We’re in the final week of our Costly Confrontations series as we prepare our hearts in this Lent season. We’re looking at encounters that Jesus had with various religious leaders of his day. These aren’t just normal, ordinary encounters. They are explosive encounters that lead to religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus. So far, we’ve read stories of Jesus forgiving sins, healing someone who is paralyzed, allowing a sinful woman to weep at his feet, healing someone who had a severe back disability, a tax-collectors and pharisee prayer, and the wee little man named Zaccheus. So, today, we’ll be using the kids story as our main teaching text. For your reference, it’s on your notes as well.

To start, I want to talk about expectations. If you’re a McDonald’s fan, you see their marketing photos like this photo of a big mac. If you’re hungry, while ordering, you think to yourself: this is going to be the greatest burger I’ve ever eaten. It takes you about 5 minutes to order these days because you have to use the screen. You grab a number, sit down, and wait. 10 minutes later, this arrives at your table. It looks drastically different than the previous photo, right? When you ordered it, you expected it to be juicy, meaty, full of fresh lettuce, and tasty. Instead, you wound up with this stale bread, strange burger patties that are thinner than a sheet of paper, browned lettuce, and lukewarm French fries. You leave feeling disappointed and vow to never return to McDonald’s and eat exclusively at Chick-Fil-A where you are never let down. Why do you feel that way? It’s because your expectations weren’t accurate or realistic, they were wrong.

Today, we’re going to be talking about a story where people had expectations about Jesus – expectations about who he was and what he was about to do. Today, we’ll see how Jesus defies all expectations by showing that God keeps his promises, that God’s character is backed up by his actions, and that if Jesus is our King, we gotta have him on his terms. So, let’s dig in!

Jesus’ entry shows that God will keep his promises.

There are a few things that Jesus is wanting the people in the crowd to see from Old Testament imagery and prophecies:

1.      This is likely the most well-known imagery because Matthew quotes it directly. But, Zechariah 9 tells them:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

    righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,

    and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

    His rule will extend from sea to sea

    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

So, why does Jesus choose to ride on a baby donkey? It’s to fulfill what Zechariah 9 written hundreds of years before Jesus, had said. This is a key verse for us to understand Jesus didn’t just think to himself: I guess it’d be kinda cool if I rode a donkey. This wasn’t an accident. He cleverly orchestrated this event to have his followers and the people connect the dots that Jesus is the long-awaiting King who will usher in a new Kingdom for Israel but it may not look like what they’re expecting. But, this is why some the crowd erupts in worship and why the Pharisees ask Jesus to rebuke his disciples for worshipping.

2.     Isaiah Chapters 40-55 tell of God’s promise to bring about salvation, comfort, and victory to his people through the role of the suffering servant. Isaiah tells us that this suffering servant who is a King and like a good shepherd. It tells of a future where the people will be exiled no longer and that a messenger would come down from the mountains bringing good news, proclaiming peace, bringing good tidings, and proclaim salvation to Israel. Doesn’t that sound like what Jesus just did?

3.     In Ezekiel, God reveals that the nation of Israel has reached such a state of disrepair and sin that God’s glory will not stay in the temple. This is a judgement on their city for their failure to live up to the covenant they established with God. Ezekiel tells us that God’s glory left the Temple and left the city. God promises that one day his glory will return to be with his people. He says that he’ll put a new Spirit in them, give them a heart of flesh not one of stone.  God’s glory hovered east of Jerusalem. Wanna know where Jesus started riding the donkey? Bethpage which is east of Jerusalem. As Jesus journeys from Bethpage to Jerusalem, he’s in effect saying: the glory of the Lord is returning to his people. The temple isn’t going to be a building where I dwell anymore but rather, I am the new temple. I am going to give them the Holy Spirit that can transform their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

Across Zechariah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, we see one thing clearly: God makes promises, and in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, He keeps them.

As I share that phrase of “God will keep his promises”, I imagine it can be hard for some of us to really believe it. It could be because you’re going through something difficult right now or it could be because you’ve been praying for a long time for a certain situation to change and it hasn’t.

This morning, I’d encourage you to reflect on the bigness of God’s plans. And what I mean by that is: humbly remembering who you are and who God is. As Job wondered aloud to God, why is all this happening to me? If I was in your shoes, I wouldn’t run things this way. God lovingly challenges Job and asks him: where were you when I measured the distance from the sun to the earth? How did I calculate the exact distance to create and maintain life? Where were you when I created the foundations of the world? God tells Job this so Job can see how wise, meticulous, and loving God is. That gives Job hope and a reason to believe that God knows what he’s doing. In the same way with Jesus’ entry, we see it. It took a few hundred years for God’s promises to come true to Israel but many of them didn’t even notice it.

