What Kind of King Did You Expect?
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Introduction:
I want us to imagine this morning we are in Jerusalem getting ready to celebrate Passover with the millions of other Jews who made the trip to do the same. We are doing what any other Jew would be doing: finding a place to stay, picking out the perfect lamb and getting the appropriate items for the Passover meal.
Then from the western side of the city, a procession is taking place. You can tell by the faint beating of the drums which are getting louder as the procession is getting closer. This isn’t a surprise though. This happens every year. It’s the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, leading a procession of Roman cavalry and centurions into the city of Jerusalem (“The Last Week” by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, pg. 1) just as Roman historians have recorded it. If you can get a glimpse, you can actually see them coming. Pontius Pilate leads Roman soldiers on horseback and on foot. Each soldier is clad in leather armor polished to a high gloss. On each centurion’s head, hammered helmets gleamed in the bright sunlight. At their sides, sheathed in their scabbards, were swords crafted from the hardest steel; and, in their hands, each centurion carried a spear; or if he was an archer, a bow with a sling of arrows across his back.
Drummers beat out the cadence of march for this was no ordinary entry into Jerusalem. Pilate, as governor of the region which included not only Judea, but Samaria, and Idumea, knew it was standard practice for the Roman governor of a foreign territory to be in its capital for religious celebrations. It was the beginning of Passover, a strange Jewish festival that the Romans allowed.
However, the Romans must have been aware that this festival celebrated the liberation of the Jews from another empire, the empire of Egypt.
So, Pilate had to be in Jerusalem. Since the Romans had occupied this land by defeating the Jews and deposing their king about 80 years before, uprisings were always in the air. The last major uprising, long before Pilate’s time, had been after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC.
What was the uprising? The uprising started in Sepphoris, about 5 miles from Jesus’ boyhood home of Nazareth. Before it was over the city of Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee, and the town of Emmaus had been destroyed by the Roman army.
After putting down the rebellion there, the Romans marched on Jerusalem. After pacifying the city, they crucified over 2,000 Jews who were accused of being part of the rebellion. The Romans had made their intolerance for rebellion well-known. And so on this occasion, Pilate had traveled with a contingent of Rome’s finest from his preferred headquarters in Caesarea-by-the-Sea, to the stuffy, crowded, provincial capital of the Jews, Jerusalem.
The Temple would be the center of Passover activity. Antonia’s Fortress, the Roman garrison built adjacent to the Temple compound, would serve as a good vantage point from which to keep an eye on the Jews. Pilate’s entry into Jerusalem was meant to send a message to the Jews, and to those who might be plotting against the empire of Rome. The spectacle was meant to remind the Jews of what had happened the last time of a wide-scale uprising. And, it was meant to intimidate the citizens of Jerusalem themselves, who might think twice about joining such a rebellion if it was slated to fail.
So, in other words, Pilate’s procession was to be a show of military might and strength. He rode on a white horse which was what a military leader or conquering king would ride to show power and might and also keeping peace by using that same power and might. You could say Pilate rode in symbolically to say that he was there to keep the peace during this Jewish religious festival.
Transition: This leads us to our first kind of king this morning.
I. Pilate/Rome as king
A. This is why there were some Jews (mainly tax collectors and such; remember Matthew and Zachaeus?) who served Rome/Caesar/the governor in order to benefit the best they could. They were protected by Rome. Rome took care of their needs and more. And they didn’t care how they got what they got and who they hurt and if they were not accepted by their people.
B. There are those of us today who do the same. Okay, we don’t have an emperor, but we live in a world that can offer to provide us with what we need and more.
C. Jobs, money, cars, expensive toys, relationships, drugs, alcohol, etc. If we aren’t careful, we can easily allow one or more of these things to become king in our life. It takes the priority above everything and everyone else. It doesn’t matter how many relationships are destroyed, bridges burned, as long as you get what this world is offering you.
D. Yes, the world does a great job at being flashy and looking better than what it really is, just like Pilate and his soldiers. But just like Pilate and his soldiers, the things this world is trying to sell you will be no more. It’s only a temporary fix.
E. Are you more about the things of this world than anything else?
Transition: On the same day Pilate‘s procession enters Jerusalem, there is another procession that takes place. Let’s take a look at our passage for today as it talks about this other procession.
1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,
2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. 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 at once.”
4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
5 Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them.
8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who 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 he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
II. Jesus as Prophet King
A. If Pilate’s procession was meant as a show of military might and strength, Jesus’ procession was meant to show the opposite.
B. Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus’s own words, as he instructs his disciples to go in to the city and find a donkey tied up. They are to ask the owner if they may use the donkey, and they are to say that “the Lord needs them.”
Then, Jesus quotes from Zechariah 9:9
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
he is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
But, there is more to this passage than just a description of Jesus’ means of transportation for that day. The prophet Zechariah is speaking to the nation. In Zechariah 9, the prophet reassures the people that God has not forgotten them: (Zech 9:8-10)
8 I will encamp at my house as a guard,
against those who march back and forth,
and no oppressor will march against them again,
for now I have seen with my own eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
he is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.
In other words, Jesus’ quote from the prophet Zechariah reminded those who heard him of the entire passage. The message they heard was, “God will deliver the nation from the oppressor”—in this case, Rome!
