Sermon Tone Analysis

I rejoiced with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Ps 122:1

I am so thankful to join you in the house of the Lord today and want to offer my welcome to all of those joining us online and in the house today.

I thank God for you and for the gift of our church.

I rejoice with you everytime we gather - whether in times of joy or sorrow - I rejoice with you because Jesus made a way for us back to our Father and gave us his Spirit to overcome!

Any overcomers here with us today?

Amen!

Ever hear the phrase: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God!”

A missionary named William Carey spoke these words at a missions conference in England in 1792.

Less than a year later, filled with unstoppable passion and vision, Carey and his family set sail for Kolkata, India.

In their first years, Carey’s family endured tragic losses.

His mission partner betrayed them and stole their first year’s mission wage, and his wife and youngest son died of illness.

Yet, somehow in the face of great opposition, Carey persevered and followed the movement of Jesus amidst terrible hardship.

After his 5 year old son, Peter, passed away, he wrote in his diary:

“This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me...

But I rejoice that I am here, notwithstanding; and God is here, who not only can have compassion, but is able to save to the uttermost.”

Carey’s joy amidst such agonizing sorrow bears witness to the white hot mission of Jesus that drove his vision.

Following these tragedies, Carey founded Serampore College to prepare men and women in India for ministry, which is still in operation to this day.

He translated the complete Bible for the first time into the 6 major languages of India.

In addition, he also translated the New Testament into 29 regional dialects.

He also founded the Baptist Missionary Society, which continues to this day with missionaries serving in 30 countries around the world.

When historians reflect on Carey’s work, they attribute the rise of modern Christianity in India and Indonesia to his missionary leadership, along with the societal changes that led to the end of widespread infanticide, widow burnings, and assisted suicide.

You may not know the name William Carey or care much about this man, but his obedience to the movement of Jesus resulted in over a billion people gaining access to God’s Word in their native language.

Ordinary obedience to an extraordinary God.

That’s what builds a movement.

The witness of Carey's life raises the question for all of us: What is

driving your life?

Because something is driving all of us, so what drives you?

Maybe a harder question to ask is: Do you even know?

This day, the Sunday before Easter, is traditionally called Palm Sunday and commemorates the day when Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the final time.

On this day, men and women hailed him as Lord and Savior, waving palm branches and crying out ‘Hosanna, Hosanna,’ which means, “God save us,” but less than 5 days later on a day that we solemnly call Good Friday, Jesus would hear the cries of people shouting ‘crucify him, crucify him’ and die on a Roman criminal cross.

Palm Sunday gives us an opportunity to reflect on what drives us because on this day in Jesus’ life, he showed us what drives him.

Over these last couple of weeks, we’ve been studying through select passages in the Gospel of Mark and letting him teach us how to move with Jesus here and now.

In the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus calls you to follow him to:

Go to the people, for the people

Act as a servant leader

Overcome sin

Embody Christ’s salvation in your life

Lead with character and humility

Live free and sober minded

Admit your need

Take time outs to rest with Jesus

Show and tell the good news

And, stay aware of your emotional health

God moved to the people, for the people in Christ Jesus.

In the second chapter, Mark shows how a group of friends modeled the characteristics of people on the move with Jesus through:

Determination

Care

Faith

Love Brotherhood

Friends bring friends to Jesus.

Now, as we fast forward through the next few years of Jesus’ public ministry, Mark invites the reader to experience how Jesus moved on mission when the pressure mounted and the heat turned up!

About a day or two before Jesus entered into Jerusalem, Mark records a few key moments that bring meaning to what was about to happen over the next week.

He writes in chapter 10, verse 32:

They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.

Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.

“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.

Three days later he will rise.”

Mark 10:32–34.

This was the third time in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus predicted his death.

Mark says the disciples looked ‘astonished,’ while the others felt ‘afraid’ ... which begs the question:

“Why did his closest disciples, the 12, feel so differently from the others?”

Well, Mark seems to give us a clue in the first half of verse 32, saying:

“They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way...”

It’s a short clue and easy to miss, but a few key words in this verse connect the reader to one of the larger, overarching themes in Mark’s Gospel: Jesus as King and Messiah.

Mark introduces this theme in Jesus’ baptism in chapter 1.

In that moment, God the Father said to Jesus, You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

Mark 1:11.

The Father’s words not only inaugurated Jesus’ ministry, but in fact, crowned Jesus as King and anointed him as Messiah.

Now, fast forward about 3 years later to this moment here, and Mark says that Jesus and his followers are on their way up to Jerusalem.

The road between Jericho and Jerusalem is roughly 18 miles long and covers about 3500 feet of elevation, so the travel is literally up and steep, but I don’t think Mark wants us to focus merely on the geographical landscape in this scene.

I believe he wants us to connect this moment to the larger theme of Jesus as King and Messiah.

Jesus isn’t just walking up a steep path.

Jesus is ascending to his throne where he will be given a crown, but not the kind of throne or crown of gold that we would expect of a king.

Rather, his throne is a cross, and his crown is piercing thorns.

The picture of Jesus that Mark is painting is of a King ascending to the heights to rule from his seat of power.

Not like the power that so easily corrupts and leads people astray in this world, but the power to save

The Apostle Paul wrote:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

No other king before him and no other king who would follow after him could do justice and show love like Jesus did from his throne on the cross.

Jesus is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Unlike other moments when Jesus walked with patience and gentleness among the people, this moment called for leadership and the strength to achieve the victory of salvation that only the true King and Messiah could accomplish for the people.

That is why the disciples looked astonished!

They saw their king walking resolutely up to the holy city in which he would be enthroned!

His other followers felt afraid because they knew what awaited Jesus in Jerusalem: death.

Yet, neither astonishment, nor fear, caused Jesus to think twice about his steadfast commitment to the white hot mission of salvation that drove his vision.

His actions even inspired James and John to ask, Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.

Mark 10:37.

James and John saw the moment for what it meant, but they asked the wrong question.

They were following their own pride, not the mission, but over the next few days, they would witness firsthand the kind of kingdom that Jesus was ushering into the world: one founded on servant leadership, not pride.

Mark continues in verse 46:

As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city [Jericho], a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up!

On your feet!

He’s calling you.”

Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.