Beginning His Last Week of Life; The Poor, the Procession, and the Praise

 INTO JERUSALEM FOR THE FINAL WEEK OF JESUS’ LIFE

 John 11:55-57

    At this time, people were coming from all over the country to Jerusalem for the annual feast of Passover. They came seeking to be purified through the Temple ceremonies. Most of the people spent as much time as they could in the Temple hoping to see Jesus for the first time and see Him perform some miracles. Others wondered if He would come to the feast at all. The Jewish leaders had given out orders for people to let them know if they saw Him, so they could come and arrest Him.^[1]

 (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-11)

    Passover was six days off when Jesus came to Bethany to visit His friend Lazarus, whom He has brought back from the dead. Martha, Lazarus' sister was serving Jesus supper at their home when her sister, Mary, did something unexpected. She took a very expensive perfume and began to pour it over Jesus' feet. Then she used her hair to wipe His feet. The fragrance filled the house with a pleasant aroma. One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, (the one who was planning to betray Him), said, "What a waste! We could have sold this perfume for a year's wages and given the money to those in need." He was not so much concerned for the poor as he felt this was a waste of good money. Since he controlled the group’s money box, he wanted to increase its value because he often stole from the group. Jesus cautioned the disciples, “Do not make this woman feel bad about what she has done. She has actually done a very good deed to Me. You need to understand, the world will always have poor people and you can do good things for them whenever you wish, but I am here for only a little while longer."

    “What she has done for Me is her gift to be kind and she has, without knowing it, prepared My body beforehand for burial. I tell you the truth, the good news will be spread throughout this world and wherever it is proclaimed, what she has done today, will be talked about.”  

    When people learned Jesus was in town they came, not just to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus, the one He had raised from the dead. The Jewish leaders now felt a need to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. If he had remained in the grave, there would not have been as many people leaving the synagogues and going to believe in Jesus.^[2]

    The poor are the people who lack what we have. There is always someone who has less that we do and there is always someone who has more. That means, we are all poor in some way. There is always someone we can do something good for and help them out.

    In this story, Jesus reminds the disciples to not get in the way of someone who wants to do good with their own resources. We do not know their motivations or if they are being led by God. It is not our place to judge other people and their motives. We are called to love others and encourage them to do good in the name of Jesus.

 SUGGESTED APPLICATION:

·        The way of Jesus is to do good when the opportunity arises.

·        The way of the Jewish leaders was to eliminate the competition.

·        The question for us is which pattern would we like to follow?

 Teachings

T463 - John 12:7; Jesus reminds the disciples to not get in the way of someone who wants to do good with their own resources.

T464 - John 12:8; You will always have poor people. Why?

 (Luke 19:29-44; Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-19)

     On their journey into Jerusalem and stopped at the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of the disciples on an errand. “When you enter that village, the one we can see up ahead, you will find a colt tied up. Bring it back to Me so that I might be the first to ride on it. When you are asked why you are taking the colt, say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ And they will let you go.” As they entered the village, everything was just as Jesus had described. The owners of the colt asked, “What are your plans with the colt?” The disciples said, “The Lord needs it.” Bringing the colt to Jesus, they laid their outer garments as a saddle and Jesus sat on the colt.^[3]As He rode along, the people of the area began to spread their coats on the path in front of Him and others were cutting branches off of the palm bushes and laying those in the road along with the clothing. As He began to descend from the Mount, those following Him began to lift up their voices in praise of all the wonders they had seen Jesus do. They shouted, “Blessed is the One coming in the name of Yahweh.^[4]He is the King of Israel. May heaven be filled with peace and glorious wonder. God is bringing to us the kingdom of our father David.”

     Many of these people were with Him when He called to Lazarus to come out of the tomb. And they continued to talk about His deeds. People came up to meet Him, since they had heard so many things that He had done. The Pharisees were astonished at how quickly people flocked to hear his teaching. It seemed like everybody was one of disciples.

    Those leaders who were following along said, “Rabbi, stop these people from saying these things.” Jesus said, “If I do as you ask, the stones around us will pick up their praise.”

