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Past Ponderings

Thursday, May 7, 2020

PONDERING... What If Jesus Doesn’t Move Like You Expect? (Matthew 21:1-16)

VIDEO
What If Jesus Doesn’t Move Like You Expect? (Virtual Sermon Notes)
GIST: You need the real Jesus, who will challenge your expectations and bring you truth more beautiful and powerful than you imagined (and maybe even wanted). 
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 21:1-16
This morning we’re going to do what we rarely do, and step away for just a bit from our regular study. Today is Palm Sunday, though I am sure for many of us it doesn’t quite feel like it. This time of year is often associated with Church celebrations. In fact, yesterday would have been our Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. But with stay at home mandates restricting social gatherings in the interest of trying to save lives, it might not feel like Easter is next Sunday. 
To try and help with that, I want us to look at the Palm Sunday account from Matthew’s Gospel. This will likely be a familiar passage, but please don’t let that close our eyes to what God has for us here this morning. Rather than read the passage in opening, I want to go ahead and give you the “gist”. Then, we’ll walk through the passage as we come to it. That being said, here’s the gist: You need the real Jesus, who will challenge your expectations and bring you truth more beautiful and powerful than you imagined (and maybe even wanted). 
Ok, so admittedly, that is a long and kind of wordy gist statement ☺️. This morning, I want to try and break that down in two quick ways. First, I want to look at how Jesus wasn’t the king this original audience expected. Then, I want to look at how He also came offering a rescue they didn’t expect (or frankly want). After that, I’ll try and leave us with some takeaways to chew on. 


I. NOT THE KING THEY EXPECTED (1-11)
Let’s start by reading Matthew 21:1-11“1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."”
Again, there is so much we could pull out of this passage, but this morning I really just want to zero in on the expectations of the general audience here. It’s important to note that they actually got a few things right. 
Save us Messiah! True. When they saw Jesus coming on the donkey, they started singing a psalm of ascent. They would have been singing these psalms as they went up to Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations anyway, but they definitely chose the right one to attribute to Jesus here. They were singing “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Hosanna means “save us”, and the term Son of David is a messanic term. It pointed to the savior who would come and establish the kingdom of God once and for all. So, they’re essentially crying out, “Messiah, save us!”, which is exactly what He came to do. 
And in this whole procession, He’s also being presented as the→ 
Rightful King. Also True. Look at this again. They’re laying out the red carpet here. This wouldn’t have been overlooked. People are creating a path for Him using palm branches and their own cloaks, so this donkey’s hoofs don’t have to touch the ground, and they’re surrounding Jesus dancing, singing, and calling Him the Son of David. Not only would this point to Him as the Messiah, but the name David was synonymous with king. He was the greatest of their kings, and Jerusalem, where they are all heading, was his city. The implications were obvious. Jesus is being treated like a king returning from battle coming into His city, which is almost exactly right. He is the true king, not just for Jerusalem, but for the entire world, us included. But rather than returning from battle, He’s entering into the final battle, the one that will provide true hope once and for all.  
His entrance makes quite the stir, so that everyone is talking about Him as this crowd rolls into town. When asked who He is, they respond with→ 
The Prophet From Nazareth. Yeah, That’s True Too. Their words, at least, were right. He’s the true prophet predicted throughout the Old Testament. The ultimate servant of God. The One who speaks for the Lord in a way no one else ever could. 
But Did They Get This? Their words alluded to all this, but I’m not sure they completely understood the significance of what they were saying. They might have just been using the phrase prophet here as a generic term for “man of God”, and that is definitely how at least many of them viewed Him. See, we know the whole story here, right? We know that in just a short time, another crowd is going to be calling for Him to be crucified. Some of these same people could have been in that crowd. At the very least, they weren’t forming another crowd coming to His defense. 
See, they said the right stuff, but they missed the real truth here. Why? Because He didn’t fulfill their expectations. He was coming exactly as the prophecies foretold. Still, the vast majority of the Jewish people of this time were looking for a political Messiah who would ride in victoriously and rescue them from the oppression of Rome. They weren’t looking for this humble man riding in on a donkey. And→ 
The “Peace Donkey” Was Significant. See, during times of war, a king would customarily ride in on a war horse, but in times of peace, they would come riding on a donkey. This was a sign of the king’s purpose. Jesus came riding into the city that was supposed to represent the people of God, and He was coming to bring peace. Why? Because they were currently living at war with the God they claimed to serve. They were trapped in their own sins, and He was coming as their hope, but they were missing it because He wasn’t what they were looking for. In fact, Luke records Jesus weeping and saying this as He approaches the city, “...Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:42)
He’s their king but not the one they expected. He’s exactly what they need, but He’s not what they wanted. Can we relate to that? Are we missing out on who Jesus really is because we want Him to just give us what would make our lives “feel better” instead of coming in and actually meeting our deep-set needs? He came as the king they weren’t looking for and brought salvation, but→ 


