Blessed is the King of Israel!

[Read John 12:9-19]

There's a temptation that comes when churches begin to get too comfortable, they get bored. The moment churches begin to feel like they are not being threatened, and things are going comfortably well, and they're not being attacked, they've found a nice place in society, they get bored. They stop wanting to do the things they've always done because it is boring. So, they decide they wanna spice things up a little bit. Churches with big budgets put in light shows and fog machines and hire professional musicians to lead worship. Churches with small budgets try to do many of those same things, but poorly--sometimes cringeworthy. Much of it stems from churches getting comfortable and getting bored. Yet, the Christian faith has always had a really important reminder that there is power in the mundane and the ordinary.

I was listening to an Olympic Athletic coach the other day on a podcast. This guy has trained some of the top athletes in the world. These people have reached the peak of human capabilities. They've achieved greatness in many ways AND what they do is awe-inspiring and flashy, isn't it? So, the person asked this coach what's the trick, what's the key thing that helps bring someone from being a good athlete to a world-champion athlete? Guess what his answer was? Their ability to be bored. Training is boring. You do the same thing over and over and over and over again. It's mundane. It's boring. It seems so ordinary. Yet, it's their willingness to keep doing the boring, mundane, ordinary things that pushes them from a good athlete into a world-class athlete. They keep on doing the mundane, boring, ordinary things because they know THATS what they need to do if they are going to accomplish their goals. They don't need the big and flashy training programs and the big and flashy training equipment. They just need to persevere in the ordinary mundane acts of training because there is power in the mundane and the ordinary.

This is something we need to learn in the church. We need to remember the power in the mundane and the ordinary. Can daily, morning devotions become boring? Of course they can. But does that mean you stop doing them? No way. You keep doing your morning devotions for the same reason the olympic athlete keeps on training. You NEED these devotions to get you to where you wanna go. You need God's Word to work in your life and kill the sin and lead you on the path God has set out for you. You need it. It doesn't have to be flashy. It just has to do what it's intended to do: feed you, nourish you, guide you, correct and rebuke you, train you. It's the same thing with coming to church on Sunday mornings. Are there times when going to church is boring and mundane? Yes. Are there times when the singing isn't as great as we would like? Yes. Are there times when the preaching puts us to sleep? Of course. Doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be flashy. There is power in doing the mundane ordinary things that God has called you to do. It just has to do what it's intended to do: lift your eyes above this current life into heaven, redirect and recenter you heart on your God, correct and rebuke and train you by his Word, feed and nourish you with his sacraments, connect you to other believers who are part of God's family. There is power in the ordinary and mundane aspects of the Christian life and we should not fall into the temptation to try to make everything flashy and showy.

This is actually what we see Jesus doing in this morning's passage. Everyone has an idea of what needs to happen in order for the kingdom to come. The crowd has an idea. The Sanhedrin has an idea. Jesus shows them the reality of what the kingdom is actually about. He's going to show us the reality of how the kingdom of God advances in the world.

The crowds are all about the flashy and showy parts of the kingdom coming. And the triumphal entry of Jesus is really flashy and showy. There's a ton of people in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. In one of Josephus' accounts, he said that 2.7 million people were in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, and that's not even counting those who were unclean and foreigners. To put this in perspective, the population of Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs is about 1.5 million people. We're talking double the amount of people coming into Jerusalem for the Passover.

Then, on top of that we read this little line in our passage, “The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.” (John 12:17, ESV). This has the sense that they kept on bearing witness about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. They saw Jesus do something powerful and miraculous in Bethany and they had to tell people about it. So, they told people and kept on telling people about it. So, the news about Jesus' miracle was really spreading throughout Jerusalem, which was backed with almost 3 million people. You can see how this quickly turned into a spectacle. And we're told that, “The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.” (John 12:18, ESV). A large number of people had been witnessed to about this miracle, and as a result a large number of people came out to meet Jesus as he came into Jerusalem.

