Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This morning's passage comes from Matthew twenty one, Verses one
through eleven. As they approached Jerusalem and came to beth
Page on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
saying to them, go to the village ahead of you,
and at once you will find a donkey tied there
with her colt by her Untie them and bring them
to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that
the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.
(00:24):
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet,
Say to daughter's Zion, see your King comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt
the full of a donkey. The disciples went and did
as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and
the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus
to sit on a very large very large crowds spread
their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from
(00:46):
the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds
that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted
Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord Hozana in the
Highest Heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was
stirred and asked, who is this? The crowd's answer, this
is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. This is
(01:06):
the word of the Lord. He may be seated.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hey, good morning everyone. Today is Palm Sunday. Today marks
the anniversary when Jesus entered Jerusalem, placing himself on a
collision course with the Jewish religious leaders who were opposed
to him his ministry. Palm Sunday is the beginning of
the end for Jesus's earthly ministry, his earthly life. In
(01:32):
less than a week, he would be dead. As we
consider the significance of Palm Sunday, one thing we must
remember is that this was happening at the start of
the Passover feast. Jesus was entering Jerusalem in order to
celebrate Passover with his disciples. He knew what was going
(01:54):
to happen. He knew what he was doing. He knew
that him entering Jerusalem meant that he was going to die.
He knew that the Passover Lamb in the Exous account
was the symbol pointing to him. Once again, God's protective
love was going to rescue his people from their slavery.
(02:16):
God's protective love was once again going to hold back death,
but this time death was going to be held back forever,
and Jesus knew that all of that would be accomplished
by his own blood. As a nation, the Israels had
been anticipating the arrival of the Messiah for a very
(02:37):
long time, and they had certain hopes and expectations for
this savior because of everything that Jesus had been doing,
everything he'd been teaching, there's this excited energy in the
air among the average Israelite. Maybe, just maybe this is
the long way to Messiah. Maybe just maybe this is
(02:58):
the deliverer that we been longing for anticipating. So as
Jesus enters the city, that people create the equivalent of
a red carpet. They made this with palm branch with
their own jackets for him to walk on, crying Hosanna,
which means salvation. Just like the Lord used Moses during
(03:21):
the Exodus to rescue his people. The Israelites in our
text were equating Jesus's arrival to as soon to occur
Exodus from the Roman occupation. God was gonna do it again. Hosanna,
We're about to be rescued. And they were right to
a certain degree. This spontaneous pread of joy and exaltation
(03:46):
of Christ happens just five days before these same people
would demand that he be crucified. So what in the
world happened? How does anticipation, longing, and excitement so quickly
change to a death sentence? How can public opinion and
swing so drastically so quickly. Well, the Jewish people are
expecting one thing, but what they got was something different.
(04:12):
The Jews expected that the coming Messiah would be of
military might, that he would overthrow the Roman occupation and
once more re establish the Jewish nation as a superpower.
In their mind, that's what their salvation, That's what this
new Exodus was all about. That's how it would look.
So when Jesus didn't meet those expectations, they were done
(04:34):
with them. Jesus displayed humility and self sacrificial love when
everyone else was anticipating military might and power. Because of this,
he was rejected, he was abandoned, He was crucified. Today
we remember the parade and the celebration that was thrown
(04:55):
for Jesus, only days before, he would allow himself to
be betrayed and tortured and humiliated and murdered for your
sake and for mine. And today we are remembering that
these same tendencies that we're going to study today exist
in our own hearts, even as followers of Christ, even
today you and I, we are expecting and we are
anticipating the Lord to move in our lives in a
(05:17):
certain way. We're expecting to move in our world, in
our communities, to do certain things in a certain way.
The question happened is so, what happens when we have
these expectations and these anticipations that we've levied onto the
Lord and then that doesn't happen? What happens when we
(05:42):
have unmet expectations when it comes to our relationship with God?
What happens when we're anticipating something and it doesn't occur,
especially when we know God, you have the wisdom and
you have the power to do this. How do we
treat the Lord? Do we find ourselves tempted to turn
(06:03):
our backs on him, giving up on him? Do we
stop approaching the Lord? Do we have this sort of
passive aggressive attitude towards him, do we make it difficult
for him to approach us. So here's the big idea
for our time together today, in our everyday lives, you
and I. We can't be so focused on what we
think God should be doing that we miss out on
(06:25):
what he's actually doing. You can't be so focused on
what you think God should be doing that you become
blind that you drown out what he's actually doing. We
can't celebrate and trust the Lord only when things are
going according to our plans. We have to learn to
(06:45):
have that same humility, the same posture and perspective as
Jesus Christ. Jesus secured our salvation, our redemption, our reconciliation
through his humility. So we must learn to be humble.
We must learn to try us God and his will
even when we can't understand it, even when we have
unet expectations, even we have no idea what's going on,
(07:07):
we have the rest knowing that He is protecting us.
We can't be so focused on what we think God
is doing that we miss what he's actually doing. So
that's what we're studying together today. That's what we're thinking
about as we're approaching this Holy week as we're anticipating
our celebration of the finished work of Jesus Christ, when
he raised from the dead and forever defeated sin and death.
