Donkey Victory
Notes
Transcript
This is the day the Lord has made (Ps 118): Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The crowds recognize the intentional Messianic fulfillments of Isaiah and Zechariah, and cry out from Psalms “Hosanna, save us!” Jesus will save them, but not as they expect. Jesus is living out all his teaching about greatness in the Kingdom, he comes humbly, in peace, to save by laying down his life. The crowds are so right in recognizing their Savior and imminent victory, and so wrong about what victory looks like that they will soon cry out for Jesus’ crucifixion. Our “wins” today will look more like a donkey ride towards the cross… but the white horse is coming. (Rev 19:11-16)
Winning at the Park
Winning at the Park
I expect most of you know about the ongoing drama at the park. For many years now we have been serving lunch on Thursdays at E.B. Raines park, enjoying and building relationships with all sorts of friends in the park.
It’s a beautiful thing.
More than a year ago the City of Northglenn let us know that they wanted to relocate or shut down the ministry. They have since passed new rules against “groups” using the park, which is as silly as it sounds. Over the last month they have sent emails and now, this week, police officers on Tuesday and on Thursday to deliver warnings.
You can see our dangerous criminal activity here.
Here is something I know: God is doing something. God is up to something.
And God wins. Victory is coming. I can’t wait to see what it is.
Speaking of Victory, in the life and ministry of Jesus, as told to us by Matthew, Victory is Coming.
Three threads that come together:
Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah writes before Assyria comes to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel, warning both Israel and Judah that God’s judgment is coming… but even then paints the picture of a redemption through God’s people, the suffering servant, the man of sorrows.
11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”
Zechariah
Zechariah
Zechariah writes hundreds of years after Isaiah, even as the people are rebuilding the temple after Babylon destroyed it and took them into Exile. The Jews have bee pushed around by the Great Empires, they will be further pushed around by Greece, and then Rome… but there will come a day of victory.
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.
And he goes on to say he will cut off the chariots, the war horses, the bows, the weapons, “on that day the LORD their God will save them.”
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.
4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
So he is coming in the East gate.
One last thread, a song older than either Isaiah or Zechariah.
Psalm 118 - This is the Day
Psalm 118 - This is the Day
We read it, we sang it. From Psalm 118. This is the last of the songs of Hallel, the songs of Praise. They were sung at all the festivals, but the song of Psalm 118 in particular is so associated with Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, especially the last day of the feast where they would pray for water, some scholars want to see this Triumphal Entry as happening in Falland Jesus hanging in Jerusalem for six months.
I don’t think so. But they are so excited, and they see the beautiful Messianic fulfillment so clearly before them that they sing the song of David.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
“Save us, we pray, Adonai.” That is “Hosheanna” which gets shortened to “Hosanna” which literally means “Save Us.” It is a plea for help which becomes a word of praise to God. There’s a sermon in that, that’s beautiful.
Fulfilling Prophecy
Fulfilling Prophecy
Now Jesus fulfills so many prophecies. At least 60 are quoted directly as fulfilled, I have heard some scholars claim something like 332 fulfilled prophecies. Some read almost like “oh, wow, crazy, what are the odds Jesus fulfilled that one too?” Of course, that isn’t the case, they are fulfilled on purpose every time.
Just as they were foretold on purpose by the Logos, by the Word, in the first place.
But here Matthew, and every other gospel writer, takes time to point out Jesus preparing for this on purpose. Arranging the parts, the pieces, the donkey, it’s intentional.
But listen to the way Jesus prepares for this entry. Intentional preparation for fulfillment of prophecy.
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
He didn’t have to approach from the East, he didn’t have to head to Jerusalem from the East gate, but he is fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah.
2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
This is cool. Did Jesus pre-arrange this borrowing of the colt? Did he just know and predict, supernaturally prepare? We don’t know.
Try commandeering a car this way “Oh, God needs it. Adonai needs it. The LORD needs it.” It might not go well.
But it is going to go perfectly.
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
And here that first line is from our Isaiah passage, and the rest from Zechariah:
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
One of my favorite passages.
“He sat on them” either refers to riding both donkey and the colt at the same time. Awesome. Or he sat on the disciples. Unlikely. Or he sat on the cloaks, pretty sure that’s it.
8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Here they are, singing the Psalm 118. Hoshianna, Hosanna, Save us!!!
Luke, writing to a Gentile audience includes words that help them understand what the crowd sees:
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
They are declaring a King! A conqueror!
