Seeing Jesus Completely John 12:12-19

Transcription

1 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, 2016 Seeing Jesus Cmpletely Jhn 12:12-19 Fr this reasn the Father lves me, because I lay dwn my life, that I may take it up again. NO ONE TAKES IT FROM ME, but I lay it dwn f my wn accrd. Jhn 10:17-18 Intrductin: We are all prne t taking things fr granted: Frm indr plumbing t a beautiful sunset during rush hur. When frget the ingenuity that it tk t allw us t ck inside r the immense beauty that is all arund us, we fail t appreciate reality. Hw many f us have failed t remember hw hard ur spuse wrks until we switch rlls fr a day r s. Hw many times have we had t travel n a plane and fund urselves cmplaining that the wifi is nt that great and fail t remember what an incredible thing it is t fly thrugh the air in a piece f metal strapped int a chair. A few mnths ag I finished a bk abut the Wright brthers and labr f creating human flight fr the first time. Even they culd nt have imagined hw quickly flying in a plane has becme cmmnplace. Reading abut their jurney, sacrifice, and risk has given me a new appreciatin f flying (and yes, I still want gd wifi n the flight!). As we cme t familiar stries in Scripture, we are challenged by the same thught. We ften take things fr granted in stries like the triumphal entry n Palm Sunday. Hw did Jesus get back int the city after having a death warrant ut? Hw did everyne knw t assemble n Sunday mrning? When we take these fr granted, we are left with thinking, "Gd just did it, I guess. Jesus is Gd, right, s He just made it happen." This leads t weak thinking abut Jesus, His humanity, and the immensity f the prcess. There are several reasns we need t think clearly abut the events and meaning f things like the triumphal entry 1 : 1. We affirm the Inerrancy f Scripture, and believe that each f the gspel accunts fit tgether perfectly, telling a full stry f Jesus' life - We believe that we can harmnize the accunts f the NT t understand hw Jesus rchestrated events in His life, nt cntradicting r brrwing the facts, but each were inspired by the Hly Spirit t write exactly what Gd wuld have them t write. 2 It means we shuld think thrugh the things Scripture gives us, and nt leave it t assumptins. 2. We want t knw Jesus, particularly His humanity, s that we can knw Him (Phil. 3:7-11) and fllw in His steps (1 Pet. 2:21) - Salvatin is abut Gd, and Jesus' wrk brings us int a wrshipful relatinship with Him. Jesus nt nly becmes a Savir, but a Lrd that is knwable and wants us t fllw Him. He lived life in a way that we can emulate, by being dependant n the Father and the Spirit, and lived it perfectly. We want t knw Him in His sufferings and hw He suffered, s that we can be like Him. S we want t understand hw He lived, nt as Superman dressed up like Clark Kent, but as a real man, flesh and bld, wh faced this life just like us. Jesus functined as a man with all the resurces available t us (i.e. the Wrd and Spirit think back t His temptatin in the Wilderness Luke 4:1-13). He is ur great High Priest (Heb. 4:15-16) wh can sympathize with ur weakness, wh was tempted in every way as a man, yet withut sin. S we can draw near with cnfidence t the thrne f grace. 1 I am indebted t the teaching f Dr. Dug Bkman fr piecing tgether the events f Jesus' life and Passin week. Fr resurces f his g t r g t and type in his name. It has re-shaped hw I think thrugh the life f Jesus in Scripture. 2 Fr a great read f the gspels and Passin week, invest in a "Harmny f the Gspels" by Rbert L. Thmas and Stanley N. Gundry, r "One Perfect Life" by Jhn MacArthur 1