(07:31):
So let's pause and pray as we are think about
the applications of our life with that today, let's pray
so God, each person in this room has a story
of an unnet expectation of you and God. Knowing that
we don't have the right to tell you what to
do doesn't necessarily make the pain go away or the confusion.
(07:56):
So more than anything, just give us a posture of
open handedness right now. Help us have a posture of
trusting that you are good and that you're with us,
protecting us, even when we can't discern how that is occurring.
So teach us to love and to trust you. Help
us to submit ourselves to your will, not ours. Seeing
(08:16):
You're precious and holy name, we pray Amen. Matthew twenty one.
As they approached Jerusalem came to Bethphage on the Mount
of Olives, Jesus sent to disciples, saying to them, go
to the village ahead of you, and at once you'll
find a donkey tied there with her colt by her
untie them bring them to me. If anyone says anything
to you, say to that, say that the Lord needs them,
(08:37):
and he will send them right away. This took place
to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, Say to
daughter Zion, see your King comes to you, gentle, riding
on a donkey on a colt, the foul of a donkey.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed. They
brought the donkey in the colt and placed their cloaks
on them for Jesus to sit on. So probably the
(09:02):
weirdest detail in the place, to naturally kind of start
our discussion, is why a donkey? Is that just a coincidence?
Is that just like a fun detail? In their book
The Last Week, authors Marcus Borg and John Crowson comment
about this very thing. They point out that Jesus wasn't
the only person who was capturing public attention as he
(09:23):
was arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. At that time,
the Roman governor there the custom was not to live
in the city limits like the others before m Conscious Pilot.
The Roman governor at that time he lived in the
beautiful seaside town of Cessarea. A city built by Herod
(09:44):
the Great. However, since the main responsibility of the Roman
governor was to keep the region that they're governing firmly
in Roman rule, peaceful, stabilized, quashed quiet. Because of this,
whenever an important religious festival or other their public gathering
was going to occur, anytime that emotions may be running high,
(10:05):
the Roman governor would arrive in Jerusalem in a very
public way in order to discourage any thoughts of uprising
or rebellion. In other words, it's very likely that conscious
Pilot was also entering the city of Jerusalem in his
own professional around the same time that Jesus was entering
with his It's very likely that that was occurring. Pilot
(10:29):
would have been most likely accompanied by soldiers, hundreds upon
hundreds them glistening arm or polished uniforms. They'd been marching
with their branded or with their weapons brandished. Pilot himself
was probably riding on something like a war horse, elevated
high above them all, like an impressive animal, and the
(10:50):
intention of that display was impressed upon the people of Jerusalem.
How mighty Rome was any thoughts that you have of rebellion,
you need to carefully weigh those thoughts alongside this image.
This is what's going to happen. If you, guys, let
your emotions get the best of you, you will be dominated,
(11:11):
You'll be defeated. See, you and I we have we
have these same tendencies in our heart to get what
we want through intimidation, through posturing, through aggression, through outrage,
through hysteria. Warn against these tendencies is what we've been
(11:31):
talking about together the last two weeks. That we can't
build God's kingdom by wielding the weapons of the world. See.
Pilot entered the city in a very purposeful way, in
a very intentional way. He wanted to remind the Israelites
of Rome's strength and power, that they are unparalleled. Anyone
(11:53):
watching must have felt like this Pilot guy, he is
one hundred percent unapproachable. There's nothing that I can do
to get an audience with this person. See, we can't
miss this. Just like Pilot, Jesus intentionally chose to enter
the city in a way, like he chose how to
enter the city, as he chose to enter the city.
(12:17):
Like the method is communicating something. Just like Pilot was
trying to communicate something, so is Jesus. He rode on
a young donkey, a common animal, anything but exotic. His
parade was led by peasants and common people, with nothing
hindering them from being near Christ. To go right up
to him, there was no barrier between him and the crowd.
(12:39):
He's probably head and shoulders above everyone else. Riding on
a war horse surrounded by soldiers ready for battle. People
are kept at a comfortable distance. But Jesus is riding
on an animal that doesn't physically elevate him at all.
He's probably high level with people as he riding on
this young donkey. There was no entourage to keep him separated.
(13:03):
And this was to announce something inconceivable. Jesus Christ, the
long away to Messiah, God in flesh, is approachable. See
when we reflect on Jesus's entrance on a donkey, we
(13:23):
cannot equate this with weakness or passivity. In fact, if
we were to continue reading in the Book of Matthew
immediately following our textas morning, we would read this. So
right after says in Jesus entered the temple, he drove
out all who sold and bought in the temple. He
overturned the tables and the money changers, the seats of
those who sold pigeons. He said to them, it's written
(13:44):
my house will be called a house of prayer, but
you've made it a den of robbers. Jesus isn't being weak.
He's not being passive with how he's choosing to enter
the city. Jesus wasn't humble because he was weak. He's
just kind of doing the best with what he had.
