A DIFFERENT KIND OF KING

9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. 12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” 16 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. 17 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. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

The Grand Entry

History has known many grand entries:

conquerors returning home from war,

kings and queens arriving for coronation, and sports and media stars celebrating their triumphs.

But none is as remarkable as the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. [1]

The name of Jesus would have been on practically everyone’s tongue.

One reason was the public notice made by the rulers calling for his arrest (John 11:57).

Another reason was the spread of the news from Bethany.

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died.

Four days after Lazarus was laid in the tomb, Jesus called him forth from the grave.

Numerous witnesses attested to the fact,

and an even greater number of people had seen Jesus and Lazarus together just the day before Jesus’ entry, at the dinner given in his honor (12:9).

Therefore,

as Jesus approached Jerusalem on what we remember as Palm Sunday, the effect was explosive:[ 2]

Jesus knew it was time to die.

The time had come not when the world decided He would die, but when He decided it was time to die.

Jesus was never a victim but would prove instead that He is the Victor.

Victims don’t rise from the dead.

And incidentally, along that line

a little footnote, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, had not wanted Christ to be crucified during the Passover time because they did not want unnecessarily to stir up the multitude of people that would have been present.

They would much rather have waited till after the Passover when it was a little quieter and that way handle Jesus.

But Jesus did it in His own time and forced the whole issue, Jesus was not at the mercy of the plots of men

Instead the plots of men were at the mercy of Jesus

Jesus brought about the whole thing in order that it might happen exactly on the Passover day, fitting that when all the other lambs were being sacrificed.

250,000

The One true Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world would be sacrificed on the very same day.

He planned it and God planned it before the world began, not when the Jewish leaders decided it would happen.

Jesus proceeds to prepare to enter the city of Jerusalem, to force the issue of His death.

And as we see the scene unfold, we will see many,

many people, multitudes of people moving in a way that doesn’t appear to be leading to death, but in effect does and as we continue through the gospel of John

we’ll see how the fickle mob changed their hosannas into hatred and what finally happened to Christ.[3]

that’s exactly what He wants.

He knows that the massive demonstration with all of the hosannas being thrown at Him, and all of the people singing the words from the Hallel, Psalm 118,

is going just to infuriate the Jewish leaders and He knows it’s going to cause them to desire to kill Him more than ever

and that’s exactly what He wants.

He wants to bring their hatred to its own head because it’s now time to die. And so here

Jesus forces the Sanhedrin to change their timetable and execute Him right in the middle of the Passover, even on the very day of the Passover, contrary to what they had originally desired.

It’s a beautiful thing

In the foolishness and the evil of man, God has the initiative. Like the Old Testament says when God was speaking, He said, “You meant it for evil, but I meant it for good.”

God can actually take the plans of men full of hatred, full of Satan, full of sin and move them for His own glory and honor, the greatest illustration being the cross and all of these events.

And then over later on in the nineteenth chapter of John, in the tenth verse, “Then saith Pilate unto Him … poor misguided Pilate, a wretched character … Pilate saith unto Him, ‘Speakest Thou not unto me?’ ” In other words, Jesus had the audacity not to answer Pilate. “Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee and have power to release Thee?”

And Jesus gives him a devastating answer saying, “You have no power at all against Me except it were given you from above.” Somehow the heinous sin and hate of a depraved man operates within the framework of a sovereign God.

Many people were gathering in Jerusalem.

The stage was set for Jesus’ triumphal entry.

But even before that public event,

Word of Jesus’ presence in the nearby village of Bethany leaked out, and many people came to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, not for Jesus’ sake only,

but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead (v. 9b).

This prompted the Jewish authorities to expand their plot against Jesus:

The chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. (vv. 10–11).

The news of Lazarus’ resurrection was spreading across the land and adding fuel to the popular response to Jesus that the Sanhedrin so desperately feared.

Jesus was a threat then and he is still a threat. To follow him will always open you up to the real possibility of persecution.

2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

As they saw it, it would be to their advantage not only to get rid of Jesus but also to get rid of Lazarus, for if he were put to death it would be more difficult to proclaim his resurrection.

A Royal Greeting

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him(vv. 12–13a).

We’re told that “a great multitude” had come to the feast.