2 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, We understand that n ne tk Jesus' life frm Him, but He laid it dwn freely - Jhn 10 tells us that Jesus is the dr (10:7) and the gd shepherd (14). He laid dwn His life n His wn accrd, meaning n ne tk it frm Him. This stry is tragic nly in the fact that humanity and demnic hsts thught they were in cntrl, and that they culd stp Jesus by killing Him, nly t have their greatest victry be their greatest defeat, and Jesus' seeming tragic, illegal, and heinus death becme His greatest victry. He laid dwn His life freely, knwing the Father wuld raise Him again (Acts 2:24), and He did it accrding t Gd's definite plan (Acts 2:23) and fr His sheep (Jhn 10:11, 15, 17, 18). 4. We are t be wise as serpents and harmless as dves - (Matthew 10:16) - Jesus cmmanded His disciples t act shrewdly, cleverly, yet sinlessly when they faced ppsitin frm the religius leaders and frm a ppsing gvernmental system. Des that sund like smething we will face, r are facing, right nw? Jesus lived ut this reality, nt simply because He was Gd, but because He shwed us in His humanity hw t d it. I. The Offer f a Humble King Jhn 12:14-15 And Jesus fund a yung dnkey and sat n it, just as it is written, 15 "Fear nt, daughter f Zin; behld, yur king is cming, sitting n a dnkey's clt!" Zechariah 9:9 Rejice greatly, O daughter f Zin! Shut alud, O daughter f Jerusalem! behld, yur king is cming t yu; righteus and having salvatin is he, humble and munted n a dnkey, n a clt, the fal f a dnkey. A. A King rides in We start this stry at ne f the mst earth-shattering events this wrld has ever seen. As Jesus crested the Mt. f Olives and entered int Jerusalem fr the last Passver f His life, the city erupted in unisn. B. A King rides alne Jesus came int the city riding a dnkey, which was a clear fulfillment f OT prphecy. A dnkey was nt necessarily an dd mde f transprtatin fr a king (see 2 Sam 18:9 as Absalm rde a dnkey after he made himself king), but the fact that Jesus rle alne, humbly. Cnquering kings wuld ride in with an enturage, with peple trumpeting ahead and cnquered kings in shackles. But Jesus came int His city as King, but did s humbly, alne, riding reslute t His awaiting death. II. The Offer f a Natinal King Jhn 12:12-13 The next day the large crwd that had cme t the feast heard that Jesus was cming t Jerusalem. 13 S they tk branches f palm trees and went ut t meet him, crying ut, "Hsanna! Blessed is he wh cmes in the name f the Lrd, even the King f Israel!" Psalm 118:22-26 The stne that the builders rejected has becme the crnerstne. This is the LORD's ding; it is marvelus in ur eyes. 24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he wh cmes in the name f the LORD! We bless yu frm the huse f the LORD. A. The Messianic Shut The crwd shuted a familiar Psalm tgether, a Hilel Psalm, ne that anticipated the inauguratin f messiah. This was recited year after year, and s it made sense that they shuted, Hsanna!, Blessed is 2

3 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, 2016 He wh cmes in the name f the Lrd!. Hsanna is a transliteratin f the Hebrew wrd that means "Save nw", r "save us", and that is what they recgnized in Jesus as He entered. B. The Messianic Hpe This was an apprpriate respnse. Jesus was truly ffering Himself t His peple as their Messiah, and their hpe was that He wuld fulfill all that had been prphesied. Jesus entered in n the exact day that He decided, and Luke says that if the peple were silent, the rcks themselves wuld cry ut, as creatin itself recgnized what was ging n, that redemptin was near. C. The Messianic Miss The prblem f the stry is the prblem we face tday. Jesus came t ffer Himself as King, but He did it n His terms alne. When it was realized that He was the nly way, there was a turn frm acclaim t a desire t kill, mainly amng the religius leaders. They wuld see fit that Jesus wuld nt take away their cntrl and pwer, and were willing t cmprmise their wn beliefs t kill the One wh culd actually bring abut what they lnged fr the mst. III. The Offer f an Persnal King Questin #1 Hw did all the peple knw where and when t shw up? Questin #2 Hw did Jesus get back int a city that was lking t arrest Him at first sight? Questin #3 If the peple welcmed Him n Sunday, why did He die by Friday? Events that put Jesus in Jerusalem n the perfect day f Messianic Presentatin (r Palm Sunday) FEAST OF DEDICATION - DECEMBER - JERUSALEM (Jhn 10:22-39) - 3 1/2 Mnths between the end f this feast and the week befre Passver Jhn 10:24 - If yu are the Christ, tell us plainly Jhn 10: I tld yu, and yu d nt believe...the wrks that I d in my Father's name bear witness abut me, but yu d nt believe, because yu are nt part f my flck. My sheep hear my vice, and I knw them, and they fllw me. I gave them eternal life and they will never perish, and n ne will snatch them ut f my hand. My Father, wh has given them t me, is greater than all, and n ne is able t snatch them ut f the Fathers hand. I and the Father are ne. Jhn 10:31 - The Jews picked up stnes again t stne Him - This was n the basis r accusatin f blasphemy - because a man was making Himself equal with Gd Jesus cuntered by pinting t the wrks that He was ding, and they shuld believe based n them. They sught instead t arrest Him, but He escaped frm their hands Jesus is nw a fugitive, they have tried t kill and seek t arrest Him. S He travels acrss the Jrdan River t the place where Jhn had been baptizing and waited there (Jhn 10:40-41). This place is called Perea. Why did Jesus g here? 3