(14:05):
He wasn't being apathetic by not displaying his might for
your sake and for mine. He was being approachable. Just
listen to the very next verse, after Jesus cleanses the
temple Matthew eleven fourteen, the blind of the Lame came
to him in the temple, and he healed them. They
(14:27):
came to him, so I think that they had to
take a number. They came to him. Jesus parade is
a counter procession to pilots on purpose. It was a
different vision of what a kingdom should be. It was
(14:49):
intentionally subversive against the political powers that ruled Jerusalem at
that time. And then he goes and cleanses the temple
and intentionally subversive act against the howers that religiously ruled
Jerusalem at that time. Jesus's humble entry stood in contrast
to the brutality the unapproachability of the Romans. Jesus was
(15:13):
bringing peace while Pilot was doubling down on oppression, coercion,
and force. Zechariah nine nine Old Testament prophecy of the
coming Messiah says, rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion, shout,
daughter of Jerusalem. See you're king. He comes to you, righteous,
having salvation, gentle riding on a donkey. Even though Jesus
(15:38):
is all powerful, he is gentle. He doesn't wield that
power to make everyone do exactly what he wants. Instead,
he makes himself available. He makes himself approachable. There's nothing
separating him from the people. Is that the picture of
(15:58):
what the Gospel is Like God, the Creator, the Majestic,
the Holy One, even though he is all powerful, he
took upon himself human form and dwelled among us. He
was in our midst. He wasn't separated. He allowed himself.
He approached us because we couldn't approach him because of
(16:20):
our slavery to sin and death. He incarnated into our
lives so that we could be face to face and friends.
All those things are still true about Jesus today, through
the finished work of Jesus Christ, there's now nothing holding
you back from being in the presence of God. Even
(16:41):
in Jesus's crucifixion we see a symbol of this as
he's dying. On across as he dies, we see the
curtain being torn into separating the Holy of Holies from
the everyday space. It's like there is now no more separation.
So the question becomes, does your view of Christ here
this morning line up with that truth? In the middle
(17:05):
of all the stupid things that you continue to do
in light of your weakness, the stuff that you just
wish was different about yourself, in the middle of you
struggling to be the type of person that you know
you should be, in the middle of your shame and
your guilt and your negative self image, in the middle
of all the regret in those moments, is your Savior?
Is he on a warhorse against all that stuff in
(17:30):
your heart that you know shouldn't be there? Or is
he gentle and is he approachable? Is he still working
to subvert all the improper power structures that continue to
oppress you and unknowingly influence you to be who you
know you shouldn't Is he subverting your own flesh? Just
(17:56):
as importantly, do your actions and how you're following Jesus
mirror his. Do others in your life want to know
more about Jesus because you are among them, because there's
no barriers of your self righteousness or your pride that's
purposely separating you from them. Are you a person of
hope or are you on your high horse surrounded by
(18:21):
an army of condemnation? Phesian three twelve, Apostle Paul writes,
in Jesus and through faith in Him, we may approach
God with freedom and confidence. That is true about you.
Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, you can approach
(18:41):
God with freedom and confidence. It's finished God. Is it
waiting for you to do anything to approach Him with
freedom and confidence? It's been done for you in the
person of Jesus Christ. So do people feel freedom and
confidence to approach you in the same way? Or your
(19:02):
own expectations of the Lord getting in the way of
people seeing the love of Christ in your life? Are
you so focused on what you think God should be
doing that you're not fully embracing what He actually is doing.
In John's account of our textsay. In his retelling of
the triumphant procession, he includes an interesting detail. John Chapter
(19:26):
twelve is John's account of this moment. Starting in verse twelve,
he says, the next day, the great crowd that had
come for the feast heard that Jesus was on his
way to Jerusalem. They took palm branch as they went
out to meet him, shouting, Gozannah, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord, blessed as the
king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat
upon it. As it's written, don't be afraid, oh daughter
of Zion, see your king is coming seated on a
(19:48):
donkey's colt. At first, his disciples didn't understand all of this.
Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these
things have been written about him. He had done these
things to him. Now the crowd that was with him
when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him
from the dead, they continued to spread the word. Many people,
(20:08):
because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign,
went out to meet him. So the pharisee said to
one another, see this is getting us nowhere look how
the whole world has gone after him. Now there are
some Greeks among those who went up to worship with
the feast. They came to Philip, who is from Bessaida
and Galilee, with the request, Sir, They said, we would
like to see Jesus. I think it's an interesting detail
(20:31):
that Jesus's own disciples are described by jonas having no
idea what's going on. How did the people who spend
the most time with Christ not understand this moment? What
could have been possibly on their minds that distracted them
from comprehending what was happening. I think the answer comes
(20:53):
when we consider what the disciples were doing, what they
were talking about as they were walking with Jesus. Mark ten,
starting in verse thirty five, said, then James and John,
the sons of Ebedy, came to Christ, teacher. They said,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask.
Good start, what do you do from What do you
want me to do for you? He answered? They replied,
let one of us sit at your right and the
other at your left in your glory. When the ten
(21:15):
heard about this, they were becoming indignant with James and John.
Jesus called them together and said, you know that those
who are regarded as rulers over the gentiles, that they
lorded over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you, and said, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to
be first, must be a slave. Of all moments before
(21:36):
Jesus and this humility enters Jerusalem on a donkey so
that he could be arrested in the crucified moments for that,
his disciples were busy jockeying for position with regards to
their own importance, with regards to their own glory. They're
bickering about who should stand out, who should be honored
the most, who should have the most power. Bibles missed
(22:00):
out on understanding what Jesus was doing because they were
busy doing the opposite became. They couldn't see it because
the way that they were seeing the world wasn't of Christ.