We aren’t given exact numbers of how many people had come to Jerusalem, but attendance at the Passover was a solemn obligation for every Jew, and

since the days of King Josiah people had not been permitted to celebrate Passover in their local communities

but were called to travel up to the central sanctuary in Jerusalem to keep the feast.

Now that’s a massive amount of people and it was spilling out all over the place.

It was a massive kind of mob… tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of people hailing Jesus.

The Jewish historian Josephus, estimated the attendance at the Passover in the years AD 64 and 65 to be some 2.7 million Jews. So it is reasonable to expect about two million visitors had come to the Holy City for the Passover mentioned in this passage.

And, of course, because of the rumor of the resurrection of Lazarus, I mean,

He’s popular and the crowd receives Him like a conqueror.

Hail the conquering hero, you know, and all that stuff.

They grab palm branches which are always the sign of a conqueror.

They’re the sign, the symbol of strength, no stronger branch than that palm branch, the symbol of strength and the symbol of salvation,

the great salvation that a conqueror brings, one who is coming to save the nation,[5]

When political figures came to Jerusalem, every aspect of their entrance was choreographed to demonstrate power and authority.

Their entrance was announced by trumpets.

They were preceded by soldiers in full military regalia.

Finally, they made their entrance riding on a brilliant white stallion or in a gleaming gold chariot pulled by magnificent horses.

What was the significance of the palm branches?

The primary symbol for this day—a palm—was not chosen by Jesus.

John writes, “They took palm branches and went out to meet him” (John 12:13).

Why did the crowd choose palm branches? It could simply have been that palms were nearby.

History tells us there might have been a deeper reason: Those plants were symbolically linked to military victories and Messiahship.

A generation before Jesus, Simon Maccabee drove Israel’s enemies out Jerusalem, people celebrated by waving palm branches.

On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel. (1 Mac. 13:51, NRSV)

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, people used them to interpret his identity.

He was another Simon Maccabee—a long-hoped-for king who would drive out the Gentiles.

When the people waved their palm branches to welcome Jesus, they cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” (v. 13b).

Why did they say this?

The people Cry Hosanna

The word hosannais derived from a Hebrew word that literally means “save now.”

Both this plea and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” are found in the hallel, a series of psalms that were sung every morning at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Every Jewish pilgrim was familiar with the words from the hallel, so when the crowds came out to see Jesus, they naturally used those words.

The plea “Save now” near the end of the quoted passage is the English translation of the root word of hosanna. The words “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and the additional description shouted by the people, “the King of Israel!” indicate that the people looked to Jesus for salvation, though most likely in a military sense.

Jesus does not back off from these Hosannas, He accepts them because they are legitimate, they are justified.

He is indeed the King of Israel who cometh in the name of the Lord.

He is indeed the only Savior.

And He is presenting Himself as Messiah.

This is His last great presentation and, in fact, He’s introducing them to a Messiah in a completely different way then they anticipated because they … now mark it, and mark it well … they were anticipating purely a political Messiah

. They were thinking, “Oh, here He comes and at last our political Messiah, He’s going to … He’s going to throw the yoke of Rome off of us and here we go and we’re off and running, national freedom,” and all of this. [7]

A Lowly Donkey

Something very strange took place. John tells us that Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt” (vv. 14–15).

The Gospels are clear that Jesus chose a symbol, a way for his people to make sense of his kingship. But it was the young donkey, not the palm branch. (John 12:14).

John rightly sees the donkey as Jesus intended. It was the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, which says, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

This prophecy says a lot about the kind of King who was coming. He is different from the average political ruler.

The choice of the donkey reveals this King will achieve his victory through humility. The salvation he secures will come through meekness. He doesn’t come to destroy other nations but to “proclaim peace to the nations.”

The people welcomed Jesus as their victorious King. However, kings usually rode into their places of accession on royal steeds. Not Jesus. Knowing what was coming,

He gave explicit directions to His disciples to go and bring a donkey that had never been ridden (Luke 19:29–30).

The donkeys people ride in the Holy Land are nothing like the donkeys we breed in the United States.

They’re much smaller, so that grown men have to bend their knees as they ride so that their feet don’t hit the ground. The donkey Jesus rode was of this small type, and it was young, too. So instead of riding the steed of a military victor or of a king, Jesus entered Jerusalem on this lowly donkey, self-consciously identifying with the messianic prophecy that we find in the book of Zechariah:

Jesus comes with no soldiers. He doesn’t choose a warhorse but a young donkey.

