Now, can we read together once again in our Bibles from John chapter 12?
We're going to read from verse 12 to verse 19.
As we think about welcoming Jesus, God's humble king.
The next day, the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
Do not be afraid, daughter Zion. See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.
At first, his disciples did not understand all this.
Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him
and that these things had been done to him.
Now, the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead
continued to spread the word.
Many people, because they'd heard that he'd performed the sign, went out to meet him.
So the Pharisees said to one another,
See, this is getting us nowhere.
Look how the whole world has gone after him.
So we'll think about that section together,
recognizing as we begin that how we welcome someone
often reflects a signal of the honor and value we place upon them.
And as we think about Christmas, we need to recognize the great truth that God the Father
wants his son to be honored, wants his son to receive a welcome and to receive worship.
And we know this as we think about the familiar stories of Christmas.
We think about the joyful welcome.
The angels singing in heaven, the shepherds rushing to worship,
Simeon joyfully holding Jesus in the temple.
We think about the great messages that are announced about the kind of king Jesus had come to be.
He's in the line of David.
He's come to fulfill all those great promises of the king who would rule and reign for God forever.
He's come to be the Savior.
He's come as Messiah, God's anointed, chosen king, to be his agent of salvation.
And he's come not just for some, but he's come to be the king for the world.
And we see that as the Magi come to worship him that Christmas.
And now, as we come to John 12, and we're just a few days away from his death,
we see those same themes emerge.
And we see a massive crowd gathering.
And in their words, they are praising King Jesus.
They declare him as the promised Savior King.
And we hear even his enemies recognize this is a king not just for some, but king for the whole world.
God wants his son to be honored and to receive a welcome.
And so the question we'll ask ourselves as we think about this text is,
what welcome do we give?
What worship do we offer?
What honor do we place on Jesus?
Because our text reminds us that because Jesus is God's Savior King for the world,
we should all joyfully welcome and worship him.
So let's think, first of all, about the welcome that Jesus receives in verses 12 and 13.
We are reminded that this is still in the context of the festival, the Passover festival.
So a huge crowd is beginning to flock to Jerusalem.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, reckons maybe over two million people might come to Jerusalem for this festival.
A time of great celebration, also a time of national hope.
Every year wondering, will there be a new exodus this year?
Will God send us a king who will free us from Rome this year?
And so national expectations then become centered on Jesus.
Now two details to notice in verse 12 and 13.
Let's think about the palms and let's think about the psalms.
So in verse 13, they took palm branches as they went out to meet Jesus.
And so we need to ask, maybe you've asked yourself the question,
why palm branches?
What's that about?
Is this the equivalent of, you know, first century fireworks or rolling out the red carpet?
Or is there something more?
Well, two historical facts that might help to give us a bit more insight.
One, back in 141 BC, there was a guy by the name of Simon Maccabeus.
And Simon Maccabeus led, I guess, an uprising against the Syrian empire who had taken over Jerusalem and the temple.
And he booted them out of Jerusalem.
And when Simon came back into Jerusalem, he received this hero's parade.
And he was greeted with singing and with people waving palm branches.
So that's 141 BC.
And then, in the 60s AD, there was another group of Jews that sought to revolt and get rid of the Roman Empire once again.
And when they had temporary success, what they did was they minted some coins.
And on those coins, what did they put?
They put palm branches.
And so there's something in the Jewish, my Jewish understanding that is connecting the palm branch with this symbol of military triumph and victory and freedom.
And so there is significance in the way Jesus is being welcomed.
Hope is high.
Here is Jesus and he does miracles.
And so there's the expectation.
This, this one is the national deliverer.
And, of course, we understand in Jesus' teachers.
Yes, he has come to be saviour, deliverer, but not in a political way, rather in a spiritual way.
So there's the palms, but then there's also the psalms.
So there's shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel.
And so we need to ask ourselves why these particular shouts on this particular day.
Well, a little bit more history and background.
When the Jews would gather for the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover,
each morning as they would congregate at the temple, they'd be singing Psalms 113 to 118,
which we just sang, Psalm 118.
And so the first cry there, Hosanna, which means give salvation now,
we find that in verse 26.
And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
we find that in verse 25 of Psalm 118.
These words of welcome for a Messiah king.
So the praises they were singing in the temple in the morning
are the praises they now use of Jesus as he arrives into the city.
So let's just take a little pause and let's think about this for ourselves.
Our welcome, our worship.
Three observations.
And the first one would be this.
When it comes to worship, we need to let God's word guide us.
When we think about all the vital questions that are connected to faith and to religion,
is there a God who is Jesus?
Why did he come?
