SUNDAY: THE CROWD

Well, good morning. My name is René, another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. So glad to be with you today. So a couple of weeks ago, my wonderful, awesome little sister Heidi visited us with her husband Jim and my wife Lori said, "Listen, we have a ton of boxes of your mom's keepsakes." Now our mom passed away five years ago and she had kept, you know, over her 80 plus years of life, all sorts of boxes of all kinds of stuff. Papers and photos all completely disorganized. And Lori said, "It is time for you and your sister to go through all of this stuff."

And so we started to do it and we found some real treasures. We lifted out of one of these boxes a dust covered old book and wiped it off. The pages were falling out and we realized it was a photo album dating from 1928. And we looked through this thing and it's somebody's keepsakes, somebody's photographs of all kinds of mountains of Switzerland. A page after page like this, some of them were postcards, but most of them were actual photographs that somebody had taken with their camera. And we're like, "What is this?" I mean, we like mountains as much as anybody, but why was somebody so interested?

Then it becomes clear as we keep turning the pages. It is a photo album we have never seen before put together by our grandparents when they were first dating before they were even married and it's photographs of their dates, the stuff that they enjoyed doing together. And so that was pretty cool. And we keep flipping the pages and I have to show you one of the coolest photos we found. It was this. And at first we thought, "Okay, mountains, lots of pictures of mountains of here, lots of those in Switzerland," because that's where our family comes from on my mother and my father's side. They're all from Switzerland. In fact, my sister and I are the first generation to be born here in the States.

But we were looking at these pictures and then we went, "Wait a second. There's a person on that mountain. Do you see that person right there on the cliff?" And we thought they were photographing some mountain climber, but we couldn't see it that well. And so we put light on it. And I got my reading glasses out, magnified it. And we said, "Well, that person's wearing a dress. That person is grandma posing for Flapper Instagram or whatever they had in Switzerland in the 1920s." So we keep turning pages. There's grandma again in an even more dangerous spot on the same cliff. Can you see that? It's amazing. I was looking at that, thinking, "Grandma, get off of that cliff because if you die, I'll never be born."

So there's grandma climbing more mountains and there's grandma in a kayak and there's grandma sharing a smoke with some woman and there's grandma in a hot air balloon. Toward the end, there was one photo where grandma was looking through the decades at us going, "Thought you knew me, huh?" Yeah, I thought I knew grandma. I mean, I did know grandma when she was elderly and making quilts, not climbing cliffs. But as I looked at this album and really took a close look at the pictures, a new person emerged. Not a contradiction to what I'd known before, but a more surprising person, an even more interesting person and kind of a more dangerous person.

Well, listen, I believe you are going to experience exactly what my sister Heidi and I experienced in the next seven weeks because what I'm going to do is kind of show you an album, pictures of someone you maybe thought you knew. But what we're going to do is we're going to take that album, we're going to turn up the light and we're going to get out the magnifying glass and look at those photos a little bit more closely and what's going to emerge is somebody who not necessarily contradicts the person you knew before, but it will be a more surprising, a more interesting and maybe even a more dangerous person. And I'm talking about Jesus.

We just started this new series, Seven Days, the Final Week of Jesus. Each weekend we're going to study one day leading up to the cross, the final week of Jesus life. We're going to do this to really get spiritually, mentally, emotionally prepared for Good Friday and Easter. Today we're looking at Sunday, the crowd. So grab your message notes or download them at TLC.org/notes. We also, as Adrienne mentioned, have servant-based discussion groups. You can join them at TLC.org/smallgroups.

Now let's open that album. You've seen all these photos before. They're familiar to you. Monday, the crowd cheers for Jesus. Monday, Jesus gets angry. Tuesday, Jesus gets controversial. Wednesday, Jesus raises even more eyebrows. This time it involves a woman. Thursday, Jesus redefines an ancient religion. Friday morning, he's on trial. Friday afternoon, he's dead. And the disciples are left going, what just happened? How do we go from crowds claiming him five days ago to this? And you know what? Maybe on Good Friday and Easter every year, it's kind of a head scratcher to you too. What really happened then?

So let's rewind back to day one of that week. And if you stick with us during this series, you're going to understand Good Friday and Easter with nuance and depth that you have never understood before. But only if, and if you're looking at something else, look up at me for a second and listen to me. Only if you are willing to really open your eyes and willing to maybe set aside some of your preconceived ideas and really see Jesus. And I will warn you, there were reasons some people hated him. Right? The picture we often get of Jesus in church is like, why would anybody hate him? Well there were reasons. And you're going to discover them this week. Are you prepared for your ideas to be challenged? Jesus was all about challenging ideas as you will see. Are you really ready for that?