In that moment, they weren't being humbled, they weren't being approachable,
They were elevating themselves above other people. The natural consequence
(22:25):
of Jesus's humility is found in John's account Verses nineteen
through twenty one. The Pharisee said to one another, see
this is getting us nowhere. Look, the whole world has
gone after him. Ah, there's some Greeks among those who
went to worship with the feast. They came to Philip,
who's from Pasaida and Galley with the request, Sir. They said,
we would like to see Jesus. The humility of Christ
(22:49):
just caused people to follow them, even gentiles, even people
who weren't Jewish, people who were considered outsiders to the
Old Covenant. They were curious. They wanted to know more.
They wanted to see Jesus. They wanted to be in
his presence as a Jew himself. Philip, who's a disciple
(23:10):
of Jesus, he had to be super confused in this moment.
The Messiah. He's supposed to rescue the Jews from Rome.
That's the point. So what business do these gentiles have
with the Jewish Messiah? What were they actually curious to
know more about? In that moment? They missed it. They
(23:36):
were seeking glory for themselves. They were entrenched in their
own plans, in their own way of seeing the world,
and their own anticipation of what Jesus was going to do.
They missed what he was actually doing. God's plan wasn't
(23:57):
to save one group of people from their political depression.
God's plan was aimed at saving all people, in all
places and from all forms of oppression, for all of eternity.
That's the good news that we celebrate this Easter season
that through Jesus it's finished and the it is all
(24:20):
of it, all oppression, all dysfunction, all death, all sin,
all disease. We can't become so focused on ourselves, on
our own plans that we miss what God is doing
right now. We have to learn from the Holy Spirit
(24:45):
the humbleness of Christ. We must learn to be people
who are approachable, people who are approachable for other people,
and people who are approachable for God himself. Am I
a person that God can have an audience with easily?
Am I approachable to the Lord? Or am I so
busy thinking about what I want, what my plans are
(25:07):
building my kingdom, that I'm completely deaf to the voice
of the Spirit. So, friends, we have to excel at
the inward journey of discipleship. We have to spend regular
time with the Lord through our spiritual disciplines so that
we can better discern what God is doing around us
what he's doing within us. We have to be approachable
(25:28):
to God we else we have to be approachable to
other people. We must excel at the outward journey of
discipleship as well. We have to display the same humility
that Jesus did so that people feel safe to come
to us when they're curious to know more about the
love of God coming out of us. We must be
approachable to other people, especially to the people we disagree with,
(25:54):
especially to the people we don't see eye to eye with.
We have to be a people who are curiously hopeful.
We can't do any of that on our own. You
can't do any of this on your own. If we
hope to understand how God is actually at work in
our lives, if we're hoping to navigate our own failed expectations,
(26:14):
our own pain and sorrow and confusion, if we want
to do that successfully, then we have to do it together.
We have to do it together. As Jed encouraged us
last week during communion, we have to constantly tell each
other the good news of Jesus Christ. We have to
constantly tell each other the good news of Jesus Christ.
(26:37):
We have to constantly encourage each other with the truth
that through Jesus it's finished. That doesn't mean that we
don't feel pain. That doesn't mean that we don't have confusion,
that we don't have failed into expectations. It means that
these things don't bankrupt us because we're rooted in the
hope of the Gospel. We have to be people who
(27:00):
are full of hope, full of joy, completely in tune
with who the Lord is instead of being distracted by
who we think he should be. So you start to
close as we're preparing to transition to have time to communion,
as Jake starts to make his way back up here.
Here's what I want us to reflect on. In what
ways do I potentially need to grow in my own approachability?
(27:25):
Do I need to be more approachable to others? Am
I condescending and my arrogant? Do I give off an
aura of being sort of a know it all? Do
I hog the conversation no matter what? Do I always
sort of draw the conversation back to me? Maybe I'm
so introverted that I avoid the conversations that other people
need to have even though I'm shy. Can I grow
(27:45):
in my ability to be more present in more specific scenarios.
How do you need to grow in your approachability for others?
Does that describe you? Do you need to grow in
your approachability to God? For God? Are you using your
unmet expectations and disappointments to allow a barrier to be
(28:05):
constructed between you and the Lord? Are you so focused
on what you think God should be doing that you're
really not in tune with what He actually is doing.
Maybe you're being passive aggressive towards Christ. Maybe you're trying
to get even with Him for something that did or
did not happen. Maybe you're just being super lazy. You're
just coasting, putting not putting in the hard work. And
(28:28):
you've noticed that you've been interesting. How do you need
it to prioritize your approachability for God? Maybe you simply
need to bathe yourself in the good news of the Gospel.
You need to speak the Gospel over yourself. You need
to speak it over others. You need to anchor yourself
in the finished work of Christ, learning to be hopeful
(28:49):
and joyful as you pursue that which you know is good. So,
as Jake starts to play, let's spend the next few
moments prayerfully considering how the Holy Spirit is inviting each
of us to take the next step on the spiritual journey.
