The Crowd and The City
Notes
Transcript
“Peace be with you.”
Let’s pray: Father, may your will be done. Jesus, may your word be proclaimed. Spirit, may your work be accomplished in us we pray. Amen.
10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Either the crowd caves to the fear and influence of the City and deflates Jesus title to Prophet, or they are furthering their proclamation about Jesus as both King and Prophet. Either way the City is trembling. The implications for the prior meets its climax in Matthew 27:20
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.
when the leaders of Jerusalem “persuaded” the crowd to choose Barabbas and kill Jesus. The crowd is easily swayed by the big city and it leaders. If it is the latter, then the crowd offers no comfort to the trembling city. The King and Prophet, comes into the city and they should be shaking in their boots. Regardless if the crowd begins being persuaded by the city in Matthew 21 or not, they eventually are persuaded in Matthew 27. The crowd who hailed Jesus as King, turns on this King and crucify him.
From Troubled to Trembling
From Troubled to Trembling
Jesus and Jerusalem have a long history of being at odds with each other. When Jesus is born both King Herod and Jerusalem were “troubled” within.
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Jerusalem, whose name literally means city of peace Jeru-“Shalom”, doesn’t seem to be a city of peace but rather of turmoil/trouble. They are troubled within with the arrival of Jesus as a baby, and now they are trembling at his arrival as King. We learn from Jesus what he things about this tension between them in Matthew 23:37-38
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
In both cases, at his birth and at his coming, they seek to kill him. Herod order all male babies under two years old to be put to death in hope to swallow up Jesus and stop him from intervening. Now as he comes to Jerusalem for the last time, they will seek to put him to death. This time Jesus will allow them to succeed.
The Death of Death.
The Death of Death.
What they meant for evil, Jesus uses for good for all mankind. Jesus moves past their evil intentions, to go and look man’s greatest enemy in the eyes—death and Jesus defeats him. Jesus is victorious over death and stands over its corpse and taunts him, “O death where is your victory? Where is your sting?”
City of Fear to City of Peace
City of Fear to City of Peace
What’s ironic is that the city who was fearful of Jesus and filled with so much trouble and trembling, because of what Jesus accomplished, was able to embody the meaning of its name—A city of peace. What happened to Jesus in the city of Shalom, gave shalom, that surpasses all understanding, to all throughout the world who believe.
Application: The Crowd or the City
Application: The Crowd or the City
There are two responses we are confronted with today from this lesson. The response of the crowd or the city.
Are you with the crowd who confesses Jesus as King and Prophet, who lays down their lifes for Jesus to reign upon, who are ready to serve him as King of Heaven and Earth?
Or do you lean towards the City, who refuses to acknowledge Jesus as King, who is trouble by Jesus presence and seek to limit Jesus’ influence in their lives?
The week ahead will provide a proving ground to help determine which side you are on: the city or the crowd. Will you succum to the influence of the city, those who offer you employment and paychecks, who demand your time and attention, will they be the excuse that deflates your commitment to Jesus during the week of remembering all that he has done for us? What excuses could there be that would prevent you from offering your life in worship to Jesus on a week when we celebration His passion for us?
There are some people who live their lives confessing Jesus as King but then live being ruled by the city. Worship becomes extra-curricular to them, Doing life in the body of Christ is only done if there is time left over for it. But the demands of the City they comes first, and if my schedule allows it maybe I find some time to squeeze in the church. I sadly confess that many churches are filled with these kinds of Christians. Worship is the first thing to go.
But what if we actually took serious the warning this passage suggests. What if we told the City that King Jesus rules and reigns over our lives. He gets first dibs on our time and service. Then if we have time to spare, we will give the city some attention. There used to be a day when the church influenced the city. Where schools, town meetings, festivals would not dare schedule their meetings and events or classes or sporting practices on wednesday or sundays because no one would be there because they would be at church. There used to be a time where Sundays was the highlight of the week because everyone in the community attended worship, studied scripture together, ate meals together, and spent time as the church together. There used to be a time when people served the interest of the church rather then the church serving the interest of the people. This is a sobering reality that we face as the modern day church. If I could be honest, I am not a pushy Pastor to seek to force people into the church, but it does seem, it sometimes feels like and sounds like, and seems like people are bothering or inconvienced by the church. The church doesn’t really fit into their plans much. Since they think the church serves their interests, if they don’t participate or show then its not a big deal.
Could you consider this week, this Holy Week, to look after the church’s interest which is to relive, remember, and reverance the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Could you tell the coaches, that they will have your time and attention, but they are not the priority this week. King Jesus is, and if they want to worship with you, they can cancel practices and games and come and join you. Or maybe you tell the city, your empolyer that you are going to use some vacation time, or pto time, and making Jesus and his people the place you will offer your service this week. What would we need to do, how could we reclaim that once held belief that Church was the center of all public life for believers. How can we not be influenced by the city and instead influence the city to be a city of God. Could it be possible to change this small town to come to respect that their stadium and seats will be empty if they try to schedule things on Church time? Maybe i’m naive, and a hopeless romantic. Or maybe I believe that as Christians we are suppose to influence the world around us and not the other way around.
The city questioned, “Who is this?” But Jesus is asking you, “Who are you?” City or crowd. Christian or not?