Well then let's dig in. Today we're in Mark 11 starting in verse one. I'm going to tell this story and like we did with that photo album of Grandma, I'm going to shine a light on the details, magnify some stuff and you'll see a surprising person I think and then we're just going to make some very quick points that are in your fill-ins there at the end of this message. So let's dig into the story.

As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem and let me just kind of help you picture this a little bit. Jerusalem at the time is a world class city. It is the center of Jewish political and social life and this is happening at Passover week when crowds of pilgrims travel from all around the world into the city remembering the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt. But now of course they are oppressed again by the Romans this time and so you can imagine how Passover with its theme of liberation from slavery and tyranny played when the Romans were occupying Jerusalem. This is why Jerusalem often became volatile at Passover.

In fact it had a track record of insurrections on Passover week. Let me just give you one example back on Passover in 4 BC and by the way that's right around the year that Jesus was born. I've always thought it was mind-blowing that Jesus Christ was born BC but that's the way it works out chronologically but Passover in 4 BC some Jewish pilgrims revolt and they stoned to death an entire company of Roman soldiers. In response Herod's soldiers kill 3,000 Jewish people and he cancels Passover that year. And this is why there was always an extra presence of Roman soldiers in town during Passover because things were always tense there.

And now here comes Jesus. And what has Jesus been preaching for the last three years? His message was the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's like his favorite word has been kingdom. Kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom. The coming kingdom. And here he comes riding into town during this historically politically volatile week. Oh boy what's going to happen next? Well as Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Now these were small villages that were on the other side of the Mount of Olives from the city of Jerusalem and they were rural farming villages. The clue is in the name Bethphage means house of green figs and Bethany means house of dates.

And so these were rural farming villages and Jesus chooses to stay here not in town over the ridge kind of out of sight every night I think to protect himself until the crucial moment. And it's from here that he's going to ride into town on what? Well here we go. It says that Jesus sent two of them on a head. Go into that village over there he told them as soon as you enter it you're going to see a young donkey tied there that nobody has ever ridden. Now let's talk about this because it says young donkey right? So that's another loaded thing in that culture. These days in our culture we think of donkey and that's almost like a comedy animal right? Some animals for some reason in our culture are noble lions and eagles but in our culture some animals are just kind of typecast into comedy sloths and ostriches and let's face it donkeys are on the comedy list.

But in those days donkeys were a sweet ride. The Bible mentions Solomon riding a donkey at his coronation at other times in the Bible four times. It mentions kings or leaders riding donkeys. And Zechariah 9 part of the Bible written a few centuries before Christ prophesies when the Messiah enters Jerusalem finally guess what his ride is going to be? Behold your what? Being is coming to you righteous and bringing salvation humble and mounted on a what? On a donkey specifically what kind of a donkey? On a colt the foal of a donkey. That is prophesied that is what the Messiah enters Jerusalem on and that is what Jesus asks for. He says untie it and bring it here. If anybody asks what are you doing? Just say the Lord needs it and will return it soon.

And so the two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street tied outside the front door and as they were untying it some bystanders demanded what are you doing untying that colt? Well they said what Jesus had told them to say and they were permitted to take it and then they brought the coat to Jesus and threw their garments over it and he sat on it. You know what's funny to me is that kind of lengthy paragraph of detail is in three of the four gospels. Why include all that detail about that event? They love that part of the story. Why? Because this would be like me telling you, you know go down to Carmel Village and the first brand new Tesla you see there's going to be a key hidden under the mat and I want you to take that Tesla and bring it to me. And if security stops you and asks you what are you doing just say well René told me to. You will not be arrested for grand theft auto. Go ahead and you can imagine how you're nervous you'd be and then when it all works out you got to tell other people let me just tell you a crazy part of this story right. To me it's just kind of got again the ring of truth and history to it.

So they brought the colt to Jesus they throw their garments on it because it doesn't have a saddle. He sat on it and many in the crowd now let me help you picture the crowd because in the Jesus movies it's never big enough. We know from Josephus, Josephus was a first century Jewish writer a historian who wrote the histories of the Jews and the wars of the Jews in the first century. So his writings are precious because he's not a Christian he's a Jewish guy and he lived in the first century 20 centuries ago when all this was going on right. He writes a little bit about Jesus he writes about John the Baptist and all of this stuff going on with the Romans and so on. I'm going to quote him a little bit later on but he says that at one Passover in the mid first century the priest up on the 10th Temple did a count of how many lambs were sacrificed and based on that count because the pilgrims would come sacrifice lambs therefore their religious festival he extrapolates calculates a number of pilgrims that came to Jerusalem then during Passover week. You know the number he comes up with? 2 million.

