One of the
commentators has described the Gospel according to Mark as a Passion Narrative
with an extended introduction, basically implying that chapters 1-10 were
simply the introduction for what we are going to preach through now. It’s an
incredible build up, full of intrigue and betrayal, corruption and sacrifice.
It is marked by this continued confusion as to who Jesus is – until finally –
as he dies on the cross a Roman Centurion makes the climatic statement.
“Truly this man was
the son of God.”
A Roman centurion –
not one of the twelve beloved friends, not one of the learned priests or
statesmen – not even a Jew. A Roman… who had just overseen the murdering of
this man.
And so each Sunday
will cover a day in the week leading up to this moment that we will reach on
Good Friday. Today we are looking at how on Sunday he rode in triumph into
Jerusalem. Next week we look at how he returns on Monday – and clears the
Temple, We will spend two weeks on Tuesday looking at how he was confronted by
leaders who tested him, and at some of his final teachings. We will journey
beside him into Wednesday as he is worshipped by a woman who pours oil over him
– and finally we will enter the dark day of Thursday – sitting with him at the
last supper, witnessing his arrest and abandonment. On Good Friday where we
stand before the cross, we will be able to know all that happened – all that
brought him to this moment.
We have to remember
that Jesus knew what was coming. He has no doubt in his mind – and in the
previous chapter he even tells his disciples plainly,
“We are going up to
Jerusalem, 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.”
You cannot get more
descriptive than that. He knows precisely what is coming… and he has one week
left.
How would you spend
your final week on earth? What would you do with your time if you knew for
certain that by Friday you would be gone?
Whatever it is that
you’d do – it wouldn’t be random. It would be carefully thought through and
decided upon. It would be planned and guarded so that no time or opportunity
was wasted.
With Jesus it
wouldn’t have been any different.
And today we start
this journey on the Sunday before he dies. This is typically a Palm Sunday
reading and sermon – but for the sake of our series we’ve simply moved it up a
few weeks!
Having told his
disciples that he is going to be killed – Mark 10 also tells us that they then
were on the way to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way – “the disciples were
astonished while those that followed were afraid.” I don’t blame them! Who
walks directly to his death with confidence, leading the way?
Jesus does – Jesus understands
his mission, his purpose and heads to Jerusalem to fulfil it. And so we arrive
at Chapter 11 – we will be reading from verse one:
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage
and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his
disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of
you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one
has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say,
‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street,
tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you
doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the
people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their
cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while
others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed
shouted,
“Hosanna![a]”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple
courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went
out to Bethany with the Twelve.
And so it
begins – the beginning of the end.
There are
two prophecies that are fulfilled here and the people would have known it. The first is from the prophet Zechariah:
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and
victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
A Victorious
King, on a donkey’s foal. Righteous and yet lowly.
The second
of the prophecies is in Psalm 118 – part of which we used for our call to
worship. But before I read the section I’m just going to digress for a minute
and give a quick lesson on the history of the word “Hosanna”…
Remembering
that the New Testament was written in Greek, and the Old Testament in Hebrew –
whenever the word hosanna appears in the New Testament – the Greek word for it
is… wait for it… Hosanna. All the English translators did was use the English
letters to make the sound of the Greek word. But if you look in a Greek
dictionary to find out the meaning of the word – you won’t find it! And this is because it is not
originally a Greek word – those who wrote the New Testament did exactly what
the English translators did, they used Greek letters to make the sound of a
Hebrew phrase.
This may be
starting to sound complicated but it really is quite simple – The English word
Hosanna, comes from the Greek word Hosanna which comes from the Hebrew phrase –
‘Hoshiya na’. It’s literal meaning is
“Save us!”
And this
phrase is found once in the Old Testament – can you guess? Psalm 118 – where
our prophecy comes from – so reading verses 25 and 26 we read,
“Lord, Save us! Lord, grant us
success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.”
And so cries
such Hosanna to the son of David means – The Son of David is our salvation.
Hosanna in the highest – is a cry saying let Heaven ring out with the praise
that salvation has come.