We know, I am sure, that there are so many voices,
so many places, so many so-called experts.
You can go on YouTube or if you read social media,
you can go to a bookstore and you will find people claiming all kinds of truth.
And what God's church needs to do is we need to make sure that in all of those voices
that the word of God is our decisive final authority for how we understand
who our God is and what he has done and how we worship him.
Because who we listen to will have that impact of discipling us,
giving us an understanding, give us an image of what God is like.
And if it's not rooted in God's word, then it will be defective and it will be unacceptable to God.
Think about questions for the life of faith.
How are we to praise God?
How are we to pray to God?
Where do I go to find wisdom from God?
How do I live to please God?
Again, all of those questions we take to the word of God.
We find our guidance and direction from a God who speaks,
from a God of revelation.
But really interesting that the crowds were singing truth together in the morning
and that led them naturally to express that truth when Jesus came in the afternoon.
I think very practically as God's people,
it's a reminder of the value of beginning the day with God's word.
Of storing up that word in our heart, of meditating on it, of praying it through,
of carrying it with us, to let God's word shape our day and how we approach it.
Another thing that we can say from this crowd, and this needs us to sort of move beyond John 12,
is that we need to beware of wrong ways to welcome Jesus.
Because many in this crowd who sound so excited now,
are wrong on Jesus' identity.
Expect him to be a certain kind of saviour.
When they don't get that, they'll reject Jesus.
So a wrong way to welcome Jesus is to imagine,
well, if I accept Jesus, then he'll then serve my agenda.
Here's Jesus, he'll answer my questions and he'll meet my needs
and he'll sort of bring me what I'm looking for.
But we need to understand, and we see this from the crowds,
that Jesus is determined to follow his Father's will.
He's not here to please human expectations.
They wanted someone who would fight the Romans and get rid of Caesar.
And so we need to be very careful to humble ourselves,
rather than to say, I'll accept Jesus if he serves my needs.
I think another wrong way to welcome Jesus that we see so often in the crowds in Jesus' day,
it is to admire Jesus, but never to truly worship.
There's so much of Jesus to admire in people who are not Christians,
people even of other faiths, find there is much to admire of Jesus
in his teaching and his character.
And on top of that, we'll find some people who love theology,
who love big ideas, and thinking about the complexities of big ideas about God.
But there's a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God,
between knowing about Jesus and knowing him personally.
Jesus says there's one thing that we need to do,
and that's to believe in him.
The invitation is to follow him.
Our willingness is to be ready to carry our cross, to follow him.
And all of that says there's a personal commitment,
there's a personal involvement, there's a level of sacrifice.
So it's not enough simply to admire Jesus.
We need to submit to him as king and to worship him.
And then the third thing to say at this point is,
it's so important that we center our life on Jesus the king,
to recognize that he is the one we need,
and to recognize that he meets our greatest needs.
So again, many in the crowd thought their greatest need was political freedom.
We might have our ideas of, here's what we need individually or as a society,
here's our greatest need, here's our list of great needs.
But the Bible would always say our great and ultimate need is for atonement.
What we need is that there would be someone who would wash us from our sin.
That there would be one who would take from us the just anger of God,
who would divert it away from us.
One who would restore peace and fellowship between us and God.
And that is what Jesus came to do.
Jesus was born in order to go to the cross,
in order to make atonement for our sin.
That's our great need.
And here we are reminded too in our text that Jesus is our great hope,
because Jesus is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Jesus is the one who brings salvation now.
And the wonderful thing about Jesus is that he still comes to his people.
He comes to make us home in our hearts.
He comes so that we might live in the overflow of his wonderful love.
He comes to supply us with his strength by his spirit.
And so there is good news in the fact that we have a king who saves and a king who comes.
When we're confronted perhaps by our past sins and our feelings of guilt,
we remember that King Jesus came to pay the price in full to wash us from all of our sins.
And he would come to us and say that the payment has been made.
That we look to the cross and we remind ourselves that we are loved and accepted by God
because of what Jesus has done.
Perhaps in all the joys and the chaos, the excitement, the busyness of everyday life,
we need to remember that Jesus comes to be with us.
And he would give us grace and he would give us wisdom and he would give us help for each moment.
And as we think about the future, which sometimes can feel so uncertain and perhaps even scary,
we remember the coming of Jesus for our future hope and glory.
We are reminded in just a couple of chapters that the same Jesus who came once will come again in his glory
and he will come to take his people to be with him forever.
So we're invited to center our life on Jesus, the Savior King.
What kind of king is Jesus?
Let's think next about Jesus, the humble king.
So here is Jesus, hundreds of thousands of people around him, in front of him,
facing huge expectations as well.