You can sing along, you can simply meditate on the
words that Jacobs singing. What is God doing in your
(29:10):
life right now? How might He be inviting you to respond,
This morning's passage comes from Matthew twenty one, Verses one
through eleven. As they approached Jerusalem and came to beth
Page on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
saying to them, go to the village ahead of you,
and at once you will find a donkey tied there
with her colt by her Untie them and bring them
to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that
the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.
(00:24):
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet,
Say to daughter's Zion, see your King comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt
the full of a donkey. The disciples went and did
as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and
the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus
to sit on a very large very large crowds spread
their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from
(00:46):
the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds
that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted
Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord Hozana in the
Highest Heaven. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was
stirred and asked, who is this? The crowd's answer, this
is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. This is
(01:06):
the word of the Lord. He may be seated.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hey, good morning everyone. Today is Palm Sunday. Today marks
the anniversary when Jesus entered Jerusalem, placing himself on a
collision course with the Jewish religious leaders who were opposed
to him his ministry. Palm Sunday is the beginning of
the end for Jesus's earthly ministry, his earthly life. In
(01:32):
less than a week, he would be dead. As we
consider the significance of Palm Sunday, one thing we must
remember is that this was happening at the start of
the Passover feast. Jesus was entering Jerusalem in order to
celebrate Passover with his disciples. He knew what was going
(01:54):
to happen. He knew what he was doing. He knew
that him entering Jerusalem meant that he was going to die.
He knew that the Passover Lamb in the Exous account
was the symbol pointing to him. Once again, God's protective
love was going to rescue his people from their slavery.
(02:16):
God's protective love was once again going to hold back death,
but this time death was going to be held back forever,
and Jesus knew that all of that would be accomplished
by his own blood. As a nation, the Israels had
been anticipating the arrival of the Messiah for a very
(02:37):
long time, and they had certain hopes and expectations for
this savior because of everything that Jesus had been doing,
everything he'd been teaching, there's this excited energy in the
air among the average Israelite. Maybe, just maybe this is
the long way to Messiah. Maybe just maybe this is
(02:58):
the deliverer that we been longing for anticipating. So as
Jesus enters the city, that people create the equivalent of
a red carpet. They made this with palm branch with
their own jackets for him to walk on, crying Hosanna,
which means salvation. Just like the Lord used Moses during
(03:21):
the Exodus to rescue his people. The Israelites in our
text were equating Jesus's arrival to as soon to occur
Exodus from the Roman occupation. God was gonna do it again. Hosanna,
We're about to be rescued. And they were right to
a certain degree. This spontaneous pread of joy and exaltation
(03:46):
of Christ happens just five days before these same people
would demand that he be crucified. So what in the
world happened? How does anticipation, longing, and excitement so quickly
change to a death sentence? How can public opinion and
swing so drastically so quickly. Well, the Jewish people are
expecting one thing, but what they got was something different.
(04:12):
The Jews expected that the coming Messiah would be of
military might, that he would overthrow the Roman occupation and
once more re establish the Jewish nation as a superpower.
In their mind, that's what their salvation, That's what this
new Exodus was all about. That's how it would look.
So when Jesus didn't meet those expectations, they were done
(04:34):
with them. Jesus displayed humility and self sacrificial love when
everyone else was anticipating military might and power. Because of this,
he was rejected, he was abandoned, He was crucified. Today
we remember the parade and the celebration that was thrown
(04:55):
for Jesus, only days before, he would allow himself to
be betrayed and tortured and humiliated and murdered for your
sake and for mine. And today we are remembering that
these same tendencies that we're going to study today exist
in our own hearts, even as followers of Christ, even
today you and I, we are expecting and we are
anticipating the Lord to move in our lives in a
(05:17):
certain way. We're expecting to move in our world, in
our communities, to do certain things in a certain way.
The question happened is so, what happens when we have
these expectations and these anticipations that we've levied onto the
Lord and then that doesn't happen? What happens when we
(05:42):
have unmet expectations when it comes to our relationship with God?
What happens when we're anticipating something and it doesn't occur,
especially when we know God, you have the wisdom and
you have the power to do this. How do we
treat the Lord? Do we find ourselves tempted to turn
(06:03):
our backs on him, giving up on him? Do we
stop approaching the Lord? Do we have this sort of
passive aggressive attitude towards him, do we make it difficult
for him to approach us. So here's the big idea
for our time together today, in our everyday lives, you
and I. We can't be so focused on what we
think God should be doing that we miss out on
(06:25):
what he's actually doing. You can't be so focused on
what you think God should be doing that you become
blind that you drown out what he's actually doing. We
can't celebrate and trust the Lord only when things are
going according to our plans. We have to learn to
(06:45):
have that same humility, the same posture and perspective as
Jesus Christ. Jesus secured our salvation, our redemption, our reconciliation
through his humility. So we must learn to be humble.
We must learn to try us God and his will
even when we can't understand it, even when we have
unet expectations, even we have no idea what's going on,
(07:07):
we have the rest knowing that He is protecting us.
We can't be so focused on what we think God
is doing that we miss what he's actually doing. So
that's what we're studying together today. That's what we're thinking
about as we're approaching this Holy week as we're anticipating
our celebration of the finished work of Jesus Christ, when
he raised from the dead and forever defeated sin and death.
