When Jesus made His grand entry into Jerusalem the crowds
were ecstatic. They were overjoyed with what they were witnesses to. Finally,
the promised King of Israel had come. And they just knew that things were going
to be different. There was going to be some serious change. And yet, for all
their excitement, they didn't get it. They said all the right words about
Jesus, but they didn't understand what those words meant. They didn't
understand who this King really was and what it was that He had come to do.
We're going to take a look at the difference between what they were thinking
and what was reality. Our text is John 12.12-19.
So, here are all these people, and they are so very excited.
And they had reason to be excited. The King of Israel, their King, had arrived.
He had come to take His throne in Jerusalem. The good old days of David, the
greatest king of Israel, were back. And just as David conquered all the enemies
of Israel back in the day, Jesus, the new King, would do the same. No more of
these Gentile Romans who have oppressed them for so long. They will be gone
soon enough. The glory days would return. So, is it any wonder that they were
shouting their hosannas and blessing the new King? They were thanking God for
hearing their prayers.
Well, they had good reason to shout 'Hosanna!' And they got
it right when they called Jesus the King of Israel. He had, in fact, come to
defeat their enemies and start a new reign. They had all the right words, but
they didn't fill them with the right meaning. Yes, Jesus is the King on a
mission from God. But the goal He was pursuing was very different from what
they expected.
We're going to take a look at this notion of Jesus as King.
And my goal in all of this is to help you to see more clearly what this
Kingship of Jesus is about. But I’m not going to talk about it in terms of His
rule over some other, distant people. Today, you are the Israel of God. Jesus
is your King. What does that mean for you? We live in a culture that makes
advancing the self and its comfort the highest priority, and that has affected
us. But that kind of living just doesn't fit with Jesus as King. It is my hope
that we all will come to see different areas where our culturally-inherited
thinking is in conflict with Jesus' rule over our lives. It is my hope that
seeing those conflicts, we will pursue change.
I have three questions. Here's the first. The people in
Jerusalem praised Jesus because He came to defeat their enemies. Good. So, who
is the enemy that Jesus has come to defeat? One popular answer through the ages
has been some variation on, 'Them! Those guys over there!' That's what those
folk in Jerusalem were thinking. Jesus is going to get rid of those Romans. And
yet, who has been your worst enemy? It's not 'Those guys over there'. Your
worst enemy has been yourself. That's been true of every person who has ever
lived - with Jesus as the only exception. To be sure, we could talk about Satan
and how he tempts you in many ways. And he does! But that can be another
variation on ‘Those guys over there.’ Satan does tempt, but he does not force
you to sin. He can't. It's you who chooses to sin. You are your own worst
enemy.
We all have our favorite sins, the ones that repeatedly trip
us up. Bear in mind I'm not talking about particular behaviors. Sin is much
more subtle than that. You need to include the attitudes and desires of the
heart. When you think of sin in this way it clarifies things. For one thing,
our sin is so much a part of us, lodged deep in our hearts, that we don't even
see it. And that's one reason why it does us in so often and so easily. We
don't see it until we notice its result in some horrible act. How do you fight
what you can't even see? We need some help here. And Jesus has come to do
exactly that. As King of Israel, He has come to conquer our enemies. He has
come to conquer our sins, those twisted attitudes and desires of our hearts.
So, I think it's really helpful that our answer to the question, 'Who is the
enemy that Jesus has come to defeat?', starts with, 'He has come to conquer me
and my sin.' Sadly, the people cheering Jesus on that day weren't thinking
about such things.
Second question: How does Jesus, our King, defeat and
conquer our enemy? Well, consider how any king defeats the enemies of his
realm. He gets on his war horse and leads his armies into battle against his
foes. And Jesus does the same thing, except differently. Consider His war
horse. It isn't a large, white stallion ready to charge the enemy. It's a
donkey. Not so impressive. And it isn't as if He had to settle for the time
being until He could get a proper mount. Jesus chose to ride in on a donkey. He
did it because of what the prophets wrote. John offers an abbreviated quote
from one of the prophets. Let me read to you the full quotation.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus enters His capital city on a donkey. He does this to
highlight one particular feature of His kingship. He comes humbly. And don't
understand His humility in terms of Him being this nice guy that won't ruffle
any feathers. That, obviously, isn't true. The essence of His humility is His
submission to the Father's plan for victory. Jesus is going to conquer His and
our enemies. But He is going to go about it in an unexpected way. He will
conquer by allowing Himself to be arrested, tortured and killed. So, Jesus does
not fulfill His kingly role by charging up the hill at the head of His troops
and slaughtering the enemy entrenched there. He is a different kind of king. He
allows His enemies to conquer Him - or at least that's what it looks like. And
yet, in following this plan He is able to conquer all.
