The King on a Tractor

Matthew 21:1-11

·         Kenya Trip

·         We’ve been studying Galatians where we’re learning how to live in the gospel, how to live by faith.  And if you’ve been on that journey, you realize that living by faith is to behold both the Promises of the Bible, and the Promiser.  We gaze at Jesus.

·         That’s what we want to do this week.  We want to look at Jesus and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  That’s what Palm Sunday is, the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem and people put down palm branches to honor him.

·         I’d like to encourage us to consider inviting a friend to our Easter service.

This is a festive passage.  There are large crowds, shouting, palm branches being laid on the ground, lots of excitement, something of a parade.  We read that as Jesus entered Jerusalem, “the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’”

There was a buzz!  The city was stirred!

Who is this?  Who is this man Jesus? (v. 11)

This is an important question.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the gospels, and these 4 books center on showing us who Jesus is.  They center on answering this very question.

Maybe that’s why some of you are here this Palm Sunday.  You heard about this Christianity thing, about this man Jesus, and maybe you wanted to find out a little more.

Who is this?  This is also a good question because many people have gotten it wrong.  Even in our passage today we’ll see that people have different ideas of who he is.

The scene is that we have a very large crowd spreading their cloaks on the road, others laying down branches as Jesus comes into Jerusalem.  It’s as if Jesus were a grand celebrity, a royal king, a victorious general.  He’s cheered and honored.

There are a few things that might help us understand what all the hubbub is about.

In the Gospel of John, we notice that not long before this entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus had done an amazing thing.  He had raised Lazarus from the grave (dead 4 days).  It was a resurrection, and there were many witnesses.  People talk, and this had caused such a stir that the religious leaders felt threatened and jealous and in fact plotted to kill Jesus.  Jesus lay low, but the talk probably continued and there was quite a stir about this Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead.

The other thing is that at the time, the Jews were under Roman occupation.  They were subjects of the Romans.  Many saw Jesus as a political and military deliverer, the one who would lead the Jews out from Roman control.  There were earlier stories about how because of other miracles Jesus had performed, Jews wanted to make Jesus their king.

When the crowds called out, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” that term (Son of David) is a Messianic term.  Jesus had performed other miracles as well and taught with great authority.  They knew he was from God.  They were suggesting that Jesus was the Messiah, the one sent by God who would rescue them.  And what kind of rescue did they imagine?  From the Romans, of course.  Again, they pictured Jesus/Messiah to be a political/military deliverer.

Mt 21:11 we read that people said Jesus was a prophet from Nazareth.

These Jews thought that Jesus was a miracle-working prophet, perhaps like other prophets in the OT.  Some thought he was the Messiah, who they saw as a political/military deliverer.

People were so eager to see what they wanted to see that they did see what was right before their eyes: this Jesus was riding on a donkey.

This was a statement, a message in motion, an act of self-disclosure.

This is not the picture of a revolutionary, a display of power and defiance.

This is a picture of meekness and peace.

Jesus does not come as a political and military deliverer to over throw the Romans.

Jesus comes as the Prince of Peace, the Suffering Servant, the Humble King.

1.      Let’s not re-define Him.

We do this sometimes.  Maybe we have someone we really respect, someone we’re really fond of—we project our wishes, our expectations, our dreams on the person.

It’s easy to put our desires, our hopes on Jesus and see him the way we want to see him.

It’s easy to re-define him according to our agenda, our purposes.

It’s easy to re-construct him to be the way we want him to be, and have our own expectations of who He should be and what He should do.

If we’re lonely, then Jesus should be our friend.

If we’re stressed, then Jesus should give us peace.

If we’re sick, then Jesus should be our healer.

If we’re under political oppression, then Jesus should be our revolutionary.

Our self-centered tendency is to redefine Jesus according to our needs and desires.

This is more exposed in hard times, when we question God: “How could you allow this to happen?!  Why?!”

We want God to meet our demands.  We want to tell God how to get God.  One commentator calls this “the domestication of God.”

But we need to be careful.  We don’t define Him. 

He defines Himself, and we listen to Him, we acknowledge Him, we behold Him.

Jesus doesn’t conform to our likings.  He is who He is.

2.      Jesus doesn’t fail.  We have wrong expectations.

Imagine if you were one of the Jews in Jerusalem that day.  Yes, I believe in Jesus.  I believe he’s going to defeat the Romans and set us free!  Here’s the Messiah!

But then 5 days later, you see Jesus being executed on a cross.  Jesus failed!  He didn’t defeat the Romans, the Romans defeated him!  I tried Jesus, but he failed!

But Jesus wasn’t trying to overthrow the Romans.  That was not his mission.  That was the mission these Jews presumed on him.

It’s not right to re-define Jesus according to our needs, have our own expectations, and then judge Jesus according to our own expectations.

But Jesus, you were supposed to save my grade, help me get married, heal my mom, give me healthy and beautiful children, take away my all my problems and fulfill my desires.

And if Jesus doesn’t, we feel disappointed.  We feel He didn’t deliver.

Why Lord?!   How could you allow this?  This isn’t fair!  We feel bitterly disappointed.

I’d like to suggest that it’s not because Jesus failed.  It’s because we have wrong (our own) expectations that we put on Jesus.

So then, what do we see about Jesus? 

3.      We see a meek Savior.

This was a statement, a message in motion, an act of self-disclosure.  What was Jesus saying?

We have a picture of meekness.  He comes “gentle and riding on a donkey”

Jesus doesn’t come in on a chariot or war horse.  Jesus rode on a beast of burden.

Donkeys are for fields, for carts, not for Kings.

Jesus doesn’t ride in limousine but a tractor.  It’s the King on a tractor.