(07:31):
So let's pause and pray as we are think about
the applications of our life with that today, let's pray
so God, each person in this room has a story
of an unnet expectation of you and God. Knowing that
we don't have the right to tell you what to
do doesn't necessarily make the pain go away or the confusion.
(07:56):
So more than anything, just give us a posture of
open handedness right now. Help us have a posture of
trusting that you are good and that you're with us,
protecting us, even when we can't discern how that is occurring.
So teach us to love and to trust you. Help
us to submit ourselves to your will, not ours. Seeing
(08:16):
You're precious and holy name, we pray Amen. Matthew twenty one.
As they approached Jerusalem came to Bethphage on the Mount
of Olives, Jesus sent to disciples, saying to them, go
to the village ahead of you, and at once you'll
find a donkey tied there with her colt by her
untie them bring them to me. If anyone says anything
to you, say to that, say that the Lord needs them,
(08:37):
and he will send them right away. This took place
to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, Say to
daughter Zion, see your King comes to you, gentle, riding
on a donkey on a colt, the foul of a donkey.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed. They
brought the donkey in the colt and placed their cloaks
on them for Jesus to sit on. So probably the
(09:02):
weirdest detail in the place, to naturally kind of start
our discussion, is why a donkey? Is that just a coincidence?
Is that just like a fun detail? In their book
The Last Week, authors Marcus Borg and John Crowson comment
about this very thing. They point out that Jesus wasn't
the only person who was capturing public attention as he
(09:23):
was arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. At that time,
the Roman governor there the custom was not to live
in the city limits like the others before m Conscious Pilot.
The Roman governor at that time he lived in the
beautiful seaside town of Cessarea. A city built by Herod
(09:44):
the Great. However, since the main responsibility of the Roman
governor was to keep the region that they're governing firmly
in Roman rule, peaceful, stabilized, quashed quiet. Because of this,
whenever an important religious festival or other their public gathering
was going to occur, anytime that emotions may be running high,
(10:05):
the Roman governor would arrive in Jerusalem in a very
public way in order to discourage any thoughts of uprising
or rebellion. In other words, it's very likely that conscious
Pilot was also entering the city of Jerusalem in his
own professional around the same time that Jesus was entering
with his It's very likely that that was occurring. Pilot
(10:29):
would have been most likely accompanied by soldiers, hundreds upon
hundreds them glistening arm or polished uniforms. They'd been marching
with their branded or with their weapons brandished. Pilot himself
was probably riding on something like a war horse, elevated
high above them all, like an impressive animal, and the
(10:50):
intention of that display was impressed upon the people of Jerusalem.
How mighty Rome was any thoughts that you have of rebellion,
you need to carefully weigh those thoughts alongside this image.
This is what's going to happen. If you, guys, let
your emotions get the best of you, you will be dominated,
(11:11):
You'll be defeated. See, you and I we have we
have these same tendencies in our heart to get what
we want through intimidation, through posturing, through aggression, through outrage,
through hysteria. Warn against these tendencies is what we've been
(11:31):
talking about together the last two weeks. That we can't
build God's kingdom by wielding the weapons of the world. See.
Pilot entered the city in a very purposeful way, in
a very intentional way. He wanted to remind the Israelites
of Rome's strength and power, that they are unparalleled. Anyone
(11:53):
watching must have felt like this Pilot guy, he is
one hundred percent unapproachable. There's nothing that I can do
to get an audience with this person. See, we can't
miss this. Just like Pilot, Jesus intentionally chose to enter
the city in a way, like he chose how to
enter the city, as he chose to enter the city.
(12:17):
Like the method is communicating something. Just like Pilot was
trying to communicate something, so is Jesus. He rode on
a young donkey, a common animal, anything but exotic. His
parade was led by peasants and common people, with nothing
hindering them from being near Christ. To go right up
to him, there was no barrier between him and the crowd.
(12:39):
He's probably head and shoulders above everyone else. Riding on
a war horse surrounded by soldiers ready for battle. People
are kept at a comfortable distance. But Jesus is riding
on an animal that doesn't physically elevate him at all.
He's probably high level with people as he riding on
this young donkey. There was no entourage to keep him separated.
(13:03):
And this was to announce something inconceivable. Jesus Christ, the
long away to Messiah, God in flesh, is approachable. See
when we reflect on Jesus's entrance on a donkey, we
(13:23):
cannot equate this with weakness or passivity. In fact, if
we were to continue reading in the Book of Matthew
immediately following our textas morning, we would read this. So
right after says in Jesus entered the temple, he drove
out all who sold and bought in the temple. He
overturned the tables and the money changers, the seats of
those who sold pigeons. He said to them, it's written
(13:44):
my house will be called a house of prayer, but
you've made it a den of robbers. Jesus isn't being weak.
He's not being passive with how he's choosing to enter
the city. Jesus wasn't humble because he was weak. He's
just kind of doing the best with what he had.
