John chapter 12 as we continue marching forward now in John picking up at verse 12 this week. You might remember last week Jesus was anointed by Mary at Bethany and not to go back and rehash all of that but that had that and also the week before we took a look at the whole concept of kingdom and the king being anointed and also of Jesus is anointing before as he was anticipating his own crucifixion but we will keep this kingdom theme as we continue now in to verse 12 looking at the triumphal entry. The entry of Jesus finally into Jerusalem a story that most are familiar with as he comes riding in on a young donkey or a cult as it were so let's read together from John the 12th chapter beginning at the 12th verse the day following anointing in Bethany. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him crying out Hosanna blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel and Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written fear not daughter of Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's cult his disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign so the Pharisee said to one another you see that you are gaining nothing look the whole world has gone after him the Lord blessed the reading of his word and the hearing of his people to the triumphal entry one of the few incidents recorded in all four gospels in fact the feeding of the 5,000 is also recorded in all four gospels but you will find that each gospel presents a slightly nuanced account neither account or none of the accounts disqualifying or bringing into conflict with the other but each of them providing a different perspective or a different look at the same incident this has happened on the Sunday of what we consider to be Passion Week or we call it very frequently Palm Sunday which we celebrate during the Easter season the ancient historian Josephus reported that in between 66 and 70 AD people who were gathering in Jerusalem for Passover numbered 2,000,000 and 700,000 gathering in this one ancient city small by our standards and that is not even counting foreigners who might gather John's account is fairly brief as compared to the other accounts in the synoptic gospels Matthew focuses in his account on the Messianic prophecies which we find in Zechariah the synoptics as a group focus on the travel from Bethany looking at the group and the crowd who gathered at Bethany whereas in John's account we find more of a focus on those who are coming out of Jerusalem Luke records the waiting the wailing and the lamentation of Jesus as he approached the city and he said in those words oh if you had only known the day of your of your opportunity they had missed their opportunity but John's account John's account seems to focus on Jesus's arrival and again on the kingdom message on the arrival and the inauguration of a kingdom mark helps us to understand as we as we dovetail mark or as we layer mark on with John we can understand a little more clearly what was in Jesus's mind let me read from Mark 10 just two verses 32 and 34 they were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way let me point out Jesus leading the way we know that as Jesus was approaching the time of his crucifixion that he became more and more determined and more and more deliberate to make his way to Jerusalem very focused on the mission what was the mission Mark spells it out for us and the disciples were astonished while those who followed were afraid again he took the 12 aside and told them what was going to happen why were the people astonished why were they afraid we've already examined that they knew that there was a plot to arrest Jesus there had already been attempts to stone and capture and capture Jesus and Jesus had avoided that time after time again but now he seems to be very open very public very much going forward along main avenues of approach and full public view to Jerusalem and so those who were going with him you remember Thomas said if he's going to Jerusalem let us go with him and we'll all die together and so their expectation was that this could be a confrontational event and so as they go with him they are astonished and they are afraid at the boldness with which Jesus is now walking to Jerusalem Jesus pulls the disciples together in verse 33 we are going up to Jerusalem he said and the son of man will be betrayed to the chief priest and the 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 so Jesus in pulling his disciples together makes it clear that with his boldness in his in his movement with his very intentional design and travel with his very public persona he has one purpose in mind and that is that he would go to Jerusalem be arrested be beaten be hung on across to die and in three days he would arise Jesus came to Jerusalem then for one purpose to die it's important to note that Jesus is taking the initiative in this Jesus was not the victim or a hapless victim of a plot that somehow got out of control his ministry was not interrupted by those who would seek to supplant his work where God then remedies it by somehow working it out with the resurrection Jesus did not go to Jerusalem anticipating that Jerusalem might receive him and that he might not be crucified and have to be resurrected as some people would somehow put forward instead he came knowing how the mobs will react to him he sent for a cult intentionally