The Arrival of the King

So, starting in verse 1, we read,

Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,

then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,

Go in 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.

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say,

The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets, saying,

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.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road,

and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

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.

And when he entered Jerusalem,

the whole city was stirred up, saying,

Who is this?

And the crowd said,

This is a prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple.

And he overturned the table of the money changers

and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

And he said to them,

It is written,

My house shall be called a house of prayer,

but you made it a den of robbers.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple,

And he healed them.

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.

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 babes,

you have prepared praise?

And leaving them,

He went out to the city of Bethany,

to Bethany and lodged there.

In the morning,

as he was returning to the city,

he became hungry.

And seeing a fig tree by the wayside,

he went to it and found nothing on it,

but only leaves.

And he said to it,

May no fruit ever come from you again.

And the tree withered at once.

When the disciples saw it,

they marveled,

saying,

How did the fig tree wither at once?

And Jesus answered them,

Truly, I said to you,

If you have faith and do not doubt,

you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree,

but even if you say to this mountain,

Be taken up and thrown into the sea,

it will happen.

And whatever you ask in prayer,

you will receive,

if you have faith.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you, Florence.

Let's pray together briefly as we consider God's word to us this morning.

Heavenly Father,

Lord Jesus Christ,

Holy Spirit,

we come before you this morning,

we come to your word,

because we want you to speak to us.

God,

we have not come to hear the opinions of man,

we come to meet with you,

the living God,

in your living word.

And so God,

won't you speak to us this morning?

Won't you make the word come alive in our hearts?

Won't you open the eyes of our hearts to see you,

and to receive your grace,

and to respond as you want us to respond?

God,

we pray,

come and be in our midst.

In your gracious name,

Amen.

Yesterday morning,

our family was driving back from the library,

went to get some books,

and we drove past a delivery van

that said,

Nelson's Removals on the van.

And my daughter,

we come from South Africa,

if you don't know,

and my youngest daughter said,

I wonder if Nelson Mandela started that company.

And we had a bit of discussion,

and we determined that the facts were hard to determine exactly,

but in all likelihood,

Nelson Mandela probably didn't start

Nelson's Removals company

in Hong Kong.

But it got me thinking,

I wonder if Nelson Mandela

ever came to Hong Kong,

actually.

And a quick Google search answered that,

that he did.

He came in 1991,

soon after he was released from prison,

and he came to urge the Hong Kong government

not to release

the sanctions that they'd imposed on South Africa

because of apartheid.

And I thought about it,

I wonder when he came,

how was he received?

I mean,

on one hand,

he's this political prisoner,

he's just been in jail for 27 years,

but he's also actually a hero in many ways.

He was obviously going to become the next president.

You know,

did Hong Kong roll out the red carpet?

Did it have an inspecting of the soldiers,

or was it more low-key?

And then I wondered about it,

I wonder how many presidents and prime ministers

and kings and queens have visited Hong Kong.

Last year,

when the Queen of England passed away,

we all saw pictures of when she came to Hong Kong

many years ago.

And I wondered,

how do people,

how people receive

when kings and queens or royalty

come to Hong Kong?

This morning,

we're looking at Matthew 21,

and it tells us about Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem.

And when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem,

there's a mixed reception that he receives.

On the one hand,

there's joy and celebration,

there's singing of songs,

and there's dancing,

there are people cut down trees,

which is like the first century version of waving flags.

And on the other hand,

there's indignation.

Indignation means fury,

anger.

And so Jesus receives this mixed reception.

And so today,

we're going to look at this passage

in four kind of scenes,

the drama unfolds in four scenes.

The arrival of the King,

the passion of the King,

the warning of the King,

and then finally,

the call of the King.

Okay?

So let's dive into the first one,

the arrival of the King.

Back in Matthew 16,

Alan preached on it a couple of months ago,

I think July or August last year.

Jesus first tells his disciples

that he's going to go to Jerusalem,

he's going to encounter the chief priests

and the leaders,

he's going to be put to death and die.

And for the last five chapters,

Jesus has kind of been making his way

towards Jerusalem.

He's been on this road trip.

And finally,

the road trip comes to an end.

Jesus arrives.

And he arrives in Jerusalem.

But first,

he stops just outside,

about a kilometer or two away,

at this town called Bethphage,

or Bethphage.

And now,

to understand this,

you've got to remember,

what's happening at this time?

