You Like Me Now, But What About on Thursday?

Introduction

Andrew Luck: 4× Pro Bowl (2012, 2013, 2014, 2018)N

NFL passing touchdowns leader (2014)

NFL Comeback Player of the Year (2018)

2× AFC Offensive Player of the Month (November 2014, November 2018)

5× AFC Offensive Player of the Week (Week 9, 2012; Week 7, 2013; Week 3, 2014; Week 13, 2016; Week 11, 2018)

3× Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week (Week 3, 2012; Week 5, 2012; Week 8, 2012)

Most passing yards by a rookie in a single season (4,374)

Most game-winning drives by a rookie quarterback (7)

Most passing yards for a quarterback through his first 5 postseason games (1,703)

Most consecutive 350-yard passing games on the road (5)

First quarterback to throw for more than 350 yards in five consecutive road games

First quarterback to throw for 370 yards or more, 4 touchdowns, and have a completion percentage 70 percent or above in consecutive games

Third player to throw for 3,000 yards in the first nine games, alongside Peyton Manning and Drew Brees (twice)

He threw for 23,671 yards and 171 touchdowns in 6 seasons.

He was headed to becoming the best QB ever in the NFL. Yes, even better than Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The expectations were high.

But this all changed in 2019 when he abruptly retired.

The fans booed him. It’s easy to like someone when they are meeting your expectations and giving you what you want. But things can change quickly and dramatically when they do not.

The Crowds Praise of Jesus: The Divine Reasons (12:12-15)

Because He is the Messiah (v. 12-13)

John 12:12–13 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!”

v.12 -

“Next day” = Sunday

“Feast” - Large crowd gathered because (1) of the Passover Feast

7-day Passover Feast instituted when slaves in Egypt.

“Branches of palm trees” = Passover tradition and used for the Feast of Tabernacles: used for worship of God, signify victory. In this context we see it is connected with proclamation of the Messiah.

Also: “These branches were a Passover tradition stemming from the Maccabean revolt, when the Jewish people welcomed Judas Maccabeus (“the Hammer”) into Jerusalem for the rededication of the temple (the Feast of Dedication; see 10:22–39).”

]Grant R. Osborne, John: Verse by Verse, ed. Jeffrey Reimer et al., Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 291–292.]

Messiah = “anointed one” = King

v.13 -

Quote from Psalm 118:25–26 “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.”

Special note: “King of Israel” - understood to be a political figure (as we saw with the use of palm branches, too)

Did the crowd really know that they were, in fact, praising Jesus for divine reasons? I tend to think they did not. There was every indication that they thought he was the king to come restore Israel and defeat the Romans. Much of the prophecies of the Messiah were understood to be about a political king.

Because He Fulfills Prophecy (v. 14-15)

John 12:14–15 ESV

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!”

The actions of Jesus are profound.

Prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 “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.”

The significance of sitting on a donkey: 1 Kings 1:33 “And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.”

The crowd is in reality, praising Jesus for divine reasons: he is the Messiah prophesied to be the Redeemer of the world.

The crowd liked him on Sunday when it seemed that he was going to be their political king, but what about on Thursday when their incorrect expectations were to go unfulfilled?

The Crowds Praise of Jesus: The Human Reasons (12:16-19)

The Disciples: Because They Lacked Understanding (v.16)

John 12:16 ESV

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.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to discern what the disciples were thinking at this moment when Jesus came riding in on a donkey and being praised. Were they, too, praising him for being a political figure? It seems so, perhaps. Were they praising him for what he could give them? Power? Authority?

Matthew 20:20–21 ESV

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

The disciples liked him now, but what about on Thursday?

The Crowd: Because Jesus Raised Lazarus (v.17-18)

John 12:17–18 ESV

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.

Crowd 1: Witnessed Lazarus’ resurrection

Crowd 2: Heard about Jesus’ miracle

Similar to events in John 6.

John 6:26 “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.’”

The crowds liked him now because he could raise people from the dead and provide many things for them in this life. But what about on Thursday when all that would be undone, when all their expectations of him would go unfulfilled?

We now turn to a response that was entirely different:

The Pharisees: Because They were Envious (v.19)

John 12:19 ESV

So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Even Pilate observed this:

Matthew 27:16–18 ESV

And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

The Crowds Liked Jesus On Sunday, but What About on Thursday?

It Is Easy to Like Jesus When He Fulfills Your Expectations, e.g., Heals (Laz, but what about when he does not?)

It Is Easy to Like Jesus When He is Popular (inclusive, but not when exclusive or may cost your life, cf. Peter when Jesus arrested)

It is Easy to Like Jesus When He Affirms You (but not your truth or sinful behavior, or when he challenges you, Jn 14:6, 18:37)

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 18:37 “Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’”

It is Easy to Like Jesus When Nothing is On the Line (Son of Man has no where to lay his head)

Matthew 8:19–20“And a scribe came up and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’”

Perhaps you are like the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ time: you cannot stand Jesus for some reason. Maybe you’re envious. Maybe you do not like the fact that he demands your obedience. Sure, maybe you like him as a good guy or moral man, but not as God in the flesh who came to die for the sins of the world.

CS Lewis: "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."