1803-25A 1
IF THEY HAD ONLY KNOWN
(Mark 11:1-11)
SUBJECT:
F.C.F:
PROPOSITION:
INTRODUCTION:
A. Several years ago the then Vice President Dan Quayle was making a speech in a town in Illinois. People had lined the streets to wave to him as his motorcade sped him to his destination.
Before Mr. Quayle passed by, however, a funeral procession happened to travel down the same route. Imagine the situation. The grieving relatives looking out from their cars were surprised to find the streets full of people with banners and flags. The unsuspecting crowd of people watching this official looking parade of cars, all of them with headlights blazing, began to wave and cheer as the bereaved family slowly drove past them. If they had only known.
That kind of mistake is more humorous than anything else. After it was all explained, I’m sure everyone had a good laugh about it.
B. There was another parade, and there was also a misunderstanding involved, though the circumstances were far different.
The Lord Jesus had come into Jerusalem. He was not there as a tourist, he was a King, coming to his capital city. The people treated it that way too, giving him a truly royal welcome.
But it is abundantly clear from the New Testament that this crowd also misunderstood the meaning of these events, and so missed their real significance.
I. THE PEOPLE MISUNDERSTOOD THESE EVENTS.
A. What impression do you get as we read this text? Obviously there is the sense of great joy. These people are excited about something, and well they should be. Jesus is the most exciting person ever to walk this earth.
B. For three years there had been this growing report of a preacher and miracle worker from up north in Galilee. They had heard that he could heal the sick, he had authority over evil spirits, he could make food out of nothing, he could control the weather, and even raise people from the dead.
And he was a man of the people. He was not standoffish or stuffy. He seemed to accept anybody, even prostitutes and tax collectors. He’d also had run-ins with the religious leaders, and every time he put them in their place. His popularity had snowballed, and now he was in Judea. And the word that was burning in everyone’s hopes and hearts, the word that they dared only whisper, was “Messiah!” Could this be the king like David, who would come and set them free? It was beyond their wildest dreams, and yet, it almost seemed possible.
And not long before the Passover, the most important festival of Israel, Jesus had done the ultimate. Everybody knew that Lazarus, a prominent citizen of nearby Bethany had fallen ill and had died. His funeral was four days ago. He’d been in the grave that long. And Jesus commanded that the tomb be opened. He prayed, and then called Lazarus to come forth. And to their utter amazement, HE CAME! He was all wrapped up in the grave clothes, but he was alive. He wasn’t even sick anymore!
C. And now this remarkable man was coming into the city of Jerusalem. It was the day after the Sabbath. The population was swelled with the faithful to overflowing because of the approaching feast. And here he comes, riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The people spontaneously broke into praises, ancient words they had memorized and repeated year after year.
"Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
D. I probably need not point out to you that these were words of a nationalistic hope. And these people were expecting Jesus to become their political and military commander-n-chief who would lead the revolution against these hated Romans and set them free. This was the first Palm Sunday, a joyful parade. And yet they misunderstood the event.
How differently do you suppose they would have acted if they had known that Good Friday was only five days away, and that their Messiah would be dying on a cross 120 hours from now?
That’s because...
II. THE PEOPLE MISSED THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING.
A. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for one main and central purpose. He came to suffer and die for the sins of his people. He had only been talking about it for months, but nobody paid any attention to him, not Peter, not James, not John, nobody. They could not accept it. Such a thing was unfathomable to them.
B. They all had an idea of who the Messiah would be and what he would come to do. And they were all mistaken, so they missed the purpose of his coming. They all wanted to use Jesus for their own ends. Most wanted him to be their military deliverer, to kick out those pesky Romans with their foreign laws and pagan ways (and high taxes!). For others, Jesus was seen as a meal ticket. They had eaten of the loaves and fishes he’d multiplied, and they wanted him to fill their stomachs. And still others looked to him as Dr. Jesus who could heal all their aches and ailments (and who never sent a bill). They wanted Jesus to be who they wanted him to be.
C. Of course we never do that, do we? We don’t get serious about our faith when we have a need, but then drift away when all is smooth sailing, do we? We never get upset with God when things are hard. Not us. We never fail to give thanks to God for his blessings. We never fail to trust God, even when the water is muddy and the way is unclear. Or do we?
But for many of these folks, it is obvious that the pain of their political bondage had blinded them to their greater bondage to sin.
Some years ago the boy Elian Gonzales was taken by his mother from Cuba to the United States. But she was drowned alongthe way. His father, still in Cuba, complained that as the boy’s only living parent he wanted him back in Cuba. And what a quandary it was, almost a textbook, ethical dilemma. Which is better, for a boy to grow up in political freedom, but apart from his only surviving parent, or to be raised under a brutal, totalitarian regime, but with his own father?
