Sermon Tone Analysis

The quest for glory

people do interesting things to get glory or notoriety

start YouTube channels

tweet or say outlandish things

perfect an art or craft

document big adventures

Er eat Shackleford led an expedition to the South Pole.

It is said that he took out an ad which read

Men wanted for hazardous journey.

Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness.

Safe return doubtful.

Honour and recognition in event of success.

according to some accounts, he received 5000 applicants

they were in it for the glory.

—-—

When we last left Jesus, he was at a meal with Mary, Martha, Lazarus, his disciples and many more people.

Mary had just opened an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus as a way of honoring him.

The passage we’re looking at today begins the day after that.

Sometimes referred to as Palm Sunday, it’s labeled in many of our bibles as “The Triumphal Entry.”

Essentially, we find a large crowd (or two) accompanying Jesus into town and then conversations among the crowd and Jesus and his disciples.

As you read through this passage, there is a persistent theme that seems to come to the surface : glory.

In the original language, glory means to ascribe dignity or honor.

In the OT, one of the words that we translate into glory can mean “weight” or importance.

So as we look at this passage, we’re going to consider two sources of glory - glory from humanity and glory from God. We’ll consider how Jesus responded to each, but also how we should consider our response or interaction with both as well.

These sources of glory are interspersed throughout the passage so we’ll be jumping around a bit.

There will be some scriptures on the screens, but feel free to follow along in your copy of scripture.

As we consider both of these sources, we’ll reflect on several principles that seem to be evident in this passage.

Let’s begin where the passage begins with...

Glory from humanity

This glory from humanity is seen in a variety of ways in this passage and beyond.

First of all, we can see this glory from humanity is...

Driven by fad - initiated by emotion (12-19)

So, after hearing that Jesus was coming to town, several of the people who had seen Jesus perform the sign of raising Lazarus from the dead celebrated that sign and recognized it as a sort of fulfillment of prophecy.

It seems like there is another group that comes from Jerusalem, out toward Bethany, to meet and possibly confront the mob - or at least to join in.

There is a fervor and a celebration.

This is really not unlike some of the political emotionalism and movements that we see from time to time.

In the run-up to the 2008 presidential election - Barak Obama garnered huge crowds of people as they saw him as a culmination of so many hopes.

In a very similar way, large crowds gathered nation -wide in stadiums where Donald Trump was making appearances as the 2016 election approached.

Crowds have a way of riding the band wagon - or a fad.

As we think about the triumphal entry - what is the fad they were riding?

It seems like it was a political revolution.

How do we know that?

The palm branches.

Palm branches were used for a couple hundred years as symbols of nationalistic pride.

Don Carson notes that “From about two centuries earlier, palm branches had already become a national (not to say nationalist) symbol.

When Simon the Maccabee drove the Syrian forces out of the Jerusalem citadel he was fêted with music and the waving of palm branches (cf. 1 Macc.

13:51, 141 BC), which had also been prominent at the rededication of the temple (2 Macc.

10:7, 164 BC).”

While the palm branches are not normally part of passover celebrations, this crowd waved these as a nationalistic sign that Jesus would be their King.

And then on top of that, they quote from one of the Hallal Psalms, ascribing to Jesus the political and revolutionary hopes contained in that Psalm (118).

John records their chant in this way:

John 12:13 (ESV)

“Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

That word “Hosanna” means “save us” or “bring your salvation.”

It seems like they were not calling for a spiritual salvation over sin, but for a political salvation from their enemies.

I think it’s important for us to remember that:

Political fervor does not equate with biblical service

this crowd had the right person, but they were cheering for him for the wrong outcome.

Jesus did not come to do the thing they wanted him to.

I think this is part of the reason why Jesus rides in on a donkey.

Rather than riding on a horse which would signify a conquering hero, coming in on a donkey communicates peace - not to mention a fulfillment of prophecy (Zec.

9:9).

So Jesus deflects this fad-driven and emotionally instituted glory.

He’s not after their approval.

In fact, if we look more broadly in scripture, we’ll see that this glory from humanity is also...

Short-lived (John 19:14)

The crowd that loved Jesus early in the week, seems to have abandoned him in just a few short days.

John 19:14–15 (ESV)

He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Now, frequently John uses the phrase “the Jews” to refer to the religious leaders.

It certainly seems like this turning away from Jesus is led by the leaders and their kangaroo court.

The other gospel writers seem to indicate that the mob that was assembled just prior to the crucifixion was more than just the leaders.

Whatever the case, the glory from humanity was short-lived.

They turned quickly.

As we think about this in our own lives, how often do we clamor for the approval from other people only to find a moving target?

What is acceptable in one moment becomes taboo the next.

We can see this in our society at-large with cancel culture and social stigmas, but we also see it in the church.

I think this is why it’s so important for us to remain in the word of God and in fellowship with people who will encourage us in our walks with the Lord.

The word of God is timeless and God’s principles are eternal.

But there is one other thing we can see in the glory that is received from humanity.

That it is..

Fickle (42-43)

There are some who wanted to follow Jesus, but felt like it was socially dangerous to do so.

Because they like the approval or glory from the other religious leaders, they chose to be quiet and covert.

Essentially, they refused to go public!

But I wonder, how often are we like that?

How often do we have opportunities to make our faith public in conversations or actions or even in baptism?

Let’s think about this a couple of ways.

Students - As you enter the school year, what does being public about your faith look like?

In the very least, I think it impacts how you dress (modestly- not frumpy), how you speak, your integrity about your work, and how you treat other people (with dignity and encouragement as image bearers of God- even those that are difficult to love)

But it may even involve participating in something like FCA or inviting friends to some of our youth group events or to church.

It may mean offering to pray for someone or starting a bible study.

Single Adults - what does a public faith look like for you?

Whether you’re in school or simply adulting - being public about your faith impacts

speach

work ethics

who you date and what you do on dates

whether or how much you drink