Before we begin our message on Palm Sunday, I wanted to explain a little bit about what Mhairi and I are doing. Tomorrow, we depart for the UK to see our boys and then to France for an extended visit to sort our apartment and continue a journey that started 17.5 years ago.
A lot of you will remember the Elim College disaster of April 2008, our 2 boys were going to the school at the time.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
But that event led me to the port city of Vannes in Brittany in France through the people I met because of breaking my leg.
Vannes is a walled city. It has been conquered once by the Romans. If you think of Asterix, that village in the story is further North in Brittany where Asterix held off the Romans thanks to drinking a Druid magic potion. There is a Celtic charm to Brittany but we know that there is spiritual opposition to the Lord because of the Druids.
Because of these things and Brexit, there was a delay to us going there to start our project and continue the road God set us on. We know some of the challenges that lie ahead, we don’t know the extent of God’s plan whether big or small but if there’s anything we have all learned these last few years, it is to trust the Lord.
The interim years have been very busy but now the time is right to go. I remain committed to the life of PCC and will have time to journey through Luke and Acts with you.
Does this place look like anywhere in New Zealand? This Church is called St Matthieu, a fovourite place to the north of Vannes. There is a Breton claim that the skull of Matthew the disciple is buried there. The location is called « au bout du monde » which means « at the end of the World », so it is a very special place, and a very apt place for the times we are living in!
It’s a bit scary to leave the security of your job and home. The day I resigned, there was this word for the day in my diary
« When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be »
Lao Tzu
Enough about us and tomorrow.
Today is Palm Sunday, a very special day in the Christian calendar. First of all I want to paint you another picture.
Take a look at this clip from a football match!
I’m sure you are wondering what that’s all about? If you’ve ever been to a big match you will know it is very loud. Yes and vibrant and happy…when things are going well.
It’s April 6th, 33 AD and it’s about a week before the Passover on April 14th. There are large crowds coming to Jerusalem for the religious festival which lasts for the next week. 125,000 is estimated to be the number. Jerusalem normally has 25,000 so it’s going to be packed to the rafters. You know that large highly charged crowds tend to make authorities very nervous. Especially authoritarian dictatorial governments. High chance of terrorist activity. High chance of an assassination attempt. High chance of a coup if the people join in en masse.
You are Pontius Pilate and you were appointed Governor of Judea by Caesar in 27 AD and you know this place is a tinderbox. You cannot afford to lose control. Your neck is on the line. So just before Passover every year you order a military parade to send a message to the large crowds just who is boss. The people don’t like it, there’s no cheering but it’s very effective at keeping them under control. There are also the occupied crucifixes just outside the city walls for the incoming crowds to walk by in case they missed the parade.
Luke 19:28-48
When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it? ’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ” So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.
This fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy that the Messiah would come humbly into Jerusalem as King, unlike the earthly rulers such as the Romans who would show their strength and power to create fear in the city.
Zechariah 9:9
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
Jesus described himself as gentle and lowly of heart. The people wanted a powerful king like David but many didn’t recognise his humility as a strength.
Luke 19:36-40
And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
Now a large crowd can make a make a very loud noise as you heard before. It is not unreasonable to guess that 15,000 people formed the crowd that chanted “Hail to the King!” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. If 100,000 had come in from out of town, from the regions where Jesus had been travelling and performing miracles like the feeding of the 5,000 and adding to that the interested citizens from Jerusalem, 15,000 is quite a conservative estimate.
How loud is a crowd of 15,000 people? VERY LOUD! That sound like a football match is going to be heard very clearly by Pilate sitting in his palace and by Herod who is also there for the Passover and it’s going to raise their eyebrows and nearly make them choke on their grapes.
I believe out of fear of the Roman authorities, the Pharisees wanted to quiet the crowd. They didn’t want to provoke trouble. They knew Pilate and Herod were in Jerusalem for the Passover feast and they would be able to hear the noise approaching. I can be like that, don’t want to cause a fuss, want to keep the peace but there comes a time when you have to choose sides. We are living in such a time today.
