Sermon Tone Analysis

OBC

6~/30~/02

John 11:54-12:50

!

Final Worship

The most sacred words I have been privileged to hear as a pastor are not the vows heard at weddings, prayers for salvation,  but “*Words whispered over a coffin...”*

            ·Regrets that things that should have been said were left unsaid.

·Amazing love gets poured out.

Sacred words from father to daughter; son to a father.

Usually it is unrestrained emotionally and uninhibited by the presence of others.

John 12 is that kind of section of Scripture:

I.                      Extravagant worship of Mary (12:1-8)

II.

Expectant worship of the multitude (12:12-19)

III.

Seeking worship of the Gentiles (12:20-36)

             Stifled worship of the rulers (12:37-50)

 

*Extravagant worship of Mary (12:1-8)*

 

Six days before Passover.

Amazing dinner with a fascinating guest list.

(Mk.

14:3 says it was at the home of Simon the leper)

Jesus, Simon, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Judas, John, etc. (Mt.

26:6-13 Mk. 14:3-9)

Two guys…each one “one-upping” the other with story after story.

My skin was white and coming loose!

Mine was rotting and deteriorating.

Simon was unwanted.

Lazarus was a wanted man in that they wanted to kill this walking miracle.

Simon talking about being “whole” and Lazarus talking about being brought out of a “hole!”

During the course of the evening, Mary enters the room.

She has come for one purpose; to worship Christ in an extravagant way.

She comes carrying a jar of pistic nard.

It was:

*Costly* –grown in the Himalayan mountains -  a year’s worth (300 denarii =$40,000)– perfume was usually saved for festivities or funerals – Jesus links it to his death.

As the fragrance of extravagant love made its way through the house, Judas makes a stink.

Judas objects to this expenditure of resources.

This is the passage from which we learn that Judas was dishonest.

Judas was a con man.

Yet, he was trusted by his peers.

He objected because it was so opposite to what was going on in him.

He could not fathom this.

This moment is to be felt emotionally.

(Each gospel has an account of anointing (Luke has Mary Magdalene’s) – everywhere the gospel goes…

*Uninhibited* – she used her hair (At that time, only a prostitute would have let her hair down in public).

*Humbling* – not just his head, but his feet with her tears and hair (it was a servant’s work to attend to the feet).

Mary is impelled by overpowering emotion and oblivious to the censure of those around her.  Mary worships with extravagant love.

One day a plain village woman \\ Driven by love for her Lord \\ Recklessly poured out a valuable essence \\ Disregarding the scorn \\ And once it was broken and spilled out \\ A fragrance filled all the room \\ Like a prisoner released from his shackles \\ Like a spirit set free from the tomb

Broken and spilled out \\ Just for love of you, Jesus \\ My most precious treasure \\ Lavished on thee \\ Broken and spilled out \\ And poured at your feet \\ In sweet abandon \\ Let me be spilled out \\ And used up for thee

Lord you were God’s precious treasure \\ His loved and His own perfect Son \\ Sent here to show me the love of the Father \\ Just for love it was done \\ And though You were perfect and holy \\ You gave up Yourself willingly \\ You spared no expense for my pardon \\ You were used up and wasted for me

Broken and spilled out \\ Just for love of me, Jesus \\ My most precious treasure \\ Lavished on me \\ Broken and spilled out \\ And poured at my feet \\ In sweet abandon \\ Let me be spilled out \\ And used up for Thee (me)                   Gloria Gaither and Bill George

Kneel to worship (if you are physically able) in an intimate season of worship this morning.

*II.

Expectant worship of the multitude (12:12-19)*

John's account of our Lord's so-called triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem is very brief: 

(read Jn. 12: 12-15)   The traditional view of this event is that it was a well-deserved recognition by our Lord of his Messiahship; that at last he was receiving a proper welcome as a King, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah which is quoted here.

The crowd cried out, *"Hosanna!"*

which means, "Save us now!"

They saw him as a conqueror and acknowledged him to be the king of Israel.

Most of us have grown up with the traditional idea that this was indeed a moment of joy and triumph for our Lord; that he was at last being received as he ought to be.

There are hints of a different picture.

A reading of the other gospels makes clear that this was not actually a welcome by the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

John himself tells us in Verse 12, *"a great crowd who had come to the Feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem."

*These people who welcomed Jesus were not residents of the city, but pilgrims, in the city for the feast, many of them perhaps from other places.

In fact, in Matthew's account of this incident, he says that the whole city was stirred when they saw this procession coming down the Mount of Olives.

But instead of joining in the "Hosannas!

" they suspiciously asked, "Who is this?"

The crowd making up the procession had to inform them, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth."

No one seems to have truly understood the nature of this event, as John makes evident in the next verses:

*16  These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17  And so the multitude who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, were bearing Him witness.

18  For this cause also the multitude went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.

19  The Pharisees therefore said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him." Jn. 12:16-19*

Even */the disciples/* were bewildered by this turn of events.

They had been with Jesus in Galilee when the crowd had tried to crown him king following the feeding of the five thousand, but he would have nothing to do with that.

Here, however, they see he is willing to receive the plaudits of the crowd.

They must have been very confused at what was going on.

In fact, we are told they did not know what this meant until after Jesus was glorified.

Here also was */the bedazzled multitude,/* caught up with the exciting news that Jesus had raised a man who had been dead four days.

They were all anxious to see the Wonderworker who had done this amazing thing.

Then there were */the belligerent Pharisees/* who had decided (we learn from the other gospels) not to take Jesus prisoner during the Passover feast because they feared the reaction of the multitude.

But now, as they see the whole populace seemingly swept along by this appearance of Jesus, they say, "You see that you can do nothing (i.e., their plans to delay arresting Jesus were unavailing); look, the whole world has gone after him."

This event changed their schedule.

They had to act now.

If the palm branches of the visiting crowds were spontaneous, the rest of these events were most likely carefully orchestrated by Jesus.

He had a room prepared.

He told the disciples they would find a donkey with its colt tied beside it.

*"Loose them and bring them both to me" *{cf, Matt 21:2}, he told them.

*"If anybody asks you what you are doing, tell them, "The Lord needs them," *{cf, Matt 21:3}.

Either He knew those things supernaturally or He had made arrangements during an earlier visit.

Either way, He had known weeks or months, perhaps even years earlier, the exact day when this would take place.

How did Jesus know that?

Well, he knew that the prophet Zechariah had predicted that Messiah would come, riding into the city on a colt which no man had ever ridden.

That is a remarkable feat in itself.

But so complete was our Lord's control that this unridden colt behaved as meekly as if he had often been ridden.

More than the prophecy of Zechariah, however, Jesus had read in the ninth chapter of Daniel, in one of the most amazing prophetic passages of the Old Testament, that a special period of 490 years (7x70) of Jewish history would begin to run its course when the command was given to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity.

When 483 of those years had elapsed, Messiah, the Prince, would then be presented to his people.

Two very interesting books by Sir Robert Anderson, "Messiah the Prince," and "Daniel the Prophet," trace the fulfillment of this prophecy, pointing out that on the very day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem 483 years had elapsed from the time of the issuing of the commandment to build the walls of Jerusalem!

This was a strategic day in the history of Israel.

Our Lord was fully aware of it and that is why he had chosen this day.

This was not all that you would want in a triumphal entry.

Although it had all the outward appearances of one, it was far from that in our Lord's thoughts.

We find proof of that in these words from Chapter 19 of Luke's gospel: *"And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it," *{cf, Luke 19:41}.