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Printer Friendly VersionWe’re one week from Easter! Today is what has traditionally
been called “Palm Sunday.” You won’t hear about “palms”
in these verses from Mark. The gospel of John … in fact … is the
only gospel that says that people waved “palm branches” for Jesus.
Luke doesn’t even mention the “palms.”
But “Palm Sunday” sounds so much better than “Leafy
Branch Sunday” – Don’t you think?
Anyway. This is the day on which Jesus entered Jerusalem just
days before his death … and so let us listen to this story as it is recorded
in the gospel of Mark.
[Mark 11:1-11]
Let’s get a number of things straight. In this series of
messages from Mark, there has been a recurring theme. I’ve drawn our
attention several times to the repeated blindness … the persistent deafness
… the out-and-out inability of the disciples to recognize who Jesus really
is … and what he has come to the world to do!
They’ve wanted to make him a king.
They’ve wanted the seat of power and authority next to
him.
When Jesus fed the five thousand, they didn’t understand.
When he calmed the storm, they didn’t recognize him.
When he asked them straight out – “Who do you say
that I am?” – they had all the right answers and said all the right
words … but they had a completely different perception of what Jesus
would be!
They wanted war and weapons.
They expected power and prestige.
Here is Jesus in the gospel of Mark revealing himself and God’s
plan for the world … and over and over again the disciples and the crowds
fail to grasp the revelation.
It’s a frustrating chain of events.
Jesus proceeds to tell his disciples that “yes,” he
is the Messiah … but what that means is that he’s headed to Jerusalem
to die and suffer and “give his life as a ransom for many.”
Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody where you
felt like you were just “talking past each other”? Do you know what
I mean? It’s like you’re saying something … but they’re
hearing something else … and they say something, but you don’t understand.
It happens a lot … I think … when people are trying
to give directions. Finally, have you ever just gotten to the place where
you said: “Do you want me to draw you a picture?”
I think Jesus was to that point. I think Jesus felt like he had done all he
could do. He had healed the sick. He had made the blind to see again. He had
fed the hungry multitudes. He had touched lepers and cast out demons.
Isn’t that what the Messiah was to be about? Healing and
restoration and deliverance?
And yet the disciples and the crowds had their eyes open for
a warrior … a rebel … somebody to lead the revolt against those
hated Romans.
I think Jesus … outside the city of Jerusalem … that
day had gotten to the point where he just wanted to say: “Do you want
me to draw you a picture of why I’m here?”
He did.
We do it today.
When words aren’t enough, we send flowers or a card.
We convey messages … don’t we? … In the way we
walk … in the way we talk … in the way we dress.
Do you remember when you were a teenager?
If you wanted to make a statement, you did it with your shirt
and your shoes. A certain brand … with the collar up … conveyed
a particular message. A t-shirt untucked … wrinkled … that said
something else.
Clothing.
Actions.
Visible ways of delivering a certain message.
It’s an age-old practice. It happened even in the Old Testament.
You might call them “dramatic sermons.”
There’s a great one in the book of I Kings 11. Listen to what it says: “About that time Jeroboam” [a young leader in the nation of Israel] “and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself,
for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “See, I am going
to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.”
The nation of Israel was going to be “torn apart”
by dissension and division. The twelve tribes of the nation were visually
represented by those fragmented pieces of the prophet’s garment. It was
a visible message to the Jeroboam.
It happens again in the life of the prophet Hosea. The people
of Israel had again forsaken God. They had been spiritually unfaithful …
and to make that dramatic and visible to them … God told the prophet
Hosea to go out and marry a prostitute … and show them what they had
done by serving other gods. It was a visible message to the people.
Jesus himself took up this ancient method … this common
practice … the visible, dramatic sermon and put it to his own use.
Over and over again in the book of Mark he had tried to tell
them. Apparently, he could have told them until he was blue in the face. Now
it was time to draw them a picture!
And so … dramatically … and visibly … and clearly, Jesus arranged for the words of the prophet Zechariah to be fulfilled. Zechariah … many years before had said:
“Rejoice, O daughter of Zion! Shout! Your king comes to
you – triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a colt, the
foal of a donkey.” [Author’s paraphrase]
It was a dramatic sermon.
It was a visible message.
It was Jesus drawing for them a picture of why he had come to
the world!
We have trouble with the picture partly because donkeys have
an image problem in our culture. They’re thought to be dumb. None of
the great Western heroes ever rode a donkey. John Wayne wouldn’t be caught
dead on a donkey. The Lone Ranger … Zorro … they wouldn’t ride
on a donkey. The only person in our culture who ever rode a donkey was Festus
from Gunsmoke … and he’s certainly not perceived as a hero.