What makes this even more powerful is what we talked about last week. Don't forget that the Sanhedrin had publicly told the city that they wanted Jesus arrested AND that anyone who knew where Jesus was should immediately turn him in. Yet, what do we see happening here? We see a whole bunch of people who knew where Jesus was, and they weren't turning him in to the authorities. They were actually doing the opposite. They were coming out to praise him and worship him, without any fear of the authorities and potential punishment from the authorities.

Much of this passionate zeal from the crowd comes from Messianic longing. That's why they are saying things like, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13, ESV). This is straight out of Psalm 118, a Psalm that was widely known to be about the coming Messiah. It was a Psalm that was designed to help God's people long for the day when the Messiah would come and bless God's people. So, they are crying out to Jesus praise of the Messiah. Crying out "Hosanna," which means "Save us!" and crying out "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," which is pointing to the fact that everything Jesus says and does shows that he comes from God and does everything in God's name and according to His will. The crowds see this and acknowledge as Jesus triumphantly rides into Jerusalem.

They also cry out, "...even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13, ESV). Not only are they welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem as the Messiah, but as a king. This was a common thing that happened with kings in their day. There's a word that's easy to miss in our translation. The passage reads, “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him...” (John 12:13, ESV). The word "to meet" is actually a Greek word that is officially used to describe the welcome of a king into a city. They would hear that the king is coming into the city. Then they would send a large delegation out of the city to meet the king as he enters the city and they could follow him with singing and praising and applause on his journey into the city. Then there would be a celebration and sacrifices made in his name and prisoners set free and lots of other stuff. That's the word that is used to describe this event as Jesus enters Jerusalem. It's all designed by the crowd to welcome him into Jerusalem as the Messiah King of Israel.

On one level it's beautiful and flashy and showy, yet we know they didn't actually know what they were saying. They were right in proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, but they didn't actually know what that meant. They were right in proclaiming Jesus as the King of Israel, but they had no idea what that actually meant. Remember, the only reason they were proclaiming these things about Jesus was because they heard that he raised Lazarus from the dead. They thought the kingdom advanced through flashy and showy things, raising people from the dead and overthrowing governments.

The Sanhedrin have a different idea of how the kingdom comes. They see this entire spectacle, and the crowd going nuts, and they see nothing beautiful in it at all. They HATE it. That's why we read, “So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”” (John 12:19, ESV). They see all of their plans and purposes slipping down the drain and they begin to despair a little bit. When they see Christ being proclaimed as King of Israel, they only see their own “kingdoms” falling away. They only see themselves as losing power and authority. So, they hate it.

One of the things that comes out clearly in this passage is that the Sanhedrin thinks that the kingdom of God comes through power and authority. That's why they make public threats to the community. They threaten the Jewish people that they will be thrown out of the synagogue if they follow Jesus. They make public pronouncements to scare the people--to assert their power and authority--telling them that they MUST report Jesus' location if they know it. We even read this, “So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (John 12:10–11, ESV). They decide to kill Lazarus, an innocent man who has done nothing wrong, as a way of advancing the kingdom (or their version of the kingdom). They think the kingdom comes through power and authority and might. If they exert enough power and authority, the kingdom will come. Yet, they begin to despair because DESPITE all of the power they've asserted and DESPITE all of the authority they've asserted, there's a massive crowd in front of them worshiping Jesus as Messiah and King, and the crowd couldn't care less about their power and authority.

Here's what I love about Jesus' response to all of this. He comes into Jerusalem in his own way, showing BOTH the crowds and the Pharisees the reality of how the kingdom comes. He doesn't come riding in on a war horse, showing his power and might and authority. He doesn't come into Jerusalem in a chariot, with flash and splendor and glory. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. That's not accidental. We're actually told that Jesus deliberately rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. He does it to show the crowd and the Pharisees the reality of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God doesn't come through power and authority and might. The kingdom of God doesn't come through flashy, shiny things. It comes through ordinary, mundane, humble things--like riding on a donkey.