It is the biggest religious pilgrimage in the world at the time and in case you think that's that's crazy we there are religious pilgrimages in our world right now that are that large. For example the hajj in Mecca. Millions of people go there every year on their religious pilgrimage. So what I'm saying is it was a crowd something like that that spread their garments on the road ahead of him it's not just you know the 12 people you see in the Jesus movie massive crowd now they spread their garments on the road that kind of seems weird too but on that day for those people the meaning of this would have been unmistakable because they knew that this was the customary way to coronate a king. In fact in the Bible earlier that's exactly what the Israelites did for example when Yehu was crowned king of Israel back in 2 Kings 9 and then it says and others spread leafy branches that they had cut on the fields now John adds the detail that they were palm branches and that they were waving some of them now why did they do that?

Honestly when I was a kid I used to think these were like the ancient equivalent of those giant foam hands you see at football games they were just like yeah Jesus you're number one but that's not at all what it meant this is so fascinating to me what happened then in those days is the palm branch was a politically loaded symbol and it was very specifically reminding people everybody in that crowd of a very specific historical event that happened almost exactly 200 years earlier. Here's what happened a Greek Syrian king he was in the line of succession of Alexander the Great so he's a Greek guy a pagan a Gentile so he takes over Jerusalem and attacks the temple he knows that pigs are unclean to the Jews and so what he does is he slaughters pigs and scatters pig blood everywhere in the temple and then he orders all the Jews to offer sacrifices to his pagan gods but he met resistance one Jewish family started a rebellion led by a man named Judas who was such a fierce warrior that they gave Judas the nickname Maccabeus which means the hammer Judas the hammer rides into Jerusalem along the very same road Jesus was on two centuries later and we know from the books of the Maccabees which were written back then that when he rides into Jerusalem he is welcomed by a crowd of people waving guess what palm branches and from then on palms became the national symbol are you following me of an independent Israel like when the Jewish people minted their own coins they used palms as their national symbol even in Jesus time when Jewish rebels minted coins they put palms on them when the Romans conquered Jerusalem they made coins of a Roman soldier whipping a Jewish woman with her Jewish headscarf on under a palm tree specifically to mock Jewish aspirations to national independence so when the crowds are waving palm branches they're not just praising Jesus do you see what's happening they're waving the rebel flag and remember this is happening at the bicentennial of the Maccabean revolt.

Was anybody here alive in 1976 can I see a show of hands don't be shy do you remember the American bicentennial do you remember how everybody had just had bicentennial fever there were bicentennial breakfast cereals it was all over the culture right well the same exact thing was happening back then we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls there was Messiah fever they're all talking about the coming war against the Romans and it's in that milieu it's in that atmosphere that the next verse says Jesus was in the center of the procession he's in the eye of the storm here and all the people all around him that massive crowd is shouting Hosanna now again let's turn on the light on this picture and use the magnifying glass because these days Hosanna we think of it just as a praise song that's what it means to us now kind of like hallelujah but on that day to those people it meant something else Hosanna is the Aramaic form of a Hebrew word that simply means save us now wow another clue that clearly what was happening is they thought Jesus was coming to their political rescue right and then this line blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord that's a quote from Psalm 118 Psalm 113 through 118 the Psalms of a cent had grown to be sort of like national anthems of Israel so they're waving the national flag they're shouting save now save now save now they're singing a patriotic song and then they make themselves super clear blessed is the coming what kingdom this guy keeps talking about kingdom here it is of our ancestor David Hosanna in the highest level what they're talking about is God's promise to King David a thousand years before that one day a descendant of David and Jesus was a descendant of David would reign over Jerusalem forever now when we think of the coming kingdom of heaven we're thinking of you know heaven sometime in the future they're thinking like tonight it's gonna happen it's Passover week it's all set up this is a political rally Jesus the hammer go kick out the Romans now and right then a very strange thing happens in all this excitement nobody notices that one person just one person is not cheering he's not even smiling in fact he's crying look closer at the picture it's Jesus but as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead he began to weep and there's only one other time in the Gospels that this word for weeping is used and that's when Jesus is mourning the death of his best friend Lazarus.