Could that be you? God never promises us an easy life. As much as name and claim it people proclaim, God doesn’t guarantee physical miraculous healing or loads of wealth. God promises to never leave us nor will he forsake us. God promises that he can ultimately use everything that’s happened to us for our good and for his immense glory.  But, you only start to believe and trust that when you appreciate how big God is and how small we are.

In Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, Theoden who is a King of a Kingdom called Rohan made an alliance with Denethor who is the Steward aka pretend king of the strongest Kingdom called Gondor. In their alliance, Theoden promised to come to Denethor in his hour of need and fight alongside Denethor. Theoden had proven extremely trustworthy in the past and Denethor trusted him to arrive in their time of need.

Fast forward a few years, there’s a massive war going on between men and orcs. A brave hobbit who is more or less imprisoned in Gondor lights some torches on mountains that acted as a signal to Rohan to say: “Denethor and Gondor need help, please come asap.” After the beacons have been lit, Denethor and his capital city get completely surrounded by the largest army of Orcs, Trolls, and mercenary men. Denethor looks out his window and despairs: he believes that Theoden had betrayed him and broken his promise. Denethor loses his mind as a result. But little did he know that Theoden was only a day’s ride away. I wonder what would have happened if he knew that instead?

And it’s the same way for us who need to remember that God will keep his promises. Don’t fall into despair and lose your mind like Lord Denethor. God is operating on his own time but you can take heart knowing he will keep his promises to you. He’s proven trustworthy in the past so he will demonstrate his faithfulness and trustworthiness in the present and future. It could be tomorrow or 40 years from now that you experience the promise being kept but it will happen. Take heart that Jesus kept this promise made to Israel by arriving in Jerusalem as the long-awaiting King.

So, we’ve seen that God keeps his promises so far. But, why does God do this? It’s because…

Jesus’ character is revealed by his actions, not by his words.

In this story, we three core components of Jesus’ character:

1.      We see that he is gentle and lowly. In our culture, the most important people typically have a red-carpet treatment. They roll up to the movie premiere or awards show in a limousine. They can’t be bothered by anybody so they have a large security group around them. In Jesus’ days, the kings would often travel around with a large caravan and escort. The King would ride on a well-adorned horse with jewels.  But, what does Jesus do? He rides a donkey which aren’t really used for riding to places in the ancient world, they’re used to carry cargo. So in some ways, Jesus is the King who arrives at his palace in a U-Haul truck when you’d likely expect a Limousine. Why?

Jesus does this because he is gentle and lowly. He’s a man of the people. He is accessible to people like no other king or president has ever been. There weren’t these hoops to jump through, security squad to get through, or even needing to clean yourself up. Jesus is accessible and wants to show that we don’t need to burden ourselves anymore, we can come to him because he is welcoming, approachable, and kind. That’s why he arrives on a donkey.  

2.     We see his defense of the vulnerable. When Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, people of all kinds and kids of all kinds were calling Jesus king. The Pharisees are quick to ask Jesus to rebuke his disciples and even ask Jesus to silence the children who are worshipping him. Jesus defends them and elevates their praise as special. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus consistently stands by the vulnerable and oppressed of society. He becomes friends with the outcasts and friends with those that society has deemed as unlovable and unwanted. In this critical moment of Jesus showing he is the long-awaited King, he demonstrates a special commitment and love for the poor in spirit while also rebuking the ones who think they know better and are better than others.

3.     We see his sorrow over lost sinners. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because they have failed to see that this is the moment when God will rescue them. It’s more likely that Jesus burst into tears over Jerusalem. The nation of Israel is so lost and blinded by what they expected this long-awaited King would do that they miss out that the promised day of victory and salvation was finally here. But, victory and salvation wasn’t going to come from the government or the military, it was going to come through the way of death on a cross. Jesus is filled with sorrow over this because his heart is to rescue all men but in his weeping, he also pronounces judgement. In their refusal to submit to the kingship of Jesus, he pronounces that Jerusalem will be sacked and the temple will be destroyed. This comes true in 70 AD when the temple is destroyed by the Romans and the city is burned.

For example, when people start bragging about how humble they are, you know they’re not actually humble. Right? On the flip side, Jesus’ actions demonstrate that he is accessible or approachable, he is a defender of the vulnerable, and his heart breaks for people who are lost. He doesn’t just say those things but his actions back them up.

For you today, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, do your actions up your claim? Do you weep or feel sadness over people who aren’t followers of Jesus? Do you work to build relationships and plant seeds of faith within their hearts? Do you speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves like Jesus does? Do you advocate and defend the orphan, the widow, and the vulnerable like Jesus? Are you a welcoming person, even to ‘sinners’? Or can people tell you’re judgmental from your stares? If we are to be like Christ, let’s be people whose actions speak louder than our words or belief systems.