And it was a reminder to the crowds and the Sanhedrin of a prophecy about the Messiah, that he would come riding on a donkey. We read, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” (John 12:15, ESV). Their Messiah King comes to them riding a donkey as a reminder of the ordinary, mundane, humble king that comes to bring them true peace--not through power and authority, not through pomp and flash, but through a willing, humble, sacrifice.

Picture this in modern day USA. Imagine that we've just elected a new president, and people are going crazy about how good he's going to be for our country. They are certain he's going to save our nation. Sure, some people are angry about it, they've done everything they can do to try to stop it. They've exerted as much power and authority and might into stopping him from growing in popularity, but have failed. And as the crowds gather to praise him and welcome him into Washington DC, he comes pulling into the presidential motorcade, driving himself, and driving a beat-down, rusted out GMC pickup. As he drives into Washington DC in this pickup, he's showing one group that it's not about power and authority and might, and he's showing the other group that they're missing the point of it all.

Jesus is reminding everyone that the kingdom doesn't advance through power and authority and might. The kingdom doesn't advance through pomp and flash and glory. The kingdom advances in ordinary, humble, and mundane ways. It looks much more like a King riding on a donkey, than a King marching on a city with an army by his side. The kingdom advances paradoxically. The kingdom advances as the king humbly and willingly enters the city on a donkey, then humbly and willingly lays down his life as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is actually showing the world that his kingdom comes through his death and sacrifice NOT through power and pomp and flash. Our king hangs on a cross, with "King of the Jews" hanging above his head and THAT is how the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

It's a powerful contrast to everything we've seen and heard so far. The crowds want pomp and glory, and Jesus does what he can to temper things down by coming in on a donkey. The Sanhedrin want's power and authority, and Jesus shows humility by coming in on a donkey. Not only that, but the Sanhedrin is seeking to kill people in order to advance the kingdom. They are willing to lay down other people's lives to advance the kingdom, but Jesus willingly lays down his life to advance the kingdom.

This is how the kingdom comes in the world. We're constantly faced with the temptation to think it comes in other ways. We think we can bring in the kingdom through flashy displays and lights and fog machines, but the kingdom comes on a donkey. We think we can bring the kingdom in through power and authority, by electing the right people and getting the right laws in place or by intimidating and guilting people into doing what we want them to do, but the kingdom comes on a donkey. The kingdom comes in ordinary, humble, and mundane ways. It's like a mustard seed that is very small, almost unnoticeable, nothing special, seems kinda pathetic, weak, and worthless, but slowly grows (without much notice from anyone) until it fills the entire earth. Nothing flashy about it, but that doesn't make it less powerful.

We also see that the kingdom comes through people faithfully bearing witness to Jesus Christ. Nothing flashy. Nothing big and showy. Nothing about forcing people to listen and obey. Simply, people telling other people about Jesus--who he is and what he has done. They didn't just do it once and then stop. No, they kept on doing it over and over and over again. As they spoke about it over and over again, the witness about Jesus spread through the city, until multitudes of people had heard about who Jesus is, what he had done, and wanted to check him out for themselves. The kingdom comes through our faithful witness in our families and communities. It's not flashy. It's kinda mundane and ordinary, but it's powerful.

The other thing we see in this passage is that the kingdom of God comes through the gospel. That's ultimately how the kingdom of God comes. It comes through faithfully pointing people to Christ, sharing the gospel, then people believing in that gospel and being transformed by that gospel. Again, it's not very flashy. It's not showy. It's not because of our power and authority. It's simply sharing the gospel over and over and over again with those who don't believe. Then as people begin to put their faith and trust in the gospel, they're cleansed of their sins, and their hearts are transformed and they give their lives to Jesus Christ. It's not always flashy and showy, but it is powerful. One of my favorite sayings is, "Changed hearts, change lives. Changed lives, change families. Changed families, change communities. Changed communities, change the world." It's not always flashy. It's sometimes extremely slow and painstaking work. It's not the result of our power and ability. It's a simple, ordinary, humble, mundane task of pointing people to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and the transformation of their lives. That's how the kingdom comes and it's powerful.