How does Jesus arrive in the city?
There's two surprises that we can find here in our section.
First, in chapter 11 and verse 54, we learn this.
It says,
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.
Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness,
to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
So we're moving from here's Jesus withdrawing to the wilderness,
to a private place,
to now making a very deliberate, public, bold entry into Jerusalem.
We need to ask ourselves, why the change?
Why has that happened?
And the answer is because Jesus knows his hour has come,
the hour of his rejection and suffering and death,
but also the hour of his being glorified and resurrected and returning to heaven.
The hour is now.
And so Jesus embraces that in obedience to his father,
and he comes publicly.
But the other surprise is Jesus' choice of transport, isn't it?
Verse 14,
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it.
Just as a by-the-by,
we probably all have our stories of brushes with fame.
When we were flying out for our honeymoon,
easy jet flight from Inverness to London,
we shared it with none other than Ross Kemp from EastEnders.
Wow.
Is Jesus just choosing a mode of transport that shows that he identifies with the poor people of the day,
that he's ready to fly coach, as it were?
Or is there something more that's taking place here?
And I think we understand and we can see that there's more that's going on in the mind of Jesus and in this story.
Let's think about the parable that's taking place here.
This is an acted parable.
As Jesus finds this young donkey and rides in,
this is a very deliberate choice.
The other Gospels tell us Jesus has deliberately sought out this young donkey to ride on,
not a war horse.
You know, you're deliverer kings.
They come in glory and splendor and pomp and ceremony.
They come riding mighty beasts.
Jesus has a lesson to teach in this.
He wants to remove, on the one hand, false hopes.
He's not come for political freedom, but spiritual freedom.
He's come as the prince of peace.
He's come to make peace between sinners and God.
He's not come to wage war on Rome.
And there's also a lesson in this journey because it so well reflects the life of Jesus on earth.
From the cradle to the cross, what do we see of Jesus?
We see humility.
We see a humble saviour king.
But there's more than just a parable going on here.
There's also prophecy being fulfilled.
That's why it says, verse 14,
As it is written,
Do not be afraid, daughter Zion.
See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.
So, Jesus, as he seeks out the young donkey, is seeking to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9.
Now, often, when a New Testament author quotes a little bit of a section of the Old Testament,
we are intended to think more widely.
What's the context surrounding that quote?
So, if you've got a Bible, paper, or on a device,
you might want to turn back to Zechariah 9 just for a few minutes
to just think about what's being said deliberately by Jesus
as he comes riding this young donkey.
So, in verse 9 of Zechariah 9,
we read,
Rejoice greatly, shout, daughter Jerusalem.
And that's what we're seeing, isn't it?
Triumphal entry, praising the king.
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey.
So, Jesus is announcing that he is the righteous king,
he's the victorious king,
but he's also telling us about his nature,
that he's a lowly, humble king.
Just as when Jesus, the one time in the Bible,
he speaks about his own heart, Matthew 11,
he talks about his heart being gentle and lowly,
the one who's come to give rest.
It's the kind of king we have,
a lowly, humble king.
Then verse 10,
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war horses from Jerusalem.
What is Jesus wanting us to understand about him?
Now he has come to end war.
And again, maybe some in the crowd would misunderstand
and think, great, he comes to defeat Rome,
but he's come to bring that physical,
not physical, but spiritual end to war,
that he has come to wage war against Satan
and against sin and against death there on the cross
to conquer over those great enemies of ours.
And to conquer them,
and the proof of that conquering is the resurrection.
Jesus also,
and it says here in verse 10,
he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea.
Jesus wants us to understand that he has come to bring peace
to the nations.
He's come to rule as ruler over all the nations.
He's come to bring peace.
He's come to bring wholeness and completeness
and a restored relationship to God.
And he opens the way for all to come through him.
And then in verse 11 of Zechariah 9,
as for you,
because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
So this king is associated with the blood of the covenant.
And then what happens just a few days later
is we find Jesus sitting down in an upper room
to share the Passover meal,
which becomes the last supper,
the Lord's supper,
when he takes the bread and he says,
this broken bread is my body broken for you.
And then he takes the cup,
this cup,
this blood is this wine
that represents the blood of the covenant,
a blood that would be shed for his people.
And so here is Jesus,
our king,
and he knows full well
that as our substitute,
he has come to be the sacrifice
to take away sin.
That he has come to be slaughtered
so that we might be saved.
Now the disciples,
back to John 12,
the disciples don't understand this at first,
verse 16,
only after Jesus was glorified
did they realize these things
had been written about him
and done to him.
So there's something in the death of Jesus
that represents the turning point
in his life on earth.