10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
Matthew 1. True Discipleship versus Harsher Condemnation for the Jewish Leaders (19:1–22:46)
“Stirred” is rather mild for eseisthē (used of earthquakes and apocalyptic upheavals; 27:51;
11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Save Us, Jesus
Save Us, Jesus
Both Jesus and the crowd are in agreement:
Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of David’s Psalm, Isaiah’s prophecy, Zechariah’s prophecy.
Jesus is the King mounted on a donkey.
Now a donkey is a totally appropriate mount for a King. David rides a donkey, Solomon does. Saul was a donkey herder. It isn’t that Donkeys are inappropriate for a king.
But they are not the mount of a warrior. In all those cases above, those are after the fight, after the war, a symbol of peace.
It is in opposition, counterpoint to riding in on the warhorse, to fight the power, overthrow the Romans, like the Maccabean revolt but better.
The stage is set for full on rebellion, the Jewish War against Rome will happen in just a few decades, it doesn’t go well, ends at Masada just back down the road near Jericho where Jesus came from.
And Jesus has Zealots in his core group of disciples, Simon the Zealot and possibly others: Judas, even Peter, James and John have zealot ties.
The crowd, Jesus’ disciples, they are all expecting Triumph.
They are calling for Jesus to save them. And they are right.
Hosanna - Hoshanna: Save us.
Yeshua - Yehoshua: God saves, Yahweh saves
It’s in the name.
I don’t think for a second they got the symbolism of the Donkey.
Donkey Victory
Donkey Victory
What if God is doing something different?
They are all expecting Victory. Triumph.
But they miss the symbol of the donkey.
But the victory that is coming is radically different from their expectations. Jesus is on the road to the cross, to lay down his life for their sins, for your sins and mine.
And the same crowd that is shouting “Hosanna” now will be shouting “Crucify him” in just a few days.
How often do we miss God’s Victory?
We are expecting God to kick Rome in the teeth, but Jesus says following in his footsteps is going to look more like riding on a Donkey. Humble. The servant servant, not the warrior winning.
Victory is very often going to look more like the cross.
It isn’t that God doesn’t give good gifts. He does.
It isn’t that God doesn’t answer prayers. He does. Sometimes just as you expect, just as you hope.
But how often is God up to something bigger? Something better? How often does God see an end we don’t, a next step in a direction we haven’t yet imagined, we don’t yet understand?
Just as Greatness in the Kingdom is upside down, often Victory in the Kingdom is upside down, unexpected, surprising.
And so when God is doing something different than I expected, well I have options.
I can rail at God, get angry at God. Praise God, He is big enough for that. Plenty of examples of the “Greats” of faith getting angry at God because they don’t see it yet, they don’t understand it yet, they are tired of waiting, tired of hurting, tired of their enemies apparently winning.
That’s real.
But when God is doing something different than I expect, and I don’t know what is going on, the one thing I do know for sure is that “God is working all things according to His purpose.”
There is a “win” coming, and it is better than the “win” I expected.
Can we agree that the “Win” of Jesus laying down His life on the cross is a better Victory, a better Story, a bigger Truth then a tussle with Rome in 1st Century Jerusalem?
What had more power, more effect, more reach? Kicking Rome out of the city or out of the province would have felt AMAZING for those stuck under the Roman boot for the time. But God was changing the cosmos, rewriting history, and purchasing Life, and Life forever, and Life abundant for the BILLIONS of his disciples who had and would live for his name.
When God is doing something different, trust the story.
Victory is coming.
When God is doing something different, trust the story He is telling. It is better.
We are praying for victory in the park. How is God going to do it?
I would love to see the city have a change of heart, repent, and support the good work.
I would love to see City Council hear and respond, stand up and applaud.
I am praying for it. Let’s not be shy about asking for what we want to see happen, what we want to see God do, we are invited to do that. Boldly. Persistently. Absolutely.
But we pray with open hands, open eyes, open expectations.
If we see that God is doing something different, honestly, if we were smart, if we could see and trust the story, we would get more excited, not less.
If, ridiculous, the City of Northglenn next week showed up with tanks, oh man, giddy-up, God is doing something here. I did NOT expect that, can’t wait to see His Victory.
If the City successfully shuts down this rhythm of loving on folks in the park, or we as a church are led to a different way or time or place of serving… is God done winning?
When God is doing something different, trust the story.
Jesus on a White Horse
Jesus on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
All things He has done, all things He is doing, all things He will do built to this moment, this glory, our King of kings and Lord of lords. We trust His story and walk in His Victory.
