1/4 03-29-15
Scripture:
John 12:9-11
This
is the attitude we would like Jesus to have as he is about to begin his parade
– After all HE is the King of kings. VIDEO: GLEE “Don’t rain on my parade.”
Tom
Barnard writes, "The crowd was clueless. They never got it right. They shouted praises. He wept. They looked for a warrior-king
riding a white stallion. They got a carpenter riding a donkey. They wanted hype. They got a healer. They wanted a prophet. They got one who fulfilled prophecy. They wanted a scepter. They got a Savior. They got nothing they asked for
but everything they needed.
Only they never got it. They were clueless. Jesus was the only One there who
really knew what was happening on that first Palm Sunday.
It's
so easy to become like those people in Jerusalem. We think we know what's going
on, but we really don't have a clue. We have a bad week, and we blame God. Our
kids act out, and we
blame the school. We
work two jobs and
wonder why things aren't better at home. Jesus comes to our town, and He wants to help; but we don't recognize Him
for who He is. We think
He will be impressed with our houses and our businesses and our stuff. He is not. He wants our hearts. That's what Palm Sunday is all about."
The only
way Jesus gets our heart is if we humble ourselves – get down from the high
horse of our own life – and ride a donkey in HIS parade. So
ALMIGHTY God wants us to humble ourselves?
Let’s see – we are told in James 4:10
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up. There are
benefits to being humble: Psalm 149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation. The benefits go beyond our salvation: Psalm
147:6 The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. So
BIG authoritative God wants to sit on his high horse and watch us squirm in
humility before him? In fact, he is the
one who has humbled himself and shows us how it looks: Psalm 25:9 He guides the
humble in what is right and teaches
them his way.
Jesus’s journey on a donkey showed how consistent Jesus was –
once again it showed his humility. Birth in a manger, obedient to his parents,
died in humiliation on a cross. Even while being proclaimed king – entered the
city on a donkey – a young donkey – a donkey never ridden before. Just before that, according to Mark – he
healed a blind man that the disciples tried pushing to the side so Jesus
wouldn’t be bothered. / Before you
proudly begin to think “Well, I am humble” look at what happened just before
healing the blind man as Jesus is on his way up to Jerusalem: Mark 10:32-45
They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and
the disciples were astonished,
while those who followed were
afraid.
Here is how they see Jesus marching
toward his certain death at the hands of the Jerusalem religious leaders. [I gotta fly once
/ I gotta try once / Only can die once, right, sir / Oh, life is juicy, juicy
and you see / I gotta have my bite, sir
Get
ready for me, love / Cause I'm a "comer" / I simply gotta march / My
heart's a drummer / Don't bring around a cloud / To rain on my parade
I'm
gonna live and live now / Get what I want, I know how / One roll for the whole
shebang / One throw that bell will go clang! / Eye on the target and wham! /
One shot, one gun shot and bam! / Hey Heavenly Father, here I am!] This is Sunday, and they don’t see
Thursday with Jesus in a garden pleading for his life, yet humbly submitting to
the will of God!
Again he took the Twelve aside and
told them what was going to happen to him. "We are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will
be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him
to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on
him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."
It
can’t be any plainer or more horrifying than that – and at that moment the
disciples must have bowed for a prayer meeting to protect Jesus. They probably humbled themselves before God,
tore their clothes put on sack cloth and threw ashes in the air and started
fasting. That would show their humility right after Jesus made it plain he was
about to SUFFER and DIE!!! Not so much,
instead, this takes place [James, John & Salome]:
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
came to him. "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask."
"What do you want me to do for you?"
he asked. They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left
in your glory." "You don't know what you are asking,"
Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be
baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" "We can,"
they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink
the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit
at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for
whom they have been prepared." When the ten heard about this, they
became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said,
"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority
over them. Not so with you. Instead,
whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants
to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus
was humbly ready to go up to Jerusalem, but what were the people in that moment
looking for?
John 12:9-11
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. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and
putting their faith in him. The
crowd wanted to see the miracle worker – The chief priests wanted to kill the
miracle worker and the miracle recipient.
The crowd kept growing and ALL wanted to see Jesus the King who would over
throw Roman oppression.
John 12:12-19
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." (Zech 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having
salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.)
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!"
Though Humble Jesus knows God will
receive this praise no matter what:
Luke
19:39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd
said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your
disciples!" 40 "I tell you,"
he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will
cry out."
Humble doesn’t mean not standing for
righteousness. Once he arrived at the
temple:
Matthew 21:12-17 12 Jesus
entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He
overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling
doves. 13 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are
making it a 'den of robbers.'" 14 The
blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers
of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the
temple area, "Hosanna
to the Son of David," they were indignant. 16 "Do you
hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read," 'From
the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?" 17 And he left them and went out of the city
to Bethany, where he spent the night.
What does your journey look like as a result of Jesus’ journey
on a donkey on Palm Sunday?
Phil 2:3,5-8
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit, but in humility
consider others better than yourselves. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being
found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on
a cross!
Phil 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord”, to the glory of God
the Father. 
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