That's why Philippians 2
is so important for us to hear.
To hear of Jesus,
the humble servant king
who became obedient to death,
even to death on a cross.
But then in the turn,
what happens?
Because God is pleased with him
and God accepts the sacrifice
and he is vindicated,
then he is exalted to the highest place.
Then he's given the name
that's above every name,
that every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus is Lord.
There is a day coming
when we will all stand before Jesus
in all of his glory
and we will all bow our knees
and we will all confess
that Jesus is Lord.
Some of us will do that gladly.
Our Saviour has come.
Others will do it to receive his judgment.
So important to respond now
to Jesus as Lord.
Now do you just think
for a couple of minutes
about the pattern of Jesus
and what does this pattern
say to us?
It's basically,
what does it say to us
about how to live
the Christian life?
Again, we read Philippians 2
and we're told
to have the same mindset
as the Lord Jesus.
So Jesus is our model
when it comes to humility.
Let's think about
our relationships for a moment.
we're being encouraged
as those who are followers
of Jesus Christ
to live and to speak
differently,
to take a humble
and a gentle posture
towards others
in our homes,
in our workplaces,
in our community.
And we're called to that
in the context of
where we find ourselves now,
a world that's very polarized,
a whole number of issues
where people are really quick
to be angry
and impatient
and judgmental,
especially with the separation
that the internet provides.
But we are called
to be different
in our words,
actions,
and attitudes.
And that's to be true
for us in church
in the way that we deal
with one another
and that's to be true
also in our dealings
in the world.
to think about
which pattern
defines
how I deal
with my relationships.
Is it the pattern
of the world?
We're in it
for what we want
and we're pursuing
our agenda,
are we?
Patterning our lives
on Jesus,
humble
and gentle.
Also,
when we think about
the journey of Jesus,
I think it helps us
to begin
to consider
our own pride
and to think about
how to put it today.
Because isn't the gospel,
the gospel should always
be killing our pride.
Here is Jesus,
he's left the glory
of heaven
to become one of us,
to die for us
because
the only way
that we can be saved
is for us to have
the God-man
as our
saviour,
as our representative,
as our sacrifice.
We are so bad
that there is no other
way of hope
for us.
So there is no room
for pride
in the Christian life,
rather,
there is humility
and there's grateful worship
for what Jesus has done.
And then when we think
about our lives
of discipleship,
of being followers
of Jesus,
I guess it makes us
ask the question,
what journey
should we expect
as we see Jesus
here on the journey
ultimately to the cross?
See,
we find teaching
in the world,
perhaps we've heard
of the prosperity gospel,
believing Jesus,
having our faith
and health
and wealth
and happiness
was all bound
to be yours.
That was never
the pattern of Jesus.
The pattern of Jesus
tells us
we can expect
suffering first
with glory to follow.
And so we need
to have that realism
about the Christian life.
But also when we think
about our discipleship,
doesn't the journey
of Jesus help us
in our worship?
He is the eternal
Son of God
who left the riches
of heaven
in order to
love us this way.
That we would reflect
on that,
that we might be amazed
by his grace,
that it might fuel
our worship.
Last thing to think
about,
the wonderful reality
that Jesus is king
for the world.
Verses 17 to 19.
Again, notice
that there are
two crowds here.
there's the crowd
that was with Jesus
when he called Lazarus
from the tomb.
And they're continuing
to spread the word.
Excitement is building.
The news is spreading
about King Jesus,
the one who is
the resurrection
and the life.
And then there's
this other crowd.
They've come out
from Jerusalem.
They're here
for the festival.
The reputation of Jesus
has been spreading
and so they come
to meet Jesus.
I don't want to push
this too far
but what we see
at the cross
and what we see
in the church as well
is that any crowd
is often a mixed crowd.
There are some
who truly worship
Jesus in this crowd.
Others who will
within days
be crying,
crucify him.
We have no king
but Caesar.
So there's two crowds
going on
but there's also
two phrases
from the Pharisees
that I was to think about.
The Pharisees are saying
to one another
first of all
see this is getting us
nowhere.
So we're being reminded
that despite
their worst efforts
to get rid of Jesus
confronting him,
accusing him,
trying to trap him
with their words
of wanting to arrest him,
trying to have him stoned.
Despite all of that
they cannot stop
King Jesus.
They cannot derail
the Father's plan
for Jesus.
And then they say
look how the whole world
has gone after him.
So many times
in the Gospels
we find people saying
far more than they
ever intended to say.
The whole world
has gone after him.
They see this huge crowd
coming out of Jerusalem
and they're despairing.
Ah, we really need
to get rid of Jesus.
