Behold your king

Scripture

Psalm 72 NIV

Of Solomon. 1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. 2 May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3 May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4 May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor. 5 May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6 May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7 In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity abound till the moon is no more. 8 May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. 11 May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. 12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. 16 May grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. May the crops flourish like Lebanon and thrive like the grass of the field. 17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. Then all nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. 18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. 20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

Scripture

1 Samuel 17:45–50 NIV

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

Kids

What is a king

Imagine a great enemy - if all the seas were one sea

pain, sickness, guilt, bad feelings, being afraid, bad dreams,

The feeling you get when you’ve been really naughty -

This is Goliath - yes, he was real. But he represents everything bad and ugly in the world

And we are too weak

The story

And this is what Jesus came to do. Today we celebrate the day he rides into Jerusalem as a king - but a far different king then even David was.

Because there is a far bigger enemy than even Goliath. And we can’t see it, but we can sure feel it.

And this is who Jesus came to destroy.

Text

Matthew 21:1–11 NIV

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

There are two things to notice in this account

First, it was the day when the passover lambs were being brought in to the temple

Second, and this is what I’d like to talk about. It is the day Jesus came in as a king. The triumphant entry.

The scripture says he came meek and lowly, riding on a donkey - and that is true. But it wasn’t the donkey that made him lowly.

When he entered on a donkey, everyone knew what the symbolism was.

There was another great king that entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

1 Kings 1:38–40 NIV

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

David’s donkey was the sign of Solomon’s right to rule. It signified David’s choice for king, the one appointed by God.

The crowds knew that. That was why they shouted David’s shout of victory -

I come to you in the name of the Lord - David said to Goliath.

And the crowds shout - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And another word they shout -

Hosanna!

This is Hebrew for “Save us, we plead with you!”

And that is just what he came to do.

But the crowds missed something very important. They thought that their problem was Romans.

Of course, the Pharisees thought that it was the Sadducees as well, and both thought the problem was the sinners, the Essenes, the Zealots.

And all of them were hoping that the king would come and save them from the others - the enemies, the Romans, the sinners - those who aren’t like us.

But there is a far greater enemy -

Death, misery, guilt, pain, evil, destruction,

That’s the Goliath that we can’t do anything about.

Because we all carry it in our own hearts. If we start stoning the sinners, where do we stop?

French Revolution...

Thus ends every kingdom - pain, misery, death, destruction.

Because evil is real.

this is why he entered Jerusalem looked around, and then left. The world didn’t need a politicAl change. It needs a death and resurrection.

And he took all of that upon himself, sank into our hell and took the thorns and the thistles and the pain and the leprosy and the shame and the nakedness -

And every thing we fear and everything we hate and everything we can’t escape -

And he took it all into the grave with him and put it all to death.

He rode the donkey like king Solomon.

But he went to the cross like a slave.

He rode on a donkey, and came in humility, lowly - not like the kings of this earth. Far more powerful than that. He crushed the head of Satan himself.

So where do we come in?

We aren’t Goliath

We aren’t David, either. We are the Israelite army, going after the spoil.

The enemy was defeated on the cross, but we are still in this world plagued with evil, misery and death.

How to we take part with Jesus in crushing that serpent under our feet.

Respond to hatred with love.

Respond to evil with good.

Don’t turn your backs on evil and pretend it isn’t there. Acknowledge it. Hear the stories. Listen to your own stories.

Chase down the philistine of shame and guilt in your own heart and put it to death on the cross.

This requires honesty, courage, and putting deceit to death.

In other words, take on the cloak of humility, as Jesus did.

This world is full of so much pain and suffering, and no one will hear, no one will listen. No one will chase it down. We stand in the camp pretending like there aren’t any Philistines.

But there are. Guilt, shame, fear, nakedness, peril, assault, injustice, racism, slaughter - misery and the powers of hell....they thrive in the petri-dish of silence.

But Christ has conquered. He hasn’t left us to die on the threshold, but has crushed the head.

And now, he calls us to crush that serpent with him.

right here. He says, Put your foot here. Crush.

What a great privilege he has given us to take a place with him in this great battle.

For this reason, it is only if we suffer with him that we rise with him. Because crushing the serpent is painful, just like it was for Him. But he has already conquered, so the resurrection is coming - but that is next week’s celebration.