The inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the U.S. was historic and it was great drama.
The expectations were huge against a canvas of deep anxiety and hope.
One of the most electric moments was when he and his wife exited their amored limosine and walked openly to the wild delight of the gathered crowd. At that moment he could have asked those gathered to give their first-born and he might have gotten them.
But especially among the commentators, there was great unease at seeing him walking openly among the crowds. One reporter breathed an audible sigh of relief when the new president and his wife climbed back into their secure limo.
The risks were huge but the rewards were also.

Now imagine that scene if days earlier Mr. Obama had been to Wall Street where he had personally kicked the butts of half the hedge fund and trading managers who had caused the worst of the economic melt-down.
Imagine the scene if the people saw him as a hero but the elites saw him as an imminent threat.

Something like that would set the scene for Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem just before his death.

The Saducees, Priests and Levites were all the aristocratic blue bloods of Judah. They ran the temple and collected a great deal of money in the bargain. They were upper class and typically well to do.
They did not believe in a resurrection. What you saw was what you got. This life was it. The fact that they were doing very well in this life suited them just fine and anything that threatened their position and privilege would not be welcome. No surprise there.
And then Jesus comes on the scene, walks into the temple and breaks up their money-market.

On top of that, Judah was balanced on a razor's edge politically.
For years there had been mini insurrections against the Romans, and tensions were high.
A couple of hundred years before Jesus, a man named Judas Maccabeas had driven the remnants of Alexander the Great's empire out of Jerusalem and restored Judah to a brief time of independence. Then Rome filled the vacuum.
This fellow Maccabeas was so famous that the temple money had his face on it along with palm branches which had become symbolic of the rebellion. People had waved palm branches during his glorious revolution and had welcomed him to the city as a conquering hero.

Rome had a nasty way of putting down insurrection. They pretty much slaughtered anyone in sight who was even suspected of having anything to do with it.
 Jews had never taken well to being subjugated and, full scale rebellion did break out forty years later in 70 AD.
The Romans put it down so severely they literally took Jerusalem apart stone by stone and punished the Jews by driving them out of the land for two thousand years. Only in 1947 were they allowed to come back. Thousands were slaughtered in the Roman repression.

It was precisely that kind of reprisal that the Saducees especially feared. If Jerusalem were sacked, they lost everything.

It was the feast of the Passover, the holiest of all Jewish festivals and the city was teeming with visitors for all over the known world.
Lots of people. Lots of excited people.
Roman soldiers on the alert.

Oh yes, and don't forget, Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead.
Now that really annoyed the Saducees who say there is no resurrection.
It really annoyed the Pharisees because it was proof that Jesus is from God, but they considered him a heretic.

So if you are an advisor to Jesus, what is your advice?
You know all the authorities are out to get you.
What you say to Jesus is... I wonder what the weather is like down by the Dead Sea this time of year.
Or you say, "Lord, if you insist on being in Jerusalem, I know a secluded spot where we can hide out until things simmer down."

What you don't say is "How about a parade?"
Especially you don't suggest he come riding into the city on a donkey with everyone waving palm branches.

In case you didn't remember, doing that is a clear and unambiguous signal that you are indeed the Messiah.
A very clear messianic passage is from Zechariah chapter 9 which says

Coming into Jerusalem with a crowd waving palm branches, just like you are Judas Maccabeas, is a pretty clear sign that you are proclaiming yourself the new King.
And that would be disaster they thought.
What in the world was Jesus thinking?

 He was thinking that He is the king.

Jesus is saying to everyone who had eyes and ears, "I am your king".
He also knew he was coming to lay down his life.
The point he is making is though he comes to lay down his life, it will not be the death of some hopeful prophet--one more in a long line.
His offering of himself will be as the Annointed One of God.
He did not want anyone to make any mistake about who he thought he was.

Paul writes of Jesus that he is the lamb slain before the foundations of the world.
This is not a haphazard series of events lurching toward disaster.
It was what God had planned from before He even created the world.
Remember what I said last week: Jesus primary motivation was to do the will of the One who sent Him.
God, the creator is the One who sent Jesus.
This was not Jesus last-ditch attempt to get people to pay attention.

In fact, I would argue that Jesus did not do it so much for the crowd assembled that day.
He did it so that everyone who ever hears about Him will know he is the One sent by God.
We read about it and the message we recieve is that he died not as a carpenter, but as a King.
This was not so much His idea, as it was the plan all along of the sovereign God of creation.

That's hard to understand, but it's at the heart of creation.
The fundamental principle of life is that Jesus died for you and me.
But He did so because that was why God sent Him.

What in the world was Jesus thinking?
He was thinking that even if at that precise moment people didn't get it, they would eventually.
That looking back from the perspective of his death and resurrection, we would understand what He was trying to tell us:
He is our King.
And He came to die, to fulfill what God planned from the beginning.

What can we do in response?
We can honor Him.
We can follow Him.
We can copy Him and give our allengiance to the One who sent Him.

He is our King

Stand with me in honor of our King as we pray.

Prayer: Lord we stand in honor of you. Whether the whole world is following you or not, we are and we recognize you as King and Lord of all. Hallelujah! Hosanna! Blessed are you who come in the name of the Lord.
Amen


Preached  April 5, 2009
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian Church
Victoria, British Columbia

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Resources Consulted
William Hull, "Luke-John", Broadman Bible Commentary, Broadman Press.
William Barclay, "The Gospel of John", Vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible. Saint Andrew Press.

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