Click here to read the original version presented Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, Palm Sunday, 20 March 2016, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2016/03/john-1212-19-st-johns-palm-reading.html
Yesterday Heather, Susan and I watched some youtube clips of the Martians from Sesame Street. Does anyone remember the Martians? ‘Briiiinnngg Telephone’? They came to earth and they would have this little cook that they would consult to find out more about what they were seeing. They would look a phone and with their book eventually figure out that it is not a cow. They would see a clock and see that it has a face and hands and think that it might be a person so they consult their book. And did anyone ever study Shakespeare in school? Or any other old English text? Does anyone remember Cole’s Notes? Do they still make those? Books that we could consult to see what all the different symbols from old England actually meant. Today we are looking at John’s version of what happened in Jerusalem around 2000 or so years ago. We are going to read it again and then we are going to pull out some of our own version of the Martian Handbook or Coles Notes to figure out what some of the symbolism actually means.
Before we do this though I want us to understand the context
of what is happening. Jesus is this celebrity preacher. People have been
following him everywhere just to hear him speak, see where he is going and
experience what he is going to do next. People with him are healed of otherwise
uncurable ailments: the blind see, the lame walk, and just a chapter earlier in
the book of John, a dead person is even brought back to life. It is when the
dead person, Lazarus, is brought back to life that the political religious leaders’
interest is really piqued in the situation. It is then that the leaders
themselves organize this plot to to kill Lazarus again AND to kill Jesus. They
are afraid.
Jesus seems to be well aware of all this. He either has
perfect knowledge in this moment or has just figured it out because it appears
from Verse 7 of this chapter that he had started making arrangements with his
friends for his own death and burial. Now more and more people are coming to
follow Jesus. There are great crowds in our text and the crowds keep getting
bigger. This is the context of our pericope that we will look at today. John
12:12-16 (NIV):
Verse 12: ‘The next day the great crowd that had come for
the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.’
Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem?
- JERUSALEM
What was the importance of Jerusalem? Like Ottawa is the
Captial of Canada and Toronto is the Capital of Ontario, Jerusalem is the
historic capital of Judah. It was the capital of the United Kingdom of Judah and
Israel when David was King. Now Judah and all of Israel are occupied by the
Superpower of their day – Rome.
What does it mean that a country is occupied by another
country? It is when a foreign country has army bases and/or soldiers stationed in
your country. And if one was going to be a Messiah to lead a successful revolt
against their occupiers and/or establish a strong independent country, they may
very well do so by publicly riding into Jerusalem, the ancient capital. Today,
in our text, Jesus, who is Messiah, is very publicly riding into Jerusalem.
Verse 12: ‘The next day the great crowd that had come for
the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.’
Verse 13 says the crowd that went out to meet him “ took palm
branches and went out to meet him, shouting,“Hosanna!”
- PALM BRANCHES
Palm branches: today is Palm Sunday. Many of us have read
this passage every year. What is the importance of palm branches on Palm Sunday?
Many in the crowds who have come out to see him certainly recognize that Jesus
is Messiah; he is the expectant king. The people are waiving branches of palm
trees. Now the palm branch is significant.
They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm branches happen to
be near by; they pick up the palm branches because palm branches are a
nationalistic symbol (cf. 1 Maccabees 13:51, 2 Macabbees 10:7; cf. also
Leviticus 23:40, Psalm 92:12, Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8). It would be like if
Canada was going to seek independence from the US or someone else and we were
waiving maple leaves or flags with the maple leaf on it – everyone recognises
that as a symbol of Canada. Canada just had its 150th anniversary of
confederation. Susan, the kids and I headed to Ottawa for it. It was nice, uneventful
really, but nice. Fifty years before though when Canada was celebrating its
Centennial, it got quite interesting. In July of 1967 Charles DeGualle the
President of France, invited by the Canadian government, stood up and made a
speach in Montreal, Quebec and cried out, ‘Vive le Quebec Libre”, “Long live
free Quebec.” Needless to say this didn’t go over so well with the Canadian
Authorities. These palm branches, in our text today, are a nationalistic symbol
being raised here in the traditional capital of an occupied territory. It would
be like if the crowds were waiving fleur-des-lies or if, like I said, Canada
was seeking its own independence from someone and we waved maple leaves or
maple leaf flags. The palm branch is a national symbol being raised in the
traditional capital of an occupied territory. This is where John drives home
that Jesus isn’t just a metaphorical or a spiritual king, Jesus is a political
king.[7] He is the King of Kings and the His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is at
hand.[8] And John’s placing of vv.14-15 after v.13 further conveys Jesus’ and
John’s approval of this claim.
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the
festival 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!”
3. ‘HOSANNA’,
‘KING OF THE JEWS’, ‘NAME OF THE LORD’
Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds
shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘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!”