If you've read some of the other Gospels,

you might be aware,

this is one week before Passover.

This is a climax in the time of Israel's history.

But it also means,

it's one week before Jesus goes to the cross.

In the Christian calendar,

this is called Holy Week,

or Palm Sunday.

It's the Sunday before the Passover weekend,

and on Friday,

just five days out,

Jesus is going to the cross.

And we're going to spend the next ten weeks,

looking at the next five days of Jesus' life on earth,

before going to the cross,

as we make our way towards Easter.

But the other thing is,

at Passover,

Jerusalem would have been packed with people.

Jerusalem normally has,

somewhere around 50,000 people living in it,

at this time.

Over Passover week,

there's about 150 to 250,

some people even say,

half a million people in Jerusalem.

There are 100,000 people camping out in the fields,

just outside.

So Jerusalem is packed with people.

It is abuzz with activity,

and animals,

and all sorts of things going on.

And so Jesus is making his way towards Jerusalem,

and he comes to this town, Bethphage,

and he sends two of his disciples out ahead of him,

and he tells them to go into the village

and get these two donkeys, right?

A mother and her colt.

Now what's going on here?

I mean, is Jesus stealing this guy's wheels?

Right?

Is the model of the story,

Jesus king,

if you want something,

he doesn't ask,

he just takes your stuff?

No, that's not what's going on here.

Everything Jesus does in this passage

is absolutely deliberate and planned.

Nothing is by accident here.

Jesus has just made a 120 kilometer trip

from Galilee down to Jerusalem by foot.

He doesn't need a donkey

to carry him the last one kilometer in, okay?

His legs are good enough.

He's planned this.

And if you see,

he goes and he says,

just like you will with the Passover meal

later on in the week,

he says,

listen, just go and do this,

and if anybody asks you,

give them the code word.

Give them the secret word.

Just say,

oh, the Lord has need of them,

and he'll let you do this.

In all likelihood,

Jesus has prearranged this.

He's planned this somehow,

that this is going to happen.

And so his disciples go,

and all this happens,

and they bring back the donkeys to him.

Now,

why is Jesus doing this?

Well, the reason is

Jesus wants to say something,

and the reason is

he's revealing who he is.

You see, up until now,

in most of the gospels,

Jesus has kind of kept

his identity hidden, right?

Remember, he heals somebody,

and he says,

don't go tell anyone.

Just go to the priest,

offer the sacrifice,

but just keep this on the down low.

And he counts as a demon.

The demon says,

I know who you are.

You're the son of God.

And he says,

shh, don't,

just keep quiet.

And Jesus' brothers,

even say,

listen,

if you're the Messiah,

why don't you reveal yourself?

Let people know.

And he says,

my time has not yet come.

But something's changing

in the story here.

Jesus now is taking off the mask,

and he's revealing himself.

He's letting people know who he is.

And who is Jesus?

He's the promised king.

That's who he is.

He's the promised king.

Look at what Matthew says

about this incident.

Jesus did this with the donkeys.

Verse four,

this took place to fulfill

what was spoken by the prophet,

Zechariah,

rejoice greatly,

O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud,

daughters of Jerusalem.

In other words,

throw a party.

Behold,

your king has come.

And Zechariah goes on to say,

righteous and having salvation

is he.

Jesus could have walked into Jerusalem

any way he wanted.

He could have walked in.

He could have kept him down low.

He's arranged this whole,

he's set it up

because he's letting people know,

I am the promised,

long-awaited king.

The one that the prophets

have spoken about

for years and years,

that your people have waited for

for thousands of years.

Here I am.

I am he.

And look at what the crowd say.

They're quoting Psalm 118.

They say,

Hosanna,

which means save us,

son of David.

What does son of David mean?

Remember in the Old Testament,

God says to David,

because you've honored me,

there will never be a time

when one of your descendants,

one of your sons,

does not sit on the throne.

In other words,

there will be a son

that comes from David

who will be the king

who rules forever and ever,

who establishes righteousness

and justice,

who brings salvation

to my people.

There will be a son of David,

a king forever.

And now,

the people are saying,

Hosanna,

save us,

son of David.

You're the king,

the long-awaited Messiah.

That's what Zechariah says.

Behold,

your king is coming to you,

righteous and having salvation

is he.

And so they're singing it.

Son of David,

save us.

And how does Jesus respond?