4 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, 2016 This was ut f the jurisdictin f the verseers in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was verseen by the Sanhedrin frm a religius side and Pilate plitically. After Herd the great died (sn after Jesus was brn), the territries were divided up between sns f Herd and appintees frm Rme. Herd's sn Antipas was given rule ver the areas f Galilee and Perea. Pilate wuld have wanted t appease the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, since his jb was tw fld: 1) cllect taxes, 2) keep the peace. Antipas did nt need t appease the Jews in Jerusalem because it was nt his area f gvernance, thus this was Jesus avid and evade tactic fr the time being. EVADING & TEACHING IN PEREA (Luke 13:22-17:10) Luke 13: Pharisees frm Jerusalem try t cnvince Jesus t cme back Their ply was t cnvince Jesus that Herd was a bigger threat t Him than they were. This was partially true. Jesus called Herd Antipas a fx (nt a psitive term) and knew the insidius side f Herd, since it was he wh put Jhn the Baptist t death after being seduced by his step daughter (Matt. 14:1-12). Jesus knew their play, and again pinted t His wrks as prf f wh He was, and reiterated that when the fullness f time wuld cme (twice He uses - tday, tmrrw, and the third day, which is a Jewish figure f speech meaning fullness), He wuld g t Jerusalem. He lamented ver the fact that Jerusalem killed the prphets f ld, and hw He lnged t gather them in His arms. Then He tld the Pharisees standing there: I tell yu, yu will nt see me until yu say, "Blessed is he wh cmes in the name f the Lrd!" This is exactly what was shuted when Jesus entered int Jerusalem n Palm Sunday. But if Jesus was a fugitive and culdn't get back int the city withut getting arrested, and the qualificatin He gave t the Pharisee's was a saying that they wuld never say, hw in the wrld did Jesus rchestrate this? HEALING OF LAZARUS SETS THE STAGE FOR RE-ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM (Jhn 11:1-54) Jesus was apprached t g back t Bethany t heal his friend Lazarus. This was ging back int the danger zne t the pint that the disciples said, Rabbi, the Jews were just nw seeking t stne yu, and are yu ging there again?"(8), and Thmas said, "Let's als g, that we may die with Him." (16). Jesus lved Lazarus, but was s cncerned fr His friend that He waited 2 mre days befre travelling t visit His friend (6). This was the nly time we see Jesus purpsely delaying ding a miracle, and He did it t bring glry t Gd and t glrify the Sn f Gd thrugh it (4) This was ne f Jesus mst pignant, visible, and practive miracles. In Jewish culture, they did nt embalm bdies, s after 4 days nt nly was the spirit f that persn truly gne, but the decmpsitin prcess wuld have started (see verse 39). In ther wrds, after 4 days, a persn was cnsidered gd and dead. Secndly, there wuld have been a large grup gathered t murn Lazarus, and many wh were frm Jerusalem. Thirdly, Bethany was abut 2 miles frm Jerusalem, s the results f this miracle wuld reverberate there. 4

5 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, 2016 This miracle slidified the desire f the religius leaders t kill Jesus (53). The Pharisees already sught t kill Him fr blasphemy, but nw the Sadducees were nw n bard. The Sadducees cntrlled the temple and did nt believe in the resurrectin, s the fact that Jesus did such a clear miracle was a persnal affrnt t them. The reasn nw t kill Jesus was nt religius, it was persnal and sinful. "What are we t d? Fr this man perfrms many signs. If we let Him g n like this, everyne will believe in Him, and the Rmans will cme and take away bth ur place and ur natin." (47-48) NOTE: This is a huge pint f why peple reject Jesus, bth then and tday. It is nt fr lack f knwledge, but a lack f willingness t give up cntrl f life. The members f the Sanhedrin knew that Jesus raised the dead t the pint that if He cntinued t g n, the whle natin wuld be swayed. Unbelief finds its surce in pride and selfishness, refusing t believe and cnvincing neself t rid itself f the truth. Jesus tk His disciples and went t a small village called Ephraim t the nrth, near Samaria, which put Him n the utskirts f Judea's jurisdictin. JESUS TRAVELS WITH PILGRIM SAINTS TO THE PASSOVER (Luke 17:11-19:27; Matt. 19:1-20:24; Mark 10:1-52) Frm Ephraim, Jesus still desired and set abut t enter Jerusalem fr the Passver, and here He had a master strke. Luke 17:11 says smething strange if we understand the gegraphy f the land. Frm Ephraim, the text says, "On the way t Jerusalem (suth f His lcatin), He was passing alng between (r literally "in the heart f") Samaria and Galilee. This means that Jesus went Nrth t g Suth. But why was this such a master strke? Passing thrugh Samaria wuld have prvided cver frm His enemies, since Jews did nt like Samaritans (they were viewed as Jewish half-breeds, since they were a result f cmprmising with Assyria - see 2 Kings 17 fr the back stry) Jesus was frm Galilee, s this was His hmeland and He knew the lay f the land very well This put Him back in the jurisdictin f Herd Antipas This prvided cver by travelling with the pilgrim saints cming fr Passver. Grups wuld travel tgether fr safety purpses (this was seen when Jesus' parents "lst" Him when He was 12 travelling back frm Passver - Luke 2:41-52) We knw that there were 2 main rutes frm Galilee t Jerusalem - the Ridge and the Rift - We knw that Jesus tk the Rift Rute, which again wuld have kept Him ut f sight until He was ready t appear. He crssed the Jrdan and entered thrugh Jerich (Luke 18:35, 19:1) befre making His way t Bethany He taught specifically abut His kingdm, requirements f it, and the fact that He was ging t die. He als did miracles alng the way (10 lepers, Bartimaeus, Zaccheus in Jerich - Luke 17:12-19; Matt. 20:29-34), and this created anticipatin frm the thrng that was with Him making their way int Jerusalem. This all set the stage fr His cming int the city exactly the way He wanted. 5

