Hosanna in the Highest - John 12:12-19

In case you’re wondering what kind of church Providence Presbyterian Church is, well, Providence is the sort of church that preaches a Palm Sunday passage in mid-June. That’s the kind of church that we are.

But the beauty of God’s Word is that every bit of it is relevant 365 days a year. This is no doubt another familiar passage, I feel like I’ve said that multiple times as we’ve gone through the book of John, and for the record, I’ve meant it every time!

The triumphal entry is a familiar passage because it marks really the beginning of passion week for Jesus. It’s interesting to consider that there are only 21 chapters in the book of John and by the time you get to John 12, the Apostle John is already launching into the last week of Jesus’ life. Think about that, over 40% of the book of John deals specifically with the week leading up to the crucifixion.

Last week Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, but if you remember correctly, she really anointed his entire body. And the passage of the triumphal entry is the start of passion week, Palm Sunday which makes a lot of sense chronically. His body has been prepared for burial as he heads to Jerusalem where he’ll eventually be crucified.

The next day, Palm Sunday, Jesus begins his trip from Bethany to Jerusalem and it’s along the way he receives this glorious, triumphal entry. The palm branches are being waved, Matthew tells us that cloaks are laid down.

But it’s here that every child under the age of five’s favorite question is applicable:“why?”

Why the palm branches, why the cloaks, why the hosannas, why are they doing all of this? What do they know? Or the better question is, what do they expect from Jesus?

I think that’s really the key question. What do they expect from Jesus? Because if we put inaccurate or incorrect expectations on Jesus then we will miss him entirely. We have to accept him the way he presents himself. We have to expect him to do what he said he would do. And we see this in three ways this morning:

First, we can desire the wrong salvation (vv. 12-13). Second, if we misunderstand salvation, then we misunderstand Jesus (vv. 14-16). And lastly, what’s incredibly scary is that a counterfeit Jesus is more popular than the real Jesus (vv. 17-19).

We can desire the wrong salvation (vv. 12-13).

Look at verses 12 and 13 with me again.

“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!””

So, let’s set the scene here: Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. That’s the feast that John is referring to in verse 12. And at the Passover millions of Jews would descend upon Jerusalem at this time of year.

The Jewish historian Josephus estimated that somewhere around 2.7 million Jews would be in Jerusalem for the Passover meal.

And so, all these Jews are on a pilgrimage together to Jerusalem. Jesus is making his way from Bethany to Jerusalem as well. And he was likely traveling with a group of people from Galilee as well. These are people who have firsthand experience of Jesus’ ministry, along with the people near Bethany who had personally witnessed Lazarus being raised from the dead.

I tell you all of this because the point is often made that the people who wave the palm branches here will later in the week be the ones shouting, “crucify him,” but that’s simply not the case.

There are really two different crowds. There is this crowd that was curious supporters, not necessarily believers of Jesus Christ, and those who wanted Jesus dead in Jerusalem.

And so there’s a lot of symbolism in play that Jesus, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world is heading to Jerusalem, during the Passover meal at the apex of his ministry. He has crested the mountain top and from this point forward it’s pretty much downhill.

As I said earlier, this is one of the passages that comes out every year on Palm Sunday. Perhaps you grew up at a church that would hand out palm branches for you to wave around.

And in ancient Israel, palm branches were everywhere. But have you ever wondered why? Why the palm branch? What did it mean? John and the other gospel writers go out of their way to mention palm branches.

Palm branches had always had a level of significance because they were associated with the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths. They were used in the construction of the forts that folks would live in to remember God’s provision.

But, palm branches took on another meaning when during the intertestamental period, that time between the Old Testament and the New Testament. During that time, Simon the Maccabee drove Syrian forces out of Jerusalem and he had the temple rededicated. And guess what the Jews used to celebrate the driving out of enemy forces and the glorious reclaiming of the temple? The palm branch.

You see, the palm branch at that point went from having a sort of generic connotation with the Feast of Tabernacles to having a militaristic, political connotation.

Interestingly enough, even some Jewish coinage had a palm branch on it. The palm branch was sort of like the American Flag. Americans wave an American flag at the Olympics because it represents political freedom! In a similar sense the palm branch represented Jewish political freedom.

