WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.600 Good morning. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.559 Today's scripture reading comes from Mark 11, verses 1 through 11. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:20.960 Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphagi and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:22.719 Untie it and bring it. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.519 If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.440 say the Lord has need of it, and will send it back here immediately. 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:34.479 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.799 And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.240 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:46.399 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:52.799 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:59.439 And those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.000 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:03.759 Hosanna in the highest. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.560 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:12.560 And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:13.840 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.040 Please be seated. 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:19.920 Good morning. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:23.040 Thanks for joining us. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:24.239 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.959 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.519 And this morning we are having our second Palm Sunday sermon of the year. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:35.920 Next year I hope to go for three. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:43.680 We went through this at the beginning of Holy Week. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:46.719 That Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:52.799 And unfortunately, this Sunday there are no children that will come marching down with fake uh palm branches. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.079 I know. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.400 But you know, those things are hard to come by this time of year. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:02.640 So let's pray and then we'll we'll get into our we'll get into our text for the morning. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.519 Holy Father, we thank you that it is so sweet to trust in you. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:19.120 We thank you that as we reflect on our lives, we can say that we have we have proved you over and over that your faithfulness is steadfast and you are dependable. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:35.439 Lord, as we confess this morning, another week in which we were able to reflect and likely easily call to mind ways in which we've sinned against you, yet another week in you are faithful to forgive and to welcome us into your presence by your blood. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:52.000 We pray that we would celebrate alongside the crowds that gathered to shout out Hosanna in the highest, blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:03:07.199 Lord, that your kingdom has come, and that all the things that they couldn't see in the process of you going into Jerusalem that were strange and confusing, we get to reflect back on now and celebrate in the fullness of what you accomplished. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:17.120 So Lord, I pray that we would uh do honor to the position that you've given us in your story and that we would celebrate uh in the fullness of what you show us this morning. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.639 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:19.360 Amen. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:44.960 The year is 538 BC, and King Cyrus of Persia uh sends out a decree that allows for the Jewish people who had been exiled into Babylon, and now that Babylon has been conquered, there's a new king in town, and he sends them back to Jerusalem with funds to resettle the city and rebuild the temple. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:50.400 The first group of exiles to return, return under a man named Zerubbabel. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:57.439 Uh he's uh probably less well known than Ezra and Nehemiah because his name is Zerubbabel. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:07.599 And he returns with this first generation of exiles, and they are well funded by the highest power in the world. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:13.199 They return to Jerusalem and they begin rebuilding. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:19.040 They lay the foundation for the temple, they set up an altar and begin performing sacrifices. 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:34.000 And then the surrounding nations and the surrounding sort of towns and villages see them resettling and see the Jews that have returned to their promised land rebuilding, and immediately they seek to shut it down. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:53.279 Now, I want you to just use as much imagination as you can possibly muster, and I want you to imagine that the highest authority in the world, the greatest military power in the world, had granted the Jewish people permission to return to their land and to resettle it. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:58.240 But the nations around them seek to stop that resettling. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.759 Are you able to stretch your imagination so far? 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:03.519 Now, imagine this. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:14.879 It's in a context where it's um oh, right after the uh Jewish people had uh been sought to be annihilated from their existence in the world. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:27.920 And even amidst this story, as it takes place, the sort of Ezra-Esther Nehemiah story, we see another story in which uh in Esther, the Jewish people are sought to be eliminated from the world. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:41.680 And um you you uh might have some insight into uh the the relevance of the biblical patterns uh as they as they map on to present circumstances. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:44.000 It's at least strange, isn't it? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.519 It's at least strange. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:59.120 Um so that is the that is the situation in which uh our story, the connection that our story makes this morning is is really taking place within. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:11.680 There's this attempted resettling, and then because of this external pressure, the Jewish people, that this first generation of exiles, they stop rebuilding under Zerubbabel. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.040 And they stop rebuilding for about 80 years. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:37.519 80 years of just kind of carrying on in Jerusalem with no walls, extreme vulnerability, and yet they have this uh promise from the king and a promise from God to fulfill what Jeremiah had spoken that they would be returned to the land. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.279 And yet they they are not living in faith to that promise. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:45.920 So God uh uh does not leave them or forsake them. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.160 In fact, he sends them two prophets. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:55.360 The first prophet is Haggai, and Haggai, if you read the book of Haggai, he's just like, keep building. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.480 Keep you stop building, you should start building again. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.160 Have you guys thought about the temple? 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:02.240 Your houses look pretty nice. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:03.680 How's God's house doing? 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.079 Oh yeah, you just stopped building it. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.639 And that's basically what the book of Haggai is. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:17.279 And so he's inspiring and encouraging this generation of returned exiles to rebuild the land that they were taken from. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:25.839 But amidst their not building the temple, there's also a spiritual decay of this first generation of returned exiles. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:41.600 And they had turned their back on the Lord, they had abandoned the promises of God, and particularly they were not caring for widows, they were not caring for orphans, they were not showing mercy or justice, and they were not speaking in truth to one another. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:51.920 And so there's this real, in fact, a way to say it is they were living in precisely the way that they were living before the exile. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:08:04.639 The things that sent them into exile in the first place were the same patterns that they were inhabiting, even though God had shown them this incredible faithfulness to return them to the land. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.319 And so God sends the second prophet named Zechariah. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:17.360 And Zechariah's task is to restore the uh spiritual maturity of the people, to say, look what God has done for us. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:28.720 He has returned us here against all odds by the declaration of the high, the greatest king in the world who just funded us because he wants to. 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:36.720 And now we're back, and you're live we're living in the same way that we had lived that sent us into exile in the first place. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:44.080 And so Zechariah's message is this is this uh call to repent and return to the Lord. 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:49.360 And the first eight chapters of uh Zechariah are just visions. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:58.080 It's like vision after vision, where uh he's like, okay, your wickedness is like a woman in a basket, like a wick, and she's wicked. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:07.120 And I have this vision of this basket, and God's gonna take an iron lid, and he's gonna put it on that basket, and then he's gonna send it away. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.840 So that the wickedness will be gone. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.320 This personified wickedness will be gone. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:19.200 And it's just image after image like that that the people are able to grab onto and hold for the spiritual restoration. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:30.000 And then something strange happens when you hit Zechariah chapter 9, which is what had been prose for the uh whole letter, now becomes poetry. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:43.919 And these visions that have to do with spiritual restoration for the people and a call back to justice and mercy and truth, now Zechariah's vision expands to this incredible future. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:58.720 And it's not just about the rebuilding of the temple and the establishment of the spiritual lives of the people, but it's also a promise that they will be under their own king. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:01.840 This is the dilemma of the exile. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:05.759 David was given a covenantal promise by the Lord. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:12.799 And the covenant that was made with David said, There will be someone on the throne of David eternally. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:17.440 This will be an eternal dominion by the throne of David. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:21.039 But then the people of God are exiled. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.440 This is a long time, by the way, after uh David. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:30.080 It was a very long, what's that called? 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:31.919 Where there's dynasty. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:32.480 Yeah. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:34.080 What was that show? 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.639 This was it was that it was actually based on this. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:46.799 And they uh uh uh that's w I didn't watch dynasty. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:48.320 That's way before me. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:49.519 But anyway. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:02.240 Um David's David's dynasty, in in fact, is the longest continuous dynasty in world history. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:03.360 Did you know that? 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:14.080 The lineage of David ruling in uh Judah is the longest continuous dynasty in world history. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:18.000 You probably thought it was something in China, didn't you? 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:20.559 I can tell just by looking at you guys, you would think that. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.799 Long dynasty, that's what comes to mind. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:23.759 But no. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.480 The um the it's it's David's uh dynasty. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:34.240 But then with the exile, it comes to an end. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.360 So what did that word eternal mean? 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:48.399 This is the question of the the major prophets, the Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:52.559 They're like, okay, we're we don't have a king on the throne. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:55.039 We don't have the temple. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:58.320 We are not in the promised land. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:08.639 All the whole story that we've been mapping and tracking with as we move through as we've moved through Genesis and we've seen these promises of a land and a people, they were acquired. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:16.480 And it was promised to David, the first true king of that place, that it would be an eternal throne. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.399 And here's exile, they don't have it. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:31.279 So now there's a return, and they're returning not under their own king, but under the king of Persia. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:44.320 But Zechariah, he gives the in there, they're already not rebuilding, but in the midst of this, Zechariah zooms to the future and he says, There will be a king. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:52.639 Your enemies will be defeated, and there will be a true king over you. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:57.039 See, all that was lost will be restored. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:02.000 And that's what Zechariah begins talking about in chapter 9. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:08.879 And in the midst of that description of the of this king, Zechariah says this in chapter 9, verse 9 of Zechariah. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:15.759 He says, Shout aloud, O daughters of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.440 I want you to hear in context what that would what that would mean. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.159 They had lost the eternal king. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:38.720 All their sights for a promise had been, we'll we'll just restore this sort of fragment of what we've had, but under this great empire, not belonging to ourselves, but still some semblance of what we had had before. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:42.240 And Zechariah says, You will have a king. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:48.000 The promised king will return, says Zechariah. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:52.000 Behold, look, your king is coming. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.559 Righteous, and having salvation is he. 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:01.519 Zechariah is this letter describing you have not been acting righteous. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:08.240 But your king is coming, and he is righteous, and he has salvation. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:17.279 And then he says, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:20.879 It's a strange image that they were given. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:32.480 After 80 years in these letters of Zechariah and Haggai, Ezra shows up with this second wave of uh exiles returning to Jerusalem. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:43.120 They rebuild the temple, and then shortly thereafter, and overlapping with Ezra, Nehemiah shows up and they rebuild the walls of the city. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.879 But at the end of that story, there is no king. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.360 There's still no king. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:15:03.759 So flash forward, uh about 500 years later, and we pick up where we were with Jesus in his story. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:18.320 He had just healed the blind man Bartimaeus, and he's walking out of Jericho, and they're passing through Bethany at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and there are these great crowds that are gathered with him, and they're just outside of Jerusalem. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:30.320 Jesus is known for walking, and they're just outside of Jerusalem, they're very close, and suddenly Jesus isn't going to walk anymore. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:51.120 So the story, as Mark tells it, about the triumphal entry, you'll read it, and what you remember about Palm Sunday are palms, and you know, because of the name, it's the first thing that comes to mind, and then people laying down their coats and Jesus walking in, and Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:53.919 Those are the things that we remember about Palm Sunday. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:00.720 But when you read Mark tell it, he talks two-thirds of the time about getting the donkey. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:06.159 It's basically a story of acquiring the donkey. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.879 But I want you to hear why. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:19.360 Because in Zechariah 9, chapter 9, he says, Shout aloud, or O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:27.840 Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:34.559 Jesus is not generically entering as a soon-to-be king. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:40.559 This is not a generic king who's coming in, doing kingly tropes. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:46.559 Jesus is coming in as this promised king. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:49.360 The one promised by Zechariah. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.360 And there's a lot of things that you could miss about that king. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:58.879 Mark 11, verse 1 through 2, 500 years after Zechariah's prophecy. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:09.519 Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:15.359 And immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.839 Untie it and bring it to me. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.200 So just outside Jerusalem, Jesus decides he's going to walk. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:30.720 They're at Bethany, at Bethage, they're right at the base of the Mount of Olives, which becomes important later. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:43.200 Mount of Olives is the site at which it is described that when the spirit left the temple, which is described in Ezekiel, it left by way of the Mount of Olives. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:50.240 Now Jesus is returning to Jerusalem in precisely the way that the Spirit had left. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:18:00.720 The Mount of Olives will later be the point at it's the very place at which the ascension happens, where Jesus will ascend before the disciples to the Father. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:08.799 Place where the Spirit left is the place where Jesus ascends and then he sends his spirit upon the church. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:20.480 There's a lot interesting about the Mount of Olives, and we'll basically, as we continue through Mark, end up doing a little mini-series in the midst of Mark. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:42.480 We interrupt our regularly scheduled airing of dynasty to do this mini-series on the Olivet Discourse, which is this sermon that Jesus gives at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which is which is uh incredibly important for what the future of his kingdom means. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:44.880 So anyway, there that's where they are. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.480 They're at the base of the Mount of Olives. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:55.839 And here Jesus says uh to two of his disciples, go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cult tied on which no one has ever sat. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.200 Untie it and bring it. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:13.279 The crowd is in the midst of something like a celebratory frenzy, and it's a frenzy about Jesus, probably stirred up by his healing of Bartimaeus, the blind man, which we looked at last week. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.400 And they see the incredible glory that is in Jesus. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:20.160 And so they're heading towards the Passover in Jerusalem, this frenzy. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:30.319 And Jesus takes two of his disciples and he says, Go into the town, and there's going to be a donkey there who's tied up and bring it, bring it to me. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.160 Jesus says, It's a donkey in which no one has ever sat. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.279 These are royal designations that we see in Jesus' story. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:43.200 He's laid in a tomb in which no one had ever used before, and he sits on a donkey on which no one has ever sat. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:46.799 These things are prepared for the king. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.240 Jesus' instructions continue. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:57.440 Look at, you when you read the Bible, often it's like this is incredibly spare writing. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:03.359 Like when somebody writes in a very spare way, people describe it as biblical language. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.000 You know, it's like a biblical style of writing. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:15.279 So when we see details like this or repetition like this, the the writer is just drawing our attention to these particular details. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:20.400 Like it it certainly would have been enough to say Jesus rode in on a donkey. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:29.839 But instead we get the description of Jesus telling the disciples what about the donkey to go get the donkey, and then we hear about the disciples going to get the donkey. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:31.680 We basically hear the same thing twice. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:37.119 So Mark 11, 3, Jesus says, if anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:44.880 Say, the Lord has need of it, and we'll send it back here immediately. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:55.039 There's a couple of things to see here. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:07.440 The first thing is that Jesus goes and he gets a donkey, which is strange for a king. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:12.079 But also notice that it's a borrowed donkey. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:18.079 And part of the way that Jesus acquires it is by assuring the owners that he'll return it soon. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:24.000 A borrowed donkey that Jesus doesn't even get to keep. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:30.799 That is a humble ask. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:47.680 But the way that Jesus refers to himself in this ask is a rare designation that Jesus rarely gives to himself, which is Lord. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:59.680 So throughout this whole story, there's this kind of this dual movement where he's humbly going in, asking for a donkey, and saying, I'll return it. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.359 To you soon. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:05.279 This is like, you know, sort of a hat in hand ask. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.680 I don't know what that expression means, but I know what it means. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:08.799 I don't know why we say it. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:11.039 But it's a hat in hand ask. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:17.039 And then Jesus, at the same time, he's saying, by the way, it's the Lord who has use of it. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:18.319 The Lord. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:21.279 The one who rules over all things. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:31.920 So Jesus isn't walking with this crowd, thinking, like, oh man, they've gotten stirred up because they saw me heal Bartimaeus. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:36.240 But I'm really just, you know, I'm just the old carpenter. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.519 You know, don't be fooled by the donkeys that I got. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:42.079 I apologize, everyone. 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.759 I'm still, I'm still Jesus from Nazareth. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:50.720 And he's he's uh walking, he's he's not thinking in those terms. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:52.559 It's not like a false humility. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:56.559 He understands completely both sides of the story. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:22:59.519 So I'm sorry. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:01.920 I shouldn't have done that. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:12.400 Um a friend uh came and visited and heard me preach for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and he said, uh, you're not afraid to make people cringe with your jokes, are you? 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:15.359 And he's also a preacher. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.039 And so I felt like that was high praise. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:29.359 Um the uh he refers to himself as the Lord. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:35.039 We we have to see, we have to see the self-consciousness of what Jesus is doing. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:39.359 Verses 4 through 6. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:45.039 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:50.799 And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:54.960 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:01.599 Look, I don't know if this qualifies as a miracle. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:07.039 Uh, if it does, it's it's one of those miracles that barely makes the list. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:09.839 It was like, remember when he fed the 4,000? 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:12.319 And remember when he fed the 5,000? 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.319 And remember blind Bartimaeus, who was then able to see? 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:25.119 Or the in Garusene the demoniac, who he cast out the demons into the pigs and they ran off the cliff into the ocean? 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:29.039 Yeah, and remember when he had pre-arranged for that donkey? 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.319 It's barely a miracle. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:43.920 So why is Mark spending so much time drawing our attention to the acquisition of this donkey? 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:47.519 To the smallest details of it. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:53.359 You know, we don't know, we don't know how the fish in the lobes were multiplied. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:25:02.400 Don't you wish that that Mark was like, and then he reached down, and the way he would do it was he would tear and then the fish would just regrow in front of our eyes. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.079 Like, yeah, that's pretty cool. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.359 That's a nice detail to have. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:08.400 Instead, he's just like, he fed them, 5,000. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:10.240 And he fed them. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:15.680 But this one is the the the other, all four gospels tell this story. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:22.079 Uh it's described in John that these were the owners that come and speak to him. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:37.920 In uh the in Matthew, we see two donkeys that are shown here, which is a uh captures the symbol of carrying the ark of the ark back into the back into Jerusalem, mounted on these animals. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:43.839 But there's just incredible detail about these donkeys. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:26:20.240 I think what's being shown here, and the reason why Jesus is shown as being in absolute control over the acquisition of this donkey, from who he's getting it from, how precisely he tells his disciples to acquire it, from their acquisition of it going precisely the way that Jesus said it would happen, is the gospel writers are trying to tell us this was, he absolutely knew what he was doing. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:24.880 He was, this is the entrance into Jerusalem. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:36.559 And Jesus is self-consciously seeing the story of Zechariah, seeing the prophecy of that king, and Jesus is saying, That is me. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:49.839 And I am taking on all the aspects of that story, I am bringing into my story so that you will know what I am doing here. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:54.400 It is not as though the prophecies of Jesus just sort of happen to him. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:27:02.160 And we may think that because there's a lot of uh passivity in in the passion story. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.200 There's a lot that Jesus receives from other people. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:06.880 You know, he is condemned. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:09.839 He isn't self-condemned, that has to happen to you. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.559 He is beaten and whipped, those things happen to him. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:17.039 But Mark shows us the acquisition of this donkey, the thing that kicks off this whole thing. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:23.440 So it's his it's almost like a way of saying, all of this story belongs to me. 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.160 And I know who I am as the Lord. 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:41.119 I know the precise mission that I am going to fulfill here, and I am in control the way the Lord is in control over all of the details in it. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:54.640 And so, in that, we're able to see that Zechariah, the whole story and promise of Zechariah, Jesus is taking upon himself and bringing into his story. 00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:57.920 And look at Zechariah is so strange. 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:02.079 Well, uh, let me let me show you this first to kind of set it up. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:13.359 In John's retelling of the story, in John 12, verse 16, he says, he says Jesus gets the donkey to fulfill Zechariah, verse 9, chapter 9, verse 9. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.279 Then he says, His disciples did not understand these things at first. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:23.200 But when Jesus was glorified, then they had a sorry, can we can we pause the metronome? 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:25.680 I was getting a little sorry, Harris. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:27.839 The um, I got a little distracted. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:29.680 I was I got a little distracted. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:31.839 You know how that happens, you get distracted by something. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:36.799 It says, His disciples did not understand these things at first. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:44.160 But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:50.160 Jesus is the only one who knows precisely that he is taking this story on. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:57.440 The disciples are witnessing the very same events in real time, but they're unable to discern what they're seeing. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:05.920 But later, after Jesus is glorified, they look back and they say, Remember how particular he was about getting that donkey? 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:14.000 And when we walked in, this whole, he knew what he was doing this whole time. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:17.680 He was taking this whole story upon himself. 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:30.240 And I don't blame them for missing it, because if you read Zechariah without when you read Zechariah, it's like, how could they possibly make sense of this book without Jesus? 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.440 To read this, it's just so strange. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:40.640 It's full of these images that that are that are they feel contradictory. 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:58.319 For example, uh Zechariah 9:9, your king is coming, he has righteousness and salvation, and then next clause, humble and mounted on a donkey is he, on the the foal of a of a donkey. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:01.359 That is a contradictory image. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:13.359 The coming and glory of a king who has righteousness and salvation, like the champion for your people, humble and mounted on a donkey is he. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:18.799 How can both of those, why are both of those images put together? 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:25.920 In Zechariah chapter 11, God describes himself as the shepherd of his people. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:32.319 And the people break covenant with the shepherd and they throw him off as shepherd. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.480 And then God comes to them and he says, Well, I've done all this labor for you. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:44.720 You should pay me something for my wages, and they pay 30 shekels to their shepherd. 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:47.920 They sell out their shepherd for 30 shekels. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:51.920 Jesus will be sold out for 30 pieces of silver. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:31:02.880 Okay, so we've got a king coming, but then this king, who is also the shepherd, gets sold out for 30 shekels of silver, which is the price of a slave. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:17.279 Later in Zechariah chapter 12, Zechariah describes the Lord pouring out a spirit of grace and mercy on the house of David, who will look upon the Lord. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.440 Well, that sounds great. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:21.680 They will look upon the Lord. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:24.400 Now, the Lord, how are we going to describe him? 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:27.359 On him whom they have pierced. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:34.319 And then they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:35.920 Okay. 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:43.759 Great. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:44.960 Who is the Lord? 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:51.119 The one whom they pierced, the one whom they're mourning for, as one mourns for an only son. 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:54.480 What could this possibly mean? 00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:57.680 It's a king, but he's on a donkey. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:01.279 The Lord is our shepherd, we sell him out as a slave. 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:16.079 He is the one whom we are able to look upon and see because a particular spirit of grace and mercy has been poured on us, but that same one is the one who was pierced, who we're mourning for? 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.759 What is these are impossible, these are just different images. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:39.279 In uh Zechariah describes a uh uh the Lord is a shepherd who who stands next to the Lord, but then that shepherd will be struck, and when the shepherd is struck, all the sheep will scatter. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:45.200 That's in chapter 13, verse 7, after the king has been described. 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:58.640 So the king is coming, and he'll be sold out like a slave, he'll be gloriously worshipped by the Spirit of grace, he'll be pierced, he is the shepherd, but he'll be struck and everyone will shatter. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:01.279 This is the one who unites the kingdom. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:26.319 And then in chapter 14, says that the Lord will stand at the Mount of Olives, and it will be like a great earthquake that splits the city, Jerusalem, and it will be like the first day of creation, and all of the world he will be Lord over. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:31.440 He will be lord over all the world. 00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:38.480 So you're reading, you know, the priests are reading out the letter to Zechariah, and they're like, yeah, yeah, we should rebuild this temple. 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.759 You know, we shouldn't have been so fearful, and we have them pretty wicked to each other. 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:44.559 And it'll be nice to get this temple under construction. 00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:51.920 God's being really gracious to us under uh King Cyrus and later King Darius, two back-to-back two good kings in the Persian Empire. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:53.759 That's not bad. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:56.880 Wait a minute. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:03.839 It says he'll be Lord of the world, Lord over everything. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:12.559 All this to say, it makes sense that his disciples missed it. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:19.039 Because the story is impossible to hold together. 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:29.599 The images are of a king who has righteousness and salvation. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:39.840 The promised king is coming back in, and he's the same one who is humble and mounted on a donkey. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:46.320 Only Jesus makes sense of these contradictions. 00:34:47.199 --> 00:35:09.119 Only Jesus captures both sides of this story, where the one who is the promised king is the same one who came to suffer, the same one who comes to lay down his life, the same one who brings salvation by laying down his life on behalf of sinners. 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:16.719 So Jesus is particular about getting the donkey. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:24.159 Because he's particular at taking all of the prophecy of Zechariah upon himself. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:33.599 He takes the piercing, he takes the selling out, he takes the rejection, he takes the lordship over all things. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:38.800 And he does it starting right here, the base of the Mount of Olives. 00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:50.480 Mark 11, 7 through 8, and they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 00:35:50.719 --> 00:36:03.920 So the disciples, they lay there, you know, you can picture those sort of like thin square cloaks that they would have worn, and they lay those on the donkey, and not to be outdone by the disciples, the rest of the crowd joins in two. 00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:17.119 They want to participate in this glorying of Jesus, the one whom they had just seen save Bartimaeus, the one who they join in the cries of Bartamaeus, no longer rebuking them, that this is the son of David. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:33.360 They gather palm branches, which we looked at in our first Palm Sunday sermon of the year, which are a reference to Tamar, who was the line of Judah, which is the kingly line, comes through Tamar, and Tamar means palm. 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:36.239 And so the palm became associated with kings. 00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:40.480 And they cry out from Psalm 118. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:48.079 It says this, and those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:52.639 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father, Hosanna in the highest. 00:36:52.880 --> 00:37:04.239 This is a quoting directly from Psalm 118, and this is the same Psalm which it has this phrase the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:08.480 And so you can see that the crowd in their shouting, they are right. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.639 They are right in their proclamation. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:16.079 Hosanna is like a cry, it means pray, and it also means save. 00:37:16.239 --> 00:37:19.519 And so it's like they're shouting, save us, we pray, save us, we pray. 00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:21.360 Here's the one who could save us. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:26.960 And they're crying out, this is the blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. 00:37:27.039 --> 00:37:30.320 That eternal promised throne is being restored. 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:36.320 Hosanna in the highest, these are all the right things to be crying out about Jesus. 00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:40.400 The crowd is correct in their cries about Jesus. 00:37:40.559 --> 00:38:03.679 But what they don't understand, and what seem what's almost impossible to understand before Christ's story is finished, is that this cornerstone that they are hopefully marching into Jerusalem to see a new kingdom built off of is the stone that will be rejected. 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:14.559 And Jesus understands that he is marching in to be rejected, because that is the stone that will become the cornerstone. 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:23.920 So there is a truthfulness in their participation, the crowd's participation in the story, but they're only able to participate in half the story. 00:38:26.000 --> 00:38:30.239 Jesus is the interpretive key. 00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:45.039 Jesus is the way by which we're able to understand any of what's happening here, and the fullness of his story is expressed in that he is the king and he is the suffering servant. 00:38:48.559 --> 00:38:51.840 He is the stone that the builders rejected. 00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:53.840 There are two crowds. 00:38:54.639 --> 00:39:00.800 The first crowd is the crowd that's just walking with, that's been walking with Jesus from Jericho. 00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:06.400 There's another crowd, you can see it says, and those who went before and those who followed were shouting. 