It's the only other time this is just tears just just gushing streaming down your face why is he weeping? Well he tells us Jesus cried aloud how I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace now what does Jesus mean by that particularly the phrase you of all people? Well remember Judas the hammer great victory over a horribly cruel oppressor sadly the dynasty that got started that day quickly devolved into civil war brother versus brother Judas is killed then his brother is killed then another brother takes over he's betrayed and killed his betrayer is killed then his grandson has his own mom started to death and two of his own sons in prison then one of those sons gets out and kills six thousand people in revenge and then the Pharisees started religious war and kill fifty thousand fellow Jewish people then a new civil war breaks out and finally the leaders of Jerusalem in desperation literally invite the Romans in to help calm things down it's kind of like inviting bears into your kitchen to clean your fridge you know it's like oh boy that was a mistake and Jesus is saying you of all people you know what happened last time are you really asking for another Maccabean revolt because how that worked out for us all but now it is too late and peace is hidden from your eyes.

Now I used to gloss over this verse because I assume what Jesus meant was he was coming to make peace for us on the cross and they couldn't see it they rejected him as Messiah and so God punished them with the destruction of Jerusalem but now I don't think that's what he means. Now to be clear he did make peace for us on the cross that is true that's beautifully true that is absolutely true but see the cross that can't be what he's talking about here because the cross was inevitable from the time of the fall of Adam and Eve the plot the cross was always God's plan of redemption that cross in other words would have happened whether they understood the way to peace or not but he's talking about something that's going to happen because they didn't recognize it what does he mean really focus on this because I think this is an interpretive key to Holy Week what has Jesus been teaching them for the last three years the way to peace Christ's way love one another bless those who curse you pray for those who persecute you give to those who ask you forgive those who hurt you serve those around you Caesar's way is the exact opposite in every way domineer curse pray against take take revenge demand that you be served don't serve other people and what happens is in the years right after Palm Sunday and Christ crucifixion the city of Jerusalem chooses to go this direction and absolute catastrophe happens and again the ancient writer Josephus is very helpful here he was there and I want you to look at what he wrote this is what Jerusalem was like in the 35 years or so right after Jesus he wrote this don't miss this the population had been torn by dissension every town was seething with turmoil and civil war first of all in the home family unity was disrupted by partisan bitterness and then the nearest kinsmen severed all ties and attaching themselves to men who thought as they did lined up on opposite sides faction reigned everywhere is anybody saying how relevant this is to our world today they started pelting each other with stones in the streets and in front of the temple and attacking each other on social media know that he didn't say that and a hurling Spears now watch this while all this dissension is going on in the Jewish community he says in the Roman camp all the generals treated the enemies internal divisions as a godsend divine providence they set it up held their cause by setting their enemies at each other's throats and what happens is this when the Romans attacked 35 years after Jesus the people of Jerusalem are so weakened by other factions and dissension and divisions the Romans destroy the city take all the temple treasures away and the massive stones of the temple wall are all hurled down where they still lie to this day in fact I took this photo myself just this last April a street in Jerusalem with the stones the Romans hurled down still there and you know who this is that's my grandma no just kidding that is Trent Smith one of our worship pastors and Jesus sees all this coming he says your enemies will not leave a single stone in place because you didn't recognize it when God visited you.

Again the cross was unavoidable because God had always had a plan to redeem us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ but all that human suffering was completely avoidable how? By following the way to peace. In his compassion Jesus was weeping because the crowd they had the right objectives I mean they got their objectives right out of the Bible they saw the picture there a picture of promise peace for Jerusalem a picture of the coming Messiah but they had the wrong methods let's do it with force they had the wrong attitude let's hate on each other the wrong timeline save now no more waiting and by the way this is the end of the message so this is where you start filling in the blanks there in your notes they had the right objectives wrong methods wrong attitude wrong timeline in other words they were clear on the what they were way off on the how they wanted the picture on the cake box that looks delicious but they were following the completely wrong recipe again they were clear on the what way off on the how do you remember what Jesus said the day before this Mark talked about it last weekend the rulers of this world domineer their people not so with you whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servants Christ way not Caesar's way.

And you know what think about it it really works I mean Jesus never got political power never raised an army never conquered territory and guess what about a third of the world call themselves as followers today nobody else in the ancient world even comes close unless you're a history buff you don't even know the name of the Caesar who ruled over Rome when Jesus was alive that's the way of Christ not the way of Caesar it works. I love the way Tim Keller puts it think of how God won you over not by taking power but by serving you not with a sword in his hands but nails in his hands not by coming to judge but to bear judgment Jesus wasn't the hammer of Judah he was the lamb of God so why would we try to win any other way?

