SERMON NOTES
PALM SUNDAY 2010
Throne vs Thorns
PASSING OF THE PEACE
SCRIPTURE: John 12:13
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!"
QUESTION: Have you ever been excited about something (waving palm
branches); then less a week later, decided it was a bad idea (“Crucify Him”)?
INTRO TO SCRIPTURE:
Last Week: Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave
Remember: SHOUT (Greek word: war like; horse)
6x (COME OUT! HOSANNA! CRUCIFY HIM(4x)
Remember the Disneyland commercials Joe Montana
So, Lazarus, you’ve been raised from the dead.
What are you going to do now?
“I am going to Disneyland.”
QUESTION: What do you do when you’ve been dead and now you are alive!
A: You most likely want to honor the reason why you’ve been brought back to life
A: In Lazarus case, FOOD (12:1) a feast (celebrating Lazarus?)
This Week: The people celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus
SET THE SCENE
Lazarus had been raised from the grave (town talk: Messiah?!?)
The Chosen People have been waiting 400 plus years for the Messiah.
They will see the parade as a victory parade of a temporal king
SCRIPTURE: John 12: 12 The Triumphal Entry
12The next day the great crowd that had come for the (Passover) Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches (symbol of the Jewish State) and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!" (Give salvation now!)(Psalm 118:25)
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Ps 118:25 & 26 - Messiah)
"Blessed is the King of Israel!"
POINT: Nationalistic fervor(temporal King/Messianic Expectation-War Horse?)
They are pumped! “THRONE NOW!” Take the throne Jesus!
Preconceived Idea: US? What is our political hope today?
Their preconceived idea: restore Israel the kingdom (free at last)
IMPLICATION: He did not meet expectations, which lead to “CRUCIFY HIM!”
QUESTION: If you had been there, would you have been waving the palm branch?
we’re post resurrection people, they are pre resurrection people
does it make a difference?
would you wave the palm if you knew in five days you would be
SHOUTING: CRUCIFY, CRUFIY!”?
He was a failure as Messiah (like Judas Macabeaus)
CROSSROADS - Decision Making Time
To take the throne or not to take the throne, that is the question.
To take the thorns or not to take the thorns, that is the answer.
POINT: Jesus chose not (public peer pressure); but the right thing to do; because
Jesus was in harmony with his purpose/plan/vision
US: We choose correctly when we remain in harmony with our vision/purpose/
SCRIPTURE: JOHN 12:14
14Jesus found a young donkey (NOT like Judas Maccabaeus, on the war horse)
and sat upon it,
as it is written, (Zechariah 9:9)
15"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt."
EXPECTATION: As the people returned from exile in Babylonian,
So the people shall return from exile under Roman Rule
Hence: restoring Davidic Kingship, again
POINT: Jesus demilitarizes their Messianic Expectation
16At 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.
17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!
POINT
Jesus rode through the streets of Jerusalem, as king and their is joy as he claimed to be king. As the people SHOUT out HOSANNA, the message is clear: WE WON!
It is the joy of V-day in europe and across our country during WWII, WE WON!
JOY TO THE WORLD, the Savior comes!
ISSUE
I can't imagine, what's going on in the mind of Jesus. He knows the parade leads to cross. He knows He is about to enter the Lions’ Den. He knows His fate.
He knows how quickly the crowd will turn. SHOUTS of HOSANNA will turn to SHOUTS of CRUCIFY HIM. WHY? Because he does not satisfy their expectation of their vision for him (Messianic Expectation).
HOW ABOUT US?
Have we ever followed the parade knowing that it is about to lead to no good? Have we ever followed the parade right into the lion den?
Or, on the other hand, have you ever knew that what you are about to do is good? Have you ever known that this good is going to lead to pain?
BIBLICAL MODEL OF EVANGELISM - begin with the listener
Jesus will use the Passover and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem as a teaching platform to convey his message. Using the popular fanaticism and national fervor, as a way of teaching them the kingdom of God is not temporal; the Messiah is not temporal;
that the Kingdom of God is within and spiritual.
OLD WINESKINS: Kingdom (temporal) Messiah (temporal)
NEW WINESKINS: Kingdom (spiritual) Messiah (eternal)
CHALLENGE FOR JESUS (Garden of Gethsemane)
the Palm Sunday Parade was a crossroad for Jesus. He cold bow to public peer pressure and seize the old wineskins and accept a temporal kingship and the path to the throne..
Or, he could do what is right and his eternal purpose, the path to the cross
we ourselves are face with significant crossroads
choosing what is easy and receiving the accolades of peer pressure (temporal)
or we too can pick up our cross and do what is eternal
POINT: Jesus wears no temporal crown except the temporal crown of thorns
CHALLENGE
This Holy Week, let us all reflect on (John 15:13):
Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends.
SUNRISE SERVICE: 6 a.m.; Traditional Service: 9 a.m.; and Contemporary: 10 a.m.
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