Original URL Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Transcript
so it's good to see so many faces as I make my yearly trip to to uh Boston orDoon uh it's good to see so many people and um yeah I'm happy to share some thoughts with you this evening uh my my write up for Brother Steve was kind of wasn't as eloquent as many of the other Brethren right up that's because I I this is the title I wanted make is great again but I realize that if this goes online that might um provoke a lot of different thoughts um and it really isn't about politics as I mentioned it's about two different ways of approaching um each day approaching um neighbors
approaching um situations in our lives and so that will come out but this does does come out this idea of make Israel great
again
um it's really about the two entries into Jerusalem and I guess this talk would have been um better suited for maybe what people call Palm
Sunday um but we you have an election coming up
and the way of Rome I'm going to call it the way of Rome uh as as you will see that will make sense later is something that's that's really put before people um the way of violence the way of anger the way of um aggression in order
to in order to achieve
something and I know I don't know how you guys feel down in the United States but in Canada we're we're always nervous about uh and more so these days about American elections because you know we're your little neighbor um and when something happens to America uh it can affect Canada sometimes it's referred to as the United States is the elephant and we're the mouse and when the elephant rolls over the mouse gets squished so we're we're keenly interested in what's going on in the states uh and and you know it's going to be very interesting over the next couple of of weeks and I'm sure there's a lot of anxiety about it um and so this hopefully will get us to focus on on some things that are more important than this election um and this really came out of a discussion I heard online and there's a pastor and another an interviewer and they were discussing some of these things and uh I haven't been able to find the discussion again since um but I was writing down some notes and I sort of expand on those notes
um that we're going to discuss and it all comes out of Matthew chapter 21 which we just
read um oh let me just click on
this and there's this idea that came out uh I think primarily from this book called the last week by John Dominic ran and Marcus bour and you can find a lot of people referencing this book online as they talk about two triumphant triumphal entries into
Jerusalem
um and it's this idea that there are that when Christ was coming into Jerusalem pilate would have been coming to into Jerusalem as well uh that week perhaps the same day um and wouldn't it have been amazing if it was happening at exactly the same time so here here's what they write it says there were two possessions entered Jerusalem on a spring Day in the year 30 one was a peasant procession the other an imperial procession from the East Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives cheered by his followers on the opposite side of the city from the West Pontius Pilate the Roman governor of iduma Judea and Samaria entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of Imperial Cavalry and soldiers Jesus's procession proclaimed the kingdom of God Pilates proclaimed the power of
Empire so two processions coming in from opposite sides of the city one is Jesus and that's the one we read of in Matthew chapter 21 but there would have been at some point in time around that same time another one and pilate would have been leading that and that's the one we're going to look at first Pilot's entry and as I say what could it have been the same day the same time that would just be perhaps too perfect
um and so this is brought out people um obviously have have heard of this there's a Steve Thomasson he has a cartoon Bible and he has an online um website you can go to where he talks about his drawings and what he was thinking when he was going through them and and and sometimes some of his thoughts are pretty interesting but these are the drawings he has in the the cartoon Bible of these two
processions um and you sort of you know it's cartoonized or however you want to say it it's in cartoon form but it sort of brings across sort of that the idea of these two sides coming together and he has a little bit of a commentary on his you know Jesus was the crossbearer
and Rome pilate were the cross
makers um but the idea is pilate didn't live in Jerusalem uh yeah pilate didn't live in Jerusalem he lived in cesaria maritima so he was by the Sea most of the time and as we know his job was to maintain with an iron fist control over Jerusalem and and the area around
Jerusalem and so if there was going to be a huge Gathering of people it was his job to make sure they knew knew that there was not going to be any funny business there wasn't going to be any revolts any rebellions and he was going to be there to make sure nothing
happened um and not only that we know that at this time with these two entries it was the Passover so I've heard estimates of a million two million Jews coming into this area heightened emotions uh a national Zeal and what are they doing during Passover they're reflecting on a
time when they came out from under the control of another powerful Nation so this is a time when they're looking back and we came out from under under the Egyptians under pharaoh and we you know we came into a into Freedom um we came out from under foreign oppression and so pilate had to be there and he had to communicate by his presence power and control and so here's another section from that book it says traditionally pilate paraded into Jerusalem on the first day of the Passover week entering the west gate and you see that with the red
arrow um which is the front gate on a mighty warhorse with Legions of Chariots horses and foot soldiers dressed for battle and armed with swords and Spears Rome's Authority would not be questioned the Majesty with which pilate enters the front door of the city was meant to inspire awe and fear respect and obedience and so that's from that book that I referenced earlier and the message this is important the message is the way to win in this world is and the way to have sway or influence or power over people is you need Force you need power um you need perhaps violence if necessary it's that idea of Might makes