Jesus doesn't say,

oh,

no,

no,

that's not me.

That's just,

you know,

no,

no,

just humble.

Jesus receives it.

Look at verse 14,

I think,

verse 16.

It's happening again

in the temple.

The children are saying,

Hosanna,

Hosanna,

son of David.

And the chief priests

are furious

because Jesus

doesn't keep them quiet.

He receives the praise.

And Jesus actually

says something very funny.

He says,

haven't you read your Bibles?

Which is funny

because these guys

were experts

in the Bibles,

right?

It's like saying

to Steve Jobs,

hey,

Steve Jobs,

have you heard

of this thing

called the iPhone?

It's this thing

that you should really,

you should look at it sometime.

Okay,

Jesus is the experts

of the Bibles.

Have you read your Bibles

lately?

And then he quotes

Psalm 8,

which says,

this is how people respond

when they encounter

the living God.

Jesus receives

their praise.

He's saying,

I'm the long-awaited king.

It's a hugely

provocative statement.

And for the first time,

Jesus in Matthew's gospel

he's blowing open

his cover.

He's revealing,

this is who I am.

He's not just a healer,

not just a miracle worker,

not just a rabbi,

not just someone

who cares for the marginalized

and the poor.

He's the promised king.

The one that Isaiah,

Jeremiah,

and Ezekiel,

Zechariah,

Micah,

Samuel,

Moses,

for thousands of years

have spoken about.

He's come to bring

righteousness and salvation

to save his people.

But here's the other thing

Jesus wants us to see.

He's not just the promised king.

He's the accessible king.

How do kings

and emperors

and royalty

normally arrive

in a city,

right?

They arrive with

pomp and ceremony.

The ceremony

is meant to

communicate

awe and majesty

that someone

great and high

and lofty

has arrived.

And so they bring out,

you know,

there's an inspection

of the gods

when a foreign leader

comes to a nation.

In the old days,

what would they say?

Make way for the king.

Make way.

Which means get out the way.

Prepare the way.

Maybe these days

would be a long motorcade.

Many vehicles

and the royalty

would be somewhere

in the middle

behind bulletproof glass

and they'd give

the royal wave

just letting people know

I'm there.

But not accessible.

Or maybe

if a king or a queen

wants to appear

more in touch

with the people,

they might go

and, you know,

shake hands

at the crowds

every now and then.

But there's a barricade.

There's bodyguards.

There's snipers

on the roof.

Just making you know

you don't get too close.

But what does Jesus do here?

Matthew goes out of his way

to show us that Jesus

in fulfillment

for Zechariah's prophecy

is nothing like that.

He says,

Behold,

your king is coming,

heaven and earth's true king,

humble and mounted

on a donkey,

on a colt,

the foal of a donkey.

Now the word humble here

doesn't mean

he thinks lowly of himself.

We sometimes think

humility means

you mustn't think

anything good of yourself,

right?

So you have a baby

and someone says,

Oh, your baby's so beautiful.

And what do we say?

No, no, no.

She's actually quite ugly,

right?

We don't want our baby

to become proud, right?

We don't want them

to be humble.

No, no, Jesus,

that's not what it means.

Sometimes we think

humility means

meek or timid.

But look at what Jesus does next.

He goes into the temple.

He's quite ruthless.

Humble here

means not high and lofty,

not too exalted,

not out of touch.

He's accessible.

He's real.

He's near.

But look what happens here.

The people in the streets,

they can throw their cloaks

on the donkey

and Jesus gets on top of them.

That's how close they get.

Yeah, yeah, Jesus,

take my jacket.

They're right there.

Jesus is so accessible.

He's not like Judas Maccabeus

who 150 years earlier

rode into Jerusalem

on a war horse

to revolutionize

and to bring back Jerusalem

from the Greeks

that had desecrated it.

No, he's not like that.

He comes on a humble donkey.

Psalm 34 says,

The Lord is near

to the brokenhearted.

He's humble.

He's near to her.

And as I thought about this week,

I found myself

so grateful

for Jesus' humility,

His accessibility.

You know,

you might not know this.

I often feel

very weak

and incapable.

I felt like that this week.

I just felt like

a mess.

I felt like,

okay, God,

you've made a mistake.

You know,

I can't do this.

Just so incapable

and weak.

And friends,

I'm so grateful

that Jesus

doesn't only accept

those that are strong

and have it all together.

He comes for the incapable.

