As Jesus enters Jerusalem He is greeted by a massive crowd enthusiastically welcoming Him as the promised Saviour King. As positive as this sounds, it was actually something that could have hijacked His real mission of dying for the sins of the world. In the way Jesus dealt with the crowds we see His determination to follow through with that mission, and we see the true glory of our God, that He would be so committed to following through on His plan for our redemption.
Discovering Jesus Pt 29
John 12:12-36
27/02/2011
Part 1: The “Triumphal Entry” (vv12-19)
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
The next day – The day after Jesus had been anointed with oil by Mary and He had explained to the people gathered that this was for the day of His burial, which was rapidly approaching.
the great crowd that had come for the Feast – this really was a great crowd. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that at the same feast 40 years later there were 2.7 million Jews in attendance. There are other estimates that aren’t that high, but the point is that it really was a great crowd!
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
Can you see why the Jewish leaders did not want to arrest Jesus during the feast? Having so many Jews in one place excited to hear about a teacher who could raise the dead could cause a riot when they tried to arrest him. Their soldiers would be no match for millions of angry people. The massive crowd sees in Jesus the fulfillment of prophecy and they want to make Him their King.
They cry “Hosanna” – why did they do that?
For any Jew of John’s time who read this, it made perfect sense, but we aren’t as familiar with their customs, so let me explain it to you.
At many of the Jewish feasts there would be great pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The city would be full of people and the Temple courts would be full to overflowing. In fact during the Passover for example they would shut the gates to the Temple area once it was full, then once one group had finished worshipping they would be let out and the next group could come through. This was done to prevent overcrowding and and the risk of stampeding.
To give you an idea of the Temple’s capacity I want to show you a couple of pictures.
This is a reconstruction of the Temple area showing a fairly well spaced out crowd coming to worship.
This is the Temple Mount today – the Temple is not there, what you can see is the Dome of the Rock, one of the most holy sites in Islam. This photo was taken during prayers in the holy month of Ramadan. I have read that approximately 400,000 Muslims can pray on this site at the one time. (It’s illegal to pray on the Temple Mount if you are not a Muslim).
We don’t know if people packed the area in quite so much during Jewish Festivals, but it’s reasonable to assume that between 100,000 and 400,000 people would be present in the Temple area during key worship times of the year. That’s around twice the population of the city of Joondalup!
So picture this sort of crowd assembled in the Temple courts during one of the feasts.
Inside the temple area – probably on the steps of the Temple itself – a choir of Levites would sing through Psalms 113 to 118. This would happen at different times depending on what feast was being celebrated.
During the Feast of Tabernacles which we read about in chapters 7 – 10, these Psalms would be sung every day for the seven days of the feast. When the choir sang Psalm 118:1, which reads:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
The crowd would wave date palm fronds, tied up with some other bits and pieces, toward the altar of the temple. (Where the smoke is coming from in the pic!)
They would do this again when the choir got to verse 25:
O Lord, save us;
This is literally, “Jehovah (Lord) Hosanna (save us)”
The choir would continue to sing:
O Lord, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. (Ps 118:25b-27)
So a few months earlier you had this great crowd hearing this for 7 days and waving their palm branches toward the altar.
Now they are back for the Passover, where again these words will be sung. They hear that Jesus is on His way from Bethany, and so many of them take off and meet Him outside the city taking palm branches with them. I can imagine them waving the branches toward Jesus as they repeat those words “Hosanna” – save us!
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” – They recognize Jesus as the Saviour sent from God, the answer to their prayer “Jehovah save us”
“Blessed is the King of Israel” They chant, expecting salvation to take the form of a new King with power over death who will throw off the shackles of Rome. The NIV translation of Psalm 118:27 probably reflects the common interpretation of the Jews – let’s take our boughs in hand and go up to the Temple to worship. The crowds who greeted Jesus were thinking – “let’s take Jesus up to the Temple where we will make him King”.
The literal meaning of the Hebrew words is quite different.
