Hosanna! The King Is Coming!
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Notes for Sermon
1. Heralding Jesus, 12:12-13.
1. Heralding Jesus, 12:12-13.
Following the sabbath, the first day of the passion week, Sunday, Palm Sunday.
The large crowd probably consists of both those who have been looking for Jesus after hearing about Lazarus, as well as pilgrims coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
Hearing that Jesus was coming, there may have been a growing Messianic fervor among the crowd surrounding the stories about Jesus’ ministry. Now he would be coming to Jerusalem, where they could see him with their own eyes.
The expressions of their messianic hopes are found in verse 13.
They took the branches of the palm trees — Jews of the 1st century recognize this as a religious and political symbol.
used religiously, palm branches were a part of the celebration at the feasts of Tabernacles and Dedication, representing victory, resurrection, and and authority.
used politically, the palm tree was the national symbol of the Jews. It was directly associated with the Maccabean revolution, where Simon Maccabee was welcomed back to Jerusalem with sons, praise, and palm branches. His brother Judas used palm branches when the temple was rededicated after it had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
There are other connections as well.
Five or six of the disciples of Jesus had Maccabean names (as well as two of Jesus’ brothers) which suggests that the ministry of Jesus was in a region that cherished the national heroes of the Jews.
Around the time of Jesus, there is evidence of Jewish coinage with an engraved palm tree on one side, and some bearing the inscription, “For the redemption of Israel.”
They went out to meet Him -- The crowd is officially heralding Jesus as a king. There is another day to come, described in Rev. 7:9
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
They began to shout — The people begin to proclaim the fulfillment of Psalm 118:25-26
O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
Psalm 118 is a celebration of God’s Kingship and the king’s role as the LORD’s representative. The context has this psalm arising out of a crisis. Let’s take a minute and break down the words of the people:
“Hosanna” - imperative form, “Save” - in the context of Psalm 118, this is an appeal for help, yet it was also a word used as an acclamation in later Jewish tradition and in the NT, with even the rest of Psalm 118, especially verse 27. What we need to recognize here in this acclamation by the people is that Jesus is being officially welcomed and is expected to be the one who will save them. Their hopes about Jesus assume that he is God’s Light shining upon them (Psalm 118:27)
The Lord is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
“Blessed … LORD” - This is a statement taken directly from Psalm 118:26
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
It is intended to “bless” or praise “He who is coming” to save his people. Early Christians saw this last phrase as a messianic title.
“The King of Israel” - added in this way to the text of Psalm 118:26, it is the clearest declaration of the kingly nature of the crowd’s interpretation of Jesus. They have clearly identified Jesus with the royal figure of Psalm 118.
2. Jesus accepting their acclamation, 12:14-15.
2. Jesus accepting their acclamation, 12:14-15.
How does Jesus respond to the royal acclamation of the crowd? He offers a clear response by doing two symbolically significant acts:
Jesus “finds a young donkey” - symbolically, the donkey was ridden by the well-to-do; both mules and donkeys have a long heritage as symbols of royalty. One commentator calls them “the Mercedes Benz of the biblical world.” a status symbol of prestige, power, and wealth. Jesus in response to the crowd appears to be accepting the acclamation of the crowd, even participating in this reenactment of the royal proclamation of Psalm 118.
Jesus “sat on it”, a kingly move which matched the royal acclamation of the crowd. This image symbolizes not humility, but authority and kingship.
By doing this, Jesus intensifies His claim to kingship, and is explained by the OT quotation from Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
There is neither in this quotation nor the context of Zechariah 9 suggesting that this king comes humbly or in peace.
Those who oppose this king … Zech 9:4-7
Behold, the Lord will dispossess her And cast her wealth into the sea; And she will be consumed with fire.
Ashkelon will see it and be afraid. Gaza too will writhe in great pain; Also Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded. Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
And I will remove their blood from their mouth And their detestable things from between their teeth. Then they also will be a remnant for our God, And be like a clan in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.
