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“Palm
Sunday 2006" |
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“Palm
Sunday 2006" |
Rev. Dr Robert Iles
There are certain names which create a strong reaction in us.
Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot.
Then there are lower level names that also get a reaction: – Don Dunstan, John Kerr, Judas Iscariot, Shane Warne, Kerry Packer and more.
One name ELECTRIFIED the Jews. It was the surname Maccabeus.
Judas Maccabeus had an amazing seven year career of conquest.
In 167BC a Syrian king called Antiocheius joined the list of those who had
Conquered Palestine. He sought to impose Greek ways on the Jews.
To possess a copy of the Law or to circumcise a child were crimes punishable by death.
He desecrated the Temple.
There he sacrificed pigs on the holy altar, and then at pain of death he demanded that the Jews eat the pork or be killed.
He put what Scripture calls the abomination of desolation over the altar- a pagan idol image Of Zeus.
Judas Maccabeus, one of the great unacknowledged military strategists of history,
organized a Jewish army that threw the tyrant out. He had the Temple reconsecrated. Some thought him to be the Messiah. Psalm 118 would have been used.
People wondered, was Jesus about to do the same thing?
Judas brother Simon
did the same thing a few years later, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey after
dispatching the latest enemies.
Branches of palm trees were waved, there was
great singing, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
The Maccabean rulers then held sway over Israel as the Hasmonean family, for about 100 years.
When Jesus rode into town, Jewish memory was reanimated.
Was history going to
repeat itself? Was the healing Jesus going to become the conquering Jesus? Were
his miraculous powers going to be turned
on Pilate and Herod and the land
restored to the Jews?
The Jews also believed
that the Messiah would restore, cleanse and rebuild the Temple. In fact this is
what the Herodian family was doing, in the
hope that the Jews would recognize
the Herod family as Messianic.
The whole scene is charged with military, rebellious overtones as the
Potential conqueror boldly rides into town on a donkey.
What incredible courage this is. Leaders hate him and are after him.
But no skulking into town in fear – the Lord organises a street party which announces his arrival. What courage.
Perhaps the Jews thought, with this kind of boldness He was
Preparing to marshal his troops. And maybe riding on a donkey was a clever diversion from what he planned.
Unlike in our time, the donkey was an honoured animal; it was seen as a noble beast. When a king went to war he rode on a horse,
When he came in peace he rode on an ass. Here is one coming in peace,
But with Maccabean overtones. Note he rides an untamed one.
I read of a riding school in West Texas. It advertises that they have the right horses for every rider. For fat people they have fat horses; for skinny people skinny horses.
For people who like speed they
have fast horses and for people who prefer to go slow they have slow horses.
And
for people who have never ridden a horse before, for them they have horses that
have never been ridden on.
The Lord tames animals the way he tames our wild and restless hearts.
But where are his soldiers think the people?
Perhaps it is all well planned and they are concealed.
Is it the long hoped for Messiah?
Jewish emotions are at fever pitch. They shout out Hosanna –save now! It is less
praise to the Lord than a
cry for God to break in and save his people through
this Messiah. Emotions are higher than a tied grand final
With five minutes to go.
Extra guards are set in place by Pilate.
The temperature is raised again when Jesus goes into Jerusalem and visits the Temple. He walks into the area as if reconnoitering.
Then returns home to Bethany for the night. The next day he returns to the temple.
Perhaps he had been distressed all night at what he had seen there and has resolved he will act.
Money changers exploiting worshippers. People could only use certain Jewish coins in the Temple and had to pay high exchange rates to get those coins.
The prayer area was set aside for the Gentiles like the Greeks
Who visited him in last Sunday’s reading have been taken over by businesses.
The Messiah watchers are beside themselves as Jesus, like Judas and Simon, charges into the Temple to cleanse it.
His ride
into town has already fulfilled Scripture in the OT that said this would happen.
In Zechariah 9:9 it says this:
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having
salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
And in addition he storms into the temple.
He overturns tables, he drives out sellers and buyers, drives out the moneychangers
And the pigeon sellers. He even blocked access to those who
Wanted to continue business. What authority. Why did the Temple guards not act?
No one goes near him. He speaks
the words of a prophet in v.17, Is it not written, “My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all the nations?
But you have made it a den of robbers.
The response: 11: 18
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking
for a way to kill him, for they feared him,
because the whole crowd was amazed
at his teaching.
And so the stage is set for Holy Week, for the Passion, Good Friday, and Easter. In all this,
The roles of the crowds are crucial.
They often serve in protective role, as in v.18.
The corrupt, jealous leaders fear the crowds.
We have just seen great crowd enthusiasm. People spread precious garments on the road, branches were spread before him. The crowd was enthusiastic.
Wherever Jesus went he drew crowds that were the envy of Pharisee and Sadducee.
They gather to hear, to be healed, delivered, to be fed, to praise and cry out in wonder.
They are like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless.
Sometimes the crowd is completely
self-interested. It rebukes the blind beggars and tells them to be quiet.
Sometimes the crowed intrudes when
Jesus wants quiet or does a healing in private.
He dismisses a crowd of waling people at the death of a child and then heals.
The crowd blocks out someone like Zaccheus, a tiny man who for once the crowd could obstruct.
But on the whole the crowd is interested, supportive and protective.
But from Mark 11 on that changes.
Crowds are vulnerable, easily led, swayed by emotion and irrationality.
They can be used and manipulated, maybe like we have seen in France in recent days.
The crowds can be adoring one moment then bent on revenge the next.
Once the crowd sees that Jesus is not going to build on his impressive entry, not going to follow up on the Temple cleansing with a hostile visit to Pilate,
They change. They are angry, fired up, ready to act and the Jewish leaders
Know how to turn that into something in their favour.
By Mark 14 Judas appears with……..listen.
43 Just as he was speaking,
Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and
clubs
sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
After the arrest and a faux trial, Pilate announces to the Chief Priests and the crowd: “I find no basis for a charge against the man (LUKE 23:4)
But the crowd will influence events again.
Mark 14: 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate,
10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
13 "Crucify him!" they shouted.
14 "Why? What crime has he
committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged.
Crowds have short term goals, like the Cronulla riots.
And when you get to the Acts of the apostles, crowds are almost always hostile to the emerging missionary church.
And so we are set for
Holy Week. Gradually the crowds retreat, like a wave returning to the ocean on
the sea shore.
As they leave, the disciples are not far behind. They too
retreat, betray, disappoint.
They are washed away by their own weakness and unbelief.
The grains of Roman justice and
Jewish religious integrity are washed out too, until there is the solitary man/
God left, alone, misunderstood,
abandoned by all he loved, helped, healed. All
is set for a holy week for a holy people.
Rev. Dr Robert Iles