For us, a donkey is dumb and stubborn. But in the first century,
donkeys were vital, useful … even noble animals.
If you’ve watched the news these last few weeks and months,
you’ve seen a lot of pictures of Palestine. And what you’ve seen
are lots of young boys and men carrying and throwing rocks.
They’re everywhere.
It’s a rocky place.
There are hills and valleys and narrow passes. There are winding
… treacherous … rocky paths. Like those excursions to the bottom
of the Grand Canyon, the beast of choice is not a horse … but a donkey
or a mule of some kind.
In Palestine … in the first century … donkeys were
useful and vital … and they were also a symbol of peace.
If you wanted to go to war, you rode a horse.
If you wanted to fight a battle, you jumped on that stallion.
But when you wanted to convey peace, you chose a donkey or the
colt of a donkey.
Do you see what Jesus is doing?
He’s coming to Jerusalem – Yes!
He’s coming as the Messiah … the Promised Deliverer
from God … but he’s coming humbly … meekly … and in peace!
That was not what the people expected.
They wanted their enemies to be destroyed.
They wanted their oppressors to be overthrown.
They wanted the Romans to be expelled from Jerusalem.
They wanted death and destruction to their foes. And the Messiah
– He would give it to them!
They shouted “Hosanna” – which means “Save
us!”
They said: “Hosanna” – take your sword and free
us from Rome!
“Hosanna!” – crush our enemies!
“Hosanna!” – ascend your thrown!
Would you believe they even misunderstood the picture that Jesus
had drawn?
Had Jesus come to save them? Yes.
Would he do it by spilling the blood of the Romans in war? No.
Their deliverance … their salvation … their freedom
would come not from the spilling of the Romans’ blood … but through
the spilling of the Messiah’s blood!
The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is another story
of misunderstanding and blindness. It’s a story of people stubbornly
holding on to their own idea … their own way … their own plans …
rather than seeing and submitting to the plan of God!
How often have we joined the cry of the crowd and asked Jesus
to destroy our enemies?
How often have we demanded salvation from our pain … or
from our problems … or from our circumstances? We want our oppressors
overthrown! We want our situations made right!
“Save us,” … we say.
And there’s Jesus continuing his journey in silence …
on an animal of peace … toward Jerusalem and a cross of suffering.
I take comfort sometimes in the fact that Jesus preached odd
sermons.
Here he was preaching without even using words. He was miming
the message while the crowds were shouting and waving branches and lining
the roads with their coats.
What does Jesus do? He rides on … in silence.
He never said a word.
He had tried words and they had misunderstood.
Now he tries symbolism and a visual image and still they don’t
see or understand.
I think Jesus knew for certain … maybe more clearly than
he had ever known before … the only way for his disciples and the crowds
to understand.
He had not come to deliver them completely from suffering or
pain or sacrifice. No. He had come to deliver the “death blow” to
sin, hell, and the grave!
In the midst of suffering.
In the middle of pain and insufficiency, Jesus had come to provide
grace and strength and victory!
He had to paint them another picture.
This time it would be on a dark, black canvass.
It would be on a hill that looked like a skull.
There would be two broad strokes … one between heaven and
earth … and the other across the world … and at the cross-section
of those two strokes would be the blood-soaked face of the Son of God!
Don’t be deceived!
Jesus came to fight a battle. He came to wage a war. But it
wasn’t a fight against the Romans. It was a battle with the principalities
and powers and the sin of this entire world and every age … and his weapon
was a Cross of love and sacrifice!
While I lived in St. Petersburg, a friend invited me to go fishing
with him to the Gulf of Mexico. I thought it would be fun and so off we went.
We netted some baitfish and as we passed through the ship channel. The Spanish
mackerel started jumping out of the water.
I hooked something that seemed bigger than usual … and
come to find out, when I got it to the surface of the water, it was about
a four-foot, black-tip shark!
I was glad to have caught him … and I wanted a picture
of him … but I was pretty sure that I didn’t want him in the boat!
He was fierce and strong.
He was flailing and fighting.
He had teeth that could do real damage.
The captain of the boat grabbed a big long pole with a hook
on the end of it and slipped it through the slits in the side of that shark’s
skin. They had him where they wanted him now. And then he raised him up and
another of the experienced fishermen took a knife and cut him right down the
middle!
Even still, he was floppin’ and snappin’. He could
still have hurt you … but the final outcome was settled. The fight was
over!
Jesus … on the Cross … settled the outcome!
He won the battle!
The results are in! Jesus is the Victor!
Now sin and pain and enemies can still “flop and flail”
and hurt you, but there is no doubt about the war.
It’s already been won … for you … through the
blood of Jesus Christ!
Do you know him as Savior today?