This is significant stuff. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of
songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ at Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are
shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the
noses of the Romans even as their collaborators, the Jewish religious leaders,
have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna
means (Verse 13; cf. Psalm 118:25-26)? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’,
‘Save us!’ [3]
Jesus is triumphantly
entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and
people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our king! You –like all kings are supposed
to – you come here in the Name of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the
Romans, not the chief priests, not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus,
you are our King; save us from Rome and save us from our present leaders!’[4] Save
us! Hosanna. Save us!
The establishment have their people in position: governors
in place of recent kings, rotating high priests, soldiers to keep order but
Jesus, (who was raised in Galilee which is a particularly rebellious region of
a rebellious people – maybe like Quebec or the West here or the US South) Jesus
is triumphantly entering the city and the crowds are running out to meet him,
calling, ‘save us’, save us! Hosanna, o save us.’ The crowds know he is
Messiah. [5]
They want him to save
them from the occupation and they are willing to serve him as king. This is no
small thing. Think of what superpowers do when crowds of people gather in
opposition. Think of Guantanamo Bay. Think of Abu Gharib. Think of Afghanistan.
Think of Iraq. Rome, her sympathizers and the establishment don’t want rivals
there and then any more than Washington and her establishment want rivals here
and now. These people, the great crowds are risking their lives shouting ‘Hosanna,
Salvation, King of the Jews, save us!’
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the
festival 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 on it, as it is
written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is
coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
4
DONKEY
The donkey: John quotes Zechariah’s well-known prophesy
about the king who will save and rule Israel as he comes into his kingdom on a
donkey (Zec 9:9). And here and now comes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a
donkey. There is more to this too because a donkey is not a war horse; a donkey
is an ambassador’s mount. It is an animal of peace (cf. Genesis 49:10-11,
Isaiah 40:9, 44:2)![9] The Romans claimed that their wars brought the ‘Pax
Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not Caesar
– is the Prince of Peace.[10] Jesus is King of the Jews and more than that
Jesus is King of the World! [11]
These are exciting
times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at this time and place in history is his
crossing the Rubicon. (Do you know what the Rubicon is? It is a river outisde
Rome and no General was allowed to bring his troops beyond that river. If he
did it would be assumed that he was trying to overthrow the government and Rome
would deal appropriately. Thus once one crossed the Rubicon with their foces
there was no turning back).
There is no turning back. And this is what Palm Sunday is:
Palm Sunday is the point of no turning back. Jesus is marching into the capital
to great fanfare and we who are gathered here today, we can celebrate this
moment. We can cast ourselves alongside the men, women and children watching
the parade and cheering as our King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than
anything that has ever happened to this or any community to that point in time.
This moment in our text today is a moment when the world here recognizes the
arrival of the one whom as Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on
his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and
peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his
kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that
time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!”
Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is a day of celebration.
Jesus is King! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?
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 these things had been done to him.”
Today if there are any of us here who don’t yet understand
and serve Him and haven’t laid our palm branches in front of the king of heaven
and earth – now is our chance to accept His salvation from all the pain of
suffering through all the evils of this world on our own. Jesus is King and He
will – Hosanna - save us. He will be with us in the very midst of all our
difficulties and challenges in our world today. And, as Easter is on its way, we
know too that some tomorrow soon, even if we all die before He returns, we will
raise from the dead and have the opportunity to serve Him forever in a time
when there will be no more tears and no more suffereing! Do you believe that?
Do you serve Him?
Jesus rode into
Jerusalem 2000 years ago but even now it is not too late; so why don’t you join
us now in celebrating his arrival and in anticipating triumphant return –
pledging our loyalty to the King of Kings by laying our palm branches before
the King.
You were each given a symbolic palm branch today when you
arrived and now as we sing a song together I invite as to lay our palm branches
at the altar today to acknowledge our acceptance and allegiance to Jesus Christ
as King and our reception of His salvation both now and forever. Come now and
lay your branches before the King…
---
[1] 1) Lamb, 2) March 15, 3) Scotland, 4) Blue, 5) Penguins, a palm sundae
[2] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/V. Teaching and Travels Toward Jerusalem (9:51-19:44)/D. Teachings on Times of Crisis and Judgment (12:1-13:35)/7. A call to repentance (13:1-9), Book Version: 4.0.2
[3] Marvin R. Vincent, ‘Hosanna’ in Word Studies in the New Testament Vol. II, (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2009), p. 216.
[4] But cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: John Knox Press: Louisville, Ken., 1990), 227. Luke (ironically) alone among the gospels does not record these inherent political overtones.
[5] Cf. N.T. Wright, 'God and Caesar, Then and Now'. Available on-line at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_God_Caesar.pdf
[6] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary”. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.
[7] Cf. NT Wight, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (HaperOne: New York, NY: 2012), 126-154.
[8] Cf. William Hendriksen, John (New Testament Commentary: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2007), 187-188.
[9] Andreas J. Kostenberger, ESV Study Bible note on 12:15 (Crossway Bibles: Wheaton, Illinois: 2007), page 2048.
[10] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary.” Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.
[11] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary.” Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.
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