June 25, 2006

Recall what we saw last week: Jesus is the guest of honor at a banquet in Bethany just six days before the Passover. Lazarus is at that meal, the man Christ raised from the grave. And Mary, Lazarus’ sister seizes the opportunity during dinner to express her love and devotion to Jesus Christ in one of the most remarkable and memorable acts ever performed by a follower of Christ.

Now, we see what is to happen on that and the next day.

This passage, like the events it describes, is wide-ranging and full of variety and color. In this passage we see the high point of Jesus’ public ministry. Though He had retreated into the country away from Jerusalem, as He approaches the city to celebrate Passover, He is welcomed by many, many thousands of Jews and spoken of by all. In fact, words denoting a great number of people are used six times in these eleven verses. Of the hundreds of thousands of people who live in or have come to Jerusalem for the feast, Jesus Christ is the predominant thought on every person’s mind. It would be impossible to overrate the enthusiasm that possesses the people in those few days. This Passover is anything but routine. In fact, one could say that Jesus is this Passover. In actual fact, that would be the truest thing ever spoken of Passover.

In this passage we will see

1. The long-range effect on the people of the raising of Lazarus.

2. The response of the multitudes to the coming of Christ into Jerusalem.

3. The response of the Chief priests and Pharisees to this Jesus-movement that, in their view, is threatening to distract the people from the festival.

4. How we can bring glory to God as we are faithful witnesses.

Pray

READ John 12:9-19

There is a great multitude of Jews in Jerusalem. Remember that the famous Jewish historian, Josephus, said (some scholars believe he was exaggerating) that over one or two million people would come to Jerusalem for the Passover. At the very least we know it is a horrendously large crowd of Jews who would, in obedience to the commands of God, come to the Temple each year to celebrate the miraculous deliverance from the angel of death and from slavery in Egypt. They have been there for a while (as we learned in John chapter 11:55) to purify themselves in preparation for celebrating the great festival. Remember that though they were there for the sake of Passover, the question and thought on everyone’s minds and lips was: will Jesus come to the feast or not (11:56). Now, finally, this multitude has had their burning question answered. In chapter 12:9, we read that they have just learned that He has arrived in Bethany. He is coming!

What would you do if you were a Jew dangerously close to believing that Jesus Christ was actually the Messiah, the Anointed One your nation had been longing for for thousands of years, and you heard that He was now at a dinner in a town two miles away? Of course, you would walk there straightaway. And that is just what the "multitude" did.

Imagine this scene. There is no way to describe the enthusiasm or the eager interest. There are thousands of people who have come to Jerusalem for Passover now streaming like a great river out of the gates of the city toward Bethany. It would be something like, but many times bigger than, the entire population of Wenatchee descending on little old Peshastin. It would be more like the entire population of Seattle proper coming to Peshastin.

Consider it for a moment. Think of all the cars that would be lined up for miles along the highway. Think of the massive crowd that would quickly fill every street and spill over into people’s yards and gardens. Think of the logistics and physics of such an event! And this multitude is not content to merely visit the town. They are all converging like a flood on a specific house in that small village. They want to see Jesus Christ. But the text tells us that it is not just Christ they long to see, but as well they are anxious to see the man he raised from the dead, Lazarus. This is a prodigious event.

Now, such an exodus of thousands of people out of Jerusalem toward Bethany cannot help but raise the alarm for the chief priests and so, as they are wont to do in these days, they convene another council.

This Jesus-phenomenon is provoking so much disturbance and excitement among the people over the past months that the Sanhedrin has been forced to call many special meetings to deal with the problem. It is, undoubtedly, similar to what the governing officials in France had to do this winter when so many youths in Paris and throughout the country were rioting and burning cars and looting. Emergency sessions were the order of the day. Something had to be done. That is precisely how the Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests gauge things. The people are being led astray by Christ and they must act.

So they put out a notice to all Jews (in 11:57) that if anyone knew of Christ’s whereabouts it must be reported so that He could be apprehended. In our passage here we see all the Jews blatantly ignoring that edict. Their desire for Christ supersedes their fear or reverence for the ruling religious leaders. They find out where He is and they don’t tell the Sandhedrin, rather, they go to see Him.

