March 28, 2010 Pastor Tim Pusey

TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY
John 19:1-16, also Luke 19:28-44
Palm Sunday
Fifth in Series: Journey to the Cross

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the Sunday we traditionally remember Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem with palm branches waving and crowds shouting words that sound a lot like worship! Palm Sunday is the Sunday prior to Easter, which means that it’s just a few days before we remember the fateful events in the last week of Jesus’ life on earth—the Thursday night when He and His disciples shared together the Last Supper before He was later arrested and the Friday on which He was crucified. It’s the beginning of what is often called Holy Week in the Christian Church. The Journey to the Cross has intensified! Palm Sunday recalls the surge before the crash—the Triumph before the Tragedy—and though the tragedy appeared fatal, we cannot today help but approach the Cross knowing that it wasn’t the end as it appeared to be. The Tragedy became the ultimate Triumph! But that’s a story we’ll save for next Sunday!

This morning I want to share with you two passages of scripture. And while the events they describe happened just a few days apart, there is a tremendous and dramatic contrast between the two. It’s a contrast that I believe is important for us to catch on Palm Sunday. On one hand we have the joy and excitement of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, accompanied by the seemingly faithful and worshipping crowd. But on the other hand is Jesus—beaten, bruised and bleeding, by order of their governing official, about to be handed over for crucifixion. The prevailing question in both scenes is this: Is Jesus a king or not? Listen now as Ann Kendrick and Phil Petersen read for us, Carey from Luke 19, beginning at verse 28, and Phil from the beginning of chapter 19 in John’s Gospel—
[In Reader’s Theater approach:
Luke 19:28-36
John 19:1-5
Luke 19:37-40
John 19:6-14
Luke 19:41-44
John 19:15-16a]

Could it be that these two passages were centered around the same person? Could it be that these scenes were separated by no more than 5 days? And Who really was this one called Jesus? Is He a king? Or isn’t He? What are we to think? And if He truly is a King, what kind of king are we talking about and does it really matter to us here and now, 2000 years later?

It’s fascinating, isn’t it? The Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem appears to be Jesus’ moment of glory! He seemed so regal—and the crowds were unashamedly treating Him like a king. That’s certainly what the donkey was all about as well as the cloaks spread on the road—that’s how kings were treated in their time and place! The cloaks were like capes or coats worn over their other clothing—and they were laid out on the dusty road for the donkey carrying Jesus to step upon! The image of a king riding on a donkey and having people spread their cloaks on the road the king was traveling was a sign of honor and respect going back to Old Testament times.

The people who watched it all knew what it was happening. I suppose in our world today it would be like Jesus arriving in a huge limousine, stepping out onto a fancy red carpet with bodyguards all around Him, and making a grand appearance with crowds cheering and waving. That’s really what the donkey and the cloaks on the road and palm branches were all about for these people!

Did Jesus deserve to be treated like a king? Of course He did! We know that!—but not everyone was in agreement about it then—or now, for that matter! And that’s what led to what happened just a few days later. The religious leaders had worked long and hard behind the scenes to deal once and for all with Jesus—Who had challenged their ways of thinking and doing things. He had upset a lot of the religious leaders, because Jesus knew things were supposed to be different. So they rallied false charges against Him, convinced one of His disciples to betray Him and put Jesus into their hands—and now they were trying to convince the Roman governor to execute Him in one of the most cruel forms of capitol punishment imaginable—death on a cross.

And while the Triumphal Entry appears to be Jesus’ most kingly moment—His moment of glory!—the truth is that His kingship was most apparent in His most unkinglike moment. So is Jesus a king or not? Oh, yes, He is a King—but just not the kind of king they were expecting or wanting.

The Jewish leaders had made up their minds that Jesus must be killed, so the High Priest of the Jews, Caiaphas, had Jesus sent to the residence of Pilate, then the Roman governor over Palestine. Pilate was charged by the emperor to keep order among the people in Palestine and see to it that they paid their taxes to the Roman government. Pilate had evidently found them to be a difficult people over which to govern, but his neck was on the line in keeping order in that region. So when this strange man named Jesus was brought to Pilate’s quarters in the wee hours of the morning by these Jews, Pilate must have been suspicious. They had already made up their minds that Jesus must be killed by Roman authority—but they didn’t want to contaminate themselves by even entering the unclean house of a Gentile—which Pilate was to them. You can’t help but wonder if Pilate felt the pressure of their tainted self-righteous motives. No wonder Pilate told them to take care of the whole thing themselves, to judge this man by their own laws.