fulfilling a prophecy in Zechariah 9.9 he sent for the cult taking again that initiative knowing the crisis that it will cause and when they hail him as Messiah he doesn't reject their proclamations this time as the people began to wave their palm branches in full view of the religious leaders and they call him Messiah hail the King of Jerusalem hail the King hell the return of King David Jesus this time does not silence them knowing the effect it has on the religious leaders this was not a last chance for Israel in fact that has already passed it was Jesus's journey to the cross that's why as we read that Jesus was approaching he began to weep he weep not because the people were waving their palms and receiving him at that very moment they were saying Hosanna received glory in the highest for our salvation and day of salvation has come why would that be the very moment that Jesus weeps and says it's passed and you missed it because as we will see what they were receiving is not what they were looking for Palm Sunday the tenth day of Nissan on the Jewish calendar thousands of Passover lambs thousands of Passover lambs will be taken into Jerusalem to be kept in the homes of the people who will eventually slaughter and eat the lambs at Passover Josephus again that great ancient historian gives us account of 256,500 lambs in one year that were taken into Jerusalem try to imagine now just and Augustus much larger than the Jerusalem that they were working with but imagine 256,500 lambs being brought in before the Passover we're not talking groups of 10 or 20 on an interstate system where an overturned rig that dumps his livestock and stop traffic for miles and for hours imagine 256,000 plus lambs being brought in by shepherds they would be clogging the arteries they would be clogging the gates they would be in the streets and here is Jesus with the crowds moving down the streets toward Jerusalem amidst in some way at least over on the side or within sight there are lambs being taken for Passover and here is the chief lamb of God who is coming to take away the sins of the world traveling among them to Passover it would be hard to understand how Jesus would not note that he is traveling with the lambs who are being taken for slaughter the people come out of Jerusalem there are two groups those who are traveling with Jesus from Bethany and then that crowd that comes out of Jerusalem and these converge on the road on the way in and those who are coming out peel off palms date palms which would have been plentiful it's not a scriptural prescription during Passover to use palms but two centuries earlier as Simon the Maccabee drove out Syrians from the capital he was held with hymns and he was held with with palms and so they became a part of the reception of Jesus much like a heroes welcome kind of like we might today have a ticker tape parade for heroes coming back it's a time of celebration and there would be this waving of palms there was an instruction however I need to point out Leviticus 23 where the people were instructed on during the Feast of Tabernacles to take a palm and with a myrtle and a willow branch on each side to shake it as an expression of joy so there is some biblical account of a use of a palm but not in the way that they were using it here that's not to criticize or condemn it it's to simply cast it as a political expression not as a part of the Passover ceremony or a part of religious expression in fact it shouldn't have been palms that they were using but they should have come to Jesus on bended knee that would have been most appropriate the palms end up being a mockery a mockery because it's a people who in swinging their palms are saying that they are hailing the coming Messiah and then they also with loud shouts would say crucify crucify so the palms were empty symbols of a people with a misdirected hope Passover Passover for these people was a celebration of a deliverance from bondage and subjugation and so they came out singing and and calling out Hosanna Hosanna Passover was the most patriotic time of the year for these people as they celebrated a nation's liberation perhaps it's like our own Fourth of July a time when we fire fireworks and we gather and we see parades and we recognize those who have served and we recognize the liberties of our nation and it's a time where we rejoice for all that God has done to bless our nation Passover had become for them a celebration much like that is they celebrated the redemption of God but the expression of that redemption was that a people had been liberated from bondage and from slavery and from the yoke of service to become their own nation blessed by God and so they took the palms and they rush out to greet the one said to have raised a man from death the one that has raised a man from death it's sort of an apocalyptic scene almost as they are rushing out because surely if he raised a man from death then what would it be to cast off the yoke of Rome that would be light work for a man who has mastery over death a scene that we would see outside the gates of Jerusalem is not unlike a scene that I'm sure we are going to see again if we read of the second coming of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4 we read of a scene very much like this for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first here we have Lazarus who has risen and he's