The Triumphal Passover Lamb

For Palm Sunday we talked about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. While everyone is celebrating (other than the religious leaders) expecting Jesus to become the King of a new worldly empire, Jesus is humbly stepping into His place as the true Passover lamb. Do we still largely miss what Jesus came to do, and what it truly means to follow Him?

Transcript

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This one, uh this joke is called The Atheist and the Loch Ness Monster. An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the beast tossed him and his boat high into the air. Then it opened its mouth to swallow them both. As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, Oh Lord, help me! At once, the ferocious attack seemed frozen place. And as the atheist hung in midair, a booming voice came down from the clouds. I thought you didn't believe in me. Come on, God, give me a break, the man pleaded. Two minutes ago I didn't even believe in the Loch Ness monster. Hopefully that's not your testimony. Well, good morning. Today, as you may already know, is Palm Sunday. And for the Western Church, today marks the Sunday that started the week before Jesus' crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. And this week is in many ways the pinnacle of Jesus' ministry, the magnum focus, if you will. And if you look at like the book of John, almost half of the book is this week. Most of what you read in John, after chapter, I think it's 12, is this week. It all happened here. And in the other Gospels, there's quite a bit as well. And I think that Marks that is telling in a couple ways. One, we understand that what people say towards the end of their life has a certain weight to it. What Jesus is wanting to communicate in his last days becomes kind of the heart of John, John's gospel. But there's also more to it. So it starts today with what we call the triumphal entry, and then we'll read about that. And we'll go from there. But I wanted to give a little backstory leading up to the triumphal entry. So even the week prior to this, a lot has happened. So one is that Lazarus died, and Jesus came and raised him back to life. Now he had been dead, I think it was four days, right? Was it three or four? Well, that was even symbolic because in the Jewish culture, they believed that someone's soul hovered around the body until about day three and then it left. So not only did he raise him from the dead in what they understood, he actually took his soul and got it back into his body. It was something that kind of blew their minds at multiple levels. Not only did he raise from the dead, but somehow his soul was able to come back into his body. Now I'm not preaching on that, but it's just the idea that this was kind of a mind-blowing week leading up to the triumphal entry. And so it says before this that many people actually were coming to see not only Jesus but Lazarus because they'd heard this story. Like there's a building of like something's about to let loose and something's about to happen. And so people are coming, the Pharisees and religious leaders are talking, and they're like, this is going, this is going south really quick. And they're even talking about how they're going to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus, because Lazarus is like this living testimony of the power of Jesus Christ, not only to raise the dead, but like he has power over, he has power over Lazarus' soul. And this is something that just couldn't be handled. Like this is getting out of out of control for these religious leaders. So at the same time, you have Caiaphas, who is the high priest, and he says this statement, which which they note is, he's actually prophesying, but he says, it is it's needed, it's expedient that one person should die for the whole country, for a whole nation rather than our nation, get destroyed by the Romans. So he's coming from this vantage point of if this keeps going on, the Romans who are controlling Israel, if this starts to get too out of hand, the Romans are gonna come in and just annihilate us. And this can't happen. It's better that one person dies, this Jesus guy who's stirring all this up, then we all get killed by the Romans. And so all of this is converging at the same time in this story. So I'm gonna just pray real quick and then we'll get into it. But Lord, we thank you so much for Jesus, and we just ask, Holy Spirit, that you would open up each one of our hearts and our eyes to see Jesus anew and afresh, and that maybe these stories that have become so commonplace to us will have a new and fresh view that we can again be in awe and worship Jesus Christ together here today. In Jesus' name. Amen. So I'm gonna be reading out of Matthew 21. And again, this is this is a pretty hot time in history, a very uh I don't know the right word. Things are about to pop off, that's what I'll say. So in Matthew chapter 21, it starts out, now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethpage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them, and immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and they brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? So the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. So he came riding in on this donkey and it says to fulfill scripture, and it actually goes back to Zechariah 9:9. It's a direct quote. It's a prophecy. A prophecy that was given over 400 years before this happened. And it says, Behold, your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, but a colt, a foal of a donkey. So Jesus is fulfilling the scripture. This is happening in real time