This is a good reminder that Jesus functions in ways that
most people in our culture would think completely wrong. He is King. He
conquers, and He rules. But He goes about those things in ways that seem so
odd. Again, the people cheering Jesus weren't thinking in these terms.
Now, the third question. What does this King expect of you?
That's not a difficult question. He expects a pledge of loyalty. That's what
kings always call for. They want those they rule to clearly state, 'I have no
King but you. And I will obey whatever you command.' A pledge of loyalty. But
again, we need to be clear about what the words mean. In an absolute monarchy,
those who pledge their loyalty to the king have no rights. This kind of king
rules absolutely. And that's how Jesus rules - absolutely. Loyalty to this King
means that you acknowledge that you have no rights. You promise to submit to
Him in everything. 'I have no King but you. And I will obey whatever you
command.'
Why would anyone offer this kind of pledge, absolute
obedience to a King? It seems a bit over the top, no? This kind of submission
is harder for us to grasp because we have been raised in a democratic culture.
So much of life, these days, is about our right to this or that. And we assume
that that is how life is supposed to work. We have rights. But this world is
not a democracy. It's a monarchy. Jesus is the King over the universe. As such,
He asserts His kingly authority, His absolute authority. There are no rights.
So, the notion of His Kingship is not a metaphor from an era long ago that we
need to adjust to modern times. Jesus' absolute monarchy describes reality.
Submitting to this King is living according to reality. Trying to live in any
other way is delusional.
There's another reason to submit, and it gets us back to our
first question. This King promises that He will conquer the enemies of all who
do submit. Think about it. How smart is it to fight a war against enemies that
you clearly have no chance of beating - and to do that when a mighty King with
an invincible army offers to fight - and win - for you? Those who want to be
freed from their enemies, to be freed from their sins, will gladly submit to
the King.
Now, every pledge of loyalty has a cost, and that is true
here as well. This pledge of loyalty includes complete obedience. And who knows
what that will involve? Who knows what it is that King Jesus might command you
to do? He just may call you away from life as you now know it. He may call you
to something so very different from what you're used to. He might want you to go
through a time when you are abandoned, ridiculed, hated, and an apparent
failure. That would be hard. He knows all about how hard that would be. But He
is the King. Complete loyalty and no rights means that there are no limits to
what He may command you to do. Anything is possible.
It's at this point that some become afraid. 'Jesus might
call me to something just too awful, something that I just could not bear.'
This is where it's good to remember that while Jesus is King, an absolute
monarch, He is not a tyrant. He's not one of these dictator types who are so
harsh because they are just thinking about themselves. That's not Jesus.
Whatever He calls you to do, His goal is for your good as well as the good of
others in His realm. So, He just might call you to something really hard, but
the point of His call includes your benefit. Remember that He has promised to
conquer your enemies. There are times when accomplishing that will require your
being called into some hard situations. But you will never face those
situations alone. Immanuel! You submit knowing that your King is a good king
who cares deeply for you. He proved that at the Cross.
So, three questions. Who is the enemy that Jesus has come to
defeat? How does Jesus, your King, defeat and conquer your enemies? What does
this King expect of you? Three questions with their answers so that you can
fill the right words with the right meaning.
And now, having heard all of that, what do you do? I have
two suggestions. You should be able to guess the one, so I'll start with the
other. You need to think. I have just presented some ideas to you. Some of what
I've told you are reminders of things that you've known. But I dare say that
some of what I've told you are new ideas or at least new perspectives on old
ideas. You've listened, but now you have to do something with what you've
heard. You need to think about it. You need to ask yourself some questions
about how any of this applies to your life. So, for example, have you thought
much about the idea that you have no rights? That's something worth thinking
about. It would probably be good to discuss that or some other aspect of the
sermon with someone else. That would be a profitable lunchtime conversation
when you get home. Hearing and not thinking is not totally worthless, but it
can get close. If you want to pursue piety, a deepening loyalty to Jesus as
King, you're going to have to think.
And then there's my second suggestion. You need to pray.
Trying to be a faithful subject of Jesus without prayer is the height of
foolishness. It just doesn't work, not really. So, pray. And what you need to
pray about are the things that you were thinking about. Discuss your thoughts
with Jesus so that He can approve some and refine others. As we all do this
hearing, thinking and praying we will become a church of loyal subjects of Jesus,
the King of the universe, just like we're supposed to be.