The New Living Translation expresses it like this:
The crowds picture Jesus arriving in fulfilment of God’s promise, and they assume that means as a conquering King. They don’t realise that in true fulfilment of Psalm 118, Jesus is entering Jerusalem in order to be a sacrifice.
Now if you have half a million people (or whatever the number may have been!) stirred up to make you king, that’s got to give you some confidence. There’s no way the Jewish leaders could withstand such a force of numbers. Their worst fears would have been realised, which is why they were keen to get rid of Jesus before now.
But Jesus does not want to be made King by force. Watch what He does to make sure nothing gets in the way of His true mission.
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
What did His disciples not get about this?
Jesus had told two of them to go and get this young donkey that had never before been ridden from the village of Bethphage, just outside Jerusalem. He told them where they would find it and what to say if anyone asked what they were doing taking it. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Zechariah that we read in Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king a comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
That seems to confirm what the crowd is expecting – Jesus is the promised King! But what kind of King is He? “Righteous, having salvation” – that’s OK so far – he’ll be a just king and he’ll save them from their oppressors. “Gentle”… huh?
This prophecy in Zechariah is a bit like the one from Psalm 118. There’s more to it than people first realised. Jesus isn’t coming on a warhorse, he’s riding a young donkey! Later on in Zechariah’s prophecy the promised King is seen marching in a storm of judgement. He has an arrow that flashes like lightning. But God showed Zechariah hundreds of years before the birth of Christ that He would first come gently. Jesus will come as a conquering King one day, but first He had to come humbly and gently in order to bring us salvation.
The disciples and the crowds didn’t get this until later. Even though He has given them another clue, they still think Jesus’s mission is to become King by force.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
The Pharisees are really worried now. It’s not just Jews from Galilee or even Judea that follow Jesus now. Visitors from all over the world are hearing of His power and rallying to Him.
There is a massive procession of excited people bringing Jesus into the city and toward the Temple where they hope to install Him as king, and there is probably nothing the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin can do to stop it.
Part 2: The Real Mission Revealed (vv20-36)
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
I can just imagine the excitement of the disciples. The hour has come for Jesus to be glorified – it’s about to happen! Jesus is going to get the recognition an the position that He deserves, and those closest to Him are going to be along for the ride. Forget all that depressing talk of death and burial that Jesus spoke in Bethany. He was probably just feeling low. He probably thought that it would only be a matter of time before the Sanhedrin got Him. Now it’s all looking up and we’re in for a great ride!
But in the middle of His skyrocketing popularity, it is Jesus Himself who puts the brakes on the whole thing. The glorification that He is talking about is not what the disciples or the crowds have in mind.
24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Jesus is saying that He will be glorified by giving His life so that others may have life. People will worship Him because His death will bring them life. And His followers will be expected to have this same attitude – that they will give their very lives in order to gain eternal life.
In the midst of being offered what this world thinks of as significance – in the moment of His greatest popularity and power – Jesus turns His back on all of it in order to achieve something of true significance – our salvation.
27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
“Glorify your name” – in Jesus’ death God was glorified – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sometimes people think of God the Father as the big meanie, the stern judge who demanded someone pay the price for our sin. God the Son – Jesus – is then the One who takes the Father’s wrath in our place. This sort of thinking shows a lack of understanding about the character of God. With this thinking the Father is not glorified as Jesus prayed, rather He is despised as a cruel and vindictive despot.
We need to remember that Jesus is the perfect representation of God. He and the Father are of the same nature. Jesus is angry at sin and it’s consequences in the same way God the Father is. God the Father loved us enough to endure the cross just as Jesus did – don’t think for a moment that it was easy for the Father to be separated from the Son and to see the Son endure such agony for us. God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit took no pleasure in the cross. Rather He looked beyond the cross to the redemption of the saints, and counted that joy to be worth suffering for. You and I were worth it to God – amazing isn’t it?
It’s in this that God is glorified. In the cross we see the unfathomable love and grace of God. We see His commitment to righteousness as well as His mercy toward the unrighteous. As He set His face toward the cross, Jesus prayed that we might see the incredible character of God displayed there and glorify His name for it.