That’s a tough one. A boy should be with his father. But political freedom is also very important. Few of us could really imagine living our whole life without basic, guaranteed human freedoms and rights. What would it be like to live under communistic bondage, where the individual counts for so little?
D. But that’s nothing compared to living your whole life under the bondage of sin, and spending eternity in the unending horror of hell. And Jesus, the Messiah, came to address our real problem: the iron grip of sin and death that has held our race and every member of it almost from the very beginning. Our Lord Jesus was entering Jerusalem to offer his life as an atoning sacrifice, to pay the penalty for our sin, to reconcile us to God. The people missed the purpose of his coming. Do you understand the purpose of his coming?
And because they missed the reason he came, they also missed the greater joy.
III. THE PEOPLE MISSED THE GREATER JOY.
A. Here’s what’s really remarkable to me about the first Palm Sunday. These people were electrified with excitement and joy, because they believed the Messiah was coming, even though they were seriously mistaken with regards to the purpose of his coming.
B. Now if they had only known who he was and what he came to do (here’s the point), THEY WOULD ONLY HAVE BEEN MORE EXCITED AND JOYFUL! The problem was not that they were celebrating, it was that THEY WERE NOT CELEBRATING ENOUGH! If they had only known the real purpose of his coming, to bring us, not lifelong hope, but everlasting hope, the Palm Sunday celebration would have been multiplied a hundred fold, it would have lasted not an hour but all year!
Our Lord Jesus (if I could speak freely) was no party-pooper. In his parables and teaching, he taught us over and over again that heaven is a banquet. And it is not some solemn gathering of the glum, heaven is a celebration, a feast, a festival FOREVER. And that’s Jesus’ idea, not mine.
We only live lives of frustration, uncertainty, apathy, and dullness now because WE DON’T KNOW OUR GOD, we don’t really understand his purposes and plans and promises, and so we remain detached, aloof, and bored. The most excited and exciting, most passionate and delightful people I know are those who know God the best, who live on the edge because they know their God and his great power and love.
Christian author and thinker, Dorothy Sayers writes:
“The people who hanged Christ never accused Him of being a bore; on the contrary, they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with the atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him "meek and mild," and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale [pastors] curates and pious old ladies.
“To those who knew Him, however, He in no way suggested a milk-and-water person; they objected to Him as a dangerous firebrand. True, He was tender to the unfortunate, patient with honest inquirers, and humble before heaven; but He insulted respectable clergymen by calling them hypocrites; He referred to King Herod as "that fox"; He went to parties in disreputable company and was looked upon as a "gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"; He insulted indignant tradesmen and threw them and their belongings out of the Temple, — He showed no proper deference for wealth or social position; when confronted with neat dialectical traps, He displayed a paradoxical humor that affronted serious-minded people, and He retorted by asking disagreeable questions that could not be answered by rule of thumb--
“But He had a "daily beauty in his life that made us ugly," and officialdom felt that the established order of things would be more secure without Him. So they did away with God in the name of peace and quietness.”
C. There is a way of thinking that says, “Church is boring; Christ takes all the excitement out of life.” They’ve discovered who first came up with that notion. His first name is “Lu” and his last name is “Cifer.” Lu Cifer would love you to believe that he can offer “real life” and “real excitement” in the world. But his promises are all empty, and they only lead to regret, remorse, and everlastingdespondency.
Jesus Christ offers joy that is real, solid and forever, because Jesus Christ has grappled with death and beaten it. He offers the hope of forgiveness and restoration with God, the solid assurance of everlasting life, and that’s something that is utterly unavailable in the world.
CONCLUSION
The people at the first Palm Sunday were filled with joy, and they misunderstood who Jesus was and what he came to do. If they had only known the Lord, they would have been even more joyful.
Do you want to live with joy, joy that does not drift or fade, joy that cannot be taken away? Then you need to know him. There is no true joy without him, and the truth is that our joy only increases as we get to know him.
On June 6, 1981, a man named Doug Whitt and his bride, Sylvia, were escorted to their hotel's fancy bridal suite in the wee hours of the morning. In the suite they saw a sofa, chairs, and table, but where was the bed? Then they discovered the sofa was a hide-a-bed, with a lumpy mattress and sagging springs. They spent a fitful night and woke up in the morning with sore backs.
The new husband went to the hotel desk and gave the management a tongue-lashing. "Did you open the door in the room?" asked the clerk. Doug went back to the room. He opened the door they had thought was a closet. There, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates, was a beautiful bedroom!
And that’s like knowing Christ. As we learn more of him, as we obey him more closely, we will find it’s like opening door after door of wonder and joy.
If they had only known who Jesus was and what he came to do, their lives would have been so much richer.
And if we only knew Jesus, who he is, what he has done for us, what he is planning to do in us, our lives would be richer, deeper, full of wonder and gladness.
______