right and so what would the response of the Jews have been at that time you know they don't have the power but they would have probably been thinking something like like this you just wait until our Messiah comes and then he's going to make Israel great again you know when when our Messiah comes he is going to destroy
you and you have to believe that the only way they could
imagine their Messiah coming and getting rid of getting rid of Rome Rome with all their chariots and centurions and swords and shield s and power the only way is through Force Through Force Through violence um through Power that's how they I imagine in the mind of the Jew at that time that would be what they were thinking we need someone with Supernatural power who's going to defeat them and so the Jews were looking for a political um a political Deliverance a material Deliverance they were going to take back their city um they definitely were
not for the most part looking for a spiritual Deliverance at least not the the kind that they were going to
get and so this is sort of the attitude or the ideology that if you want something you have to fight for it uh with power and control and
aggression and so's let's just look at a couple places to to maybe bring out that idea that this is what the Jews were waiting for so if we go to Luke chap 24 after Jesus had had died and was was
risen and uh the two men are on the road to Emmas and in verse 21 uh actually I'll read verse I'll start at verse
13 of Luke 24 it says Now Behold two of them were traveling that same day to a village called emus which was 7 miles from Jerusalem and they talked together of all things that which had happened so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself Drew near and went with them but their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him and he said to them what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are
sad then the one whose name was Copus answered and said to him are you only a stranger in Jerusalem and have you not known the things which have happened there in these days and he said to them what things so they said to him the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet Mighty indeed in word before God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him now here's the point but we were hoping that it was was he who was going to redeem
Israel indeed besides this today is the third day since these things have
happened and so they had hoped that he was the one to redeem
Israel um oops and I was looking up in
vines that this word redeemed and it says in the natural sense of delivering in Luke 24:21 the setting Israel free from the Roman yoke and so that's what Vines is saying when they're talk about to redeem Israel they're saying we wanted we thought we hoped that he was the one who was going to break the Roman yoke that was our hope so you get a sense that that that's what they were looking
for um here's another example from Matthew chapter 20 if you don't mind we'll just turn there just to get the
context and I'm sure we know all these things we've thought about them before uh Matthew chapter 20: 20 through 21 it says then the mother of zebedee's sons came to him Jesus with her sons kneeling down and asking something from him and he said to her what do you wish and she said to him grant that these two two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom so she wants for her sons and they obviously wanted as well uh they want positions of authority in Jesus's
Kingdom um and when Jesus asked them do you you do not know what you ask are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with and they said to him we are able so it's not just moms there they're there we can handle this we want to be on your left and right in your kingdom and I'm sure in their minds that kingdom was coming soon the Romans were going to be gone and they wanted positions
now U what type of leadership would James and John have provided for Christ well if we go to Luke Chapter n we see what was in their heart at the time
and in Luke chapter 9 UM verses start at verse
51 it says now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent Messengers before his face and as they went they entered a village of the Samaritans uh to prepare for him but they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to to Jerusalem
and when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did this is that way power aggression Force if we want to get things done this is the way to do it they're not listening to us let's bring down fire and Destroy them and so Jesus says to them uh verse 55 but he turned and rebuked them and said you do not know what manner of spirit you are of for the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them um I forget what version I wrote this down from but it says you don't realize what your hearts are
like so there's another example of of this idea that let's make Israel great again and we can do it by breaking the Roman yoke we can do it by Force by by taking
control and so that's the the passage
there and we also know from John
6:15 um that Jesus had to escape at one point because they wanted to make him
king
um it says therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force and make him King he departed again to the mountain by himself alone so there's this
anticipation that we can make Israel great
again
um now what about what about today so I'm going to call this the way of Rome the way of if you have enough power if you have enough Force if you scream the loudest if you make the most noise you'll get your way
and so we do see it in modern politics and we think about Russia right now we think about the Middle East um the way of Rome is is the way you settle
things um in that map there is I just found this online it's it's a list of all the ongoing armed conflicts in the world right now and some of them are as we know Wars between nations some of them are civil wars some of them the one in Mexico is I think um the war on drugs and on gangs but you can just see that the world is filled uh on a political level with the way of Rome uh we could look at home I put down January 6 2021 which I'm sure you all know what happened on that day but it was the idea that let's take