(14:05):
He wasn't being apathetic by not displaying his might for
your sake and for mine. He was being approachable. Just
listen to the very next verse, after Jesus cleanses the
temple Matthew eleven fourteen, the blind of the Lame came
to him in the temple, and he healed them. They
(14:27):
came to him, so I think that they had to
take a number. They came to him. Jesus parade is
a counter procession to pilots on purpose. It was a
different vision of what a kingdom should be. It was
(14:49):
intentionally subversive against the political powers that ruled Jerusalem at
that time. And then he goes and cleanses the temple
and intentionally subversive act against the howers that religiously ruled
Jerusalem at that time. Jesus's humble entry stood in contrast
to the brutality the unapproachability of the Romans. Jesus was
(15:13):
bringing peace while Pilot was doubling down on oppression, coercion,
and force. Zechariah nine nine Old Testament prophecy of the
coming Messiah says, rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion, shout,
daughter of Jerusalem. See you're king. He comes to you, righteous,
having salvation, gentle riding on a donkey. Even though Jesus
(15:38):
is all powerful, he is gentle. He doesn't wield that
power to make everyone do exactly what he wants. Instead,
he makes himself available. He makes himself approachable. There's nothing
separating him from the people. Is that the picture of
(15:58):
what the Gospel is Like God, the Creator, the Majestic,
the Holy One, even though he is all powerful, he
took upon himself human form and dwelled among us. He
was in our midst. He wasn't separated. He allowed himself.
He approached us because we couldn't approach him because of
(16:20):
our slavery to sin and death. He incarnated into our
lives so that we could be face to face and friends.
All those things are still true about Jesus today, through
the finished work of Jesus Christ, there's now nothing holding
you back from being in the presence of God. Even
(16:41):
in Jesus's crucifixion we see a symbol of this as
he's dying. On across as he dies, we see the
curtain being torn into separating the Holy of Holies from
the everyday space. It's like there is now no more separation.
So the question becomes, does your view of Christ here
this morning line up with that truth? In the middle
(17:05):
of all the stupid things that you continue to do
in light of your weakness, the stuff that you just
wish was different about yourself, in the middle of you
struggling to be the type of person that you know
you should be, in the middle of your shame and
your guilt and your negative self image, in the middle
of all the regret in those moments, is your Savior?
Is he on a warhorse against all that stuff in
(17:30):
your heart that you know shouldn't be there? Or is
he gentle and is he approachable? Is he still working
to subvert all the improper power structures that continue to
oppress you and unknowingly influence you to be who you
know you shouldn't Is he subverting your own flesh? Just
(17:56):
as importantly, do your actions and how you're following Jesus
mirror his. Do others in your life want to know
more about Jesus because you are among them, because there's
no barriers of your self righteousness or your pride that's
purposely separating you from them. Are you a person of
hope or are you on your high horse surrounded by
(18:21):
an army of condemnation? Phesian three twelve, Apostle Paul writes,
in Jesus and through faith in Him, we may approach
God with freedom and confidence. That is true about you.
Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, you can approach
(18:41):
God with freedom and confidence. It's finished God. Is it
waiting for you to do anything to approach Him with
freedom and confidence? It's been done for you in the
person of Jesus Christ. So do people feel freedom and
confidence to approach you in the same way? Or your
(19:02):
own expectations of the Lord getting in the way of
people seeing the love of Christ in your life? Are
you so focused on what you think God should be
doing that you're not fully embracing what He actually is doing.
In John's account of our textsay. In his retelling of
the triumphant procession, he includes an interesting detail. John Chapter
(19:26):
twelve is John's account of this moment. Starting in verse twelve,
he says, the next day, the great crowd that had
come for the feast heard that Jesus was on his
way to Jerusalem. They took palm branch as they went
out to meet him, shouting, Gozannah, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord, blessed as the
king of Israel. Jesus found a young donkey and sat
upon it. As it's written, don't be afraid, oh daughter
of Zion, see your king is coming seated on a
(19:48):
donkey's colt. At first, his disciples didn't understand all of this.
Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these
things have been written about him. He had done these
things to him. Now the crowd that was with him
when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him
from the dead, they continued to spread the word. Many people,
(20:08):
because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign,
went out to meet him. So the pharisee said to
one another, see this is getting us nowhere look how
the whole world has gone after him. Now there are
some Greeks among those who went up to worship with
the feast. They came to Philip, who is from Bessaida
and Galilee, with the request, Sir, They said, we would
like to see Jesus. I think it's an interesting detail
(20:31):
that Jesus's own disciples are described by jonas having no
idea what's going on. How did the people who spend
the most time with Christ not understand this moment? What
could have been possibly on their minds that distracted them
from comprehending what was happening. I think the answer comes
(20:53):
when we consider what the disciples were doing, what they
were talking about as they were walking with Jesus. Mark ten,
starting in verse thirty five, said, then James and John,
the sons of Ebedy, came to Christ, teacher. They said,
we want you to do for us whatever we ask.
Good start, what do you do from What do you
want me to do for you? He answered? They replied,
let one of us sit at your right and the
other at your left in your glory. When the ten
(21:15):
heard about this, they were becoming indignant with James and John.
Jesus called them together and said, you know that those
who are regarded as rulers over the gentiles, that they
lorded over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you, and said, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to
be first, must be a slave. Of all moments before
(21:36):
Jesus and this humility enters Jerusalem on a donkey so
that he could be arrested in the crucified moments for that,
his disciples were busy jockeying for position with regards to
their own importance, with regards to their own glory. They're
bickering about who should stand out, who should be honored
the most, who should have the most power. Bibles missed
(22:00):
out on understanding what Jesus was doing because they were
busy doing the opposite became. They couldn't see it because
the way that they were seeing the world wasn't of Christ.