You know I really agree with a man named Jason Porter felt he wrote a book called fight like Jesus great title he says about Jesus's tears that day Jesus lament also speaks a much needed prophetic critique over today's church tears are still streaming down his face he is still crying out if only you knew the things that make for peace the question of this story is will we choose the way of Christ or the way of Caesar the things that lead to peace or the things that just lead to war and obviously this is super relevant right now in this cultural moment whether you're on the left or the right or up or down or in between will you choose the way of the hammer or the way of the lamb?

I was reading a review of a hot new Christian book major publisher I don't even want to tell you what this book is because I don't want to drive you to it but it's a major new release I read these so you don't have to know the author starts his book by saying my goal is to reinvigorate Christendom in the West that is my chief aim okay good objectives I can get on board with that so remember objectives are one thing but methods attitudes and timeline or something completely different so what what about his methods and attitudes well you get to that on about page 279 we must hope and pray for a Christian prince a godlike magistrate whom the people look upon as a father a man of greatness who will lead a people to liberty virtue and godliness to greatness a leader who would suppress the enemies of God and elevate his people and restore masculine prominence in the land and a spirit of dominion a measured theocratic Caesarism that's been tried and honestly I believe Jesus is looking at that and whooping if only you knew the way that led to peace.

Listen I get it I get why books like that are written people are so discouraged we see our country becoming less and less Christian we see morality biblical morality being tossed aside we desperately want to see God honored and Jesus followed I relate to all of those emotions but we get there by the way of the lamb not the way of the hammer. Now the danger as I wrap this up of this kind of a message is this you hear this and you go that's right I know somebody who needs to hear this and nobody thinks it applies to them but of course it always starts with me I was thinking about this at the root of the way of the hammer is this idea I'm right I just need somebody to defend me against others I'm right at the root of the way of the lamb is this idea I repent save me now Hosanna save me now from my sin so is your core attitude I'm right or I repent it's so easy to point fingers but I do I I do what the crowd did there all the time in my own life so the takeaway for me is this number one stop giving Jesus an identity that isn't his the crowd saw Jesus as Messiah but on their terms as the hammer as a human soldier and then number two stop giving Jesus an agenda that isn't his the crowd said human soldier overthrow the Romans and I give Jesus my agenda all the time number three stop giving Jesus a timeline that is not his the crowd said human soldier overthrow the Romans now right and there are times I do all of that times I say to Jesus about all kinds of stuff save me now do this my way my time right just like that crowd I need to start believing Jesus is who he said he is the Lord of all the Prince of Peace and the King of Kings and that means even when he doesn't give me what I want how I want when I want I always trust that his way is best and I follow his way not Caesar's way and that's really the bottom line will I let Jesus be himself with me my King and my Lord?

Now when we leave Jesus on this day the sun is sinking and the shadows are growing long and a chill is creeping into the air and he goes up to the Temple Mount looks around but Mark says it's late and so he goes back over the hill and goes to bed but when he comes back the next day he's going to do something so outrageous so surprising so dangerous it jumps out of any box anybody ever put him in and it gets him killed and you'll see it next weekend but for now you know when my sister and I were looking through that box of my mom's keepsakes we found this it is her certificate of naturalization when she became a citizen of the United States I remember how she studied for this she was so proud of this as an immigrant I'm finally a US citizen and you know part of the oath of allegiance that she took was this she pledged I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce all allegiance to any foreign prince state or sovereignty and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America so help me God and I looked at this stuff and I thought to myself you know sometimes we think of faith in Jesus and we think of it as yeah I believe stuff I believe you know that doctrine but really what faith in Jesus is like is allegiance to a king the prayer of faith is something like this I absolutely and entirely renounce all allegiance and fidelity to all other princes political party celebrity influencers and any other idols and I will bear true faith and allegiance to King Jesus so help me God have you pledged allegiance to Jesus?

Let's pray would you bow your head with me with our heads bowed our eyes closed I would just invite you to do that right now in prayer in fact I'm gonna pray a prayer of that I need to pray right now and if it reflects your heart you can pray along with me dear Lord Jesus I confess that many many times I have forced you into my mold I have put my agenda on you and my timeline on you and I've used the wrong methods the methods of Caesar and the hammer instead of the methods of Christ the lamb so right now I just want to say to you be my king the truly revolutionary king of my heart my life be the liberator of my soul in other words be my Lord and Savior and Jesus as we go through this series we ask for you we want to know the real you so we can know you and love you more the surprising you the interesting you the dangerous you open our eyes we pray this in Jesus name amen.