before these people. And the idea is that it's finally happening. And so what they're saying here, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In my commentary, it says that Hosanna literally means save now. It was more than a cry of acclamation. Essentially, it was a plea from an oppressed people to their Savior for deliverance. And later it came to be a standard shout of praise, like in Psalms 118, from which the quote comes. This was a mesionic call. Like, God save us. Like this is our Savior, essentially, is what they're saying. They're recognized, these people recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He is the offspring of David. That was also another prophecy that he will come from the line of David. So they're saying a lot of things with a few words. So you gotta put yourself kind of in this context, right? I hadn't really ever thought about it super deeply, but over this week I I have been, and you're looking at this, and people are expecting Jesus to just become a king. The king. Which it talks about like his rule will never end. These are all also prophecies. Like people were very familiar with these prophecies because they're all looking, as they still are, for this Messiah who will usher in a kingdom of peace. And not only will he take them out of bondage, just like he did in Egypt, but they're gonna get to rule with him. Now all of a sudden, not only are they free, they're gonna be kings. Right? So not only is it a good thing to come out of slavery, but now it's a really good thing because now you're gonna be a top dog. You see this like leading up to this, right? Like Jesus is like the greatest among you is the one who serves. The lower you are, the higher you are in the kingdom. And then James and John's mom comes and say, will you do whatever I ask? And he's like, Well, what are you asking first? And he said that my sons can sit up your right and left hand when you enter into your glory. Like they're expecting this physical, dominating, dominion, kingdom, power just is gonna just happen. Right? Like every all these prophets are like pointing ahead to this Messiah, and even Moses talked about him, and now it's coming to fruition, and everybody's getting a little excited, right? Do you know the interesting thing about this triumphal entry? It was not the first time that it happened. Actually, 170 years before that, there's a guy by the name of Simon Maccabees, and the Maccabees had, through several like military victories, had secured a level of freedom for Israel. They had pushed back their enemies, they had some decisive military action that was successful, and created a time, and I don't know the history in depth, but created a time of peace and autonomy for the Israel people. But around 170 years before the Simon Maccabees came into Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey, essentially also fulfilling the prophecy, right? Him knowing this that this was written, he set it up so he could come in. And they they declared from what they know the same thing, Hosanna. You know? He saved us, this guy, the Simon Maccabees, and they laid down palm branches and they did the whole thing. So this is like, this is in their history. They knew this. This is very familiar. This is them like stepping into what seems very, oh, this has happened before. This is different, this is better, this is now us. Not the older generation. This is what's really gonna happen. It's really gonna happen now. And so again, there's this push, there's this idea of Jesus Christ is this worldly king who's gonna take over everything and we're gonna be saved. You know? And now we kind of chuckle at that, right? Because we see the whole story. But it's the human condition. It's the human nature. Because we do the same things. We let certain people into power, we move government systems around, and we think now it's gonna be good. Now we're set up. Now our kingdom has come, and my will will, I mean his will, his will, which aligns with my will, will be done. I mean, Rick. If you're honest with yourself, it happens. Alright, so this is a very familiar moment for them, and so they're all looking to this king. Also, this is Passover week, so all the men are required to be in Jerusalem. Everybody has to come. It's a key time. All the guys are there and they're there to participate in the Passover. Alright. So what's the Passover? We had a Seder meal the other night. How many of you were there? How many of you liked it? John? Wasn't it so neat to see how much imagery of Jesus Christ is in the Seder meal of what Jesus would have eaten as the Passover meal? And he was describing how the Jews do these certain activities and they don't even know why. It's just tradition. But it's like, it's speaking about Jesus. Like you can't, their theology can't grasp it without this idea of Jesus. And so they're participating, partaking of this for thousands of years, as like a physical experience of who Jesus Christ is going to look like and be, and they still miss it. Right? And so they're sitting down, and this is this is okay, so this is the Passover week. So this is coming up, this is real, this is happening. He comes in, he's not telling them I'm not a king, he isn't rebuking anybody, and so they're like, wow, what's the game wrong? Alright? So this, but this moment has history in it. This same day has happened in previous times. Physically, with Simon Acadebs doing this, but also Nissan, which is the month 10th, which you read a little bit before, so I might fire. But go back to Exodus 12. So I talked before about how the gospel is eternal. Like it's eternal in its past and it's eternal in its