over um we would call it Parliament what you call the capital uh we'll use force uh if we have a enough people we can make this happen but we don't even see it there we see it even in in places of employment um you know I talked to my my kids uh who have had jobs one made sandwiches at Subway and my daughter she worked as a um a cashier at a grocery store and there there's they tell stories of customers who come in who yell and scream over the silliest things but that's the the way they feel they get things done uh that's the way they feel um you you get Authority or power over somebody uh and sometimes we know that it it can get
violent uh in community community organizations the same thing can happen if you've ever been um a part of a sports team there are parents who feel that yell and scream and threaten and your kid will get more playing time or you know the referees will back down um we definitely see it in schools uh sometimes from the parents quite often from students you know the way you can you can gain control is through Force aggression and
anger the scary thing is if we start to see it in ecclesial organizations whether it's a committee uh you know um abs
magazines whatever it is if we start to see anger aggression force in order to push forward our way and only our way you know we're we're heading into this way of Rome and we have to be on the lookout for it
um because it it it's not the way of
Christ but if you were to ask
um no we I'll move on from that so I want to I want to turn now to to to not look at the the entry from pilate but to look at the entry into Jerusalem of Christ uh Jesus's
entry and here we have a completely completely different attitude and ideology that Jesus was presenting so if we go to Matthew chapter 21 again
and there was a lot of details that came out in Matthew chapter 21 that represent that not only represent Christ's
attitude but also this attitude that I've talked about of the Jews that were there at the
time so Matthew chapter 21 and just
we'll look at some of those details
again um and we know that Matthew chapter 21 when we read verses five uh verse 5 it says this comes from if you look in your in your
margin it tells us that this comes from um as you see up there Zechariah 9: 9-10 uh this verse that says tell the daughter of Zion beh behold your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey a Colt the fo of a donkey so very different than what Pilot's entry would have been with the soldiers the Chariots um the centurions the the swords all the
weapons lowly sitting on a donkey a Colt the full of a donkey we just want to turn to Zechariah Chapter 9 there's a few more details we're going to look
at so we want to have that passage
open I'm just going to start at verse 9 it says Rejoice greatly oh Daughter of Zion shout o daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and having
salvation lowly and riding on a donkey a cult the fool of a donkey so we'll just stop there for a second The Cult of a
donkey so you know what a contrast from a warhorse you know a cult perhaps barely had the the strength to Bear the burden of Christ um the words are used uh it says lowly and that word means to be poor or Afflicted this is not a power ful by appearance not a powerful
man
um in verse 10 it says I will cut off The Chariot from Ephraim and the horse from
Jerusalem the battle bo b bow shall be cut off he shall speak peace to the Nations his Dominion shall be from sea to Sea and from the river to the ends of the Earth so there's a few few things in here that I find interesting um and I'm not an expert on that
but here you have the Romans who are in
charge uh all about chariots all about war
horses and here it says in verse 10 and I have the NIV up there I will take away the Chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken he will Proclaim peace now I guess you could take that as Christ is going to be victorious over the Roman
army or you could look at it you know he's proclaiming peace he's coming in but he's on he's a king on the Colt of a donkey he's poor he's lowly he's poor he's Afflicted what's going on in this verse wouldn't you expect he's coming on a mighty steed with Le you know Legions of of Jews behind him to come and destroy the Romans
it seems like his victory is very different than one of violence and aggression take away the Chariot and the war horses and the battle vow he's going to Proclaim peace I also thought it was
interesting this term his rule will extend from sea to Sea and from the river to the ends of the Earth and that's something that a lot of the uh the Palestinian protest there's this phrase they keep keep using from River to
Sea and that that saying from River to sea is we're going to push the Jews completely out of the land it's really a way of Rome sort of a statement violence yet in Zachariah it says 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 you get this picture of of not violence that there's some sort of Victory that's going on here but it's one that that doesn't include aggression and force um and Power in that way I guess it's a different type of
power now let's let's keep going and we're going to look at go back to Matthew chapter 21 and we're going to look at some three elements of what's going on in Matthew chapter
21 all right so we look at these uh these three elements of Jesus's entry and what the people are doing and try to get an idea of where their minds were with his
entry uh so the first thing we see that them doing is we'll start at verse six here so the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them they brought the donkey and the Colt laid their clothes on them and set him on them and a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road
so they're taking their clothes and they're putting it on the road so this did happen back in Second Kings 9 and this might might give us an idea of what the people were thinking when they saw Jesus coming into Jerusalem so if you go to 2 Kings
9 this is about the anointing of juu as king of Israel
so let's see
um so we're told in verse one of 2 Kings 9 and Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him get yourself ready take this flask of oil in your hand and go to ramoth Gilead now when you arrive at that place look there for juu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of nimshi and go in and make him Rise Up from among his associates and take him to an inner room
then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say thus says the Lord I have anointed you King over Israel then open the door and flee and do not