But they were clearly not going to be appeased. They knew they had no legal right to execute a man, and that’s what they were insisting needed to happen. The seriousness of this whole situation and the fear of a riot taking place under Pilate’s watch were now alarming to him. So Pilate had Jesus brought into the palace—and the questioning began, as an everlasting kingdom confronts the political power of Rome.

The central issue in this whole scene is the kingship of Jesus! Pilate’s first question was just that—“Are you the king of the Jews?” You see, if Jesus were a king, than maybe He was indeed a threat to Rome. When Jesus evades the question, Pilate asks Him what He has done. I suppose Pilate was wondering if Jesus was making plans to launch some kind of revolution. Jesus’ answer again evades the question, but Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world…my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). The Kingdom of Jesus was spiritual and everlasting—and there were no geographic boundaries, and yet clearly it challenges and judges every earthly kingdom.

Pilate answers, “You are a king, then!” And Jesus simply responds, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And while Pilate could not understand the truth of which Jesus spoke, he apparently relaxed a bit and concluded that Jesus was not the threat that the Jews were making Him out to be. So Pilate pronounced that he found no basis for a charge against Jesus and offered to release Him, but the Jewish leaders weren’t going to be appeased until Jesus was executed.

Pilate tried having Jesus flogged. He subjected Jesus to the physical cruelty and sarcastic taunts of his soldiers, thinking this may satisfy the accusers. The twisted crown of thorns and the purple robe and the shouts, “Hail, king of the Jews!” were all simply mocking Jesus’ kingship. And yet, at a deeper level, at Christ’s kingdom level, Jesus is being proclaimed King.

As Jesus stood bleeding and humiliated, with a crown made of thorns jammed onto His head, wearing a purple robe stained with Jesus’ own blood, Jesus was actually in His greatest moment of glory. Jesus was the King suffering for the salvation of His people. He was paraded out to where all could see Him, as Pilate announced, “Here is the man!” And while the chief priests and their officials shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”—we find Jesus in His greatest moment of glory. Here was the suffering Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the people.

As Pilate struggled with the thought of killing an innocent man, He sensed that the uprising of the Jewish religious leaders was not something he could afford to have happen under his watch, so he eventually brought Jesus before them, saying, “Here is your king.” They continued their cries, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate calmed them down long enough to ask, “Shall I crucify your king?” And their response seems so tragic but so revealing—“We have no king but Caesar!” And in simple statement, John tells us of Pilate’s final action—“Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.”

So…is Jesus a king or not? Oh, yes, He is a King—just not the kind of king they were expecting and probably not even the kind of king they wanted! Jesus’ journey to the Cross was the ultimate act of this King—even though those who could not and would not understand only mocked His kingship in those very moments. If you understand that Jesus by His death provided salvation and eternal life for all people, then you see His journey to the Cross as His greatest hour. But if you refuse to believe, then this journey to the Cross seems to be only the story of a pitiful, weak man being led to a cruel execution—deserving or not.

And, if Jesus is a king, what kind of king is Jesus? Over and over, as I’ve pondered that question this week, I have concluded that He is the King of Love. Jesus is the King of Love who proved unparalleled love for us—for all humanity!—as He journeyed to the Cross. He journeyed willingly, knowing it to be the only way we could ever escape the darkness of sin and its devastating consequences in our lives. He embraced the taunts and the beatings and the pain, pressed by an unsuppressed love for humanity. Even in what seemed to be His greatest moment of glory as He was paraded triumphantly into Jerusalem, His heart broke over the lostness of people—and so He journeyed on. He came to reveal the truth of an everlasting Kingdom and to make it absolutely clear that our loving Heavenly Father is the gracious sovereign over all of life.

Let’s talk now about what this means for us. When I’m working on sermons and working through passages of scripture, the question I keep coming back to is “So what?…How does this make a difference in our lives?” And to get to the heart of what I believe is the take-away value of this passage of scripture, I want us to explore for a few moments what is means, as I said a moment ago, that our loving Heavenly Father is the gracious sovereign over all of life. And I want us to consider what it means for Jesus to be King of our lives.