They imagine the crowd
representing the world.
Indeed, in verse 20
which we didn't read
we find there were
some Greeks
among those
who went up
to worship
at the festival.
But when the fantasies
say look how the whole world
has gone after him
we see that then
being fulfilled,
don't we?
in the global church.
And that's a wonderful reality.
It reminds us
that global church
fulfills God's promises
and God's purposes.
We can trace that
all the way back
to Genesis 12.
Abraham has promised
one of his seed
will be blessing
to the nations.
That's Jesus.
We can think about
those wonderful stories
of people like Rahab
and Ruth
foreigners,
worshippers
of other gods
who become part
of the community
of faith
and become part
of the family line
of Jesus.
We can think about
the promise
in Isaiah
of the Messiah
as the servant
of the Lord,
the one who would be
light to the nations.
Think again
about the Magi
coming from the east
to worship,
to acknowledge
Jesus as the King.
Think about
the great commission
of Jesus
just before he goes
up to heaven.
He says to the disciples
you be my witnesses
in Jerusalem
and Judea
and Samaria
and to the ends
of the earth.
Think about
the sending
of the Spirit.
What happens
at Pentecost
with the sending
of the Spirit?
The disciples
are able to speak
in other languages
so people can hear
the good news
of Jesus.
And then think
about the spread
of the church
in the book of Acts
and beyond.
And then think
of Revelation 5.
I'm going to sing
Is He Worthy?
Again,
because what do we have
in Revelation 5?
We have this picture
of the throne room
in heaven
and there we have
people from every nation,
and culture
and people group
and language
and they're all united
in the worship
of the Lord Jesus
because the global church
fulfills God's purpose
and God's promise.
And we understand
in the age
that we're living in
that brutal regimes
have tried
and are trying
to destroy the church,
to kill
and to arrest
God's people.
Some of us
will remember
Andrew McKeever
was sharing
with us
of a pastor
in Burma
who was shot dead
by the rebel army
as he tried
to save
his burning church building.
This week
I read of three
elderly pastors
in Eritrea
all in their 70s
arrested
for sharing
the good news
of Jesus
in their country.
Regimes,
individuals,
communities
will try
to stop the church
but still
the church
of Jesus grows.
As Jesus said,
the gates of hell
will not prevail.
There's rapid growth
in some parts
of the world
and sometimes
when things seem hard
here and people
seem apathetic
we need to remind
ourselves of what's
happening in Africa
and parts of Asia
and Central and South America
where the gospel
is spreading rapidly.
But very practically
it reminds us
that God's mission
matters
and our support
and our involvement
in mission
matters indeed.
It's a privilege
for us
as the people
of God
to be looking
to do whatever
we can
to make disciples
of all nations.
So there's a big picture
significance of Jesus
being king for the world
but the very personal
significance of Jesus
being king for the world
means that
Jesus would be
saviour for you
and me.
When it says
the whole world
Jesus is saviour
for the whole world
it means whoever we are
whatever our story
whatever our background
Jesus would be saviour
for us.
Jesus
God's son
God's king
who lived
died
rose
now reigns
in heaven
having
acted
on the cross
to forgive
sin
to grant
eternal life
we're invited
to turn
from sin
and to trust
in him
submit to him
as king
saviour for the world
he would also be saviour
for you
and for me.
Just as we close
then
what kind of welcome
do we give
king Jesus
this glorious
son of God
the one who
who left
the throne
of heaven
to journey
to the manger
to journey
to the cross
in order
to save us.
what welcome
what worship
what honour
does he receive
from us
perhaps in this week
in the run up to Christmas
we can think about those two comings
his coming
into the world
and his
coming to
the cross
that we would welcome
and that we would
worship king Jesus
as lord
let's pray
our father
in heaven
we thank you
so much
for your word
your word
that reveals
to us
Jesus
as saviour
and king
reveals to us
his heart
as a humble king
the one
who would be
saviour
for any
and for all
who would put
their trust
in him
so Lord
we pray
that in all
the things
that are going
on in the next
few days
that you would
give us
the wisdom
and the desire
to set aside
time
to remember
Jesus
and to remember
his coming
into our world
in order to make
atonement
for our sin
and to think
about him
leaving
glory
in order
to be
that sacrifice
that would
take away
your wrath
against our sin
that would
bring us
peace
with our God
so that you
would give us
deep joy
and deep
worship
at this time
of year
and indeed
for all of our
lives
we pray
in Jesus
name
Amen
So to help us
to continue
reflecting on
the wonderful
theme of Jesus
our King
we'll stand
and we'll sing
again
Is He Worthy?
God
.