He stopped when He saw Jerusalem and He began to sob. He mused, “I wish you could understand what brings the peace you are looking for. But you are blind to these things. Soon you will be surrounded and under siege, and your walls will be destroyed. Not one stone will be left standing. This will happen because you were unwilling to recognize what God demonstrated in your presence.”

    As He arrived in the city, people were asking, “Who is this who is attracting so much attention?” The answer kept coming up, “Jesus, the prophet from Galilee.” Jesus entered the temple and started casting out the moneychangers, turning over their tables and disrupting the people selling doves. These people were buying and selling in the temple and probably doing so in order to make a profit. Jesus justified His actions by saying, “The writings you say you live by describe “God’s house is a house of prayer, not the den of thieves you have made it into.” He healed all those who came to Him, both the blind and the lame. The Jewish leaders observing this were seeing all of the miracles He was performing, and they heard the children singing His praise saying, “Hosanna to David’s Son” asked Him, “Are you aware what the children are saying about you?” He said, “Yes, I hear. Do you remember that the Writings say, ‘It is the infants who will sing the praises of our Messiah?’” He left the city at evening and went to Bethany to spend the night.^[5]

    It seems like someone is always watching our every move. Jesus told His disciples to be aware that the owner of the colt would ask them a question. The answer, “The Lord has need of it.” The disciples were asked by Jesus to publicly proclaim their allegiance to Him whether they were ready to claim they knew Him or not.

    Then Jesus, fulfilling a prophecy of Zechariah, gets on the donkey and rides into town. This was a time of high expectation of the people, believing that Jesus would be the new king of Israel and expand the kingdom back to the glory of the days of David and Solomon. Little did they know, His kingdom was not about the geography of Israel, but about the hearts of people.

    Jesus mourns over Jerusalem because they could not see that He was the fulfillment of the prophecies, and He was what they were looking for. Instead, the leadership of Jerusalem was seeking to kill Him. They did not recognize God present among them even though Jesus did miracles that no one had ever seen before, and He taught with an authority far superior to any of the leaders and teachers of that day. They still did not want to acknowledge that He was from God, the Messiah they longed for.

    He also cared about what the people had done to the Temple. It had originally been a house of prayer and a place where people could come to enjoy the presence of Yahweh. Now they had turn it into a sacrifice business, getting rich on selling the “superior” animals for sacrifice that they produced and charging outrageous interest on the conversion of regular money to “Temple” money. He wanted them to return to the days when the Temple was a place and a symbol of the presence of God on earth.

Teachings

T465 - Luke 19:40; If people do not sing the praises of Yahweh, the stones and all of creation will.

T466 - Matthew 21:13; God’s house should be a house of prayer. (For all the nations)

Revelations

 R72 - Luke 19:31,34; Jesus claims to be God, the LORD, Yahweh.

R73 - Luke 19:38; Jesus allows the people to proclaim Him, Messiah.

R74 - Luke 19:44; The people of Jerusalem did not recognize the Messiah, God's visit to His people.

 Miracles

M32 - Matthew 21:14-15; Jesus performs many healings.

 SUGGESTED APPLICATIONS:

 

·        Jesus does not want the temple leaders to gain profit by unfairly exchanging the people's money into "temple" money. He does not want people gaining profit off of people who are just trying to give a gift to God.

·        How can we see the House of God as a House of Prayer? Take prayer more seriously, believe in the power. Do not change the function of the church from God's family's meeting place to a place of personal profit.

·        In general, do not try to swindle money from others, but give them a fair exchange for their money.

·        Help others with their needs, exchanging, so they can be freed up to worship God according to their tradition and expectation.

  Pastor Edd

^[1] (John 11:55-57)

^[2] (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-11)

 

^[3] His riding on a donkey fulfilled the words of Zechariah, the prophet; “Raise your voices in triumphant shouting, O daughter of Jerusalem! Your King is on the way to you. He brings with Him justice and salvation, He comes humbly seated on a donkey, even a young donkey.” The disciples heard these words but did not know what it all meant until after the resurrection. That is when these ideas came back to them. (Matthew 21:4-5; John 12:14-16)

^[4] (Ps. 118:26)

^[5] (Luke 19:29-44; Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-19)