future. It's not like Jesus was trying to line up time and prophecy. Like God knew this plan before the time and the prophecy happened. So it's all pointing to him. Jesus Christ preceded the written word. Okay, so Exodus chapter 12, verse 3. Now this is out, this is when God is telling Moses how to institute the Passover meal. And the Passover is when the angel of death came through Egypt, the last plague, that freed the Jewish people from the dominion of the control of the Egyptians. But when they did this Passover meal, the angel passed over the Jews. It passed over every household that participated in this meal and in this process. And so God said, I want you to continue doing this forever as a memory of what God did. But it's also pointing forward to what he will do. Verse 3 speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. I'll just read a few more verses. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb. So they had to eat the whole lamb that night. That was one of the things. So if your family's small, you're gonna have a tough time getting that done. So it's a good idea to share it, right? Just as we share Christ. We're not to keep Christ to ourselves. He's meant to be shared. But he's meant to be experienced in his fullness, too. Not just the parts we like. That's why they also ate bitter herbs, because there's a part of the sufferings of Christ that are bitter, but also, if we're really honest with ourselves, there are certain parts about Jesus that are also a little offensive and bitter to us, right? Our flesh. We'll talk about that more as we go. Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. The whole congregation. Together kills their lambs. Just like how they came together and killed Jesus, right? And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the house where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, and they shall eat it. Okay. So this day, everyone thinks that this is a kingly procession, but actually what it is, is a presentation of the Passover lamb. Now, when you find the Passover lamb on the 10th, anywhere from the 10th to the 14th, you're searching for this lamb and you select it, and then it's kind of like a little rejoicing of like, hey, we can participate in this, we found the lamb, check that box, we're on our way, and over the next few days, they can actually inspect the lamb again. So the lamb is still like kind of up in the air until the Passover. But there's still rejoicing happening because they're like, we found the sheep, we found the lamb, we found the goat. It has to be what? Spotless, blameless, pure. It has to be a male. So these are all speaking of Jesus Christ. These are an image of who he is. Okay? So what happens then over the next few days that we see in Jesus' ministry? He's challenged over and over by the religious leaders. They're trying to trip him, they're trying to find a way to undermine him. He's pressured in every direction as far as people trying to ask him if they can sit at his right hand in glory. And then down to the Pharisees being so put out that he's healing people on the Sabbath. And this whole time it's examining him. Is he a pure spotless lamb? Is he really the one who can take away the sins of the world? And in this week, he proves it. He not only is the Lamb, but he has proven himself out. didn't hide from that, right? He didn't just go up on some like holy mountain and disappear for the week because it was going to be hard. He walked right through the middle of all this. Okay? Alright, so again, there's another time where this date is actually pretty important. So you go over to Joshua chapter 4. So again, remember the 10th, the 10th of the first month, and it uh is the month of missing, I think it's called. Now, stories that we're familiar with are linear, right? There is a good guy, and then a bad guy shows up, and then there's a damsel in distress, or somebody who needs saving, and then they do it, and then it's happily ever after. And that's how us Europeans like to write stories and just kind of keep going linear. But the Bible is cyclical, it's the same story over and over and over and over. God desires communion and closeness and friendship with man, and man screws it up. And then God does what he can to redeem the process. Man comes back into relationship and connection, and he's blessed, and he flourishes until he forgets about God, and then he rejects God again, and he brings upon himself judgment and despair, and then he realizes he needs God and he comes back because God makes a way, and then here we go again and again. I think he keeps telling us the story because he wants us to see it. And we just want a linear one where we go from yeah, this dinks, we're under bondage, but now this king is coming, everything's gonna be great. From here on out, from this day forward, with my with my little palm branch, let it be known from this day forward, life's gonna rock. And we are going to rule the Romans. Alright. Back to Joshua. So this is about the third time this wheel's gone around, right? They got out of Egypt, they went through the Red Sea on their way to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. It was God spoke of it as you're gonna have wells you never dug, houses you never built, fields you never had to pick rock out of, and prosperity in every direction. So they show up on the edge, they send their spies in, and they go, stuff's amazing, it's better than we thought. Look at these grapes. One dude can't even can't even hold it, right? But guess what? There's giants. Lions and giants and bears, oh my. And they freak out. Like they just saw the collapse of one of the largest um uh empires in the world, the Egyptians, brought to like decimation, and they get to the edge of this land and they go, nope, God's not big enough for this. He says, Okay, we can do this wheel again. So for 40 years, they go in the desert round and round and round, and they come back, and Joshua leads them. And this time they cross the Jordan River at flood stage, and this is where we're at right now. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gogal on the east border of Jericho. They have stepped over this line of they're into the promised land. Now they don't they don't occupy it yet, they've got a lot of fighting to do, but they've crossed over into the promise. The same day, thousands of years later, these same days, Jesus steps into Jerusalem and the promise is being fulfilled. Because just like these other images and pictures are of Jesus Christ, the land of Canaan is a picture of Jesus Christ as our fullness, the one who blesses us, the one who fills our life with every good thing, that we come into inheritance and the peace and joy of God that we never earned because Jesus already dug that well. He already built that house, and he already picked the rock out of that field that he wants to give each one of us. And now he becomes a fulfillment. So now, here we are, thousands of years later, stepping not only into the Passover with the lamb on a donkey riding into town, but we're entering into the land of Canaan. We're back to the Garden of Eden, we're back to the place that God has always wanted us to be. And we think it's about a king and us. It's about a lamb who's about to die. And so, what a day, right? That this has been like chronicled all through the history of Israel. And here we are on this new day, but it's the same wheel. It's the same story. And he's wanting us to get it. And we're wanting to just figure out what three bullet points we need to take from this sermon, and that's why I don't give you bullet points. Because it's not about a bullet point, it's about a man. It's about the man. The only one that matters ever in history. Can you just like imagine just the mind-bendingness of the moment? Jesus is riding in knowing he's gonna die, and people are rejoicing because they think it's all about them. Like how lonely that moment must have been. You knowing you're gonna die, your disciples are gonna leave you. Because guess what? They didn't sign up for that either. They signed up for what they thought was coming. So when all when everything starts to shake, when Jesus gets taken, when they're gonna kill him, they're out. Because guess what? I never signed that check. I thought we were going somewhere linear. I didn't think we were doing this wheel thing. I thought we were going to the moon. And that's the offense of Jesus Christ. Because right when we start thinking all this is about us, we lose track of him, and we lose track of everything, and there comes the wheel. What do I mean by the wheel? I mean a life that you live for yourself. I mean the goal of Christianity is to benefit me. Because at some point it asks you for everything. And that gets to be a really hard point, a really hard place. Because actually Jesus is telling his disciples this whole time, follow me. And they're like, this is great. They're taking selfies, people are like, yeah, you guys, you 12, oh, remember me. Yeah, when you render into your glory, got you. Got you, Sonom. It's really easy to follow that Jesus, right? Except that one. How they're viewing Christ right there wasn't a reality. He was going to a cross. They thought he was going to a throne. But really, he was. And really he's telling them, this is actually, guys, how we win. We go low. This is actually how we do get an eternal crown, an eternal kingdom. But it's not like, what do you think? Because we're going this way. And so then Jesus says, follow me, follow me, and they're like, yeah, love and that. Until it's now die to yourself, and everyone goes, nope. I don't want a Jesus who tells me how to live. I just want a Jesus who gets me up there. I want a Jesus who gets me into heaven, but I really don't like the Jesus who asks me for stuff that I like. And sometimes he wants you to give it to him so he can give it back to you so it doesn't own you, but you own it. The dream, the calling, the life that he has for you. But until you lay something, until it dies, something else can't live. You know, if you hold seeds in your hand, they don't germinate. You have to put them in the ground. And what does they say? They die. Your life, as we know it, as we think it should be, in a way, has to die for you to live the life that He's meant for you to live. And guess what? It may not be an easy life. You may sign up and give all this stuff. I did that. I was following Jesus, and I was following his voice, and I was doing all the right things, and he led me to a place, and I would literally tell him, You've brought me here to die. And it felt like it, because everything was nothing. And it's like, yeah. Kindly, he didn't actually say it, but I know he was nodding his head, like, yeah. Because all that owns you, because you think all that defines you, because you want to be set on a throne and a king and life to go well for you. And in the meantime, you don't actually die to the things that are keeping you from living the life that he has for you. And that is the bitterness of the gospel. Like I would I would so love to tell you that you give your life to the Lord and everything is amazing. It's not. It actually gets harder. But you will never fully live until you do. And in that living, in that surrender to him, you will live more in a few years