John 12:12-19

Introduction

Recap

Last week I know you spoke about John 12:1-8 and the story of mary annointing the feet of Jesus

and the signifigance of that moment

And that would put us at verse 9-11

but we are going to skip that for tonight.

We hit on that verse two weeks ago and I am going to be preaching on those verse sunday morning so I wanted to move on a little further tonight

So tonight we are going to go to verse 12 in chapter 12 and talk about the triumphal entry.

Lets Read it

John 12:12–19 ESV

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 is 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 colt!” 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 heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Context

We know that the context and location of our story is in Jerusalem during the passover.

This is the third passover that John writes about in regard to Jesus

and we know it will be the final passover that Jesus will attend before the cross event.

And its of no coincidence that Jesus will come and give his life duringt his specific feast.

What is passover

Passover was a yearly holy day that was set apart for the israelites to observe the exodus from egypt..

Specifically it was the rememberance of the night when the angel of death passover the homes of the firstborn israelites that their door post has been covered with the blood of the sacrifice during the final plague

God

God was working to free to the poeple from the clutches of pharoh

He told moses to tell the poeple to sacrifice a lamb, to take the blood of the lamb and apply it to their door posts of the home

and all who did this would be spared.

those that did not though the angel of death came and took the first born of the family..

We know the people did this..

but pharoh obviously did not..

and pharoh lost his first born on this night..

and thus released the isralites from the clutches of bondage to go free..

Precurser

There is no coincidence that this is the time JEsus is come to jerusalem and the time he will be killed..

The feast itself is a foreshadow of what is about to happen.

Because we know that he will become the final lamb that was slain for us..

and that his blood, applied to the door post of our hearts, will cleanse us of our sin.

so that when the final judgment comes..

we will be spared death.

All of israel..

interestingly

it was all of israel that was supposed to congregate to kill the paschal lamb on the set asside day.

and we obviously see this happen when all of israel congregates to shout.. crucify him..

Lazarus

and the feast is not the only foreshadow

the event that had led into this feast, the raising of lazarus, forshadows what is about to happen as well

it is the final messianic mirical Jesus will do in johns recording…

And It displays what Jesus himself will do in just a few days in coming out of the grave.

Through it Jesus both verbally and visually reminds those around him that he is the resurection and the life..

So it is signifigant that these two events follow each other back to back..

as if to build up to the main even that is about to take place as Jesus is arrested, tried, crucified, and risen again..

Final

during the lazarus event see that this is the final straw for the jewish leaders who are now focused on putting Jesus to death.

and during this feast they are looking for Jesus and will ultimate play out their plan and gods will.

So

So Jesus has shown up at the right time..

and has already told the people and shown them what will happen soon..

and everything has now come to the point where the plan of God will soon take place and come to pass..

and now we see that the people are looking for him openly..

People were looking for Jesus

We now begin to see on a much larger scale Jesus raising in recognition..

JOhn 11:56, 12:9 and 12:12, and 12:18 all tells us that there is a large group of people who are looking for Jesus as we come into this event..

They have heard about lazarus specifically..

and believers or non believers, they are curious to see the man who has been raised from the dead and the one who raised him..

So this crowd is expected him…

and they hear he is coming to the city and they go and prepare to welcome him..

Public nature

notice the contrasting public nature of this event..

Many times prior to this, including his last feast, he told people not to tell anyone..

but now, begining with lazarus everyone knows.. and everything is public

Jesus did not prevent the people at the raising of lazarus from seeing what happened.. or speaking..

but rather he waited for them to arrive..

and let them go and tell..

and they have been..

Obviously Jesus is ready to come out of the woods.

and be seen and known..

He knows as he comes into the city what will happen..

their is not keeping a lid on things anymore..

Again,. you can feel the suspense and momentum building as we get closer to the cross event..

Palm Branches

So when the crowd heard he was coming..

they went out to meet him..

and they brings with them palm branches..

and begin crying out Psalms 118:25-26

Psalm 118:25–26 ESV

Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

The people came with expectation..

palm branchs

palm branches were used for a few occassions..

but the one that is most relevant to this story was when a victorious king would return from war..

people would come out to meet and hail the king and celebrate his victory..

Expectation

for these people..

they were not celebrating what had happened..

but what they wanted to happen..

the cyring out of psalms 118:25 tells us what they wanted..

they wanted Jesus to save them from the romans..

and come in the line of david as a waring king.

messiah

the expectation of the mesiah during this time was not of him coming to set up a spiritual kingdom..

the messianic expectations were of a physical kingdom

and they expected this from Jesus

look at what they cry..

HOsanna

hosanna

Hebrew for “save now” or “Save us”

It was a cry for deliverence.

prophetic

But just like ciaphas did in the last chapter in speaking of Jesus dying for all..

These people did the same..

they called out correctly and prophetically

even though the truth was not their intention

Rather than save them from the romans.

Jesus woud come and save them from themselves..

he would save them in the way he came to save them..

but it wasnt a way they wanted..

King of Israel

Jesus would be king as they called..

but he would be the eternal king..

the heavenly king..

not the earthly king..

and JESUS TELLS THEM THIS IN HIS COMING..

look at verse 14..

we see Jesus intentionallity again..

John 12:14 ESV

And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

Donkey

Most triumphant kings rode horses when returning from victory

they came in pride and power

And When a king was bent on war with a certain city he would come on a horse as well.

BUT in acient days.. if the king was coming in peace..

many times he would come riding on the donkey..

The donkey is a beast of burden

its a work animal

It symbolizes humility

Jesus intentionall comes as the humble servant ready to lay down his like riding on a donkey..

He signalled to them that he was not coming to war..

he would not do what they wanted..

but rather he was coming to restore peace..

Fill filled prophecy

we know that this piece is a fulfillment of prophecy as well..

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

further proving Jesus was who he said he was..

Jesus was coming as the conquering king..

the people were proclaiming this..

but JESUS WAS COMING TO CONQUER SIN..

NOT THE ROMANS..

The disicples didnt understand these things until things were over

John tells us, to his own admission..

that while these events were going on, the disicples (Again including himself) did not understand them..

But later, in reflection, after Jesus was glorified they were able to understand

Holy Spirit

one comentary put it as though the giving of the holy spirit at pentecost opened their eyes to understand the things they had seen and walked through

they were able to see that they themselves, and all others involved, had been a part of subconciously fulfilling many things the scriptures wrote about Jesus..

us

arent we like that with Jesus

when we are walking through things we dont seem to get why..

but later many times it makes sence..

and sometimes we never understand..

but many times just like the old addage.. hind sight is 20/20

while we are not able to see at times the purpose of what is going on in the moment..

the later relfection begins to reveal what God has done in the middle..

Brush strokes

just like an artist..

we cant comprehend many times the signifigance of one brush stroke..

but when the picture is complete..

all of the brush strokes begin to make since..

so maybe we shouldnt react to one brush stroke..

and rather we should wait in patcience to see the finished picture..

trusting the artist, god, who is paint our life for us..

The lazarus crowd continues to spread the news..

John finishes this part of the story with a reminder that the lazarus crowd continued to spread the news of lasarus riasing…

now frenzy is starting to build in jerusalem about Jesus..

And it will turn on him in a few days..

but for the moments we see the entire city is caught up in him..

even some unexpected ones as we will see next week.