Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer every Wednesday at 7pm; if you come at 6pm, we’ll have a light dinner made for anyone who needs to come directly from work.

Natalie is preparing some homemade chili with cornbread.

We’d love to have you join us as we continue in our series through the Psalms.

There are renovation updates in your worship guides, you can read that on your own time.

This Saturday, October 30th, 2021, we need four or five volunteers to help us with an outreach ministry during the Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation’s Harvest Vender Event and Halloween Parade.

If you’re interested in helping, please contact Natalie ASAP.

On Sunday, November 7th, 2021, we have a quarterly business meeting and our annual budget meeting after the Sunday AM Service.

Both of those meetings are open to the public—we have several things to vote on that meeting, so if you are a member, please plan on being at that meeting.

Also, on November 7th, 2021, we’ll be having a meal after the meeting to mark the end of our first year of ministry as a church.

That meal will be in the Activity Room, though because we haven’t been able to order all the tables and chairs for that room, some of us may have to eat without tables.

The church will provide the main dish for that meal, we’ll need help with the side dishes, drinks, and deserts—you can find the sign-up sheet at the front of the room.

During our meeting on November 7th, we’re planning on voting in our first deacon nominee—his name is Deane Herbst.

Many of you already know him.

Now I know that many of us come from different types of church backgrounds and each church did something different concerning what a deacon’s role is, so to help everyone in our church understand what exactly our deacons are and what they are to do, I’ve provided essentially and essay with all the details available to anyone who wants one at the entrance.

Let me encourage those of you that are members to take one home and read through it prayerfully.

In addition, October 20th’s Wednesday Evening Bible Study & Prayer time was set aside to explain the role of deacons in the Bible and in our church, I’d encourage you to go on YouTube and watch that message so that you have a full idea of what deacons in our church do.

Normally, when electing deacons, I would’ve opened it up for nominations earlier, but since this is our first deacon, I have provided a nominee for you to consider.

There’s a brief bio about him in each of these little brochure-like booklets, but I’d encourage you to speak with him and get to know him before the vote on November 7th.

As always, let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving.

To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) you can give in-person through the offering box at the entrance—this would be for cash and check gifts—if you write a check please write it to Grace & Peace and if you give cash and you’d like a receipt, please slip it in an envelope with your name on it; if you’d prefer to use a debit, credit, or ACH transfer, you can do so by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and by following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com and select giving in the menu bar.

Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 34:11-22)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 34:11-22, which is the second part of Psalm 34.

The first part of the passage focused on rejoicing in God together because of all that Jesus had done.

It is a psalm of thankfulness.

This section of the passage, is David calling all the people to learn from him with the primary point that the answer to hard times in life and the answer to the most ultimate questions are found in God.

Please stand and read with me Psalm 34:11-22—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Congregational Singing

All Creatures of Our God and King

Come Praise and Glorify

Good and Gracious King

Scripture Reading (Zechariah 9:9-17)

I asked Stacey to read our Scripture reading this morning, which is in Zechariah 9:9-17.

Before she comes up, let me give you some background information Zechariah 9 contains prophecies concerning two different people.

Vs. 1-8 tells of a man who will be a king and violence, destruction, and devastation follow him (many conservative scholars believe that this is prophesying the rise of Alexander the Great, but that’s just speculation).

Vs. 9-17, which is our Scripture reading, then compares and contrasts that violent, destructive, and devastating king with a different king, one who will ride into Jerusalem on a donkey—one who is coming to bring peace.

This passage is quoted in our sermon’s passage, so please look carefully at the passage to prepare for this morning’s message.

Stacey, please read Zechariah 9:9-17.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning’s sermon continues our expositional series through the Gospel according to John with a passage that records something that you’re probably very familiar with, but you’ve probably really only looked at this passage during a specific time of the year.

If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn it to John 12:12-19.