Commentators point out how the emphasis from the quotes in v. 5 is on Jesus’ humility, his gentleness, his meekness.

Seeing the rest of the story helps me understand this particular scene.  Jesus did come into Jerusalem to conquer with horses and chariots.  Jesus came into die, to die on a cross.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was stricken.  (Isaiah 53:7-8)

Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to give his life away, like a lamb to the slaughter.  Jesus came as a Suffering Servant.  It was a very different picture of the Messiah.  This was not a Messiah who would conquer with strength and might, but who would be taken like a lamb to be slaughtered.

4.      He came to serve, to give His life away.

He didn’t come to find servants and followers.  He came to serve, to die for us.

You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  (Mark 10:42-45)

Jesus is not weak.  He is strong, yet he is humble, he serves.

We’ve been talking about living by faith.  When we recognize Jesus and what He has done for us, that changes the story.  It changes us, from the inside.

We see a meek, humble, gentle King who comes to lay it all down for us.

It was a bitterly cold Christmas eve in Korea in 1952. A pregnant young mother, Bak Yoon, hobbled through the snow toward the home of a missionary friend where she knew she could find help. Tears of sorrow froze on her face as she mourned her husband. He had recently been killed in the Korean War, and she had no one else to turn to. A short way down the road from her missionary friend's house was a deep gully spanned by a bridge. As Bak Yoon stumbled forward, birth pains suddenly overcame her. She fell, realizing that she could go no further, and crawled under the end of the bridge.  There, alone, under the bridge, her baby boy was born.

Bak Yoon had nothing with her except her heavy, padded clothes. One by one she removed all pieces of her clothing and wrapped them around her tiny son, still connected to her body by his umbilical cord. Then feeling exhausted she lay back in the snow beside her baby.

The next morning Miss Watson, long-time missionary, drove across the bridge in her car to take a Christmas basket of food to a needy Korean family. On her way back, as she got near the bridge, the car sputtered and died - out of gasoline.  She got out of the car and started across the bridge. Through crunching snow under her feet she heard another sound - a baby's faint cry. She stopped, unbelieving, and heard the cry again. "It's coming from beneath this bridge!" She crawled under the bridge to investigate and there she found a tiny, bundled baby, warm but hungry, and young Bak Yoon frozen in death. With a knife from her tool box she cut the cord and took the baby home with her. After caring first for the child, she, along with some helpers, brought Bak Yoon's body back to near where she lived and buried her there.

She named the baby Soo Park, and adopted him. He was strong and healthy and so grew up among many other orphan children that Miss Watson cared for. But to her, Soo Park was special. She often told him, "Your mother had great love for you, Soo Park," and about how she had proved that love. He never tired of hearing of his beautiful mother.

On Christmas day, his 12th birthday, snow was falling. After the children had helped Soo Park celebrate his birthday, he came and sat beside Miss Watson.  "Mother Watson, do you think God made your car run out of gasoline the day you found me?" he asked.  "Perhaps He did," she answered. "If that car hadn't stopped, I would not have found you. But I am so glad it stopped. I love you and am very proud of you, Soo Park." She put her arms around him.

He rested his head against her.  "Mother Watson, will you please take me out to my mother's grave? I want to pray there. I want to thank her for my life."  "Yes, but put on your heavy coat. It's very cold."

Beside the grave, Soo Park asked Mother Watson to wait at a little distance. She walked aside and waited. As the astonished missionary watched, the boy began to take off his warm clothing, piece by piece.

Surely he won't take off all his clothing! she thought. He'll freeze! But the boy stripped himself of everything, laid it all on his mother's grave, and knelt naked and shivering in the snow.  She waited one minute, two minutes. Then she put her gloved hand on his snow covered shoulder. "Come, Soo Park. Your mother in Heaven sees how much you love her. I will help you dress."

Then in deep sorrow he cried out to the mother he never knew: "Were you colder than this for me, my mother?" And he wept bitterly because he knew of course, she was.

Jesus stripped himself of his royal garments to come and live among us.  Was he that cold for us? Surely we never have to wonder if he loves us, or even how much he loves us. He demonstrated that to us nearly 2000 years ago. Celebrate in his love.

(From "The Short Circuit," a student publication of Asbury Theological Seminary Volume 86, Dec. 6th, 1986, No. 11)

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  (Romans 8:32)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

We behold the love of our Savior.  He came to give himself for us.  When we see His humility, His generosity, His sacrifice, His love, that changes something within us.  We’re not so afraid, so self-protective, so defensive or greedy or disgruntled.  We’re humbled, we’re thankful, we’re freed.

5.      Our expectations may have been too small.

Jesus didn’t come to necessarily solve our loneliness, or anxiety, or physical sickness, or political oppression.  He came to solve our spiritual problem, our standing-with-the-Creator problem.

It’s like He came to perform a life-saving, triple by-pass surgery, not necessarily to treat our eczema or indigestion.

We have the wrong expectations: our expectations are too small.

The Jews wanted to be freed from Roman rule but they didn’t realize they needed to be freed from sin and guilt, from divine condemnation.  They had a far bigger problem—and so do we.

We do not measure God’s love and faithfulness by how he solves our eczema or indigestion.  We measure God’s love and faithfulness by how He saved our souls.

God does not “prove” His love by how he solves the problems we set before Him: loneliness, anxiety, sickness, etc. 

God proves His love on His own terms:

2000 years ago, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, coming not as a conquering revolutionary, but as a Suffering Servant, a Humble King.

And he kept walking, right up to the cross, to lay His life down.  He took our guilt, our shame, our sickness, our condemnation, and died on the cross.

He defines Himself: He is our Savior, our Savior who rode on a donkey and then carried a cross to save us from our own sin, guilt, shame.

We gaze upon Him, and our faith is strengthened.