a company in Christ and here at the second coming we have again reported to us the raising of those who have been dead and the ones who are dead in Christ will be the first to arise at this second coming after that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will be with the Lord forever as Jesus with this resurrected man is approaching Jerusalem those who were in the city come out and meet Jesus as he is approaching and as we read in 1 Thessalonians don't we find a very similar scene as our Lord is descending in glory at the second coming and the people who are in Christ are caught up together with him leaving the city of man to greet their Lord in the air as it were to be with him forever running out they shout Hosanna which means save now or bring salvation now it could be said that the word Hosanna which is simply a transliteration it hasn't really been translated for us Hosanna is actually what you would have heard them saying with a little different dialect it could be said that that expression is not meant to communicate a concrete idea as much as it is to be an expression of feeling or an emotive state like we might say ourselves if we're watching a good ball game and some there's a late score that we really needed and I know many of our teams could have needed yesterday if there had been a late score we might have stood up and said now that's what I'm talking about to which someone would go you weren't saying anything you weren't talking it's an expression of satisfaction it's an expression of agreement it's an expression of joy it's an expression of rejoicing so we might stand up if it was a religious event and go Hosanna I don't recommend that at the football game but nevertheless when you stand up and you give an expression you're basically enunciating the same thing it's not a concrete idea you're trying to express when I say that's what I'm talking about I really wasn't talking about anything at all I'm saying I'm excited about that that's what I wanted to see that's what I wanted to have happen and now they're coming out these people who are under the Yoke of Bondage are coming out and they're saying Hosanna Hosanna that's what we want to see the one who will come and deliver us this is the day we're looking for God has sent salvation to us this Hosanna this expectation comes from Psalm 118 verse 25 which is part of what's called the Haleal Psalms and it is important that we know what these Psalms are Psalms 113 through 118 were sung every morning during the Feast of Tabernacles and now we commend them to you because these Psalms in particular help us to put a framework on Jesus' proclamation of that kingdom which is to come because in this Feast of Tabernacles there was this great expectation of the kingdom which was to come and these were the Psalms that informed their celebrations at the Feast of Tabernacles and we see evidence of that here because as they're anticipating their kingdom being renewed and the throne of David being re-established they turn to the Haleal Psalms Psalm 118 to sing their praise Hosanna Hosanna praise to the God the Pharisees were standing there too the Pharisees note all of this that's going on and they're watching all that is happening and we see in the scriptures it says that they spoke among themselves you see that you are gaining nothing look the world has gone after them what we get a sense of here is there is a more hawkish group in the Pharisees a more aggressive group that's more determined to have an end to Jesus' ministry perhaps among the Pharisees there's a moderate group or a group that is still waiting or hedging its bets or warning to see what happens and that more hawkish group now turns to them and says to them you see that you are gaining nothing in other words they're saying you see your way is getting us nowhere this waiting this pondering this talking this dialogue this challenging him in public all of these strategies you're using is getting us nowhere look the whole world is following after him they're saying it's just getting going from worse to worse he started out with 12 out in the countryside with a wild man baptizing and calling him the one who has come from God and now the whole city has come out to greet him your way is simply not working it's time to do it our way and so Jesus by his very public entry into Jerusalem has even hastened the plans and put the schedule of the Sanhedrin on God's timetable for he will not be arrested after Passover he will not be crucified in the middle of a season with no consequence he is the Passover lamb and so we see even the hawkish motives of these Pharisees who are now pressing their case as they would seek to seize control as they understand it they actually are falling completely into the sovereign control of our Savior who has now worked to satisfy the prophecies of Zechariah to press their case and bring everything to crisis ironically ironically the report the whole world has gone after him when John uses the word world he does mean the world he here is not limiting it to simply the Jews when John uses that word the world he does mean that they were signifying by their comment though they certainly did not see the whole world they were using a term of exaggeration to make their point but how ironic that this was foreshadowing the mission of Jesus that was just now opening up that in fact the