Now the scope of the anger and plotting of the chief priests expands to include Lazarus. Why? First, because he and his supposed return from the dead is the biggest story being circulated about Jesus. It is actually reported that Christ called him out of a tomb and restored him to life. This is a problem. But the real reason that Lazarus must be eliminated is that his own life is the occasion for many of the Jews to be, as it says, "going away" and "believing in Jesus."

We need to think about what is remarkable about this.

Lazarus, who just escaped the clutches of death is now thrown nearly into them again. Why? Because he is a recipient of God’s great grace. His crime is being a glory-bringer to Christ. His very existence speaks of the greatness of God’s power and the truth that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Please note that being the subject or object of God’s mercy and power can also make you the target of the unbelieving world. Mercy is dangerous. Being a recipient of God’s grace does not mean a life of safety. In fact, the very reason Lazarus’ life is threatened is only because He received God’s miraculous grace.

But the danger is worth it, ten-fold. Lazarus is actually helping many people to believe in Christ. His life is a beacon for others of the reality of the resurrection and the reality that only Christ is that Resurrection. As the text says, it is "on account of" or "by reason of" Lazarus that many people are leaving the teaching of the Sanhedrin and placing their confidence in Jesus Christ. What a privilege for Lazarus and what a worthy threat to the religious establishment he therefore has become.

The chief priests are a fearsome example to us of extremely religious and extremely blind human beings. It is possible to be zealously religious about following the prescribed teachings of God, while actually missing the presence of God Himself. Jesus has come. He has raised a man from the dead. These things do not penetrate. Rather, because they disrupt the established order, in an act of unthinking reflex, they must be eliminated.

On the next day--which would be Sunday before the Passover and fell on Friday that year--Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem. One might think because of the fuming of the Pharisees and their eagerness to put Him to death that He would come clandestinely. The opposite is the case. This day proves to be that day in which He comes closest to being crowned King by the people.

Jesus begins the two mile walk on that Sunday. And before He arrives, the news of His approach has already reached the multitude. The speed at which every shred of news about Jesus and His whereabouts travels indicates the fevered interest that the people have in Christ. How does the multitude respond to His arrival?

Look at the two things the multitude does in response to this news.

First, this great multitude, likely numbering in the hundreds of thousands, gathers the branches of palm trees and marches out to meet him. The palm branch was a part of the Feast of Tabernacles, and palm branches were used to greet Simon the Maccabbee after he had routed the Syrians and expelled them from Jerusalem in the second century B.C. It is likely, according to D.A. Carson, that the use of palm branches to greet Christ may have "signalled nationalist hope that a messianic liberator was on the scene." In other words, Jesus was being hailed as the deliverer who would assume power and free the Jews from the Romans.

Second they are shouting for him. The verb is kraugazo which means to shout or cry out. I have often envisioned this wrongly. I think that the sound of the shouting of thousands of people wouldn’t resemble the sound of a church service. I think it must have sounded more like the roar of the crowd at Safeco field. That baseball stadium can hold only 47, 116 people. And when they are enthused about a play, it is like the roar of the ocean. This is unquestionably a smaller number than would have been cheering for Christ at His entry to the city. They were shouting. This sound must have been deafening.

Note what it is they are shouting? They shout "Hosanna" which is a word taken directly (like "Amen") from Aramaic. It means, "Save, we pray!" They sing or shout words directly from Psalm 118.

READ Psalm 118:22-29

a. See (v.22-23) the idea of the builders (the Sanhedrin) rejecting the chief cornerstone. That is marvelous in the eyes of the people.

b. See (v. 24) the idea that this day, the day of His coming, is THE day the Lord has made.

c. See (v. 25) the prayer that the Lord would save, the very meaning of Hosanna.

d. Then see (v. 26) the very words that the multitude is chanting.

And yet, they add a clause to their words in this case: "even the King of Israel." If there were any doubt, their words make it clear. They see Him as the coming King. They are welcoming their sovereign and they look forward to His reign as the triumph of righteousness. How right and how wrong they were.

Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it to ride into Jerusalem. This feature of the triumphal entry receives much more explanation in the accounts in the other gospels. However, just as the multitude saw His entrance into Jerusalem as the fulfillment of the prophecy in the psalms, so this instance, His entering on a donkey’s colt is the literal and precise fulfillment of prophecy in Zechariah 9:8-10 which John quotes in the text. It was prophesied that the King would come to Zion seated on a donkey’s colt. That is exactly what happens.