In that moment, they weren't being humbled, they weren't being approachable,
They were elevating themselves above other people. The natural consequence
(22:25):
of Jesus's humility is found in John's account Verses nineteen
through twenty one. The Pharisee said to one another, see
this is getting us nowhere. Look, the whole world has
gone after him. Ah, there's some Greeks among those who
went to worship with the feast. They came to Philip,
who's from Pasaida and Galley with the request, Sir. They said,
we would like to see Jesus. The humility of Christ
(22:49):
just caused people to follow them, even gentiles, even people
who weren't Jewish, people who were considered outsiders to the
Old Covenant. They were curious. They wanted to know more.
They wanted to see Jesus. They wanted to be in
his presence as a Jew himself. Philip, who's a disciple
(23:10):
of Jesus, he had to be super confused in this moment.
The Messiah. He's supposed to rescue the Jews from Rome.
That's the point. So what business do these gentiles have
with the Jewish Messiah? What were they actually curious to
know more about? In that moment? They missed it. They
(23:36):
were seeking glory for themselves. They were entrenched in their
own plans, in their own way of seeing the world,
and their own anticipation of what Jesus was going to do.
They missed what he was actually doing. God's plan wasn't
(23:57):
to save one group of people from their political depression.
God's plan was aimed at saving all people, in all
places and from all forms of oppression, for all of eternity.
That's the good news that we celebrate this Easter season
that through Jesus it's finished and the it is all
(24:20):
of it, all oppression, all dysfunction, all death, all sin,
all disease. We can't become so focused on ourselves, on
our own plans that we miss what God is doing
right now. We have to learn from the Holy Spirit
(24:45):
the humbleness of Christ. We must learn to be people
who are approachable, people who are approachable for other people,
and people who are approachable for God himself. Am I
a person that God can have an audience with easily?
Am I approachable to the Lord? Or am I so
busy thinking about what I want, what my plans are
(25:07):
building my kingdom, that I'm completely deaf to the voice
of the Spirit. So, friends, we have to excel at
the inward journey of discipleship. We have to spend regular
time with the Lord through our spiritual disciplines so that
we can better discern what God is doing around us
what he's doing within us. We have to be approachable
(25:28):
to God we else we have to be approachable to
other people. We must excel at the outward journey of
discipleship as well. We have to display the same humility
that Jesus did so that people feel safe to come
to us when they're curious to know more about the
love of God coming out of us. We must be
approachable to other people, especially to the people we disagree with,
(25:54):
especially to the people we don't see eye to eye with.
We have to be a people who are curiously hopeful.
We can't do any of that on our own. You
can't do any of this on your own. If we
hope to understand how God is actually at work in
our lives, if we're hoping to navigate our own failed expectations,
(26:14):
our own pain and sorrow and confusion, if we want
to do that successfully, then we have to do it together.
We have to do it together. As Jed encouraged us
last week during communion, we have to constantly tell each
other the good news of Jesus Christ. We have to
constantly tell each other the good news of Jesus Christ.
(26:37):
We have to constantly encourage each other with the truth
that through Jesus it's finished. That doesn't mean that we
don't feel pain. That doesn't mean that we don't have confusion,
that we don't have failed into expectations. It means that
these things don't bankrupt us because we're rooted in the
hope of the Gospel. We have to be people who
(27:00):
are full of hope, full of joy, completely in tune
with who the Lord is instead of being distracted by
who we think he should be. So you start to
close as we're preparing to transition to have time to communion,
as Jake starts to make his way back up here.
Here's what I want us to reflect on. In what
ways do I potentially need to grow in my own approachability?
(27:25):
Do I need to be more approachable to others? Am
I condescending and my arrogant? Do I give off an
aura of being sort of a know it all? Do
I hog the conversation no matter what? Do I always
sort of draw the conversation back to me? Maybe I'm
so introverted that I avoid the conversations that other people
need to have even though I'm shy. Can I grow
(27:45):
in my ability to be more present in more specific scenarios.
How do you need to grow in your approachability for others?
Does that describe you? Do you need to grow in
your approachability to God? For God? Are you using your
unmet expectations and disappointments to allow a barrier to be
(28:05):
constructed between you and the Lord? Are you so focused
on what you think God should be doing that you're
really not in tune with what He actually is doing.
Maybe you're being passive aggressive towards Christ. Maybe you're trying
to get even with Him for something that did or
did not happen. Maybe you're just being super lazy. You're
just coasting, putting not putting in the hard work. And
(28:28):
you've noticed that you've been interesting. How do you need
it to prioritize your approachability for God? Maybe you simply
need to bathe yourself in the good news of the Gospel.
You need to speak the Gospel over yourself. You need
to speak it over others. You need to anchor yourself
in the finished work of Christ, learning to be hopeful
(28:49):
and joyful as you pursue that which you know is good. So,
as Jake starts to play, let's spend the next few
moments prayerfully considering how the Holy Spirit is inviting each
of us to take the next step on the spiritual journey.
You can sing along, you can simply meditate on the
words that Jacobs singing. What is God doing in your
(29:10):
life right now? How might He be inviting you to respond,
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!