whole world is going to go after him and we see in the next time we return to John 12 Gentiles Gentiles will now approach Jesus and whereas before he had been he had rebuffed them by and large at this point now he will receive and we'll talk to them about the gospel so what's going on what happened at Jerusalem with those folks with the palms who were singing Hosanna how is it that they were so wrong and that their palms were actually a mockery of the true mission of Christ they misunderstood his mission the enthusiasm of the crowd show show that there seems it seems to be incongruent doesn't it with with their shouting later of crucify crucify on the one hand they sing Hosanna Hosanna and then a few days later crucify crucify elsewhere John has reported that faith and belief of the people were often inauthentic just a quick survey of what we've already studied in chapter 223 we see again at Passover that many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing but then in verses 24 and 25 Jesus didn't entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man for himself knew what was in man here we have in 223 the people see all that he's doing and they're getting excited and they're putting their faith in him and they are believing in him but Jesus would not turn himself over to them because he knew what was in the heart of man and it says almost parenthetically he didn't need anybody to tell him he knew very well what man was all about and then in chapter 6 for city 66 after the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus then presents himself as the living bread and then we read after this many of the disciples turned back and no longer walked with him these were people who believed and were following but when Jesus says I am the bread of life many found that to be too difficult and they turned and didn't walk with him any further in chapter 8 verse 30 said these things that after he said these things many believed in him and in 848 that same group that believed in him turn around and say aren't you a Samaritan and have a demon what sort of belief what sort of faith had they demonstrated and then in 1042 we're told that many believed in 1145 after the raising of Lazarus many put their faith in him and in here we see the waving of the palms and the loud cries of Housannas but where are all of these people when he stands before the court and pilot and Jesus and Jesus is presented to them and and they are offered the opportunity to receive or to reject even while Jesus now receives this widespread reports the Pharisees despair that the whole world is going after him John cast doubt on those who are so enamored with him because they remain unsurrendered the palm branches testify they expect Jesus to come as a political remedy to their Roman yoke if Jesus can raise the dead as I said then what trouble would he have with Rome they're interested in what Jesus can do but not interested in who he really is and what he requires they see a man of power not a suffering servant who will be the Passover lamb causing the angel of death to pass them by Jesus says to them fear not or do not be afraid there a true king has arrived and he's a shepherd king rather than a foreign oppressor and one who fulfills Zechariah 131 that reads in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin at uncleanliness Jesus has come to open up the way of salvation not to usher in a worldly kingdom and to go to war with Rome he has not come to put swords in the hands of his people he has come to beat swords into plowshares Dr. Robert Rayburn of one of our great pastors and preachers of faith Presbyterian and Tacoma Washington said this about this exact concept but he says and this is key to everything in human life and history no one can have the one thing everlasting peace and prosperity without the other a divinely provided redemption from sin and guilt embraced by humble faith and followed by the submission of one's life whenever in the gospels it becomes clear to people that this is what Jesus was saying that this is what he was demanding of them that this and this alone was the salvation he was offering to them that generality of men turn away in disgust even today a liberal theology is enamored with Jesus because he's a teacher of ethics we're told to turn the other cheek to forgive our enemy he's a philosopher consider the lilies he says in a philosophical way he is a philanthropist for we are to do under the least of them as we would do unto him he's a social revolutionary he's a racial healer he's a liberator of the oppressed he's a healer of the sick in other words like putty in their hand he is whatever they want him and need him to be but the one thing they cannot fathom is that he is a Lord that demands their total surrender all of their agendas all of their dreams all of their causes all of their ambitions all of our agendas and dreams and causes and ambitions all of our needs are to be turned over to him and we are to live for him as his bonds servants let me ask you this and closing it what is it that you seek what and which Jesus is it that you welcome the social revolutionary the philosopher the philanthropist the one who loves and liberates the oppressed or heals the sick who is it that you worship is your enthusiasm for Christ does it follow your complete surrender to Christ if so then your Passover lamb has come