This is why the Jews were celebrating Jesus! They thought they had found their next military hero! They thought Jesus was someone who was going to rally troops and drive out the Roman forces.

Look at what the crowd says in verse 13. ““Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

The word “Hosanna” literally means, “give salvation now!”

This language that Jews are using comes from Psalm 113-118 which are the hallel Psalms and they were sung regularly. In fact, they’re paraphrasing Psalm 118:25-26 which says, “Save us (or Hosanna!), we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

There’s a lot of important background information that helps us understand the passage, but I don’t want you to get lost in the details.

I share all of these details with you for a reason: the Jewish people weren’t necessarily looking for someone to save them from their sins, they were looking for someone to save them from political oppression.

They think that Jesus is the guy that’s going to lead them in revolt against the Roman government! To the Jews, the Messiah was a political deliverer, not someone that was going to save their souls. They're looking for another Simon Maccabee!

As many of you know, last week I was in Memphis for our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America 50th General Assembly. It’s in part why I’m dragging a little bit this morning. At the General Assembly we conducted a lot of church business as Charlie Nave reported this morning.

It’s also a wonderful time to catch up with old friends. I’ll be honest with you all - Memphis is not my favorite place in the world. It’s a pretty dangerous place, and through a series of unfortunate events, Lauren and I ended up on Beale St. late one night. Beale St., in my humble opinion, is a worse version of Bourbon St. in New Orleans.

And to make matters worse, it was Bike Week on Beale St, so motorcycles were constantly being revved which also isn’t really my thing either. So let's just say at one point, I wanted to be delivered from Beale St. I wanted to be saved from Beale St.

I know that’s a silly example, but wouldn’t you agree that we all want salvation? That’s true whether you're a Christian or not. Whether it be a relationship, family strife, drama at work - we all want to be delivered from something!

But here’s the problem, there is a chasm a mile wide between what we want to be saved from and what we need to be saved from. Because we often prioritize our life’s circumstances over our spiritual needs. We so quickly forget the depth of our sin and the need for true salvation.

What you need is the same thing that I need, which is the same thing that the Jews needed: they needed to be saved from their sin. That’s what we all need. Salvation for our soul.

And that was the very reason Jesus mounted and rode into Jerusalem to accomplish.

If we misunderstand salvation, then we misunderstand Jesus (vv. 14-16).

If you ever watched the classic cinema movie, Shrek, you probably remember Donkey. At the beginning of the movie Shrek and Donkey save Princess Fiona from the castle guarded by the dragon and after they rescue her, she says, “and where would a brave knight be without his noble steed?” And Donkey says, “did you hear that Shrek, she called me a noble steed?”

It’s funny because well, a donkey is not a noble steed. A big part of Shrek is making fun of Donkey for not being a horse. Because a donkey is a beast of burden, not a beautiful majestic animal like a horse.

I bring up Shrek because I think there’s a similar issue in our passage: why the donkey? Jesus is being celebrated in the same manner as a triumphant king wouldn’t a noble steed have made more sense?

Jesus riding on a majestic white horse would have made for a better mental image, wouldn’t it? I know, he will ride a white horse upon his second coming, but wouldn’t a white horse make sense right here?

It’s even odder when you realize that the donkeys in ancient Israel are smaller than the donkeys here in the United States. And in verse 14, we’re told that it’s also a “young donkey.” My point is, the donkey that Jesus rode was probably quite small. The donkey would have been so small that Jesus would have had to bend his knees so that his feet wouldn’t drag on the ground.

When you think of a glorious triumphant king, is that the first image that comes to your mind? I think of a king in shining armor riding upon a beautiful horse as ticker tape falls on the ground around him.

But of course this wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t like the stable was out of horses so Jesus had to settle on the donkey. The other gospel accounts tell us that he told the disciples to retrieve it for him. Jesus did this deliberately by choice. He knew where a donkey was, got it, and sat on it. Why did Jesus get the donkey? Because he was self-consciously fulfilling Scripture.

Jesus was fulfilling Zechariah 9:9-10 which says,

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

This is the Scripture referenced in verse 15. “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”

You see, Jesus is a fundamentally different king! He’s not like the other kings that flaunt their pomp and circumstance in order to try and convince you that they’re important. No, the sovereign king of the universe rides into Jerusalem on a small donkey.