than you ever did your whole life. Because all of a sudden it's not about you. And now all of a sudden you can look like Jesus. I've not arrived. I'm not saying I have. But there are things that I have died to that have been, in some ways, just as painful as death. Maybe not. I don't know. Haven't done that yet. But the most courageous path is the one following the lowly king on his way to the cross. And if you'll notice that John did not turn. And everybody, you know, Peter, what a loser. John, what a great guy, stuck with Jesus. The only difference was John had a revelation of how much Jesus loved him. And that keeps you. That keeps you. Because all the other things that we set up that we think God's gonna do and break through, and when those don't happen, especially in our time frame that we have thought of, you really sometimes don't even want to follow Jesus anymore. To be honest, like if we're really honest, it can get that hard. The thing that will keep you is the love of Jesus Christ. Because he offended everybody. That's why he went from 20,000 people down to like even the disciples might leave him. Because he's offensive. Why? Because he's lowly, he's humble, and he's willing, he loves you so much he's willing to die for you, and we can't comprehend that because we haven't earned it. Like even that, even the fact that you have to receive God's love just because he loves you, and we have this proof of him living and dying for us. But like that's what I have to do. Don't I have to do something? Like that, even inside of us, there's a level that that offends us because I want to do something that proves that God should love me. Because I actually don't believe that I can receive that without a transaction. Sorry to come at you with both barrels, but this is what I felt was on the heart of the Lord today. And as you read the rest of this first day of the week, Jesus goes into the temple and he drives out everybody that's buying and selling in the temple. What's also a key part of Passover, and we we heard this at the Seder meal, that they get rid of leaven, even weeks before Passover, leaven like yeast or anything that puffs up bread, it's a picture of sin. And so now you see this pure lamb that's being preserved for Passover come in and start cleaning house, cleaning out the sin, the mixture, the leavening, and then he turns around and heals people. This is the heart in the nature of God to eradicate that which confuses, that distracts, that makes people wander from the Lord, and he instills life and healing and peace. And then what happens? The Pharisees get all bent out of shape. They see all these good things that are happening, and they just get hung up on something else. And then at the end, verse 17, it's almost kind of like sad. Like, then he left them, Jerusalem, and he went out to the city of Bethany, and he lodged there. And like, other than the night that he's in the Garden of Gethsemane, I'd have to look again, but I believe that he never spent the night in Jerusalem. The very place that it says like his kingdom is going to be established, he wasn't even welcomed enough to want to sleep there. He rejected him. And he knew it. But he found a place, Bethany, that he felt at home. That he felt welcome. And that is the story of the wheel as well, is that God is seeking a place that he is welcome. And so his call to you is is he welcomed in your heart? Is he welcome in your life in your life? Or is who he is a little too offensive that we keep him kind of out on the doorstep? And when life gets hard, we'll talk to him. And maybe when Loch Ness monster is about to eat us, we'll engage. Or are we willing to bring him into the house? And he gets to readjust our house. And he gets to throw out the old sofa that we're so attached to and start to put his finger on stuff that we find uncomfortable to deal with. But because he loves us, he's not gonna let us continue in deception and pain and struggling. And he, just like these people who come to him in the temple, he comes to bring healing and life into these areas. That's a courageous place. You actually welcome him in and give him full rights to the house. And at some level it's gonna cost you. I'm not gonna say it's not. Because the life of Christ is the one following this king, that everybody's rejoicing because they think it's gonna be great for them. And really it's it's a path to die to yourself so that you can live to him. And that you can have the fullest life that he has called you to through that process. Dying to self, rising to Christ. This is the wheel over and over. And he asks us to do it on a day-to-day basis. And it is it is amazing. It is life abundant. Okay. Well, I'm done. I'm going to pray. Is there any other music? Okay, good. Alright. Thank you, Jesus, for coming. And thank you, Lord, that when we think all the stories about us, you don't get disgusted, you don't deviate, you continue being the one that is our King. And Lord, I pray that you would challenge each one of us this week that we actually question, are you on the throne of our hearts and of our minds? Not as my neighbor, not are these other people, but just me and you. Have I given you full dominion of my life? And if I haven't, Lord, I pray that you would just call us into deeper places with you. And that we will not live for ourselves. Because that is ultimately a life of pain and suffering and loneliness. But Lord, that we would give it all to you and that you will become our propitiation, our Passover lamb, our victor. So I thank you, Lord, for this amazing day, for this week, and may our thoughts and hearts turn to you all through it. In Jesus' name.