II. NOT THE RESCUE THEY EXPECTED OR WANTED (12-16)
I think a lot of times people forget the full context of the triumphal entry. It comes after Jesus’ three year ministry in Galilee where He has been performing miracles and proclaiming the Gospel. And it comes right before… He comes into town and starts flipping tables ☺️. 
Look at verses 12-16.  “12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"”
This is great. He comes in proclaiming rescue, but it’s→
Not the message from God they wanted to hear.  Don’t miss this. They were expecting their Messiah to come in and kick out the Romans. They were expecting banners for Jewish independence. They were expecting their physical situation to be better and their physical kingdom to be established to its former glory. So→ 
Why is He concerned with cleaning house when their personal liberties are being threatened? Because the rescue they needed was so much deeper than that. Rome wasn’t the problem. Sin was. The biggest need of their lives wasn’t physical. It was spiritual. And guys, that is the same situation all of us are in today, as well. They were playing church and making a mockery of the God they were claiming to serve. They thought they were good with the spiritual stuff; they just needed more earthly freedoms; they wanted their lives to be more comfortable. Jesus came into town after being proclaimed as the true Messiah, the true king, and the true prophet, and the first thing He does of note is go to the source of their issue and challenge their expectations— they were missing out on God. 
What’s wonderful here is that those who were most aware of their weakness (the blind, the lame, and the children) came to Him eagerly. However, others didn’t like this message at all. In fact, the religious leaders took major issue with it. They also didn’t like that He was allowing these children to continue singing that He was the true Messiah. So these supposed “men of God” came to Jesus and said, “Do you hear what they’re saying?” And I love Jesus’ reply here. To paraphrase, He says:
“Yes. I am the Messiah. I am God incarnate. What these kids are proclaiming is 100% true. Why are you missing this? Haven’t you read the Bible?” 
Man, we need that reminder today, don’t we? So often we miss out on what Jesus is doing all around us because we’re not looking for it. We forget that His purpose is our salvation and the salvations of those around us. That is our deepest need, and that is the deepest need of this world today. Let me just give you a few quick takeaways to chew on.


TAKEAWAYS
1. Jesus’ movement won’t always make sense to you. Do you feel that right now? I doubt social distancing was on your list of expectations for this year. I doubt it was on your list of expectations for… ever. But it’s here, and if it’s here and God is still sovereign, which He is, then doesn’t that mean He’s moving in this somehow? How He moves won’t always be what you were expecting, and→ 
2. Jesus’ movement won’t often be comfortable for you. We need Him to make us uncomfortable, because our comfort zone, by definition, is staying in whatever is natural. What’s natural to us? Sin. Seeking ourselves. Doing what we want to do. And that path is broad and leads to destruction. We need Jesus to come in and shake us up and change us. We need new hearts and a new perspective. We need salvation. See, His movement might not make sense, and it might not be comfortable, but→ 
3. Jesus’ movement will always be exactly what you need. Jesus, the real Jesus, is exactly who you need right now. He is exactly who you need every single day. Life might not make sense right now, but there is a true savior, a true king, and a true prophet who came into this world to give you the peace you never deserved and never wanted, but the peace you so desperately need. And we definitely need it right now. He came for you. He came because He loved you with a love that has never waivered. Will you come to His truth? Will you come to Him today? Because the truth He brings is more beautiful and more life-changing that we could ever imagine. This audience was looking for a physical change, but what He came to bring was so much more. How are your expectations?

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