He comes for the weak.

He comes for those

that feel unworthy.

Jesus says,

I'm accessible.

I'm not high and lofty.

I'm not in the distance.

I've come for you.

Friends,

you feel weak

and incapable today?

You feel like

you don't have it all together?

You feel like,

oh, you know,

why would Jesus care for me?

No, He came for you.

He came for us.

Jesus, the humble King.

Now, what does this mean?

Well, two things

I think it means.

It means many things.

But the humility of Jesus

means it's easy

to misjudge Jesus.

It's easy to write Him off

because He doesn't

match our expectations, right?

Sometimes you look at Jesus

and you say,

really?

The creator

of the whole universe,

heaven, earth,

true King,

the one before whom

all people are going

to bow down

and worship?

Really?

This carpenter

from Galilee?

I mean,

He's not that impressive.

Okay,

He said some wise things.

But friends,

don't let His ordinarilyness,

don't let His humility

deceive you.

No,

Jesus is the King.

He's heaven,

earth's true King.

Don't overlook Jesus

just because He doesn't

look impressive

or what we might

expect Him to be.

But here's the second thing.

The fulfillment

of the Old Testament prophecies

means Jesus really is

who He said He was.

You know,

Jesus fulfills something

like over 300

Old Testament prophecies,

300 predictions

of what the Messiah

would be like.

And many of them,

He had no control over

in some ways.

Things like where

He would be born,

how He would be born,

the circumstances

around which He would be born

and which He would die.

These are things

that no human being

can manufacture,

and yet Jesus

fulfills them all.

You know what that means?

He really is

who He said He was.

Jesus wasn't a charlatan

that came and acted the part.

No, He's the long-awaited King,

the one that for thousands

of years

the people of God

have waited for.

Jesus is who He said He is.

Friends,

if you're skeptical

about Jesus,

just look at the evidence.

Look at the hundreds

of prophecies

He's fulfilled,

uniquely fulfilled in Jesus.

He's the promised King.

So Jesus is taking off the mask

and He's saying,

this is who I am.

I'm the promised King,

the arrival of the King.

Secondly,

the passion of the King.

Now look at what Jesus does

when He goes into Jerusalem.

He goes to Jerusalem,

and where does He go?

He goes to the temple.

Now,

the temple served many purposes

in the nation of Israel,

but the main purpose,

of course,

is to be the place

where worship takes place.

It's the center of Jerusalem.

It's the center of Israel,

and the reason is

because worship

is the center

of the nation of Israel.

The nation of Israel

are not just

an ethnic group.

They're not just

a political group

or geographic entity.

They are,

what defines

the nation of Israel,

they are people

who worship

the one true God.

And all this happens

in the temple.

And so,

the temple is the place

where people come

to encounter God.

It's where they freshly

center their lives

on God

and worship and prayer.

It's the place

where they can leave

their burdens

and their guilt

and their shame.

They come to the temple

feeling downcast,

and they leave

feeling a sense of,

God is with me.

The temple is the place

where they can encounter

God's grace

because sacrifices

are made.

And so,

in a word,

it's where they find grace.

But what has happened

to the temple

in this day?

It's become

the IFC Mall,

right?

It's become

Temple Street

Night Market.

There is hustle

and bustle

and there's trading

and there's commerce

and there's transactions

and there's payment

and there's animals.

And so,

rather than a place

of worship

and prayer,

it's become

a place of commerce

and payments

and transactions.

And one of the main reasons

for this,

at this time,

it's Passover week.

And so,

there are hundreds

and thousands of people

that have come

to offer sacrifices

and to bring

their offerings

to the temple.

But the temple

only accepts

a very certain

kind of coin.

It didn't receive,

didn't accept

most of the Roman coins

like a denarius.

It only received

the Tyrian coin.

And that was only

really used

in Jerusalem.

So,

if you come from Galilee

and you want to bring

your offering

to the temple,

you've got to exchange

your coins

for the temple coin.

And what kind

of exchange rate

do you think

was being offered

right there

at the heart

of the temple?

Not a very good one.

They're all getting

ripped off.

And if you want

to bring your animal,

your sheep,

and to offer

a sacrifice to God

because it's Passover

weekend,

if you come to the temple,

rather than carrying

little lamby

on your shoulders

for, you know,

200 kilometers,

what do you do?

You bring some gold coins

and when you come

to the temple,

you buy an animal

that you can offer

as a sacrifice.

And what do you think

the price of those animals

were at the temple

over Passover

weekend?

Sky high, right?

So what's happening here?

People are coming

to bring worship

and offering to God

and they're getting

completely ripped off.

In fact,

we know from

the history books

that Caiaphas,

the high priest,

moved the marketplace

from outside

of the temple

into the temple district,

into the court

of the Gentiles

and he was handsomely

rewarded for it.

He got a cut

for that move.

So the temple,

rather than this place

of worship

and prayer

and grace

and encountering God

as this place

of transaction,

of trade,

but it becomes

a place

of ripping off people.

And so,

what does Jesus do

when he comes

into the temple?

He's angry.

Jesus lets us

see a side of him

that we seldom

hear about

in the scriptures,

but he's not ashamed

to tell us about.

Before Jesus

has taken off

the mask

and revealed

he's the long-awaited king,

here Jesus

takes off the mask

and he lets them

see what he thinks

of their false worship

and their hypocrisy.

And what does he think?

He's mad.

He's mad, right?

Jesus takes their tables

where all this is happening

and he flips them open.

He takes the furniture

and he throws it out.

Jesus chases out those

that are buying

and selling animals.

I'm not sure

if your Bible says this.

My Bible calls this

Jesus cleanses the temple,

which is an unusual phrase

because he doesn't

clean it up at all.

He makes a big mess,

right?

And the temple's

more of a mess

after Jesus arrives

than when he arrives.

And so,

what's going on here?

Why does Jesus do this?

Is Jesus just having

a temper tantrum?

Has he lost his way?

No,

all this is prearranged.

Jesus is very careful

about what he's doing here.

This is a carefully

enacted parable.

What's Jesus doing?

I think Jesus

is doing two things.

One,

he's condemning

the corruption

and the injustice

that's happening.

He's saying,

this is how I feel

about your corrupt practices.

Look at verse 12 with me

if you've got that

in front of you.

The sealers,

of which animals

does it mention here

in verse 12?

He goes into the temple,

he drives out those

that sold and bought animals,

he overturns the tables

or the money changers

and the seats of those

who sold what animal?

The pigeons.

Why the pigeons?

I mean,

there's lots of animals there.

There's sheep,

there's goats,

there's lambs.

Why does Matthew

talk about the pigeons?

Well,

the reason is

because if you've read

Leviticus,

why are pigeons

brought to the temple?

If you're poor

and you can't afford

a lamb or a goat,

you can offer a pigeon,

right?

Do you remember

Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Jesus' parents

come and what do they do?

They offer pigeons

to the sacrifice

when Jesus is born

because they are

unwealthy,

they are poor

and marginalized.

What's Matthew

telling us here?

He's not telling us

that Jesus

got a soft spot

for pigeons.

He's telling us

that it's the marginalized

and the poor

that Jesus

really went after.

He's highlighting that

because he's highlighting

the injustice

that's going on.

Rather than

being a place

where worship

and praise

and prayer can happen,

this whole temple

has been turned

into a place

where the weak,

the strong are eating

the weak,

the powerful

are taking advantage

of the poor

and the marginalized

and Jesus

isn't sensed by it.

And so look at

what happens

in verse 13.

Jesus says,

it is written,

my house

should be called

a house of prayer

but you've made it

a den of robbers.

It's an explosive

quotation

that Jesus

quotes there

partly from Isaiah 56

but it actually

mainly comes from

Jeremiah chapter 7

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

and Jeremiah chapter 7

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

is an explosive

condemnation

on Israel

and what's happening

at the temple

because the people

are living

however they want.

They've got no regard

for God

or people.

They don't love God.

They don't love others

and they're using

and abusing

the temple

and they're running

there thinking,

oh, if we come to the temple

we will be safe.

And so listen to

Jeremiah chapter 7.

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

I'm going to read

the whole thing.

It's quite long

but listen up.

Stand in the,

sorry,

let me start

from verse 1.

The word of the Lord

that came

to Jeremiah.

Stand in the gate

of the Lord's house

and proclaim there

this word

and say,

hear the word of the Lord

you people of Judah

all you who enter

the gates

to worship the Lord.

Thus says the Lord

of hosts,

the God of Israel,

amend your ways

and your deeds

and I will let you live.

Do not trust

these deceptive words.

This is the temple

of the Lord.

The temple

of the Lord.

The temple

of the Lord.

For if you truly

amend your ways

and your deeds,

if you truly

execute justice

with one another,

if you do not

oppress the sojourner,

that means the refugee,

the fatherless

or the widow

or shed innocent blood

in this place

and if you do not

go to other gods

to your own harm,

then I will let you live

in the land

that I gave

to your fathers.

Behold,

you trust

in deceptive words

to no avail.

Will you continue

to steal,

murder,

commit adultery

and swear falsely,

make offerings

to Baal

and to go after

other gods

that you have not known

and then quickly

come and run

and stand in the temple

in my house

which is called

by my name

and say,

we are safe.

We are in the temple

of the Lord

only to go on

doing these abominations.

Has my house,

has this house

which is called

by my name

become a den

of robbers

in your eyes.

See what Jesus

is saying?

He's saying,

this is you,

O chief priests.

You've turned

this temple

into a den

of robbers

and just because

it has Yahweh

written on top

you think you're safe

here

and there's judgment

coming your way.

the passion

of the king.

What is anger?

Anger

is in some ways

in motion

but experts tell us

it's more than emotion.

It reveals

what we love the most,

what we're most

passionate about.

There's a righteous anger

that reveals

what we love the most.

Jesus is revealing

what he loves the most,

the honor of God's name.

And friends,

maybe you here today

and you think of religion

as something oppressive,

restrictive.

Something that's been

a cause of so much

evil in the world.

Maybe you're not

a Christian here today

and you've met Christians

and they're so hypocritical

and you think

these are religious people.

So it would be better

just to get rid

of all religions.

Friends,

in some ways

can you see how Jesus

agrees with your sentiment?

That a religion

gone wrong

can cause so much evil,

so much pain.

It can be such a hypocrisy.

And you see

what incenses Jesus here?

Jesus is declaring

a scathing judgment

on the temple

because there's no

longer a place

where people worship

and find grace.

It's a place

of oppression,

of classism.

The strong eat the weak

and the rich abuse the poor.

And Jesus issues

his severe judgments.

And so look at

verse 14 with me.

Who does Jesus welcome?

Who comes to him?

It's the blind

and the lame.

And verse 15,

who is it?

It's the children.

The very people

that are excluded

from the temple.

That the leader said,

you've got no place here.

Go clean yourself up

before you come.

Jesus says,

you can come to me.

You can come to me.

And so that gives us a clue

to the second thing

that Jesus is doing here.

What's going on here?

Jesus is announcing

a cataclysmic change

in the history of the world.

There's something

that Jesus is about to do

that's going to change

the temple forever.

What is it that Jesus

is about to do?

He's about to go

to the cross, right?

Five days time,

Jesus is going to hang

on the cross.

And what is going to happen

is Jesus breathes his last.

He's going to say,

it is finished.

And when Jesus hangs

on the cross

for the sins of the world

and says,

it is finished,

what's going to happen

in the temple?

The curtain is going

to be torn in two.

You know what's happening there?

In just five days time,

Jesus is going to render

the entire temple system

obsolete.

Because in five days time,

the true Lamb of God,

the true sacrifice,

Jesus is going to offer himself up

as a sacrifice

to end all sacrifices.

Never again

will another Lamb

need to be sacrificed

or slaughtered.

Never again

will another pigeon

need to be offered.

In just a few days time,

Jesus is going to make

an end to the temple

because Jesus Christ

is going to offer himself up

as the sacrifice

to end all sacrifices.

No more coming to temple

with the right currency.

No more sacrifices.

No more animals

needing to die.

Look at verse 12

in our passage today.

Jesus,

interestingly enough,

he drives out those

who sold animals.

Okay,

they corrupt the injustice,

but also those

who buy animals.

Why does Jesus

drive out those

that are buying

and those that are selling?

Because he's saying,

you'll never need

to buy another animal again.

Go and take your money

and go and have a big meal

with your family.

The Passover Lamb

to end all Passovers

has come.

Jesus is changing

the entire system.

Jesus doesn't just go

and kick out

the unjust,

corrupt officials

and install

his own management.

He doesn't say,

okay, disciples,

Peter, James, and John,

you guys run the temple.

No, he upends

the whole system.

Jesus is serving notice

on the whole temple

and saying,

your time has come

because there's

a new temple.

It's my body.

And if you will come

to me,

you will receive

everything that

for thousands of years

people have come

to the temple

to receive.

The book of Hebrews,

the writer writes this,

every priest stands

daily at his service

offering repeatedly

the same sacrifices

that can never

take away sin.

But when Christ Jesus

offered for all times

a single sacrifice,

what is the sacrifice?

Himself on the cross.

For sins,

he sat down

at the right hand of God.

His work was done.

He sat down.

For by a single offering,

he has perfected

for all things.

What's happening here?

Friends,

the curtain has been torn.

The way is open.

In 70 AD,

the Romans marched

into the temple.

They desecrated it.

They destroyed it.

But it meant nothing

because 40 years earlier,

the temple had been

rendered inconsequential

because Jesus had died

and rose again,

the true Lamb of God.

Friends,

isn't it amazing

that you don't need

to go to a temple?

You don't need

to go to a priest?

You don't need to go

to a confession booth anymore.

Friends,

this week,

every one of us

are going to do

something foolish.

Every one of us

are going to sin.

Every one of us

is going to live

for our own glory

or believe the lie

and follow some idol.

And when you do,

how are you going

to find atonement

and forgiveness?

You don't need

to go to the temple.

You don't need

to go to the priest.

You don't need

to go to Jerusalem.

You just need

to go to Jesus.

You go to Jesus

in confession

and repentance

and humility.

Jesus,

the Lamb of God

that has taken away

the sin of the world.

The arrival of the King,

the passion of the King.

You could say

the sacrifice of the King.

Next,

the warning of the King.

Now,

the last two are very quick.

We're almost done.

Look at what happens

in verse 18.

In the morning,

verse 18,

as he was returning

to the city,

Jesus became hungry.

And seeing a fig tree

in the distance

in the wayside,

he went up to it

and he found nothing on it,

no fruit on it,

only leaves.

And he said to it,

may no fruit

ever come from you again.

And the fig tree

withered at once.

Now,

what is Jesus doing here,

right?

Is Jesus just hangry?

You know,

hangry is when you're angry

because you're hungry.

Is Jesus grumpy

because he's,

you know,

there's no food

and the fig tree

promised so much

and now there's no food

and now he's just grumpy

so he just unleashes his anger.

Is Jesus against plants

and figs?

No,

no,

not at all.

Jesus is,

for the third time,

enacting a parable.

And what he's doing is this.

He's saying,

the fig tree

is a picture

of the temple.

It looks all shiny

on the outside.

There's green leaves.

It looks like it's full of life.

There's hustle

and bustle and activity.

But you look under the leaves

and there's nothing there.

And Jesus is showing

what the temple

and Judaism

has become like.

Shiny on the outside

but nothing inside.

And so,

he issues

a curse in it.

And he says,

your time is done.

Your time is done.

Friends,

you remember Jesus' words

to the church of Sardis

in Revelation?

He says,

I know your works.

You have the reputation

of being alive

but in fact,

you're dead.

And so he says,

you better repent

or I'll just come

and close you down.

Or as the words of Jeremiah say,

return and amend your ways.

And that's what's happened here.

Israel's meant to be

a light to the nations.

They're meant to be

a doorway,

a billboard of grace

to show people

this is what God is like.

Come and receive grace

and mercy.

And rather than being

a billboard of grace,

they're pushing people away.

They're repelling people.

They're telling the blind

and the lame

and the weak

and sinners

and tax collectors

and people like you and I,

you've got no place here.

Only the strong

and the capable

and those that have

got it together.

And Jesus says,

you look shiny

on the outside

but inside you are dead.

Nothing left.

Friends,

Jesus comes

and he looks underneath

the shiny looking leaves

of our lives.

The stuff that outside

looks so impressive

and he says,

what's the real fruit?

Do you love Jesus?

Do you love God?

Do you love people?

Or is our faith like Israel,

like the temple?

Nothing there.

The warning of the king.

Now as we come to a close,

I want us to see

not just who Jesus is,

the promised king,

the humble king,

the passionate king,

I want us to see

the invitation of the king

or the call of the king.

In other words,

how does Matthew

want us to respond?

How does Jesus

want us to respond?

I think there's

a couple of responses.

Let me give us

three responses.

The first response,

we could respond

like the chief priests,

right?

Anger and indignation.

We could respond

and say,

Jesus,

who do you think you are?

Or maybe you say,

Kevin,

who do you think you are?

You're just some

uneducated guy from Africa

and you're telling me

I need to repent

and get on my knees

before the king?

Who do you think you are?

Friends,

you could respond

like the chief priests.

Anger and indignation.

But I must warn you,

2,000 years later,

nobody knows who they are.

They are dead

and in the grave

and there's nothing

that exists,

nothing left of them.

And 2,000 years later,

Jesus is still worshipped

as king.

And 100 million years

from now,

Jesus will still be worshipped

as king

and there will be

nothing left of you.

So it's not a very good bet.

But that's one option,

anger and indignation.

The second option,

we could respond

like the crowds

that say,

Hosanna,

Hosanna,

save us,

son of David.

It's a great prayer to pray,

save us,

get on your knees.

It's a good prayer to pray,

except,

what happens to crowds

just a few chapters later?

In Matthew 27,

do you know what happens

to crowds?

They're shouting something else.

Crucify him.

Crucify him.

See,

Pontius Pilate says,

here's Barabbas,

here's Jesus,

who should I release?

And the crowds say,

Barabbas.

And they say,

what should I do with Jesus?

Crucify him.

And Pilate says,

why?

What has he done wrong?

And they say,

doesn't matter,

just crucify him.

You see,

the crowds want a Messiah

to save them,

but they want a political Messiah.

They want a Messiah

that's going to save them

from the Romans.

They want a Messiah

that's going to come

and make their life

comfortable and better.

They don't want a Messiah

who's going to tell them

to get on their knees

and to repent

and to honor him as king.

They don't want a Messiah

who's going to be Lord.

And so when Jesus comes

and says,

I am heaven and earth,

true king,

they cry out,

crucify him.

Friends,

I think there's a third response.

And it's the very last line

we see in our verse,

in our passages today.

Jesus calls us

to come to him in faith.

In faith.

He says,

come and trust me.

Come with open hands

and say,

Jesus,

have your way in my life.

You are the king,

I am not.

Have your way.

And you know where we see this

in the story?

There's one little person

that's very obscure.

In fact,

we don't even know his name.

We don't even meet him.

Maybe her.

The owner of the donkeys.

Jesus sends his disciples ahead

and he says,

the Lord has need of them.

Hand over your donkeys.

And Jesus doesn't really need them,

right?

He's Jesus.

He could do anything.

And what does the owner

of the donkeys say?

Here they are,

have your way.

Everything that belongs to me

is yours.

Friends,

Jesus comes to us this morning

and he says,

I want your life.

I want your heart.

I want you to hand over your life.

Jesus doesn't need our life.

He's Jesus.

He doesn't need anything from us.

But he knows

it's the only way

that we're going to find life.

And ironically,

if we try to hold on to our lives

and say,

no,

I want to keep it,

actually,

we lose our lives.

We die.

But if we stand with Jesus

and say,

Jesus,

have your way.

Open it.

Everything you want

belongs to you.

Christ,

come and have your way

in my life.

You know what we find?

We find we get life.

We stay alive.

Jesus gives us his life.

Friends,

Jesus comes to us this morning

and says,

will you trust me?

Will you have faith?

Will you hand over your life to me?

And when you do that,

you will experience me

as heaven and earth's true king.

You experience me

as your savior,

as your Lord.

But I'll give you life

and life in abundance.

Let's come to this king now together.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

we do come before you this morning

and we get on our knees,

Lord.

We bow down before you,

heaven and earth's true king.

Father,

we confess that God so often

we want to hold on to

the reins of our lives.

We want to be our king

and Lord and master

and yet all of our lives

testify, God,

that is the way

to death and destruction.

Jesus,

won't you give us faith?

Won't you help us

not to be like the chief priests

that shake our fists at you?

Help us not to be like the crowds

that praise you

but are fickle.

Help us, God,

to be like simple disciples.

Our names may never be in lights,

never written in the scriptures,

but we'll have our names

written in Lamb's book of life

because we have found true life.

Because Jesus,

you've come to give us life.

Christ,

I pray for those of us this morning

that are not Christians.

Won't you come and help us

to bow down the knee before you?

To hand over our lives to you?

To surrender to you as king?

But God,

for all of us,

whether we've never become Christians

or we've been Christians

for 50 years,

Jesus,

come and have your way in our life.

We get on our knees before you,

king.

Have your way.

This week,

this day,

this year,

Jesus,

have your way.

We pray this

in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.