6 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, 2016 JESUS PREPARES TO ENTER JERUSALEM TRIUMPHANTLY (Jhn 11:55-12:11) Jesus entered back int Bethany 6 days befre the Passver, mst likely heading int Friday night, which is Shabbat. Since Bethany was a Sabbath zne away frm Jerusalem, He wuld be safe t stay there until Sunday. Jhn 11:55-56 says there were sme wh had gne ahead f the grup t purify themselves befre Passver. Since there were s many peple flding int Jerusalem, ne had t get there early in rder t get it dne befre the festival started. The general cnsensus questin seemed t be: D yu think He'll shw up? D yu think He'll cme at all? This was due t the fact that the Pharisees had put ut an arrest rder fr Jesus as sn as He was seen. After Mary aninted Jesus bdy, a large crwd learned that Jesus was cming. This was mst likely prmpted by the travelling crwd Jesus had been with. They learned the answer t their questin: He's cming, and it's n Sunday mrning! This is what thse wh had seen Lazarus already had been testifying in Jerusalem (Jhn 12:17-18) The text is clear that the crwd was excited t see Jesus, but they als wanted t see Lazarus. Why the intrigue with Lazarus? Passver was a feast when Gd delivered His peple frm a freign pwer. If this Messiah culd raise peple frm the dead, they liked their dds in taking n Rme militarily. As a result, the chief priests made plans nt nly wanted t kill Jesus, but wanted t kill Lazarus (again). IV. The Rejectin f a Saving King This brings us back t the city f Jerusalem n that mst glrius day when Jesus ffered Himself as Israel's king. It was Passver, celebrating Gd's deliverance f His natin frm a Gentile verlrd. They had a man wh did miracles, raised the dead (pretty imprtant in battle), and rde in fulfillment f prphecy. S why the rejectin? What turned them frm Sunday t Friday? They remembered prphecy, but frgt the deeper prphecy. They remembered Gd wuld deliver His peple natinally, but frget that He prmised befre that He wuld deliver them frm the deadly effects f sin back in Genesis 3:15. They fcused n tempral freedm rather than spiritual and eternal freedm. They wanted plitical freedm but nt spiritual. When Jesus put dwn the Pharisee's and Sadducees n the Temple Munt n Mnday and Tuesday, the peple feared that they wuld be shut ut f the Temple (by Sadducees) r the Synaggue (by the Pharisee's - see Jhn 9:22). They wanted a Jesus that wuld fight fr them, but nt ne that demanded f them. They wanted a Jesus made in their image, that wrked accrding t their plan, rather than yielding t His. Cncluding Thughts Jesus mved heaven and earth t be Passver Lamb that was needed. Nt nly did Gd rdain it befre the fundatin f the wrld, Jesus faithfully delivered, nt as Superman, but as a faithful man, wh was as wise as a serpent yet harmless as a dve (Matt. 10:16) Jesus ffered Himself truly t His peple, but He ffered Himself n His terms, nt theirs This is what Jesus cntinues t d tday. There is n salvatin withut Jesus, and anyne wh desires Him must enter the narrw dr (Luke 13:24), must bear his wn crss and cunt the cst (Luke 6

7 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20, :25-30) and renunce all that he has cannt be His disciple (Luke 13:33). Jesus pens His arms wide t us tday. He has dne all the wrk t save, but He will nt cmpete. He takes us n His terms, meaning that in believing, we turn frm cntrlling ur wn life and yield it t His, receiving frgiveness f ur sin and ur life cmes under the Kings life, since He is Lrd. Questins t discuss: Why is it s imprtant t understand the fact that Jesus was bth fully Gd and fully man? What happens t ur understanding and appreciatin f Jesus if we autmatically assume everything happened in His life simply because He is Gd? Jesus gave up His independent use f divine attributes, meaning there were times He exercised these (miracles, knwing peple's thughts, etc), and at ther times He did nt access them. Hw des that help us understand hw t fllw His example f using the Wrd and the Spirit in all f life (see Luke 4:1-13 fr an example) In understanding hw Jesus perated in His culture, hw des that help us live as wise as serpents and harmless as dves? 7

8 Palm Sunday: Seeing Jesus Cmpletely March 20,