Testifying to Christ's Triumphal Entry

Signs

The Gospel of John has seven signs. Each sign pointing to who Jesus is. The signs start at a wedding in Cana and end at the tomb of Lazarus. These signs all point to Jesus as God with us. For the people of John’s gospel these signs bore witness to the work of God physically present with them. These signs set the stage, draws the crowd, for what God is about to do next.

Let your loud Hosanna’s ring. Wave your palm branches in victory because of what God has done and what he is going to do next.

Zechariah 9:9 NLT

9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.

As Christ makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem this year, I am captured by the crowds who testify to the signs they have seen. I am also captured by the crowds who were drawn by the word of their testimony. Do our lives bare witness to Christ’s triumphal entry? Does what we say and do point to Christ triumphal entry into our lives? Can we be followers of Christ, that draw people eager to see what God is going to do next?

The Crowds

John’s gospel account of Christ’s triumphal entry draws attention to the large crowds. This crowd begins to gather earlier in Chapter 12 and continues to grow. I don’t know about you but if I heard someone I knew was dead and buried and some how alive and eating dinner with Jesus, I think I’d like to see that too. John 12:9-11 the crowds begin to swell.

The next day the crowd grows large because of what they had seen and heard Jesus do. The crowd was eager to see what Jesus the messiah was going to do next. With shouts of Hosanna, save now, and a procession that looks like a coronation for a king, the crowd did not expect the throne to look more like a cross.

We can separate the crowd into two crowds. 1 The Seen crowd those who have seen first hand, Jesus calling Lazarus out of his tomb. The 2nd crowd is the crowd that hasn’t seen any of the signs that Christ had done but have heard about them, and are eager to see what he might do next.

SEEN CROWD

-John 12:17- Many in this crowd witnessed Jesus call Lazarus out of his grave.

AND THEY WERE TELLING OTHERS.

When God does something in our lives we need to be like this crowd. The only way people hear of what God is doing is if we share it. If I were at the grave of Lazarus that would something impossible not to talk about.

HEARD CROWD

Then there’s the crowd there who heard what God has done. Why? Because the seen crowd was telling others. The crowd grew exponentially based on the testimony of God has done by calling a dead man out of his grave.

This crowd comes eager to see Jesus and what he is going to do next. Sometimes what God does next, might confuse us.

DISCIPLES DON’T UNDERSTAND

John 14:6–11 NLT

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

The disciples a smaller sub crowd were confused by what they saw. The Holy Spirit revealed it to them after Christ entered his glory.

Many of us here today have seen the mighty works of God in our lives. While it may not be as earth shattering as a dead man walking out of his grave, God has done great things in our lives. Let’s be like the seen crowd, and let our lives testify to what God has done for us.

As the Holy Spirit draws the world to go after Christ, may those who have seen and heard what God has done, wait eagerly for what he is going to do next.

A Life that Testifies

The crowds on the first Palm Sunday were amazed at what they had seen God do. The crowds gathered with shouts of victory, because of what they had seen and heard.

Today we live in a world that needs see and hear what God is doing in our lives here and now. We like the crowds need to testify about what God has done for us. May it draw the crowds who heard what God has done eager to see what God is going to do next.

Revelation 12:10–11 NRSV

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

May the word of our testimony bare witness to the work of God in our lives. May the Holy Spirit continue to draw the whole world to himself.