Our passage this morning is John 12:12-19, which records what we typically refer to as the triumphant or triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Usually, when this passage is utilized in church services today, it’s utilized the week before Resurrection Sunday on Palm Sunday as the kickstart into a what is sometimes called “holy week.”

And typically when it is celebrated as Palm Sunday, it tends to be celebrated with a lot of pomp and circumstance in a way to mimic the shouts of hosanna and the celebratory nature of Jesus’ actual entrance into Jerusalem, but let me remind you that to think that these people in John 12:12-19 were celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jersualem for right reasons is actually incorrect.

Remember that many of these very same people will be shouting for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus in a week’s time; and part of the reason for their change of heart is simply because they had false ideas of what the Messiah was to do.

They’re celebrating the arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem because they think that Jesus, as the Messiah who just resurrected a man from the dead, is about to take his place as their king and that he’s about to take control of Israel from the Romans, but it’s clear as we get closer to the crucifixion that that is not what Jesus had in mind.

Nevertheless, today’s passage records the coming of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem and while often times when this passage is preached, the focus is on the loud shouts of hosanna and the celebratory nature of the event, we’re going to look at it in a different light.

Yes, there were loud shouts and the people were certainly exuberant, but the reality is that the reason that this event is recorded in all four Gospel accounts isn’t because of the exuberant actions of the people, but rather because of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies that proved Jesus to be the Messiah.

One reason we believe in Jesus as the Messiah is because of the Old Testament prophecies that he fulfilled; this triumphal entry is one of those prophecies being fulfilled, but before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s read John 12:12-19.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) Vs. 12-13, the Celebration of the People will look at the people who shouted “hosanna” in a celebratory way—we’re going to talk about what precisely the people were doing, what people commonly think they were doing, and what they were really doing as Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem; (2) Vs.

14-16, Jesus’ Fulfillment of Prophecy quotes a specific prophecy from Zechariah to show us how exactly Jesus fulfilled the prophecy from Zechariah, we’ll talk about that prophecy and the symbolism behind Jesus riding into the city on a donkey’s colt; and (3) Vs. 17-19, the Witness of the people and the scheming of the Pharisees closes off this paragraph by looking at why the people were doing what they were doing and what the Pharisees thought of the whole situation.

This passage of Scripture, while often utilized to teach us how we should worship Jesus today, will actually remind us of the hope that we can have in the future because of who Jesus is.

It should encourage us and it should fill us with hope.

Prayer for Illumination

The Celebration of the People (12-13)

John starts this passage by giving us a bit of the setting—remember that just prior to this, Jesus was eating at the house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus when Mary takes a large amount of really expensive ointment and pours it over Jesus’ feet.

Mary did this to show honor, respect, and great gratitude for Jesus’ resurrection of Lazarus.

Vs. 12, says the very next day, “The large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.”

This is the same feast that is first mentioned in John 11:55, which tells us that this is “the Passover of the Jews.”

And because it is a festival or feast that all Jewish people were supposed to celebrate and remember, the city of Jerusalem had swelled to a much larger size.

Many scholars estimate that the city of Jerusalem had a population of 55,000 people during the life of Jesus’ Christ, which is a little bit bigger than State College when it comes to population

During major feasts and events (which Passover is a major feast), the estimate is that somewhere between 100,000-130,000 people would come into Jerusalem for the feast.

Which is about how much State College swells when Penn State is in session and there’s a home football game.

The difference being that while people in Pennsylvania are going to State College to watch a football game, people in first-century Jerusalem were going to the temple to worship Yahweh by remembering God’s provision for their ancestors in Exodus.

So, there’s a rather large crowd, but the feast itself hasn’t started yet.

Remember, all of these events started a week prior to the Passover

The meal that Jesus shared with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in which Mary anointed Jesus occured six days before the Passover, and since Vs. 12, tells us this event is the very next day, we’re still five days away from the Passover celebration.

Nevertheless, there’s a large crowd of people in Jerusalem and they had heard that Jesus was coming into the city.

And Vs. 13, tells us that these people “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!”