It is significant that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. First, it was His habit to walk and so this departure makes the fulfillment of prophecy obvious. Second, He did not enter on a war horse. It was normal practice for a conquering king to enter His possession on a horse that was used to battle. In this entrance, He is coming on a young donkey. This is hardly a powerful entrance. In fact, it provides an interesting juxtaposition between the enthusiasm and messianic expectation of the multitude and the mode and speed of His entry. If he were on a horse, He would tower above the people and enter with speed and a sense of majesty. Upon a young donkey, He is likely no taller than those who cheer Him and He makes His way slowly, ploddingly toward the walls of Jerusalem. Like the palm branch, the use of the donkey has symbolism. In fact, it was the animal used by men of peace. Thus, he comes to Jerusalem as the King, but "gentle and riding on a donkey."

That word "remembered" is key in this verse. Note that much that was happening around them, though it was often the fulfillment of centuries of stacked-up prophecy, the disciples did not understand. But after Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead--what John calls "glorified"--then they remembered and finally understood. In fact, this very passage is written by a disciple who likely did not understand all that was happening on the day of the triumphal entry. But later, John, as he writes in his gospel here, "remembered that these things were written of Him and that they had done these things to Him." In other words, fulfilled prophecy is easier to spot in the rearview mirror than through the windshield. Furthermore, it is the central work of Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension to the Father, that, if understood, like a key opens the rest of His life as a treasure store of fulfilled prophecy and miraculous wonders. This is precisely why people who deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ have such extreme difficulty making any sense of His life and words and the Bible. Only when a person embraces Christ for who He truly is—God, Himself—and affirms the truth of the crucifixion and resurrection, can he understand all that happened during His life on earth. After he was glorified, the disciples looked back and said, "Ah ha!"

This was no ordinary reflection or remembering. It was also a fulfillment of Jesus’ own words that He spoke and that are recorded in chapter 14 of John’s gospel (v.26): But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. See how the ministry of the Spirit is real and two-fold here. He brings things to their remembrance, and He teaches them. They are enabled supernaturally to remember things, and they are taught the sense or truth of those things as well. Therefore the disciples did not understand these things at the time, but after Christ was glorified, then, by the Spirit’s help, they remembered.

As if to reemphasize the monumental miracle that was Lazarus’ resurrection, and to explain the reason behind such incredible universal interest in Christ at His entrance to Jerusalem, John reiterates the importance of what Christ did at Bethany when He called with a word (not pulled, not carried, not forced) Lazarus out of the tomb and back among the living. There was a multitude there that day several weeks previous.

John 11:17-19 –READ

Many of the Jews were there that day. And many, as it says later in the chapter, "beheld what He had done, [and] believed in Him"(v.45).

Now we see the crucial role this multitude of witnesses to Lazarus’ resurrection plays in the triumphal entry and the Passover celebration that year.

The text says these Jews were "bearing Him witness." Notice that they were not bearing witness to Lazarus. Though Lazarus is the attraction, Jesus is the reason. These Jews are bearing witness to Christ. And that, verse 18 tells us, is a reason that the multitude of Jews that were in Jerusalem for Passover went out to meet Christ.

Truly, when we consider all of the miracles that Christ performed we realize that this one is the most graphic in terms of revealing His identity. Who can take a man who was dead and make him alive? Only God can. That is one reason John calls this miracle a "sign." That word is important for, as Paul states it in 1 Corinthians, while the Greeks (or Gentiles) seek after wisdom as that which indicates the presence of God, the Jews "ask for signs." Here they have one. And we can see that many of the multitude who witnessed this sign, believed and now, in the midst of the gathering of people in Jerusalem, these are bearing witness to Christ.

Let us stop and consider the example these brand new believers provide for you and I. This is an excellent picture of the simplicity and beauty of evangelism.

1. The multitude sees Christ and knows Him to be the Resurrection and the Life when He raises Lazarus. They believe.

2. Then, they tell lots of people about a) what Jesus did, and b) Who Jesus, therefore, is. He said He is the Resurrection and the Life, then He raised a man from the dead. What would any reasonable person think? What should any reasonable person do? They should believe and then, like all people who have seen and understood something profound and life-changing and miraculous, they should tell others. Actually, they shouldn’t tell others, they will naturally tell others if they really comprehend what it is they believe.