The king they seek will come to them humbly, not on a steed of war (like Pilate), but on a slow-moving donkey, the symbol of a king who comes in peace, according to Zechariah.
The two processions could not be more different in the messages they convey.
-Pilate, leading Roman centurions, asserts the power and might of the empire of Rome which crushes all who oppose it.
-Jesus, riding on a young donkey, embodies the peace and tranquility that God brings to His people.
But there was still a problem…
C. The disciples‘ mentality of who Jesus was was not correct.
D. They had the mentality, as others, that Jesus was the Messiah that was going to wipe everything out, free them from their oppressor (Rome) and they would live happily ever after.
The disciples didn’t know what Jesus was actually doing
13 they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:
15 Do not be afraid,
Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt.
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
ii. Peter had this in mind when he drew his sword in the garden
50 “Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come?”
Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him. 51 At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his ear.
52 Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
iii. The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought of Jesus only as a prophet but hoped He would have been more.
18 The one named Cleopas answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked them.
So they said to him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. 21 But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened.
iv. The crowds recognized Him as prophet
11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
E. There are those who come to Jesus expecting to be free from trials and difficulties. They expect a healthy bank account, huge house, new cars, perfect health, etc. They don’t quite understand who Jesus is so they go by what others have said or what they know (cf the crowds).
F. When this doesn’t happen, they feel like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were hoping God would instantly take care of all their problems and trouble and they are sadly disappointed because it doesn’t happen as they expect it to. This causes many to walk away from God just as fast as they came to Him.
G. Just like the disciples and people in Jerusalem praising God at Jesus’ procession, coming to Jesus as a great powerful prophet king will do you no good. If you come to Jesus because of what you can get from Him, then you have totally missed the point. Having faith in Jesus to get you things is the wrong motive.
H. This is what another source accurately describes the mentality of the crowd during this event:
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem may or may not have been planned to occur on the same day as Pilate’s procession through the western gate of the city. Whether it was planned or not, the two processions provided a contrast that was unmistakable.
For, you see, Pilate served the Son of God, too. The late emperor Augustus, who ruled from 31 BC to 14 AD, was said to have been fathered by the god, Apollo, and conceived by his mother, Atia.
Inscriptions referred to him as “son of God,” “lord,” and even, “savior.” After his death, the legend had it that he was seen ascending into heaven, to take his place among the gods.
Augustus’ successors—Tiberias during Jesus’ life and ministry— also bore divine titles, until later in the first century the emperors would demand to not only be addressed as “God,” but to be worshipped as God also.
A contrast between kings and kingdoms was on display that day in Rome. And, although many of the common people thought they sided with Jesus, they did so for the same reasons the Pharisees and others sided with Rome. They thought Jesus could do for them what Rome had done for their rulers—make their lives better, deliver them from the oppressive system under which they lived and worked, and turn the tables on the Romans.
That’s why the crowd turns on Jesus by the end of the week. They don’t think he’s going to do any of those things. And, in addition, Jesus is going to make life worse for them, not better. Their religious leaders, all of them, who never agree on anything, agree that Jesus is going to attract the attention of the Roman empire, especially during Passover, and Rome will come down fast and hard on the entire nation. (see Caiaphas’ speech in John 11:45-50)
So, when Jesus is accused, when he is brought by Pilate before the angry mobs, they want to be rid of him. Jesus, in their minds, never did what they wanted him to do. He never defeated the Romans, he never dissolved the unfair tax system, he never put common people in charge of the government, and furthermore, he never would.
To appease the crowds that swelled the city of Jerusalem, Pilate had the custom of releasing prisoners, many of whom were political prisoners. But on this last week in the life of Jesus, Pilate offers the crowd a choice between Barabbas, a known robber, and Jesus, a failed Messiah. Fearing that if Jesus were released, he would start all over again, the crowd begged for Barabbas to be released, and for Jesus to be executed. And not just by any means, “Crucify him” was the cry. Because crucifixion was the one form of capital punishment that would show Rome the Jews were completely loyal, and would humiliate Jesus, even in death.
Transition: So, we have talked about having the things of this world be king. It is a temporary fix and often is flashier than it really is. We can also come to Christ and serve Him because of what He will do for us. But that doesn‘t work and usually ends in disappointment and frustration because He doesn’t meet our expectations like those of the disciples and the men on the Road to Emmaus. Lastly, we can serve:
III. Jesus as King PERIOD
A. To serve Jesus as King means to lay down you life in worship to Him.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
B. It means to serve Jesus not because of what He can do for you but because of what He has already done for you, that is, dying on the cross for your sins.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”A,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
C. It means to show your love for Him by obeying Him
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands.
3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,
D. It means following Him even when you don’t understand it
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways know him,
and he will make your paths straight.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Conclusion:
What kind of king do you expect? What kind of king do you serve?
1. king of this world?
2. Jesus as Prophet king (what He can do for you only, know about Him from others or what you know)?
3. Jesus as King (what He has done for you already)?
Those who watched that day made a choice. They chose to either serve the god of this world, might and power; or they chose to serve the king of a very different kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God.
What is your choice?
This is the choice we make each day.
-To choose power and might over love. Or love over power and might.
-To choose “the way things are done” over “the way God intends them to be.”
Two processions. Three theologies. Three choices. Which would you choose? What kind of king do you expect?
