Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
March 27, 1983
The Entry of the King
John 12:12-19, NIV
The Jews had three festivals they had to attend - Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. To attend the Passover in Jerusalem, Jews came from the ends of the world. Wherever a Jew might live it was his ambition to observe at least one Passover in Jerusalem. To this day, when Jews in foreign lands like the United States, even those in Coshocton, observe the Passover, they say, "This year here; next year in Jerusalem."
During such a time, Jerusalem and the villages around it were crowded. The number of people there went from thirty thousand up to one hundred-fifty thousand, an increase of four hundred percent. Rumors had gone out that Jesus, the man who had raised Lazarus from the dead, was coming to Jerusalem for the Passover. As the crowds met him, they received him like a conqueror.
The whole picture is of a population who misunderstood. It shows us a whole crowd of people thinking of kingship in the terms of military conquest in which they had thought of it for so long. The way the crowd was receiving Jesus was very similar to the way Simon Maccabaeus entered Jerusalem one hundred and fifty years before, after he had blasted Israel's enemies in battle. The account of Simon's welcome reads:
"As he entered into Jerusalem the three and twentieth day of the seventh month... with thanksgiving and branches of palm trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and violins, and hymns and songs because he had destroyed a great enemy out of Israel."
For a Jew to wave a palm branch was like an American waving a flag. The very shouts which the crowd raised to Jesus showed how their thoughts were running. In verse 13 there is the word Hosanna. This word is often misunderstood. It is often translated as "Praise" but literally it is Hebrew for "Save us now!" In the Old Testament it was used by people seeking help and protection at the hands of the king. When the people shouted Hosanna it was not a cry of praise to Jesus, which it often sounds like when we quote it. It was a cry to God to break in and liberate his people now that the Messiah had come.
The next phrases read, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" (The King James makes it one sentence but it should be two, as the NIV has it.) The first phrase comes from Psalm 18. This was characteristically the conqueror's psalm. There is no doubt that when the people sang this psalm they were looking at Jesus as the Messiah who was predicted by the Old Testament prophets. To them it must have been only a matter of time before the trumpets rang out and Jesus gathered the Jews into an army to conquer the world. It is a good thing this happened outside the city and the roads were flooded with Passover pilgrims because if the Roman authorities had seen the spectacle they would have arrested Jesus then and there.
In such a situation it was obviously impossible for Jesus to speak to the crowd. His voice could not have reached that vast assembly of people. He made his point in a different way, like the Old Testament prophets sometimes did. The prophets of Israel always had a very distinctive method of getting their message across. When words failed to move people they did something dramatic, as if to say, "If you will not hear, you must be forced to see."
In 1 Kings 11:29-39 the prophet Ahijah has a message to King Jeroboam by taking off his clothes and ripping them into twelve pieces. The message - God was splitting up Israel and giving Jeroboam a piece. In Isaiah 20 God told the prophet Isaiah to take off his clothes and shoes and walk around naked. He had to do this for three years. The message - God would punish Egypt and take her people away as naked prisoners.
These dramatic actions were what we might call acted parables or dramatic sermons. When Jesus could not get the people's attention by speaking, he did the next best thing: he came riding on a donkey's colt. This signified two things: first, it was a deliberate claim to be the Messiah. This is the first time Jesus did this publicly. By riding on a donkey Jesus is enacting the words of the prophet Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9. John quotes it in verse 15:
"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."
There is no doubt at all that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah. But second, it was a claim to be a particular kind of Messiah. The donkey was not normally used by a warlike person. It was the animal of a man of peace, a priest, or a merchant. It might also be used by someone of importance but only for peaceable purposes. A conqueror would ride into the city on a way horse, or perhaps march in on foot at the head of his troops. The donkey speaks of peace and humility. The Old Testament speaks of the Messiah coming two ways - on clouds or a donkey. The Jewish rabbis of that time were embarrassed to explain how the Messiah would be content with so humble an entry as described in Zechariah 9:9. They got around it by saying the Messiah's way of entering Jerusalem depended on the spiritual condition of the Jews. They wrote:
"Behold, the Messiah comes "on the clouds of heaven" [the description of the conquering Messiah in Daniel] and "humble and riding on a donkey.
As it says in Zechariah 9:9, if Israel is close to God, the Messiah will come on the clouds of heaven but if Israel is wicked, he will come "humble and riding on a donkey." Since Israel knew it was right with God, they kept their eyes on the clouds. God would never send them a Messiah on a donkey.
This action of Jesus is a sign that he was not the warrior figure men dreamed of but the Prince of Peace. No one saw it at that time, not even the disciples, who should have known better. It says in verse 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."
Missing the symbolism of a humble entry, everyone was greeting him like a conquering hero. The crowd was energized by a kind of mob hysteria. This is what bothered the Pharisees. They saw the mob and give the remark found in verse 19:
"Look how the whole world has gone after him!"
Five days later the crowds greeted Jesus again but this time they screamed, "Crucify! Crucify!"
Things are not much different today. Many people have a high view of Jesus and say wonderful things about him. You are uncouth if you don't like Jesus. But many of these same people don't really understand what Jesus was about. Too many people look to Jesus as a miracle-worker who dishes out only blessings. The crowds at Jerusalem made this error. They looked for the Messiah of their own dreams and their own wishful thinking. They did not look for the Messiah whom God had sent. The true Jesus showed that the way to please God, the way to glory, is through humility and suffering.
The Christian life is not one victory after another but trusting in Christ no matter what happens. It is humbling ourselves before God and seeking to be peacemakers in every situation. Today you can make the decision to follow him. Do it now, before the Messiah returns in power and with an army, when it will be too late for you.
Today three people will be baptized as Jesus commanded. In the Bible baptism is a very humbling experience and symbolizes our death to our old way of life. It also symbolizes the new life Jesus gives us through the Spirit....
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Typed on February 20, 2006, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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