Those that
welcomed Jesus that Sunday were shouting a truth far deeper than they ever
realised. They looked at Jesus, the man who had fulfilled more Messianic
Prophecies than anyone they had ever known – and now he comes to them as their
King. And so they cry out – Salvation has come – Victory has arrived. This is
the beginning of the end! Hosanna in the highest.
Sadly – as
we see so pointedly with this crowd that shouts one cry on Sunday and a very
different one on Friday… while they speak truth – it is not a truth they
understand. They believed that this King would free them from the oppression of
the Romans. The salvation was to be a rebellion against their unjust rulers.
The end was to be a free Jewish state once again.
And yet he
came for a far bigger purpose. The salvation he would win was for all people,
throughout time. The freedom would be from the oppression of sin and death. The
end was to be a cross and an empty tomb.
Can you
imagine the heartache of Jesus as he watches these people – people that he
loved, people that he had served and healed, people who desperately wanted him
as an earthly King – and yet knowing that they didn’t understand. Can you
imagine the loneliness of that knowledge – as he watched their faces… knowing
which of them would be awake on Friday morning and calling for his death. It’s
no wonder that moments before he enters Jerusalem – we are told in the Gospel
of Luke that he pauses on a hill – looks at the city and weeps – saying how he
longs he could gather them under his wings as a mother bird would her chicks –
but they would not have it.
But while
they don’t understand – do we? Do we truly welcome him as King? Not on our
terms but on His. We look at this story with what is termed Dramatic irony… in
other words – we have inside knowledge that the characters in this story do not
know… our insight is that we know what’s coming, we know where this week will take
us, we can already see the cross looming on the horizon, and beyond that an
empty tomb. So should we be standing among the crowds of people there palm
branches in our hands – we could shout with truthfulness and understanding –
“Salvation comes in the name of Jesus. Hosanna to the King of kings. Hosanna to
the son of David.”
But I wonder
if our actions tomorrow and Tuesday… and any day that follows here – isn’t
marked with cries of Crucify him, crucify him. That while we are privy to this
understanding that He is our true King – we live as though we rule our lives
and our personal worlds. That even when we stand to worship Him, we forget who
it is that we truly stand before.
Some of us
may even be in the place where we haven’t accepted Him as King – where we
haven’t yet recognised that this is God – the creator of you. The sustainer of
you. The one who not only watched your birth, but knit you together in your
mother’s womb. The one that has walked beside you unrecognised… and the one who
knows the number of your days.
This God is
your King. And we are told in Philippians that God has exalted him to the
highest place and has now given him the name that is above every other name.
And that at
the name of Jesus – every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord – is King – to the glory of God the Father.
There is a
famous sermon preached by an African American Minister named Dr Lockridge – and
there has been a video created around the climax of his sermon that just brings
this point home.
That’s my
King.
We start our
series this week – journeying into Jerusalem with Jesus, picking up palm
branches and shouting Hosanna to the King. As we stand we look at the crowds
and realise that they don’t understand -
and find ourselves praying that while we know the truth – that we will live the
truth.
And we find
ourselves looking between the shoulders of those in front of us, and catching a
glimpse of a man, riding a donkey, a man on his way to die… to die for me. Take
a long long look - for this is your
King.
To close now
– I want to invite you to stand.
We are going
to do something quite different to what we normally do in that we are going to
proclaim together that this is our King. The words will be up on the screen and
it will simply be a declaration of our allegiance to this the True King – and so
I will begin and we will respond together. Let us stand.
People of
God as we stand here this morning – let us Proclaim Christ as our King
We Worship
at your feet this morning our King
We bow
before the donkey as he rides by.
We call out
to you:
Hosanna to the Son of David
Hosanna to the King of Kings.
Blessed is
He who comes in the name of the Lord
We are
blinded by your holiness
We are moved
by your humility
We are
astounded at your power
And we are
changed by your love.
Jesus our
King – Save us.
Jesus our
King – Redeem us.
Jesus our
King – Reign in our lives.
Now and
forever more. Amen.
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