We don’t live in a country with a king. When we think of kings, we think back several hundred years ago to a time when most nations had a king. We might think of Great Britain, which has a queen and who talks of maybe having a king again some day, but it’s not much of a sovereign state where the queen or king rule as they please as we envision was the case many years ago. Or you might think of Disney’s classic stories which may include an animated king or queen—all in the line of fairytales and children’s stories. And it seems like most of those kings were rather silly in some way. Kings certainly aren’t much of our reality today, are they?

I think we need to come to grips with the reality of Jesus as King—the reality that He wants to be King of our lives; in fact, the reality that God has ordained His kingdom and that it is built into the very fabric of our creation. And as it has always been, there are those who run from this kingdom, fearing the tyranny of an unreasonable God who surely cares only about Himself and nothing about what is best for us. But I remind you what kind of king Jesus revealed Himself to be? He is the King of Love. He reveals an everlasting Kingdom and makes it clear that our loving Heavenly Father is the gracious sovereign over all of life. He truly loves us—as the best of fathers loves his son or daughter. And He alone is all-wise and all-powerful—certainly deserving of being called the King of all kings!

Why does this make a difference to us? Because only the King of Love can be ultimately trusted! Only the King of Love can be trusted to look out for what is best for each of us. Only the King of Love would care that much about us! And how do we know that Jesus is this King of Love? We know that Jesus is the King of Love because He gave His life for us. That’s the ultimate test of love—that one is willing to lay down His life for another. And that’s what Jesus has done for us—and for all humanity. He laid down His life for us.

And now let’s go back to this matter of God being “Sovereign God”—the Supreme Ruler, the Monarch of our lives. That may strike you as a little troubling, because we want to be in control of our little world! We want to “do it our way,” as they say! We like to be in control—and would sure love to call the shots as it relates to our own lives. And while it may unsettle you a little to think of God being Sovereign God, the Supreme Ruler, the Monarch of our lives, it truly doesn’t need to unsettle you—not when we remember that He is the King of Love. Just as Jesus deserved to be hailed in a kingly way as He entered Jerusalem, so our Lord deserves for us to respect Him and worship Him as our King, our Sovereign God, our Supreme Ruler. He deserves to be Lord of our lives.

There are those for whose salvation I am praying that I pray specifically that they would come to see that Christ wants to be “Lord” of their lives. From my vantage point, which, granted, is certainly limited, it doesn’t seem that they are living as if Christ is Lord of their lives. They don’t deny His existence, and they pray to the Father when times get rough, but their day by day lives don’t seem to reveal that Jesus Christ is Lord. People who live like this seem to have just enough religion to make themselves miserable—but they don’t experience the day-by-day abiding peace that Christ has for us as His beloved sons and daughters. When decisions are before them, they pretty much do it on their own, and then ask God to bless what they’ve already decided to do—and sometimes later wonder why things got so messed up. You see why I don’t get the impression that Jesus is truly Lord of their lives! He’s just another factor in life—acknowledged, but certainly not “Supreme Ruler.”

I believe that Jesus’ journey to the Cross was all about God reaching down to people like you and me and offering us a new relationship with Himself, made possible by Christ’s sacrificial death. It’s a wonderful relationship—and we speak of the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven and that we are in a right relationship with God. Thank the Lord! But even as I say, “Thank the Lord!” I’m acknowledging the role He is to play in this relationship—He is to be Lord…truly Lord…our King Eternal…Supreme Ruler of our hearts and our lives. And until we come to this point, in all actuality we find ourselves only “playing around” with God—trying to enjoy His benefits without giving Him the role He deserves and wants in our lives.

On this beautiful Palm Sunday, as we head into Holy Week, journeying again with Jesus to the Cross—and eventually come to next Sunday when we will celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, I want to encourage you to crown Jesus Lord of your life. I want to challenge you to make Jesus King—as He deserves to be. That may mean that you’ll need to step down from the throne you’ve created for yourself, but so be it! There can be only one King in our lives—and it needs to be Jesus. Can you trust Him enough today to make Him King?