John 12:12-19: St. John’s Palm Reading.

Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, Palm Sunday, 20 March 2016 by Captain Michael Ramsay

To view a 2018 version presented to 614 Warehouse Mission in Cabbagetown, Toronto, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/03/john-1212-19-sunday-palm-reading.html

Today I have a March Break quiz for us (answers in footnotes):[1]

1) March comes in like a lion and out like a ______?

2) What day is represented in: Julius Caesar Act I, Scene II, ln 23

3) From what country did St. Patrick come?

4) What is the official colour of St. Patrick’s order?

5) The March of the Penguins was about what birds?

6) What is this?

Today is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is a significant day in the Christian Church. Any of us who have grown up in the church or who have been going to church for a few years have inevitably been to a few Palm Sunday services. Do we know what the big deal is about Palm Sunday?

John in his gospel does a great job of telling us the meaning of Palm Sunday in his record of the triumphal entry. He uses a lot of symbolism – not unlike Shakespeare in ‘Julius Caesar’. Today we are going to pull out five pieces of that imagery and then put it back together for a full picture of what Palm Sunday looks like in our life today. First, let’s re-read John 12:12-19:

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ 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!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ 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.¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

1. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

Image number one: Palm Sunday is about the Triumphal entry. What is a triumph? It is victory. These days we have victory parades when teams win championships. In Regina, they officially called part of one of their busiest streets ‘the Green Mile’ for Roughrider fans spontaneously paraded down there when they won the championship. Many teams have official parades when they win championships. What about Toronto? When the Argonauts or the Blue Jays won the championship, did they have a parade, a triumphal return to the city after winning the championship? This is what is happening here. Jesus is riding into the city and it is celebrated as a triumph. But it is before the game. It is in advance of the Great Cup or Game 7, it is in anticipation of the coming victory.

2. JERUSALEM

This brings us to the second of our five images for today: What city is Jesus riding into? Jesus is entering Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the historic capital of Judah and Israel? Now Jerusalem is part of the occupied territories. The Romans, the Superpower of the time, have troops in the city and they control the government. To some extent they even appoint the religious leaders in Jerusalem (cf. John 18). And like all superpowers they don’t tend to like rebellion and they know that if there is to be a rebellion by the Jewish people it would happen here in Jerusalem – their ancient capital city – and it would probably be now during Passover, when the population of Jerusalem overflows with so many people descending upon the city. Jerusalem is the ancient capital city of a rebellion-prone people. [2]

3. ‘HOSANNA’, ‘KING OF THE JEWS’, ‘NAME OF THE LORD’

Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘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!”

This is significant stuff. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ at Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the noses of the Romans even as their collaborators, the Jewish religious leaders, have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna means (Verse 13; cf. Psalm 118:25-26)? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, ‘Save us!’ [3]

 Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our king! You –like all kings are supposed to – you come here in the Name of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests, not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus, you are our King; save us from Rome and save us from our present leaders!’[4] Hosanna. Save us!

The establishment have their people in position: governors in place of recent kings, rotating high priests, soldiers to keep order but Jesus (who is from Galilee which is a particularly rebellious region of a rebellious people) is triumphantly entering the town and the crowds are running out to meet him, calling, ‘save us’, save us! Hosanna, o save us.’ The crowds know he is the Messiah. [5]

 They want him to save them from the occupation and they are willing to serve him as king. This is no small thing. Think of what superpowers do when crowds of people gather in opposition. Think of Guantanamo Bay. Think of Abu Gharib. Think of Afghanistan. Think of Iraq. Rome, her sympathizers and the establishment don’t want rivals there and then any more than Washington and her establishment want rivals here and now. These people, the great crowds, however are risking their lives shouting ‘Salvation, King of the Jews, save us!’

4. PALM BRANCHES

And this brings us to the fourth of our five images for today, the palm branches: John tells us also that the people lining the streets aren’t just yelling, ‘save us king’. This is important.  They are waving palm branches. Today is Palm Sunday. Can anyone tell me the significance of palm leaves at this time and place? The palm branches are important.[6]  What do the Palm branches represent?

