This week at Heartland Church we are beginning a new series for the season of Lent called "Journey to the Cross", looking at the final events of Jesus' life here on earth and what they mean for us.
This week we'll be looking specifically at Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover and ultimately his death and resurrection.
There are several accounts of this story in the Gospels but my favorite is in the book of Luke.
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.'" Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They replied, "The Lord needs it." They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." (Luke 19:28-44 NIV)
A couple things that are important for us to note in this story...
1) JESUS ENTERING JERUSALEM ON A DONKEY - Why is it that after traveling a great distance on foot that Jesus chooses to stop at Bethphage and ride the remaining short distance to Jerusalem on a donkey? The reason is that Jesus is making a statement. We often view donkeys as a lowly form of transportation but back in those days, only the very wealthy and kings and rulers rode on donkeys. Also, the significance of Bethphage was that it was considered to be like the city limits of Jerusalem. The Hebrew people knew their scripture well and the prophets foretold that when the Messiah came, he would enter the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Jesus was making a statement that he was indeed that Messiah. Judging by people's response to his silent statement, they understood what he was saying. The people begin crowding around him, waving palm branches and shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
2) THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PEOPLE'S RESPONSE - There is a lot of history here, that for the sake of this discussion, we won't get into. But it's safe to say that the Hebrew people experienced a long line of oppression under ruthless governments from the time of their slavery in Egypt to Jesus' day when they suffered under the Roman empire. So when the prophets spoke of a Messiah who would come to be their King and free them from oppression, the people expected a physical king to come and overthrow the government, and to literally free them from this physical oppression.
Over the years there were a number of groups who would rise up "in the name of God" and try to overthrow the government. One such group was called the Macabees. Interestingly they took as their symbol, the palm branch (you can find Macabean coins with the palm branch on them), and they took as their battle cry, "Hosanna!" which literally means, "God save us."
Well in Jesus' day, there was a group of people known as the Zealots who were also all about physically overthrowing the government. The Zealots fashioned themselves after the Macabees and took as their symbol, the palm branch, and took as their battle cry, "Hosanna!"... "God save us from our enemies!"
Here's where this all comes together. When the people crowd around Jesus in this story, waving palm branches and crying, "Hosanna!", they certainly were recognizing his claim to be the Messiah, but their expectation was that he was triumphantly riding into Jerusalem to overthrow the government and to establish his kingdom. Their own agendas clouded out what Jesus had really come to do. It's interesting how Jesus responds to them... He looks over the city of Jerusalem and weeps, and says, "If you only knew this day what would bring you peace..." In other words, in all the excitement of this moment, they weren't seeing what it was really about.
One of the things that strikes me about this story is how it exposes our own agendas in approaching Jesus. How often do we, like the crowds, approach him as Messiah, with our own ideas of how he should act and what he should do in response to our needs? We often think we know best. One of the lessons we need to learn in following Jesus is to constantly surrender our own agendas to the will of God for our lives. We need to recognize that even when it doesn't make sense to us, God's plan is always the best plan.
Are you willing to surrender your own agenda for God's agenda?