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
The bible tells us that it was Satan who was at work in Judas to betray Jesus and bring about His death (Lk 22:3). It was Satan who tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and reject His Lordship way back in the Garden of Eden. Now he seems be able to bring about the ultimate rejection of God by humanity. What He doesn’t realise is that in the wisdom of God this ultimate rejection would bring about our salvation. It would demonstrate that our salvation is none of our own doing but all of God’s. It would break the power of sin over us by which Satan was able to keep us separate from God. As people are reconciled to God Satan has no power over them – he is driven out of our lives. When Jesus returns Satan will be finally banished to everlasting punishment along with all those who reject the Lordship of Christ.
This all makes sense to us now, but for Jesus to announce that He would be crucified – lifted up from the earth on a cruel Roman cross – caused all sorts of confusion.
34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
For the crowd who expected Jesus to remain with them forever Jesus’ announcement made no sense. They ask “Who is this Son of Man”. Jesus was clearly talking about Himself, so that’s not the issue. What they are really asking is “What sort of Saviour-King are you?
Jesus is not just giving hints, He’s talking plainly about dying, even the way that He will die. The astute among the crowd will hear the phrase “lifted up” and remember the song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52 & 53.
13 See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
53 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Again, hundreds of years before the events of John 12 we see them being foretold in the Old Testament. Again God speaks about how Jesus will be glorified – highly exalted. Again it’s not in the way people expect, rather it’s through being raised – lifted up – that He will be exalted. His death on the cross for us, as appalling as it was, is what truly reveals the glory of God in Jesus.
But again, the crowds don’t really get it, or if they do, they just don’t want to accept it. So Jesus continues…
35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.[2]
Jesus could have used His popularity to sweep to power. He did not have to go to the cross – He chose it.
Even once He had turned the crowds away – after they had been manipulated by the Sanhedrin to chant for His blood instead of chanting “Hosanna” – Jesus could still have been the conquering King. When Peter leapt to His defence in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus told him that if He asked the Father would give Him more than 12 legions of angels to do whatever He commanded (Matt 26:53).
Think about that. As Jesus endured ultimate agony being mocked, flogged, tortured and crucified; He could have at any moment put an end to it all. Imagine the strength of love and determination that it took for Him to not do that.
The Challenge:
The glory of Jesus, the glory of the Father and the Spirit were not seen in the adulation of many thousands waving palm fronds and clamouring to make Jesus king by force.
The glory of God the Father, Son and Spirit is most clearly demonstrated in the death of Jesus for our salvation, and is expressed in the praises of the millions of people who have made Jesus king of their own lives.
How will you and I most glorify God in what we do together and in our own personal lives?
It’s really quite simple – it’s to speak about the death of Jesus for us (Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 1) and to follow His example in laying down our lives for Him.
We’ve really rejoiced in seeing God add new members to our family of believers here at Kingsley and we are rejoicing in the step that we will soon make of beginning our second congregation that will meet on Sunday afternoons.
I believe that the growth we have seen is a result of this church’s commitment to proclaiming the glory of Jesus as the One who died for our salvation, and also the commitment of our people who give their lives in service to Him in all the different ways that is expressed.
I believe that if we can all really grasp the message of this text, that we will see many, many more lives changed as God continues to work. I don’t believe we have yet seen all that God wants to do.
Jesus knew His mission. He rejected anything that would get in the way of His mission. He left the comforts of Heaven. He refused the adulation of the masses. He turned down the offer of earthly power and success. His goal was to glorify His Father and to save the lost.
He says to us “Whoever serves me must follow me” (v 26)
Let me ask you: what has your heart? Who has your heart? What are you striving for?
What does significance look like for you? Jesus wasn’t drawn to becoming an earthly king, He saw Himself as the eternal Saviour. It was a harder path but it was the path of true significance.
What will be your pathway to true significance? What in your life needs to die in order for you to bear more fruit?