So, we read this passage and we see people who are new followers of Christ telling so many people about what He has done. Then, those who have heard their testimony go to meet Christ. That seems the simplest and clearest explanation of evangelism that the Scriptures can give us.

But there is a rub here for you and I. I don’t see myself sharing my faith or telling others about Christ with the same zeal or conviction or eagerness or comprehensive coverage that these Jews did. Why not?

Was it somehow easier to talk about religious things then? Is that the difference? I don’t think so. Undoubtedly religion was more of a topic then, but to talk about Christ, when these people did, was to put oneself at variance with established religious leaders who had a plot to kill Jesus and those associated with Him. But that did not daunt them. They spoke on. They spoke often.

What is the difference between me and them? I think there are two.

1. They had concrete conviction. They had seen Jesus raise a dead man, they were convinced of His identity.

2. They had concern for their fellows and were therefore compelled to tell them. They knew that their fellow Jews had suffered under the Roman oppression and the groaning of centuries of longing and desire to see the Messiah finally come. Now that He had, they could do nothing else but tell their fellow Jews that the wait was over. He has come!

But is it really that different for us?

1. We have seen Christ raise us from sin and blindness into His marvelous light. We are all Lazaruses in that sense. And if that weren’t enough, we look around and we see the work of Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, in each other. As we serve and love one another, Christ demonstrates His character and presence through us. We have enough evidence to have concrete conviction as well.

2. We, too, could have concern for our fellows. How long did you suffer under the oppression of sin and the sorrow of spiritual longing that was never fulfilled because of utter spiritual darkness? Isn’t it the case that your unbelieving neighbor is really a lot like you were? Isn’t it the case that you were blind and now you see and that though he is blind, he could see if he hears and believes? Isn’t it enough for us to know, because Christ tells us in the Scriptures, that without His mercy and love, that neighbor will perish eternally in Hell? As the Scriptures say, For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly . . . much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. We are helpless without Christ. We are ungodly. We are subject to the just wrath of God without Christ. And isn’t it enough for us that Christ Himself commanded His followers to go into all the world and make disciples? Isn’t that really what it means to have purpose in life, to do that which brings other people to Christ?

But it is more than a duty or a calling, it is the most immense privilege we have. God has actually given you and I the privilege to be associated with Christ. We get to bear His name. We get to be called Christians. The Resurrection and the Life, who is also the coming King, is our own Lord and Saviour and King and we have the honor to tell others about Him. If we really grasp the fact that the Kingdom that is coming is permanent and unfading and lasting and that the King of that Kingdom is Christ Himself, the One who saves us and sustains us and lives in us, then we begin to see that to even be able just once to publicly proclaim His excellence to others is to be identified with the best and greatest name the human race will ever know. It is raw privilege. It is not burden; it is not obligation; it is not a cause of shame. It is the greatest honor you and I little people can experience: to bring glory to Him by telling others what He has done and who He is.

And so the multitude hears the witness of those new believers and they come. They come to meet Jesus Christ. And while they do, the Pharisees convene another council.

Listen to the Pharisees’ words here as they sit atop the Temple mount as thousands of people are shouting their praise to Christ and waving the palm branches as He enters Jerusalem. They are exasperated. They accuse one another. They are desperate. They are exaggerating. And, they are actually prophesying.

"You see you are not doing any good!" It is your fault, we are having no effect on this movement! "Look!" Look out there! "the world has gone after Him!" All the people have been taken in. The whole world is in His train and we are doing nothing to stop it! So the watching world wrings its hands as Christ and His gospel advances.

Of course, in just four days the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the chief priests will have their moment of triumph. Christ will be crucified and it will appear to all the multitude and to all of His followers that the kingdom did not come and that the promise was broken. But, you and I know that to walk by sight is to be deceived by appearances. In the moment that looked like utter defeat for Jesus Christ and His followers as He is hanging on the cross, Christ was accomplishing utter victory over death and sin and Hell and Satan and darkness. When He said "It is finished," He did not mean that it was all over. He meant that the work was accomplished. Christ triumphed. Christ had paid the price and would rise again in three days. And Jesus Christ is coming again to set up His kingdom and we wait for the King to come again, not on a donkey, but on a horse, and to rule with a rod of iron and to conquer as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

That is the message that we get to bring to the world. It is our privilege. And as the Pharisees unwittingly prophesied, and the Scriptures bear witness, the "world has gone after him" and we get to be heralds of His advancing kingdom.