Sunday April 2nd, 2023 (Palm Sunday)
John
12:9-15 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and
came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from
the dead. So, the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on
account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus
was on his way to Jerusalem 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! Jesus found a
young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion see,
your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
The ones that had been trying to kill Jesus, or have Him killed,
ever since He healed the blind man on the sabbath at the "Pool of
Siloam" had turned out for the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
The Jewish leaders had turned their attention to killing Lazarus because he had
become a threat to their control and power over the Jewish people.
Not only did the leaders of the Jews want to kill Jesus, but
they callously wished to kill Lazarus as well. He had become an essential
confirmation and verification of Jesus performing a miracle. Lazarus showed
himself before the people alive and well, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind
that Jesus had raised a dead man from the grave. The leaders of the Jews wanted
to destroy this evidence before the World started following Jesus. Our Lord and
Savior Christ Jesus had become a threat to their principles, priorities, and
standards; He was a political threat. All of humanity must stand one way or the
other to the unambiguous truth that Jesus was the true promised Messiah. He
came into the World to save people from their sins. These people were willing
to kill in the name of religion; they had no qualm gathered about the murder
when it threatened their religious views. Despite the clear evidence that Jesus
had performed this great miracle, humanity was about to show how wicked the
human heart was.
The popularity that Jesus enjoyed among the vast majority of the
people had come to light with this great crowd that came to see the King of
Kings come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Josephus, the famed Jewish
historian, wrote that the crowds lining the streets during Passover week would
have been more than two million people. But, of course, we have no way of
confirming or denying that there was such an enormous and colossal number of
people; suffice to say, the crowds that came out to greet Jesus were tremendous
and massive.
They were shouting: Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Blessed is the King of
Israel (Psalm 118:25-26). The Jewish people considered this
psalm a Messianic psalm, one of the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament.
They referred to Jesus as the King of Israel, and He had come to set up His
kingdom on the earth. He came out in public this day, and His mission on earth
was no longer a secret. He had started fulfilling prophecies; this presentation
was most certainly the official introduction of the long-awaited promised
Messiah. However, the people were expecting a political Messiah that would free
them from the clutches of Rome and set up the Jewish throne on the earth once
again. Because the people that day failed miserably to recognize just what
Jesus was doing, it led to shouts a few days later of "Crucify Him."
Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus was about to willingly and
joyfully go to the Cross of Calvary and lay down his earthly life to pay the
sin price for the World. He was placing Himself clearly before the Jewish
Nation so that they might see who He was (John 10:24). Sadly, all reasoning
disappeared, and the people did not rejoice in their King but faulty rejected
Him.
Ignorance of the writings of the Old Testament caused even his
closest followers, the 12 apostles, to miss the true magnitude of His Triumphal
entry as what it was, a fulfillment of prophecy (Zechariah 9:9). Later, after
the resurrection when He was about to ascend back to heaven, we see the
Apostles asking Him if He was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel (Acts
1:6).
Some of us today might find ourselves symbolically waving our
palm branches and laying down our coats at the feet of Jesus. We may even be
excited that the time of liberation has come for us, but when the donkey goes
by us, we tighten the grip on our coats and do not want to let go. We want to
hold on to the perception of Jesus and His gospel we have long held because we
have become so comfortable in our misconceptions and delusions. We don't want
to lay our cloaks down before Jesus, but He calls us to do that. Just like the
Jewish people at the Triumphal Entry, we must lay down our own beliefs,
opinions, and viewpoints of who Jesus is and be open and sensitive to the
leading, guiding, and direction of the Holy Spirit.
One week from now, we will celebrate Jesus' Resurrection, thus
letting us know that we do not need to fear the grave as those without Christ
do. The grave could not hold Jesus, and it can't keep us. Just a few days
before this, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the grave, a preview of the great
miracle to come in just a few days. Jesus was already out of that tomb when the
angel rolled away the stone at the entrance. God did not move the stone away to
let Jesus out; it was to show us that the grave could not contain Jesus and it
cannot hold us because, as His children, we do not have just a partial life; we
have the full life promised us by our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus (John
10:10).
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