Luke 19:41-44
Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Jesus wept at the fate of Jerusalem because he already knew they would reject him as King. He knew the future how the temple would be destroyed in AD 70 and all the years since and all because the people of Jerusalem would reject their true king. What a great sorrow many people will have one day when they realise that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus said the nations will mourn when they see him coming on the clouds with power and great glory. People will weep at the realisation of their opportunity lost forever.
Luke 19-45-48
Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.
The very first thing that Jesus does is to go into the Temple, turn over the tables and drive out the merchants. With a large crowd of people supporting him, to the Authorities it’s going to look like he’s about to start a revolution and take over the City. Because they were afraid he would start a riot, from that moment they hatched their plot to kill Jesus. But they would have to be clever because of Jesus’ popularity.
It had always puzzled me why the Crowd that shouted Jesus is King on Palm Sunday shouted for him to be crucified just 5 days later. We know crowds are fickle but that was a polar shift.
I want to share what I discovered when I researched Palm Sunday that I think is very important to understanding what happened between Palm Sunday and “Good” Friday.
Impostor Kings
There had not been a Jewish King in Israel since the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. King Zedekiah was the last king mentioned of the southern kingdom (586 BC). The last king mentioned of the northern kingdom was Hoshea (721 BC). Israel had been waiting nearly 600 years for their Messiah. Sometimes with God you have to wait a long time!
1. Pontius Pilate – The Governor of Judea from 27 AD
2. Herod Antipas – the “King” of Galilee and Paraea
· - Appointed by Rome
· - Father Herod the Great, the Butcher of Bethlehem (37 BC – 0 AD and not a Jew)
3. Caiaphas the High Priest – appointed by Rome 18 AD
The most surprising discovery for me was that Caiaphas was appointed by Rome. Forget all the spiritual talk from Caiaphas about Jesus being a blasphemer deserving death. Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead because he himself was a Roman collaborator with a keen interest in maintaining the status quo.
Two Crowds
The answer to the question of why the crowd turned on Jesus within 5 days is that there were in fact Two Crowds;
The Palm Sunday Crowd
- Disciples, Followers, Jerusalem Residents, Passover Visitors
- Large but powerless
- Shouted Jesus is King
The Lynch Mob
- Chief Priests, Jewish Officials, Judas, Temple Guards, Police
- Small but powerful
- Shouted for Jesus to be crucified
The Mob that arrested Jesus was the one shouting for Jesus to be crucified not the Palm Sunday Crowd.
When you challenge a principality and power you are going to get a strong reaction. Think of the reaction of people to the overturning of Roe v Wade. You have never seen such anger at the right to take innocent life being taken away.
In your own life, I’m sure you will have encountered this on a smaller scale. When you stepped onto someone’s turf, unknowingly, literally all Hell breaks loose. It’s worth pausing to consider what you might be up against. Every Christian is a target for the enemy and he wants to take you out of the fight.
The One True King
We are regularly told that we live in the Free West.
Yet you can be living in a free country and not be free. If you had to put yourself in one of the two crowds that Palm Sunday, which would it be? Is your life one where you are captive or have you been liberated? Is your heart for or against Jesus?
The Amazing Gospel is that Jesus is the One True King. He is not an imposter.
1. Jesus is the true King from David’s line (Son of Man). He was rightfully entitled to the throne not Caesar as the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew explains.
2. Jesus is also Heaven’s King (Son of God).
But Jesus comes humbly and in PEACE. To ride into Jerusalem on a donkey was a message that he was coming in peace. To turn over the tables in the Temple was to show that the old religious system had failed and that he is the New Temple where the people can connect directly to God without the old religious practices.
Jesus wasn’t interested in earthly power of the kind we’re used to. Though he has every right there is, the surprising thing about Jesus is that he comes humbly to us offering peace.