This is something that the Jews should have picked up on because - the salvation, the deliverance, the freedom that Jesus was going to bring to his people wasn’t going to come through brute force, but rather through a humble sacrifice.

And it wasn’t till after the resurrection that his disciples began to put all the pieces together. It’s why John adds his editorial comment in verse 16:

“His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.”

All of us at some point or another have had to deal with unspoken expectations? Someone in your family expects you to do something, you’re supposed to vacuum the rug once a week, but no one ever tells you exactly what those expectations are. Unspoken expectations are especially tough for the people pleasers. How do you keep someone happy if you’re never told?

Far too often we put our hopes, our dreams, our expectations on Jesus, and when they’re not fulfilled we’re disappointed or worse, angry at God. We think that Jesus came to fulfill our mission. That he came to earth to comply with all our demands, but he came to accomplish God’s plan of redemption.

You see, if you misunderstand salvation, that it comes through faith in the humble sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, if you miss that point, then you’ll end up worshiping a counterfeit Jesus. Because if you don’t understand his mission, then you’ll never understand who he is.

A counterfeit Jesus can be more popular than the real Jesus (vv. 17-19).

It’s critical that you understand who Jesus Christ really is. You must understand that he was sent to earth to accomplish redemption. He came to pay the penalty for our sins. Christians must seek to worship and serve the Biblical Jesus.

But here’s what should scare each of us this morning: so many professing Christians approve, endorse, and perhaps even serve a counterfeit Jesus they’ve made in our own image. He’s going to accomplish the things that we need him to get done.

After all, no one has a problem with the Jesus that accepts all people and requires nothing of you. Our world celebrates that Jesus, but the problem is that Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.

And this is precisely what’s going on in our text. The Jews appear to be more excited about Jesus the political insurrectionist than the real Jesus.

And ironically this is the apex of his earthly ministry. His popularity has peaked. Jesus’ fame is profound. But not everyone is thrilled with his influence. Look at verses 17-19 with me.

“​​The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Certainly raising Lazarus from the dead added to his popularity. And for the most part, this is a crowd of people generally interested in Jesus, but not necessarily regenerate, born again, believers. They’re a group of people curious about Jesus.

But nevertheless, it made the Pharisees mad. Notice what they said in verse 19, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” In other words, all our efforts to discredit him have been fruitless, because “the world” is following him.

And to a certain extent they’re right. Many people are following Jesus. But which Jesus? The Jesus who came to die a criminal’s death on a cross, or a man that might possibly lead a revolt?

They’re excited about Jesus the political revolutionary. Not the humble Savior who came to take away the sins of the world. The popular guy is the one that’s going to reclaim Jerusalem from the Romans! That’s the popular guy.

In a similar way, you and I must never settle for a counterfeit Jesus of our own making. Jesus that’s going to make you rich, the therapeutic Jesus, the Jesus who’s nothing more than a guru - don’t settle for that, because none of those Jesus can’t save you from your sins. We may even prefer a counterfeit Jesus.

You and I need the Biblical Jesus. The Jesus that goes Jerusalem on a donkey - the Jesus that humbly sacrificed himself on the cross, that’s the Jesus that saves, that’s the Jesus we all need!

Can you just see it? The Jewish people are all celebrating, cheering, waving their palm branches, openly acknowledging Jesus as the promised Messiah, but looking at each other going, what’s up with the donkey? Where’s his noble steed?

Then they shrug their shoulders and say, “ah as long as he throws the Romans out of Jerusalem, who cares!”

And here’s the even greater irony: Jesus was going to Jerusalem to set them free, but he wasn’t going to set them free from their political oppression - that’s the least of their worries. He was going to Jerusalem to set them free from the tyranny and oppression of sin! And we receive that freedom through faith in him!

Isn’t this the weekly reminder that we all need? We all need the weekly reminder of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is God’s King.

Your greatest problem lies within you, because your greatest problem, your greatest enemy, your chief foe is your sin! And guess what? Jesus went to Jerusalem, died on the cross, rose from the grave in order to set you free from it!

And with that in mind we shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

Amen. Let’s pray.