He shows what kind of King he really is.

The Jews expect the Messiah to liberate them, crushing the nations in the process, but the King comes to bring peace to all nations. [6]

This is not the picture of the Messiah that the people had in mind.

They wanted someone to ride into town on a mighty steed and drive the Romans out.

But Jesus identified with God’s Messiah, the Messiah who was to come in lowliness, meekness, and humility.

Not surprisingly, the same people who cheered Him as He rode into Jerusalem

screamed for His blood a few days later after He failed to give them what they wanted.

This should be a lesson to all of us who come to Jesus with our agendas,

making our demands of Him,

only to become disappointed, angry, and sometimes bitter when He doesn’t do things the way we want Him to do them.

John gives us an editorial comment.

, telling us that

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him (v. 16).

Even the disciples missed the message Jesus was sending, but later, probably after the resurrection, they recalled the words of Zechariah and understood what God had intended.

John also notes: Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign (vv. 17–18)

. Apparently the raising of Lazarus had been much talked about by the people who had been there to see it happen. It was this widespread discussion of the miracle that sparked the interest of the people to come out and welcome Jesus to Jerusalem.

The Whole World Has Gone After Him.

The reaction of the Pharisees: The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” (v. 19).

The Jewish authorities saw that all their efforts to confront Jesus, to seize Him, and to warn the people to have nothing to do with Him had been useless; Jesus’ following was growing by leaps and bounds.

From their perspective, it seemed that the entire world was going after Jesus.

But if there is one thing this passage makes clear, it is that the people’s interest in Jesus was based largely on curiosity and false expectations that would be dashed in no time.

Jesus was God’s King, and He had come to Jerusalem to fulfill a mission unlike what anyone, even those closest to him, could envision.

All too soon the people would reject Him, but as Zechariah said, He would become the chief cornerstone. [8]

Jesus has mastered the situation. One of his main purposes in the triumphal entry was to force the hand of those who sought to kill him.

Unnerved by Jesus’ apparent popularity, the religious leaders were primed to accept Judas’s offer of betrayal.

But they were playing Jesus’ game all along.

How profoundly have these words come true.

Jesus had not come to rescue a puny nation tucked in a corner of the world. Rather, he had come to rescue his people from their sins in every tribe and nation throughout the globe.

That his people still gather together today in his name is proof of his success.

For as Zechariah prophesied, “Behold, your king is coming to you; … and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Zech. 9:9–10).

Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah was not simply about a goal—God’s rule over all things.

He and the crowd agreed on that point.

His earthly life and ministry were also about the means of accomplishing that goal: namely, sacrificial love.

Jesus gave us not only the gift of forgiveness, flowing through his Passion and resurrection, but also a way to follow. That way needs to inform our public and private witness.

Philippians 2:1–11 (ESV)

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Phil 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Stated differently, I’m worried that, in our desire to defeat enemies, we’re losing Christian virtues—the fruit of the Spirit.

If we strive to establish God’s rule through self-assertion over neighborly care, pragmatism over principle, and malice over love, then whatever else we accomplish, we are no longer following in the way of Jesus. God chose meekness, integrity, and love to gather his people.

That is the message of Palm Sunday. For all the shouts of acclamation, Jesus never lost sight of the cross.

The way that Jesus brought Salvation to his people informs how we minister in His Name.

Jesus is not finished.

When he returns in the glory of his kingdom, when all who reject him are judged and all sin is put away in hell, then Jesus will look upon a whole world that he has saved.

The King is coming again, and the book of Revelation depicts him then as riding not a donkey but a horse for war. And when he has conquered and judged all that stands against him, then there will be peace forevermore.

“Behold, I am coming soon,” Jesus declares in the last chapter of the Bible. “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7). [9]

[1]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, p. 81). P&R Publishing. [2]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John(R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 81–82). P&R Publishing. [3]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [4]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [5]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [6]Carter, M., & Wredberg, J. (2017). Exalting jesus in john (p. 246). Holman Reference. [7]MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Grace to You. [8]Sproul, R. C. (2009). John(pp. 221–226). Reformation Trust Publishing. [9]Phillips, R. D. (2014). John(R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 89–90). P&R Publishing.

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