And if that is challenging for you, I totally get it. But, our faith requires us to grow in Christ likeness even in areas that are hard for us because…

If Jesus is King, you must accept his terms.

Through this story, it’s clear that Jesus sees himself as the long-awaited King who is going to bring victory for the people of God. You’d expect this to be a day where all people gathered are rejoicing that this day has finally arrived but that’s not what we see. We see a mixed response: first, we see people breaking palm branches down and waving them. Why palm branches? Palm branches were a nationalistic symbol of Israel. In 166 BC, Judas Maccabeus was a Jewish priest who led a successful revolt against Sil-LEW-Sid empire which was a Greek Empire state, this empire had desecrated the Jewish temple with pig sacrifices. Judas led a group of rebels who cleansed the temple, killed their opponents, and continued a war. When Judas and his troops would arrive places, crowds of people would wave palm branches as they walked through. So folks who are grabbing palm branches are likely thinking Jesus will do the same: he’s going to bring triumph over the Romans, he’s going to start a war to free Israel. Jesus will bring triumph but it won’t involve war. It won’t involve hurting or killing his opponents. It will involve Jesus laying down his life for his opponents for he said: “If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.” These are people who are excited about Jesus being a conquering, military ruler.

Second, we see Pharisees in the crowd following Jesus who have seen him perform miracles. But as the crowds start worshipping Jesus as king, they get uncomfortable and tell Jesus that he needs to rebuke his disciples. They like Jesus as a nice prophet who heals people but they don’t like him as Messiah who’s come to change things up.

Third, we see groups of people who are proclaiming Jesus as the king. But what does that mean to them? All the groups of people who are seeing this have some sort of idea about who Jesus must be…they have expectations on what a king looks like.

But here’s the thing: they don’t get to give Jesus their list of terms or expectations, Jesus is the one who sets those. But, is it possible for us to do the same thing to Jesus?

Here’s what I want to make clear: Jesus became your king when he laid down his life for you, when he did what you could not do, and when he freely offered you forgiveness and you believed in him. He’s not a King that requires you to obey perfectly or to never struggle with sin ever again after you’ve professed faith. But when we’ve received his free love, grace, and mercy, it’s not right for us to make demands of him.

Are we guilty of effectively telling God: I’ll follow you as king IF you bless me with good health? I’ll follow you as king IF you bless me in this way? I’ll follow you as king so long as you don’t require too much of me? I’ll follow you as king so long as I don’t really have to change my life? If I can be real with you guys, when we attach an If statement to our allegiance to Jesus, we are in a really dangerous place. Jesus saves and Jesus also changes lives – both of those statements are true. The bible teaches we are justified or made right in God’s eyes by our belief that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again. But it also teaches that when we profess faith, the Spirit of God begins the process of making us look more like Christ which is called sanctification.

So, are you giving Jesus your list of terms or expectations or conditions as you follow him? Or are you trusting that if he’s your King, he’s the one who sets the pace?

If you hear these questions and feel convicted or discouraged, hear this clearly: growth takes time. Jesus is patient. The very sorrow he felt over Jerusalem shows how deeply he longs to rescue people, not reject.

Worship team, come on up.

Today, we’ve seen that Jesus defies the expectations that those in the past and some of us in the present have about him. Throughout the next week of Jesus’ life, he would demonstrate this in some radical ways. As his closest friends and many of his followers were riding high after a triumphal entry, Jesus knew where this was going. While many were excited to say goodbye to the Romans, Jesus was preparing to say goodbye to his friends. Some people had expectations that Jesus was going to bring victory to the Jewish people and crush their enemies. They had expectations that their new Kingdom would be founded on power and strength.

They didn’t realize that their biggest enemy was their sin. They didn’t realize the Kingdom would be founded on weakness, on self-giving love, and on humility. As we enter Holy Week, I’d encourage you to reflect on Jesus’ journey: from the ecstatic joy of his entry into Jerusalem to the utter betrayal by his friends, from the anointing of his feet at Bethany to his crucifixion. Through the last week, you will see that God does keep his promises, you’ll see that his character is backed up his actions, and you’ll see that we have to have him as our king on his terms.

Because although Jesus defies all expectations, he exceeds them and he’s better than any of us ever expect. So if you need forgiveness, he’s going to give you all that you need. If you need his love, he’s going to give you his heart - freely. If you need to know that he can bring good out of the hard things of your life, he’s going to remind you that his death paved the way for his resurrection and new life. If you just need to know that he’s not giving on you, look no further than the agony he endured on the cross. Amen?

As a reminder, we have people available to pray over a need you may have or someone else may have in the corners. God responds to faith and he will grow you through your boldness and humility by asking for prayer. So if there’s something heavy on your heart, do something about it.

STAND and I’ll pray.