This king says … Zech 9:8
But I will camp around My house because of an army, Because of him who passes by and returns; And no oppressor will pass over them anymore, For now I have seen with My eyes.
His “peace” is an extension of his powerful and authoritative kingship.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Peace comes because this king has defeated the enemies by overpowering and overthrowing them. The humility of this king is seen in his welcoming his people into his kingdom under his rule, offering them salvation (v. 9), establishing a blood covenant with them (v. 11), shielding them from all future enemies (v. 15) and establishing them as His flock, Zechariah 9:16
And the Lord their God will save them in that day As the flock of His people; For they are as the stones of a crown, Sparkling in His land.
This is a King of grace and truth, who is for and not against His people to whom he comes; yet this makes Him no less powerful and authoritative (or even less dangerous), just more righteous and gracious. It is out of this context that John cites Zechariah 9:9, a symbol of the king on his donkey, a symbol laden prophecy now fulfilled by Jesus.
Jesus has embraced the crowd’s royal greeting. He accepts the office of King, but in His own time and in His own manner.
3. The disciples’ later recalling of this day, 12:16.
3. The disciples’ later recalling of this day, 12:16.
The people were correct in regard to the identity of King Jesus, yet they were still unable to see the true nature of Jesus’ kingship. The disciples did not understand at this time; John intervenes here to provide the resolution of the conflict that required not only an explanation from the past )Zechariah 9) but also an explanation from that which was to come.
It was only when Jesus was glorified that the disciples remembered what was written of Jesus and that they had done these things to Him. His glorification, that is His death and resurrection, was the final act of His earthly ministry. The Spirit of God had not yet been given. When He came, then the spiritual cataracts of their eyes were removed and they could understand the nature of King Jesus.
Only Jesus knew what kind of king He truly was (the Son of Man; the King of Kings), the kind of kingly duty he had to fulfill (the cross), and how inappropriately low were the kingly hopes and expectations of these people, including His disciples. Only He knew His coronation would involve a cross and His “lifting up” was in order to receive shame not honor.
4. Testifying and the Pharisees reacting, 12:17-19.
4. Testifying and the Pharisees reacting, 12:17-19.
The testimony of those who were present when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead continued to testify regarding this miracle to others. As a result others now went and met Jesus because of the eyewitness testimony about this sign that Jesus performed. SO some of the crowd approached Jesus because of this latest sign; others were testifying about the other amazing things they had heard and seen. Jesus’ growing popularity, climaxing with the Lazarus miracle in this gospel, explains why a crowd was present and willing to greet Jesus not just enthusiastically but also royally.
But as correct as the crowd was to see the raising of Lazarus as a sign pointing to Jesus’ identity and his role as king, the gospel writer makes it clear that the crowd really did not grasp the true nature of Jesus’ kingship or the true meaning of his “signs.”
The Pharisees are exasperated, and in their outburst, they become prophets like Caiaphas. They have failed thus far in their attempt to kill Jesus. now unknowingly they speak of the influence that Jesus has.
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Jesus is more than what the crowd proclaimed: He was truly the King of Israel, but not just any king— He is God Himself coming to His people to be their king.
He is a king who came not be be served but to serve (Mk. 10:45).
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
He is a king who could never be exalted by humanity but only by God (see Phil. 2:9, 11),
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
but He cannot claim this throne until He bears the shame of the cross, Heb. 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
This King came to “save” (Hosanna!) his people from the greatest enemies that humanity would ever know: sin, death, and the wrath of God. Jesus did this by defeating them with His own body, not with a sword bu by giving up His spirit. Augustine said it this way:
Accordingly, for the Son of God, the Father’s equal, the Word by whom all things were made, in His good pleasure to be King of Israel, was an act of condescension and not of promotion; a token of compassion, and not any increase of power.
That is why the Jesus we worship is finally depicted this way in Rev. 5:6
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
Our King’s glory is the cross, which is not weakness, but strength; not defeat but victory. It is for this reason
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This, our King, is the one to whom we owe absolute devotion and service. Long live this King!