Jesus' Not So Secret Agenda

1. The Crowd that goes to meet Jesus is excited and celebrative.

Regular population of Jerusalem 50K but at the time of Passover 100-120K

Palm Branches

The branches from date palms (12:13) were abundant in Israel, and their use here is important for symbolic reasons. Palms had become a symbol of Jewish nationalism. When the temple was rededicated during the Maccabean era, palms were used in the celebration (1 Macc. 13:51; 2 Macc. 10:7). In the extrabiblical tradition, palms were used by Levi as a symbol of ruling power (T. Naph. 5:4). During both major wars with Rome, reliefs of palms were stamped on the coins minted by the rebels. Thus this act of celebration is by no means neutral. It symbolizes Israel’s national hopes, now focused on Jesus, being hailed as he enters the city.

Shouting “Hosanna!”

Hosanna was a cry for “salvation now”

Shouting “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”

from Psalm 118:26

Psalm 118:26 NIV

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.

which is messianic

Shouting “Blessed is the king of Israel”

2. When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he fulfills what was written by the prophets but not the expectations of most of the Jews.

An entry like this would have not been uncommon after a victory in battle what is uncommon is that Jesus does this before the victory.

The designation of “king” for Jesus, as will become evident in the further unfolding of the Gospel, was clearly an appropriate title for him, but his kingship was not what people had expected (18:33–37). Not only was he not a political ruler, but he was surprisingly a king who would die on the cross (19:19). The crowd might well acclaim him king, but they did not understand what that meant for him.

He is fulfilling what was written in Zec 9:9

Zechariah 9:9 NIV

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 was the opposite of what a conquering king would have done. They would have come by horse & chariot.

Think about this: 1) gentle king is associated with the end of a war. Jesus is no zealot, he is humble and defeats the enemy by humbling himself and enduring the cross and it’s shame. 2) a gentle king proclaims peace to the nations.

Zechariah 9:10–11 NIV

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

and 3) the coming gentle king is associated with eh blood of God’s covenant that spells release for the prisoners (remember he is doing this during Passover).

Interesting note from John: The disciples don’t understand until Jesus was glorified.

3. Wherever Jesus went you can be sure that the responses to him were divided.

The witnesses to Lazarus’ resurrection spread the word.

The Pharisees see things as getting worse for them.

APPLICATION & IMPLICATION

1. We have a king who has entered our world.

Make no mistake, Jesus is making a statement.

He is not not starting a religious movement, he is announcing the that the kingdom of God is here.

2. Do not force Jesus into your agenda.

There was a certain expectation “political/military” expectations associated with the Messiah.

John Contemporary Significance

In some fashion (which perhaps they did not entirely understand) they assumed that Jesus and his movement would serve their cause. Their vision for society and Jesus’ presence could together make changes they dearly desired. As the gospel story unfolds further, Jesus’ failure to satisfy those visions (religious, political, and social) leads to a cry for crucifixion one week later.

We must guard our hearts so that we might not be guilty of such a thing.

I’ve seen churches make the case that “Jesus loved everyone, and today he would stand with the gay community and affirm their lifestyle. And if you don’t stand with them too than you are standing against Jesus.

But it’s not just that side of the isle. I’ve seen t-shirts and Memes that say, Jesus would wear a MAGA hat.

I tend to avoid politics from the pulpit. But not moral issues that have been unfortunately politicized.

Jesus did not come to overthrow the Romans but to establish the Kingdom of God/Heaven

The Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew 5 is about the kind of righteousness that is is required for those who belong to this kingdom.

The OT does not use this exact phrase but it does of God as both king of Israel and all the earth. And there are many passages that point to a future where God is King over all his people Zec 14:9

Zechariah 14:9 NIV

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

Isaiah 24:23 NIV

The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory.

The prophets do not speak in metaphor but speak of a future, literal kingdom

Micah 1:3–4 NIV

Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

And this is a kingdom that you do not want to be left out of. The Day of the Lord, as it’s called is a glorious day of renewal for the the people of God but not so for those who willing reject it. Amos 5:18-20

Amos 5:18–20 NIV

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

Maybe the best description of this kingdom comes from Daniel.

Daniel 2:31–44 NIV

“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

The NT reminds of the “Now but Not Yet” paradox. The Kingdom of God

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a reflection of they paradox.

Jesus told parables about the kingdom of God, as it is and as it will be.

Jesus has his own agenda (the Kingdom of God), we don’t need to attach him to ours.

3. At the same time, do not rally against his.