to occupy the throne of David? This Jesus just had to be their “national liberator,” so everything they did had political overtones. Even the palm branches were a sign of Maccabean nationalism.

John 12:12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

"Hosanna!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Blessed is the King of Israel!"

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt." 

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"

So let's take a look at Christ Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.

1. Hosanna! (vs. 12-15) The common people honored Christ Jesus, with their acclamation of joy, when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem.

This was indeed an “hour of decision” for the crowd. In this event, recorded in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19, Christ Jesus allowed Himself to be recognized as the King of Israel.

Josephus estimated the Passover crowd at 2,700,000, suggesting they would have been driving a quarter million lambs into Jerusalem for this Passover feast. Just as a comparision, seven counties make up the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area: Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, and Oklahoma. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the region had a population of 1,252,987. With Shawnee included in Oklahoma City's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) it brings the region's population to 1,322,429.

Now I know not all 2,700,000 were there to see Christ Jesus. The thing I want you to remember is that this was not just a handful of people like the movies always show. There were thousands if not close to a million people there to see Christ Jesus as He entered Jerusalem that day.

All these people did not just stand there and watch Christ Jesus ride pass, no they were excited, all most in a frenzy as Christ Jesus came to the gates of Jerusalem. In verse 13 it says that they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him.
Palm branches were used at the Feast of Tabernacles but had to be brought in from Jericho.

When Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple altar in 164 b.c. after the desecration by the Syrians, the Jews came bringing palms to the temple. They were victors! And later when His brother Simon conquered the Jerusalem citadel in 142 b.c. the Jews took possession while carrying palm fronds.

The palm branches were constantly used to celebrate military victories and probably stirred some political messianic hopes among the people. The crowd was still thinking of Christ Jesus as a political deliver, and an earthly king.

Also in verse 13, you see that the people started to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” Hosanna means “Save now,” and was more than likely a plea for action against the authority of Rome. Here the people are quoting from Psalms 118:25-26: 25 O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD... 

Psalms 113 – 118 were called the Hallel (haw-lal'), and were regularly song at Passover season, so these words were fresh in everyone's mind. Their hopes and ambitions for Israel were man-centered and nationalistic. These people had misunderstood the meaning and implications of the raising of Lazarus as did the crowd of five thousand whom Christ Jesus fed. They were about to claim Christ Jesus as the king who would overthrow Rome and set them free.

Carson put it this way, “The crowds do not simply pronounce a blessing in the name of the Lord on the one who comes, but pronounce a blessing on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. The next line shows that this is the way the crowd understands their own words: blessed is the king of Israel is not a quotation from Psalms 118, but messianic identification of “he who comes in the name of the Lord.”” - Carson, p. 432

Christ Jesus answered the pressure and false expectations of this frenzied crowd with a prophetic, but simple, act. One expects a military hero, a King, or a savior to ride a mighty horse or be drawn in a chariot. But Christ Jesus is not an earthly king. He “found a young donkey” and “sat on it” (v. 14). Yes, He is the Messiah, no He was not a political messiah. 

John’s words from Zechariah 9:9, which speak of the long-expected Chosen One, make this clear, “Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.” Had Christ Jesus come to fulfill the earthly, nationalistic ambitions of these people He would have ridden a horse, as a warring liberator. But He came on a donkey, an honored animal in that day, as a Messiah of Peace. 

Christ Jesus was ushered in like a military and political hero and yet He was neither. He was much more, He is much more. He is the Prince of Peace, He is God/man-the Saviour of Mankind. 

Who or what are you counting on for your eternal salvation? You should really have only one answer and that is Christ Jesus.

Here He was, the Messiah, the deliver, the King of Israel; or so the people and the disciples thought.

2. The Disciples Did Not Understand (vs. 16)

Not even the disciples understood what this all meant until much later. The disciples still did not grasp Christ Jesus' nature and work even though they had been with Him for three years. They did not consider, when they fetched the colt and sat Him on it, that they were performing the ceremony of the inauguration of Zion's king.

The scripture is often fulfilled by the those who have not themselves seen the scripture in what they do. There are many excellent things, both in the Word and care of God, which the disciples did not understand at first. Many like the disciple as they first become acquaintance with the things of God, see men as trees walking. That which is at first dark afterwards is clear.

Writing many years later John admitted that they, the disciples; were enlightened by the Spirit only after the resurrection and ascension. Listen to Acts 1:6 - So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 

Here it was after Christ Jesus' death and resurrection and the disciples were still asking about an earthly kingdom. Like the disciples, your faith may be slow to form and grow, but also if allowed to grow it will lead you to a rock-solid commitment to Christ Jesus.

The inscription on the fly leaf of a Bible found in a tin box under the cornerstone of Wellesley College reads, “This building is humbly dedicated to our heavenly Father with the hope and prayer that He will always be first in everything in the institution – that His Word may be faithfully taught here, and that He will use it as a means of leading precious souls to the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

This mission statement can also be applied to your life. Sure you may not always understand the Holy Spirit's leading or prompting much like the disciples early on. However remember this, the same Holy Spirit who brought to the disciples minds the remembrances of Christ Jesus, what He had said and taught; is the same Holy Spirit available to you this morning.

The disciples did not understand the message or the mission of Christ Jesus.

3. The Religious Leaders Did Not Want To Understand (vs. 17-19)

The raising of Lazarus was not a sign of nationalistic glory for Israel, but a promise that when the Messiah came He would share the gift of healing and life with all the people.

The crowds were still flocking to this miracle worker, this Jesus. They were even going so far as to call Him Messiah and King of Israel. And this made the religious leaders very unhappy. This once more led to confrontation and misunderstanding and to open hostility. The religious leaders rejected Christ Jesus with increasing malice.

Once more John applies a touch of irony in reciting the last phrase of our text this morning, “look, the world has gone after Him.” John uses the word kosmos to include the crowd at the Passover feast and beyond. For John, Christ Jesus was not only drawing the Passover crowd to Himself, He was also drawing a lost and rebellious world back to it's Maker.
 

Conclusion: Those that truly cherish and have adoration for our Lord and Saviour will neither be ashamed nor afraid to acknowledge Him before men in any instance. In all things you will give Him honor. Are you giving Jesus Christ the honor He deserves?

For those who do not know Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour, He is still drawing the lost and rebellious to Him. Why not make it personal and let Him draw you in to His heart this today?