There are several elements of this verse that I want to point out:

Starting with the branches of palm trees, this act of waving palm branches, which Matthew 21:8 tells us that they not only waved palm branches but they spread them on the road before Jesus along with their cloaks, is a symbolic gesture.

Most of us today, have no idea what palm branches and leaves were really for in the time of Antiquity.

When we think of palm branches and leaves at all, the only thing that we might think of is when churches give out palm leaves on Palm Sunday.

In the Ancient Near East, Palm leaves and branches had very symbolic meanings and the people would have recognized the symbolic meaning.

To wave a palm branch in the way that they were symbolized victory and kingship.

Edwin Blum states that “[in their minds] Jerusalem was the city of the great King and He was coming to it.”

In their minds, the Messiah had come, but remember that in their minds, they believe that the Messiah is going to save them politically—that the Messiah would remove them from the bondage of the Roman Empire (despite the fact that Jesus had already rejected that idea in John 6:15).

They were utilizing these palm trees, branches, and leaves to essentially state that their Messiah had come and he was going to save them from Rome—and I’m saying this like that intentionally, because I want you to be reminded of the fact that while they’re crying out like this and it seems like they really understand that Jesus is truly the Messiah, they don’t actually understand that he’s not about to save them politically or socially, he’s about to save them spiritually.

Let’s look at the word “Hosanna!”

Hosanna as a word is probably familiar to you in the extent that you’ve heard the word utilized at church.

We sing songs with the word hosanna in it, some churches will proclaim hosanna just like you might say amen or hallelujah, but for the most part, many believers today don’t know what it means.

Hosanna is a Hebrew word and it’s utilized in a Psalm that might also be familiar to you—in Psalm 118, the word Hosanna is utilized, but in our English translations it’s actually translated instead of just utilizing the word hosanna.

Psalm 118 starts with the verse, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy or steadfast love endures forever!”

And the idea of God’s mercy or steadfast love continues through the psalm, with the Psalmist eventually crying out in Vs. 25, “[Hosanna], we pray, O LORD!” Again though, in our English translations, the word is actually translated in Psalm 118 and it says this, “Save us, we pray, O LORD!”

Psalm 118 is a prophecy concerning the Messiah, which is why in Luke’s account of Palm Sunday, the Pharisees were upset with the people’s response to Jesus and they tell him to rebuke his disciples.

The Pharisees in Luke’s account were upset because they recognized that by the people utilizing that statement, they were essentially saying that he was the Messiah (even though their idea of the Messiah was misguided).

They’re crying out Hosanna!

And then they’re also crying out “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!,” which is also part of Psalm 118, but in its original context in Psalm 118, it’s referring to pilgrims coming to the temple for worship.

Essentially, the way that it was originally utilized, the people already at the temple would shout this to greet other Israelites as they arrived at the temple—in that sense, it isn’t very surprising that they would greet Jesus with “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

However, because they greeted him with palm branches and because of the phrase “even the King of Israel” they’re affirming their belief that Jesus is the Messiah—and it’s of note, that despite previously rejecting the idea of being the king of Israel, Jesus seems to accept it in John 12:13.

That isn’t to say that Jesus previously didn’t think of himself as the king of Israel, it’s just to say that the time has come.

So Jesus is on his way into Jerusalem, and this mass of people that were already in the city hear that he’s coming and they go out to meet him and see him on the way into the city.

As he’s coming into the city, they’re waving these palm branches, laying their coats before him, and they’re crying out ‘Hosanna!

[save us!] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” Reading all of these different things happening, it makes it seem as if the people really understood that Jesus was the Messiah and it makes it seem as if they are truly worshiping him, but let me remind you again, that they had a false idea of who the Messiah was to be—and because of that false idea, it doesn’t take much for them to turn against Jesus and his disciples.

However, even in their lack of understanding, the people are doing things and they’re saying things that affirm Jesus as the Messiah; then the Bible records something that is vitally important in Vs. 14-16.

Let’s read those verses again: