Morning Service | 19th Dec | John 12:12-19

Now, can we read together once again in our Bibles from John chapter 12?

John 12 · chapter mention

We're going to read from verse 12 to verse 19.

As we think about welcoming Jesus, God's humble king.

The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.

Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

At first, his disciples did not understand all this.

Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him

and that these things had been done to him.

Now, the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead

continued to spread the word.

Many people, because they'd heard that he'd performed the sign, went out to meet him.

So the Pharisees said to one another,

See, this is getting us nowhere.

Look how the whole world has gone after him.

So we'll think about that section together,

recognizing as we begin that how we welcome someone

often reflects a signal of the honor and value we place upon them.

And as we think about Christmas, we need to recognize the great truth that God the Father

wants his son to be honored, wants his son to receive a welcome and to receive worship.

And we know this as we think about the familiar stories of Christmas.

We think about the joyful welcome.

The angels singing in heaven, the shepherds rushing to worship,

Simeon joyfully holding Jesus in the temple.

We think about the great messages that are announced about the kind of king Jesus had come to be.

He's in the line of David.

He's come to fulfill all those great promises of the king who would rule and reign for God forever.

He's come to be the Savior.

He's come as Messiah, God's anointed, chosen king, to be his agent of salvation.

And he's come not just for some, but he's come to be the king for the world.

And we see that as the Magi come to worship him that Christmas.

And now, as we come to John 12, and we're just a few days away from his death,

we see those same themes emerge.

And we see a massive crowd gathering.

And in their words, they are praising King Jesus.

They declare him as the promised Savior King.

And we hear even his enemies recognize this is a king not just for some, but king for the whole world.

God wants his son to be honored and to receive a welcome.

And so the question we'll ask ourselves as we think about this text is,

what welcome do we give?

What worship do we offer?

What honor do we place on Jesus?

Because our text reminds us that because Jesus is God's Savior King for the world,

we should all joyfully welcome and worship him.

So let's think, first of all, about the welcome that Jesus receives in verses 12 and 13.

We are reminded that this is still in the context of the festival, the Passover festival.

So a huge crowd is beginning to flock to Jerusalem.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, reckons maybe over two million people might come to Jerusalem for this festival.

A time of great celebration, also a time of national hope.

Every year wondering, will there be a new exodus this year?

Will God send us a king who will free us from Rome this year?

And so national expectations then become centered on Jesus.

Now two details to notice in verse 12 and 13.

Let's think about the palms and let's think about the psalms.

So in verse 13, they took palm branches as they went out to meet Jesus.

And so we need to ask, maybe you've asked yourself the question,

why palm branches?

What's that about?

Is this the equivalent of, you know, first century fireworks or rolling out the red carpet?

Or is there something more?

Well, two historical facts that might help to give us a bit more insight.

One, back in 141 BC, there was a guy by the name of Simon Maccabeus.

And Simon Maccabeus led, I guess, an uprising against the Syrian empire who had taken over Jerusalem and the temple.

And he booted them out of Jerusalem.

And when Simon came back into Jerusalem, he received this hero's parade.

And he was greeted with singing and with people waving palm branches.

So that's 141 BC.

And then, in the 60s AD, there was another group of Jews that sought to revolt and get rid of the Roman Empire once again.

And when they had temporary success, what they did was they minted some coins.

And on those coins, what did they put?

They put palm branches.

And so there's something in the Jewish, my Jewish understanding that is connecting the palm branch with this symbol of military triumph and victory and freedom.

And so there is significance in the way Jesus is being welcomed.

Hope is high.

Here is Jesus and he does miracles.

And so there's the expectation.

This, this one is the national deliverer.

And, of course, we understand in Jesus' teachers.

Yes, he has come to be saviour, deliverer, but not in a political way, rather in a spiritual way.

So there's the palms, but then there's also the psalms.

So there's shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel.

And so we need to ask ourselves why these particular shouts on this particular day.

Well, a little bit more history and background.

When the Jews would gather for the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover,

each morning as they would congregate at the temple, they'd be singing Psalms 113 to 118,

which we just sang, Psalm 118.

And so the first cry there, Hosanna, which means give salvation now,

we find that in verse 26.

And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,

we find that in verse 25 of Psalm 118.

These words of welcome for a Messiah king.

So the praises they were singing in the temple in the morning

are the praises they now use of Jesus as he arrives into the city.

So let's just take a little pause and let's think about this for ourselves.

Our welcome, our worship.

Three observations.

And the first one would be this.

When it comes to worship, we need to let God's word guide us.

When we think about all the vital questions that are connected to faith and to religion,

is there a God who is Jesus?

Why did he come?

We know, I am sure, that there are so many voices,

so many places, so many so-called experts.

You can go on YouTube or if you read social media,

you can go to a bookstore and you will find people claiming all kinds of truth.

And what God's church needs to do is we need to make sure that in all of those voices

that the word of God is our decisive final authority for how we understand

who our God is and what he has done and how we worship him.

Because who we listen to will have that impact of discipling us,

giving us an understanding, give us an image of what God is like.

And if it's not rooted in God's word, then it will be defective and it will be unacceptable to God.

Think about questions for the life of faith.

How are we to praise God?

How are we to pray to God?

Where do I go to find wisdom from God?

How do I live to please God?

Again, all of those questions we take to the word of God.

We find our guidance and direction from a God who speaks,

from a God of revelation.

But really interesting that the crowds were singing truth together in the morning

and that led them naturally to express that truth when Jesus came in the afternoon.

I think very practically as God's people,

it's a reminder of the value of beginning the day with God's word.

Of storing up that word in our heart, of meditating on it, of praying it through,

of carrying it with us, to let God's word shape our day and how we approach it.

Another thing that we can say from this crowd, and this needs us to sort of move beyond John 12,

is that we need to beware of wrong ways to welcome Jesus.

Because many in this crowd who sound so excited now,

are wrong on Jesus' identity.

Expect him to be a certain kind of saviour.

When they don't get that, they'll reject Jesus.

So a wrong way to welcome Jesus is to imagine,

well, if I accept Jesus, then he'll then serve my agenda.

Here's Jesus, he'll answer my questions and he'll meet my needs

and he'll sort of bring me what I'm looking for.

But we need to understand, and we see this from the crowds,

that Jesus is determined to follow his Father's will.

He's not here to please human expectations.

They wanted someone who would fight the Romans and get rid of Caesar.

And so we need to be very careful to humble ourselves,

rather than to say, I'll accept Jesus if he serves my needs.

I think another wrong way to welcome Jesus that we see so often in the crowds in Jesus' day,

it is to admire Jesus, but never to truly worship.

There's so much of Jesus to admire in people who are not Christians,

people even of other faiths, find there is much to admire of Jesus

in his teaching and his character.

And on top of that, we'll find some people who love theology,

who love big ideas, and thinking about the complexities of big ideas about God.

But there's a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God,

between knowing about Jesus and knowing him personally.

Jesus says there's one thing that we need to do,

and that's to believe in him.

The invitation is to follow him.

Our willingness is to be ready to carry our cross, to follow him.

And all of that says there's a personal commitment,

there's a personal involvement, there's a level of sacrifice.

So it's not enough simply to admire Jesus.

We need to submit to him as king and to worship him.

And then the third thing to say at this point is,

it's so important that we center our life on Jesus the king,

to recognize that he is the one we need,

and to recognize that he meets our greatest needs.

So again, many in the crowd thought their greatest need was political freedom.

We might have our ideas of, here's what we need individually or as a society,

here's our greatest need, here's our list of great needs.

But the Bible would always say our great and ultimate need is for atonement.

What we need is that there would be someone who would wash us from our sin.

That there would be one who would take from us the just anger of God,

who would divert it away from us.

One who would restore peace and fellowship between us and God.

And that is what Jesus came to do.

Jesus was born in order to go to the cross,

in order to make atonement for our sin.

That's our great need.

And here we are reminded too in our text that Jesus is our great hope,

because Jesus is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus is the one who brings salvation now.

And the wonderful thing about Jesus is that he still comes to his people.

He comes to make us home in our hearts.

He comes so that we might live in the overflow of his wonderful love.

He comes to supply us with his strength by his spirit.

And so there is good news in the fact that we have a king who saves and a king who comes.

When we're confronted perhaps by our past sins and our feelings of guilt,

we remember that King Jesus came to pay the price in full to wash us from all of our sins.

And he would come to us and say that the payment has been made.

That we look to the cross and we remind ourselves that we are loved and accepted by God

because of what Jesus has done.

Perhaps in all the joys and the chaos, the excitement, the busyness of everyday life,

we need to remember that Jesus comes to be with us.

And he would give us grace and he would give us wisdom and he would give us help for each moment.

And as we think about the future, which sometimes can feel so uncertain and perhaps even scary,

we remember the coming of Jesus for our future hope and glory.

We are reminded in just a couple of chapters that the same Jesus who came once will come again in his glory

and he will come to take his people to be with him forever.

So we're invited to center our life on Jesus, the Savior King.

What kind of king is Jesus?

Let's think next about Jesus, the humble king.

So here is Jesus, hundreds of thousands of people around him, in front of him,

facing huge expectations as well.

How does Jesus arrive in the city?

There's two surprises that we can find here in our section.

First, in chapter 11 and verse 54, we learn this.

It says,

Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.

Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness,

to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

So we're moving from here's Jesus withdrawing to the wilderness,

to a private place,

to now making a very deliberate, public, bold entry into Jerusalem.

We need to ask ourselves, why the change?

Why has that happened?

And the answer is because Jesus knows his hour has come,

the hour of his rejection and suffering and death,

but also the hour of his being glorified and resurrected and returning to heaven.

The hour is now.

And so Jesus embraces that in obedience to his father,

and he comes publicly.

But the other surprise is Jesus' choice of transport, isn't it?

Verse 14,

Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it.

Just as a by-the-by,

we probably all have our stories of brushes with fame.

When we were flying out for our honeymoon,

easy jet flight from Inverness to London,

we shared it with none other than Ross Kemp from EastEnders.

Wow.

Is Jesus just choosing a mode of transport that shows that he identifies with the poor people of the day,

that he's ready to fly coach, as it were?

Or is there something more that's taking place here?

And I think we understand and we can see that there's more that's going on in the mind of Jesus and in this story.

Let's think about the parable that's taking place here.

This is an acted parable.

As Jesus finds this young donkey and rides in,

this is a very deliberate choice.

The other Gospels tell us Jesus has deliberately sought out this young donkey to ride on,

not a war horse.

You know, you're deliverer kings.

They come in glory and splendor and pomp and ceremony.

They come riding mighty beasts.

Jesus has a lesson to teach in this.

He wants to remove, on the one hand, false hopes.

He's not come for political freedom, but spiritual freedom.

He's come as the prince of peace.

He's come to make peace between sinners and God.

He's not come to wage war on Rome.

And there's also a lesson in this journey because it so well reflects the life of Jesus on earth.

From the cradle to the cross, what do we see of Jesus?

We see humility.

We see a humble saviour king.

But there's more than just a parable going on here.

There's also prophecy being fulfilled.

That's why it says, verse 14,

As it is written,

Do not be afraid, daughter Zion.

See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

So, Jesus, as he seeks out the young donkey, is seeking to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9.

Now, often, when a New Testament author quotes a little bit of a section of the Old Testament,

we are intended to think more widely.

What's the context surrounding that quote?

So, if you've got a Bible, paper, or on a device,

you might want to turn back to Zechariah 9 just for a few minutes

to just think about what's being said deliberately by Jesus

as he comes riding this young donkey.

So, in verse 9 of Zechariah 9,

we read,

Rejoice greatly, shout, daughter Jerusalem.

And that's what we're seeing, isn't it?

Triumphal entry, praising the king.

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey.

So, Jesus is announcing that he is the righteous king,

he's the victorious king,

but he's also telling us about his nature,

that he's a lowly, humble king.

Just as when Jesus, the one time in the Bible,

he speaks about his own heart, Matthew 11,

he talks about his heart being gentle and lowly,

the one who's come to give rest.

It's the kind of king we have,

a lowly, humble king.

Then verse 10,

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war horses from Jerusalem.

What is Jesus wanting us to understand about him?

Now he has come to end war.

And again, maybe some in the crowd would misunderstand

and think, great, he comes to defeat Rome,

but he's come to bring that physical,

not physical, but spiritual end to war,

that he has come to wage war against Satan

and against sin and against death there on the cross

to conquer over those great enemies of ours.

And to conquer them,

and the proof of that conquering is the resurrection.

Jesus also,

and it says here in verse 10,

he will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea.

Jesus wants us to understand that he has come to bring peace

to the nations.

He's come to rule as ruler over all the nations.

He's come to bring peace.

He's come to bring wholeness and completeness

and a restored relationship to God.

And he opens the way for all to come through him.

And then in verse 11 of Zechariah 9,

as for you,

because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

So this king is associated with the blood of the covenant.

And then what happens just a few days later

is we find Jesus sitting down in an upper room

to share the Passover meal,

which becomes the last supper,

the Lord's supper,

when he takes the bread and he says,

this broken bread is my body broken for you.

And then he takes the cup,

this cup,

this blood is this wine

that represents the blood of the covenant,

a blood that would be shed for his people.

And so here is Jesus,

our king,

and he knows full well

that as our substitute,

he has come to be the sacrifice

to take away sin.

That he has come to be slaughtered

so that we might be saved.

Now the disciples,

back to John 12,

the disciples don't understand this at first,

verse 16,

only after Jesus was glorified

did they realize these things

had been written about him

and done to him.

So there's something in the death of Jesus

that represents the turning point

in his life on earth.

That's why Philippians 2

is so important for us to hear.

To hear of Jesus,

the humble servant king

who became obedient to death,

even to death on a cross.

But then in the turn,

what happens?

Because God is pleased with him

and God accepts the sacrifice

and he is vindicated,

then he is exalted to the highest place.

Then he's given the name

that's above every name,

that every knee will bow

and every tongue will confess

that Jesus is Lord.

There is a day coming

when we will all stand before Jesus

in all of his glory

and we will all bow our knees

and we will all confess

that Jesus is Lord.

Some of us will do that gladly.

Our Saviour has come.

Others will do it to receive his judgment.

So important to respond now

to Jesus as Lord.

Now do you just think

for a couple of minutes

about the pattern of Jesus

and what does this pattern

say to us?

It's basically,

what does it say to us

about how to live

the Christian life?

Again, we read Philippians 2

and we're told

to have the same mindset

as the Lord Jesus.

So Jesus is our model

when it comes to humility.

Let's think about

our relationships for a moment.

we're being encouraged

as those who are followers

of Jesus Christ

to live and to speak

differently,

to take a humble

and a gentle posture

towards others

in our homes,

in our workplaces,

in our community.

And we're called to that

in the context of

where we find ourselves now,

a world that's very polarized,

a whole number of issues

where people are really quick

to be angry

and impatient

and judgmental,

especially with the separation

that the internet provides.

But we are called

to be different

in our words,

actions,

and attitudes.

And that's to be true

for us in church

in the way that we deal

with one another

and that's to be true

also in our dealings

in the world.

to think about

which pattern

defines

how I deal

with my relationships.

Is it the pattern

of the world?

We're in it

for what we want

and we're pursuing

our agenda,

are we?

Patterning our lives

on Jesus,

humble

and gentle.

Also,

when we think about

the journey of Jesus,

I think it helps us

to begin

to consider

our own pride

and to think about

how to put it today.

Because isn't the gospel,

the gospel should always

be killing our pride.

Here is Jesus,

he's left the glory

of heaven

to become one of us,

to die for us

because

the only way

that we can be saved

is for us to have

the God-man

as our

saviour,

as our representative,

as our sacrifice.

We are so bad

that there is no other

way of hope

for us.

So there is no room

for pride

in the Christian life,

rather,

there is humility

and there's grateful worship

for what Jesus has done.

And then when we think

about our lives

of discipleship,

of being followers

of Jesus,

I guess it makes us

ask the question,

what journey

should we expect

as we see Jesus

here on the journey

ultimately to the cross?

See,

we find teaching

in the world,

perhaps we've heard

of the prosperity gospel,

believing Jesus,

having our faith

and health

and wealth

and happiness

was all bound

to be yours.

That was never

the pattern of Jesus.

The pattern of Jesus

tells us

we can expect

suffering first

with glory to follow.

And so we need

to have that realism

about the Christian life.

But also when we think

about our discipleship,

doesn't the journey

of Jesus help us

in our worship?

He is the eternal

Son of God

who left the riches

of heaven

in order to

love us this way.

That we would reflect

on that,

that we might be amazed

by his grace,

that it might fuel

our worship.

Last thing to think

about,

the wonderful reality

that Jesus is king

for the world.

Verses 17 to 19.

Again, notice

that there are

two crowds here.

there's the crowd

that was with Jesus

when he called Lazarus

from the tomb.

And they're continuing

to spread the word.

Excitement is building.

The news is spreading

about King Jesus,

the one who is

the resurrection

and the life.

And then there's

this other crowd.

They've come out

from Jerusalem.

They're here

for the festival.

The reputation of Jesus

has been spreading

and so they come

to meet Jesus.

I don't want to push

this too far

but what we see

at the cross

and what we see

in the church as well

is that any crowd

is often a mixed crowd.

There are some

who truly worship

Jesus in this crowd.

Others who will

within days

be crying,

crucify him.

We have no king

but Caesar.

So there's two crowds

going on

but there's also

two phrases

from the Pharisees

that I was to think about.

The Pharisees are saying

to one another

first of all

see this is getting us

nowhere.

So we're being reminded

that despite

their worst efforts

to get rid of Jesus

confronting him,

accusing him,

trying to trap him

with their words

of wanting to arrest him,

trying to have him stoned.

Despite all of that

they cannot stop

King Jesus.

They cannot derail

the Father's plan

for Jesus.

And then they say

look how the whole world

has gone after him.

So many times

in the Gospels

we find people saying

far more than they

ever intended to say.

The whole world

has gone after him.

They see this huge crowd

coming out of Jerusalem

and they're despairing.

Ah, we really need

to get rid of Jesus.

They imagine the crowd

representing the world.

Indeed, in verse 20

which we didn't read

we find there were

some Greeks

among those

who went up

to worship

at the festival.

But when the fantasies

say look how the whole world

has gone after him

we see that then

being fulfilled,

don't we?

in the global church.

And that's a wonderful reality.

It reminds us

that global church

fulfills God's promises

and God's purposes.

We can trace that

all the way back

to Genesis 12.

Abraham has promised

one of his seed

will be blessing

to the nations.

That's Jesus.

We can think about

those wonderful stories

of people like Rahab

and Ruth

foreigners,

worshippers

of other gods

who become part

of the community

of faith

and become part

of the family line

of Jesus.

We can think about

the promise

in Isaiah

of the Messiah

as the servant

of the Lord,

the one who would be

light to the nations.

Think again

about the Magi

coming from the east

to worship,

to acknowledge

Jesus as the King.

Think about

the great commission

of Jesus

just before he goes

up to heaven.

He says to the disciples

you be my witnesses

in Jerusalem

and Judea

and Samaria

and to the ends

of the earth.

Think about

the sending

of the Spirit.

What happens

at Pentecost

with the sending

of the Spirit?

The disciples

are able to speak

in other languages

so people can hear

the good news

of Jesus.

And then think

about the spread

of the church

in the book of Acts

and beyond.

And then think

of Revelation 5.

I'm going to sing

Is He Worthy?

Again,

because what do we have

in Revelation 5?

We have this picture

of the throne room

in heaven

and there we have

people from every nation,

and culture

and people group

and language

and they're all united

in the worship

of the Lord Jesus

because the global church

fulfills God's purpose

and God's promise.

And we understand

in the age

that we're living in

that brutal regimes

have tried

and are trying

to destroy the church,

to kill

and to arrest

God's people.

Some of us

will remember

Andrew McKeever

was sharing

with us

of a pastor

in Burma

who was shot dead

by the rebel army

as he tried

to save

his burning church building.

This week

I read of three

elderly pastors

in Eritrea

all in their 70s

arrested

for sharing

the good news

of Jesus

in their country.

Regimes,

individuals,

communities

will try

to stop the church

but still

the church

of Jesus grows.

As Jesus said,

the gates of hell

will not prevail.

There's rapid growth

in some parts

of the world

and sometimes

when things seem hard

here and people

seem apathetic

we need to remind

ourselves of what's

happening in Africa

and parts of Asia

and Central and South America

where the gospel

is spreading rapidly.

But very practically

it reminds us

that God's mission

matters

and our support

and our involvement

in mission

matters indeed.

It's a privilege

for us

as the people

of God

to be looking

to do whatever

we can

to make disciples

of all nations.

So there's a big picture

significance of Jesus

being king for the world

but the very personal

significance of Jesus

being king for the world

means that

Jesus would be

saviour for you

and me.

When it says

the whole world

Jesus is saviour

for the whole world

it means whoever we are

whatever our story

whatever our background

Jesus would be saviour

for us.

Jesus

God's son

God's king

who lived

died

rose

now reigns

in heaven

having

acted

on the cross

to forgive

sin

to grant

eternal life

we're invited

to turn

from sin

and to trust

in him

submit to him

as king

saviour for the world

he would also be saviour

for you

and for me.

Just as we close

then

what kind of welcome

do we give

king Jesus

this glorious

son of God

the one who

who left

the throne

of heaven

to journey

to the manger

to journey

to the cross

in order

to save us.

what welcome

what worship

what honour

does he receive

from us

perhaps in this week

in the run up to Christmas

we can think about those two comings

his coming

into the world

and his

coming to

the cross

that we would welcome

and that we would

worship king Jesus

as lord

let's pray

our father

in heaven

we thank you

so much

for your word

your word

that reveals

to us

Jesus

as saviour

and king

reveals to us

his heart

as a humble king

the one

who would be

saviour

for any

and for all

who would put

their trust

in him

so Lord

we pray

that in all

the things

that are going

on in the next

few days

that you would

give us

the wisdom

and the desire

to set aside

time

to remember

Jesus

and to remember

his coming

into our world

in order to make

atonement

for our sin

and to think

about him

leaving

glory

in order

to be

that sacrifice

that would

take away

your wrath

against our sin

that would

bring us

peace

with our God

so that you

would give us

deep joy

and deep

worship

at this time

of year

and indeed

for all of our

lives

we pray

in Jesus

name

Amen

So to help us

to continue

reflecting on

the wonderful

theme of Jesus

our King

we'll stand

and we'll sing

again

Is He Worthy?

God

.

.

.

.

.

.

.