00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:20.880 What Mark is describing is Mark's perspective has basically been with the crowd who's walking from Jericho, but when John tells the story, he takes the perspective of the crowd that is actually in Jerusalem and hears about Jesus coming. 00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:33.760 And so what happens is there's the crowd marching in, and then there's a crowd that hears about Jesus that's all keyed up because of Lazarus' resurrection, and they march out and then they meet together. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:59.679 I want you to just imagine the energy of when these two crowds meet, proclaiming Jesus as the King. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:10.400 You know, it's like uh they're they're chanting and they're shouting back and forth to one another, and then suddenly the crowd doubles. 00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:20.639 And it's just the the intensity of energy of the triumphal entry is it's uh it's stunning, it's shocking. 00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:24.960 It's like um I I don't know. 00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:27.280 I don't know that I've ever seen anything like that. 00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:31.280 Maybe like rush week. 00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:40.400 And yet half the story is veiled. 00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:44.719 Mark 11, 11. 00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:48.719 The story in Mark has this strange little stinger on the end. 00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:51.920 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. 00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:57.360 And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:10.400 So Jesus uh in uh in Mark's telling of the story, the next thing that happens is Jesus goes straight to the temple when he enters Jerusalem. 00:41:11.599 --> 00:41:18.960 And it's nighttime, and he's alone now, and he just looks at it. 00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:21.679 He just inspects it. 00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:42.719 Now, because there's been so much Zechariah fulfillment, and because the these prophecies are sort of taking us right back to this moment of uh Ezra and Esther and Nehemiah, I think there is this sort of nod here to Nehemiah. 00:41:43.440 --> 00:42:00.000 Because Nehemiah, once he gets permission to go back and rebuild the city, he shows up in Jerusalem, and his first night there, he doesn't tell anybody that he's there, but he quietly rides around and he just inspects the city. 00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:04.320 And then he comes back and he says, It's time to rebuild. 00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:08.000 His assessment is things are not good here. 00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:10.480 We're gonna have to rebuild the whole thing. 00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:13.440 And I think Jesus does this same thing. 00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:21.519 And what he'll come back in, as we'll look at next week, after his inspection of Jerusalem, he will come back. 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:25.760 We'll look at this next week, and uh he'll turn over some tables. 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:27.920 He's not happy with what he sees. 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:32.239 So, what do we do with a story like this? 00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:52.239 We need to see that our only way of understanding Christianity is by seeing how Christ brings this all into his story. 00:42:53.039 --> 00:43:05.039 Here's my great fear for us as a church is that we primarily interpret Christ through some other lens. 00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:13.519 And when we interpret Christ through some other lens, we only get half the story. 00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:28.960 So the crowd, they look in their, they are unable to see the prophetic fulfillment of what's going to happen at Christ's crucifixion. 00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:40.000 Because they're only able to see the king as they already understand king, as they already understand what king means. 00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:50.079 We come to the Bible and we have these built in lenses that we're trying to reconcile with. 00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:56.719 And my fear is that we aren't able to see the completeness of Jesus. 00:43:57.440 --> 00:43:59.760 Some of us only see the sacrifice. 00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:09.519 And we don't see the Lord, who is the King, who came to take all things under his possession for his glory. 00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:16.480 Some of us only see the King, and so we don't see the humble servant who came to sacrifice. 00:44:16.639 --> 00:44:22.159 Jesus is the only one who is able to bring both of these into his story. 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:31.039 My thought is that my concern is that we'll think, we'll adopt these other lenses that our culture gives us. 00:44:32.559 --> 00:44:37.760 And we'll interpret the Bible, for example, through a purely therapeutic lens. 00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:50.880 And so we'll consider, you know, this language of the particularity of sin here is this is actually a harmful way to discuss these things. 00:44:52.079 --> 00:45:01.199 And what's happened is, well, then you so now you've, because you've put on that lens, you now miss half the story. 00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:10.880 And you don't actually, you don't actually see that this language of sin is coupled with the language of redemption. 00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:27.840 And so we speak in terms of the ordinary thing that Scripture calls us to, and what we sense is it, but because we've got this other lens on that Jesus hasn't been able to describe the fullness of the story, we're filtering out half the story. 00:45:28.719 --> 00:45:52.880 Or if we only see Christ as Lord, and we don't see him as the humble one who came in to sacrifice for sinners, then all of a sudden we start filtering out all kinds of people or we start assessing ourselves based on just our own righteousness. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:57.599 And we see we've actually just missed half the story. 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:11.920 Jesus is the righteous one, the Savior, who has come to bring salvation for sinners. 00:46:12.320 --> 00:46:19.280