Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship

      • Matthew 21:1–5ANGLNIV2011

      • Mark 11:4–11ANGLNIV2011

  • Hosanna

      • Luke 19:37–40ANGLNIV2011

      • Matthew 21:10–11ANGLNIV2011

  • What’s your wish

    If you could wish for anything, what would your wish be?
    I remember pondering this question many times throughout my childhood.
    I think my standard answer as a child was to ask for more wishes. In effect having this endless supply of wishes so I could have whatever I want whenever I want it.
    Sounds good right?
    Now if you think about it, God can do whatever he wants whenever he wants to.
    He then sent his Son to earth, and the cool thing is, Jesus being the second person of the Trinity, also has the powers of God.
    For those of you who’ve been with us over the last few weeks, we’ve gone over a few of the different miracles that Jesus has done.
    Last week he made a blind man see again. The week before, he fed over 5000 people with just five small barley loaves and two small fish. We even saw him turn water into wine. But if we go beyond just the series I’ve been in, we see him raising dead people to life, he walks on water, he calms the storm, he has power of the demonic realm, he has supernatural knowledge of other people like the woman at the well. There’s another point where people are about to throw him over a cliff and he just walks through the crowd to safety.
    He can do what he wants.
    Just imagine what fun you could get up to if you were Jesus?
    Now, the message we have today is actually going to fit very weirdly into the series we’ve been doing, because even though we’ll see a few little miraculous things happen, it’s not really a miracle in the same category as the other miracles we’ve discussed, although, perhaps as you think about it, there is a kind of miracle that is happening. But the way Jesus carries himself in this part of the story, is going to speak volumes about the upside down way God works.
    So let’s start exploring the story....

    The lead up

    Well, we’re getting towards the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus, which we went for a number of years, possibly three. Actually, this is a bit of a side note, but did you know that the Bible never specifically mentions how many years his ministry went for. The commonly held view of three years is actually based on the fact that in John’s gospel, there are three separate occasions in which it is mentioned that Jesus goes to Jerusalem for passover. But I digress...
    What we do know is that Jesus spent much of his time up and around the area of Galilee, and he’s been up in that region in the time leading up to the particular Passover which is going to change the face of everything.
    So, he’s on the path to Jerusalem, and if you look at the end of chapter 20, you’ll see he continues to do more miracles right to this point - this last one being another case of giving sight to the blind.

    The Passover festival

    Now, I’ve alreayd mentioned that they are heading back to Jerusalem for the Passover, so here are a few facts about this festival.
    Now, we’ll look at the deeper meaning behind the Passover more when we get to Good Friday, but the Passover was one of three main Jewish festivals held each year. The second being Pentecost, or sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, and the third and final for the year being the feast of Tabernacles.
    If you lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem, (which is equivalent to about 24km), then it was compulsory for every male Jew to attend all three festivals every year.
    If you lived further away, then the Passover should take precedance, and this is the one you should be attending each year. At the time of Jesus, the Passover sacrifice had to be done in temple at Jerusalem, so you couldn’t just observe it wherever you were.
    It’s also interesting to note that there is evidence that in one Passover season, about 250,000 lambs were used, and if you estimate roughly ten people per lamb, then this could suggest 2.5 million people were present in Jerusalem during one of these festivals.
    Now, whether that estimate is acurate or not, we do know that there were very large crowds all moving in the same direction of Jerusalem. And this was also a joyous time, so everyone would have a sense of anticipation for this yearly festival.
    Now, if I’m Jesus at this point, knowing how many people are there and knowing everyone is keen for some Jewish strength at this point, this might be a good time to finally win the crowd over with some theatrics then winning people over to his new kingdom will be a cinch.
    Well, in a sense, Jesus does use this as an occasion to announce his arrival as a king, but it’s not with a spectacular miracle.

    The donkey

    Well, there’s a miracles of sorts at the start, but its a very subtle one if you even want to call it that.
    It involves Jesus acquiring a donkey. You see, they get to Bethphage which is only a few short kilometers from Jerusalem, and there’s this other village that they are right next to. Jesus just tells two of his disciples to go on up… he knows where a donkey is going to be tied… he even knows that when the disicples are untying the donkey, someone’s going to ask questions… and he knows that just by saying “the Lord needs them” is going to be enough.
    Now, maybe you could argue that maybe there was some sort of prior arrangement, but I get the impression this is more of a case of divine intervention to make it all happen right.
    Anyway, Matthews Gospel tells us that they come away with both the donkey and the colt, so two animals in total. Why two? Well, probably because that was the way the prophecy read.
    You see, what is about to happen is in fulfillment of a prophecy that came through the prophet Zechariah. Just really briefly, Zechariah was prophesying at the time when the Jewish exile was ending, and foretold of a time when a new king would come. What we’re about to see Jesus do, is exactly what was described back then.

    Into Jerusalem

    And so, Jesus rides on one of them. Matthews gospel could be read that he rode both of them, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume he was only sitting on one of them.
    And then the most remarkable thing happens. Again, I said there were no spectacular miracles on this day, but in a sense, you could say what’s about to happen is a miracle of sorts.
    You see, as Jesus rides in, the large crowd that is moving in because they’re all going to the festival, start just laying down their cloaks in front of him. They’re also going to start sutting branches from nearby trees and spreading them in front of him.
    This is something you do as a sign of honour. A recognition that this is someone special.
    But how did this all come to be?
    Well, in part, I suspect it is the festival atmosphere, as people are excited about Passover. This mixed with the fact that many would be recognising Jesus as the miracle worker.
    Some might have seen his latest miracle as he opened the eyes of two blind men just outside of Jericho as he was on his way here.
    But maybe there is a hint of the miraculous, as everyone instinctively know what to do.

    Hosanna

    And they instinctively cry out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hasanna in the highest heaven!”
    That word “hosanna” literally means “save” and had also become an expression of praise, almost like crying out “we’re saved!”
    These people had been hurting for such a long time. They’ve been feeling the oppression and the frustration of having foreign rulers over them.
    And here’s the bizarre thing… they’re having this reaction of feeling salvation is near, even though nothing in this picture looks anything like something that will be able to have any effect at all on their Roman rulers.
    To be honest, I suspect if you were somehow able to get among that crowd, and ask them why their crying out hosanna, I don’t think they’d be able to articulate an answer.

    Temple tables

    Interestingly, if we were to read on, when Jesus does enter the temple courts, rather than taking on the Roman rulers, he actually targets the abuses among the Jews themselves. The ones that are taking advantage of the very large number of people coming in to the city.
    I find it quite funny almost that as he overturns the tables of the money-changes, we continue to see in verse 15 that the children continue to shout his paises

    Conclusion

    So what do we learn from all of this?
    I think perhaps the biggest lesson for us is that we see what sort of kingdom we are now in. The kingdom of God is not one of force. It is not one that will take power by bullying it’s way. It’s not about a big army.
    It’s about humility and allowing God to move in subtle ways. It’s allowing the Spirit to move before us and change their lives with His gentle touch.
    We have a lust for power, but in God’s kingdom we need to put that aside for the sake of a much better way.
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
secretary.tbbc@gmail.com
+6149823022
http://www.tanilbabaybaptistchurch.com
10 members