They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm branches happen to be near-by; they pick up the palm branches because palm branches are a nationalistic symbol (cf. 1 Maccabees 13:51, 2 Macabbees 10:7; cf. also Leviticus 23:40, Psalm 92:12, Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8). It would be like if Canada was going to seek independence from the US or someone else and we were waving maple leaves or flags with the maple leaf on it – everyone recognises that as a symbol of Canada. This moment probably would have had an even greater effect on the authorities of Jesus’ day than a similar one did on Canadian authorities in 1967 when France’s President Charles de Gualle cried out, ‘Vive le Quebec Libre!” while visiting Quebec. The palm branch is a national symbol being raised in the traditional capital of an occupied territory. This is where John drives home that Jesus isn’t just a metaphorical or a spiritual king, Jesus is a political king.[7] He is the King of Kings and the His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is at hand.[8] And John’s placing of vv.14-15 after v.13 further conveys Jesus’ and John’s approval of this claim.

5. DONKEY 

This brings us to our fifth and final image for today: the donkey. Verse 14: ‘Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John quotes Zechariah’s well known prophesy about the king who will save and rule Israel as he comes into his kingdom on a donkey (Zec 9:9). And here and now comes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. There is more to this too because a donkey is not a war horse a donkey is an ambassador’s mount. It is an animal of peace (cf. Genesis 49:10-11, Isaiah 40:9, 44:2)![9] The Romans claimed that their wars brought the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not Caesar – is the Prince of Peace.[10] Jesus is King of the Jews and more than that Jesus is King of the World! [11]

  These are exciting times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at this time and place in history is his crossing the Rubicon. There is no turning back. And this is what Palm Sunday is: Palm Sunday is the point of no turning back. Jesus is marching into the capital to great fanfare and we who are gathered here today, we can celebrate this moment. We can cast ourselves alongside the men, women and children watching the parade and cheering as our King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than anything that has ever happened to this or any community to that point in time. This moment in our text today is a moment when the world recognizes the arrival of the one whom as Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!” Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is a day of celebration. Jesus is King! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

Today if there are any of us here who don’t yet serve Him and haven’t laid our palm branches in front of the king of heaven and earth – now is our chance to accept His salvation from the pain of suffering through all the evils of this world alone. Jesus is King and He will – Hosanna - save us. He will be with us in the very midst of all our difficulties and challenges in our world today. And some tomorrow soon we will all be raised with Him to be in paradise where there is no more pain and no more suffering! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

 Jesus rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago but even now it is not too late; so why don’t you join us now in celebrating his arrival and in anticipating triumphant return – pledging our loyalty to the King of Kings by laying our palm branches before the King.

You were each given a symbolic palm branch today when you arrived and now as we sing a song together I invite as to lay our palm branches at the altar today to acknowledge our acceptance and allegiance to Jesus Christ as King and our reception of His salvation both now and forever. Come now and lay your branches before the King…

Let us pray.

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[1] 1) Lamb, 2) March 15, 3) Scotland, 4) Blue, 5) Penguins, a palm sundae

[2] Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/V. Teaching and Travels Toward Jerusalem (9:51-19:44)/D. Teachings on Times of Crisis and Judgment (12:1-13:35)/7. A call to repentance (13:1-9), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Marvin R. Vincent, ‘Hosanna’ in Word Studies in the New Testament Vol. II, (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2009), p. 216.

[4] But cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: John Knox Press: Louisville, Ken., 1990), 227. Luke (ironically) alone among the gospels does not record these inherent political overtones.

[5] Cf. N.T. Wright, 'God and Caesar, Then and Now'. Available on-line at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_God_Caesar.pdf

[6] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary”. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.

[7] Cf. NT Wight, How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels (HaperOne: New York, NY: 2012), 126-154.

[8] Cf. William Hendriksen, John (New Testament Commentary: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2007), 187-188.

[9] Andreas J. Kostenberger, ESV Study Bible note on 12:15 (Crossway Bibles: Wheaton, Illinois: 2007), page 2048.

[10] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary.” Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.

[11] Cf. Colin G. Kruse, “John: An Introduction and Commentary.” Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 4), CD ROM Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.