delay and so when we read on this is exactly what he does he goes in he anoints ju who his King uh if we pick it up in verse 11 it says then J who came out to the servants after he had been anointed his master uh and one one said to himis all well why did this mad man come to you and he said you know the man in his Babel and they said a lie tell us now so he said thus and thus he spoke to me saying thus says the Lord I have anointed you King over Israel verse 13 then each man hastened to take His Garment and put it under him on the top of the steps and they blew trumpets saying J who is King so here we have a king who is Anointed and they put their clothes down so that he can walk on them and what do we know about J
who um so they put clothes on the steps we know that he goes out his whole
mission was to go and destroy the whole house of Ahab so the first thing he does is he kills joram in 9 verse 24 and then in 9:27 he is ahaziah killed and in 933 he is Jezebel killed in 10:7 he kills the 70 sons of Ahab and 10:1 the remnant of the House of Ahab which was all his chief men his close friends his priests it says leaving him no
Survivor in Chapter 10: 13 to 14 he kills all of Jezebel's
sympathizers in chapter 10:1 17 he kills ahab's family in
Samaria and then in chapter 10: 25 he kills all the prophets of Baal all his servants and all his priests that's what it says so here we have a man who was making Israel great again and how was he doing it he was doing it by destroying Ahab and his family and everyone associated with him he was using aggress aggression and violence um and I mean this was directed by God but
perhaps in Matthew chapter 21 as Jesus is coming in and all the Jews are under the Roman yoke and they can't wait to be delivered and maybe this is our
man and maybe and it's just a suggestion that they were laying the clothes on the road and it's referencing back to this this is the man who's going to come in with violence and aggression and do the will of God and get rid of the Romans
so that's just the first thing that happens is the close on the road the second one we're going to have to get out our uh and turn to first macbes which you probably don't hear too often in Bible classes but it's in verse um it says here in verse 8 of Matthew
21 and a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road others cut down branches from trees
and spread them on the road then the multitudes went on before and those followed cried out saying um hosana to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord hosana in the highest so they cut down branches uh these palm branches um and lay them on the road now what may they have been thinking when they're laying down the palm
branches well they may have been thinking about what
happened
um in the time of their oppression about 200 years
earlier and so about 200 years earlier uh Antiochus the fourth
epiphanies uh king of Syria ruled over the Jews um in the second century BCE he ruled Judea as a tyrant Tyrant with an iron
fist
um so he was a a horrible man he was called epiphanies which means the God's
beloved uh several of the Syrian rulers received similar titles but a historian of his time called po
polybius gave him the
epithet
epines instead of epiphanies and EP means a Madman so even the historians were of the time were saying this guy was insane and they said it
epines madman was a title more suitable to the character of this harsh and cruel King and so he outruled
um here he outlawed Jewish worship worship of God he sacrificed a pig to Zeus in the temple
um he would force people to to sacrifice to foreign
gods and so it was a time when when the Jews were under um a horrible
Tyrant and then Along came a priest named Judas
macabus uh and his nickname was the hammer almost sounds like a wrestling uh nickname but his nickname was the hammer and he led a revolt
and actually pushed the seusd Empire out for about a hundred years so Against All Odds and this is where we get the um is it the the the Hanukkah with the the lights is that it where they light them and then the oil lasted longer than they right yeah
um and so here's I'm just going to um so it was a miraculous Revolt he made Israel great again and here's what it says in 1 mccabes
13:51 on the 23rd day of the 2 month in the year 171 there was a great celebration in the city because this terrible threat to the security of Israel had come to an end Simon and his men entered the fort singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving while carrying palm branches and playing Harps symbols and leers Liars Lear
so perhaps once again just a suggestion that when the people are coming out putting the clothes on the road they're bringing palm branches maybe they're thinking back to a time here comes
Jesus and we're under the Iron Fist of Rome and they're remembering Judas macabus the hammer and we're looking for the hammer to come in and use force and violence to regain power to redeem us
and the third thing they did was they shouted hosana and the word hosana now this is from the very credible website gotquestions.org uh but you can check it out if you want hosana is often thought of as a declaration of Praise similar to Hallelujah but it is actually a plea for salvation the Hebrew root words are found in Psalm 118 :2 which says save us we pray O Lord the Hebrew words Yasha deliver save and Ana beg beseech combined to form the word that in English is hosana literally hosana means I beg you to save or please deliver us um and so you get this picture with these three things let me go back one the clothes on the road the palm branches save us now we beseech you save us now from the Roman rule
um and yet a week
later in Matthew chapter 27 we know that Jesus is is like a sheep being led to the slaughter or a lamb that is silent before her shears he did not open his mouth from my Isaiah 53 he stood before the crowds a prisoner of Rome with his life in the hands of
pilate and in Matthew 2027 the people are given a
choice so there's all this anticipation that maybe this is the one who's going to the Messiah who's going to redeem us and in Matthew 27:1 15 and 16 they're given a choice now before we get to the choice think about what Jesus had done during his his three and a half your ministry there were many sick who were healed many sick who were healed they were blind who received their sight there were dead that were
raised um paralyzed who could now walk and these stories would have
spread um and you would think okay they're going to choose
Jesus uh in Matthew 15 uh sorry Matthew 27:15 now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished and at that time they had a notorious prisoner named or called
barabus therefore when they had gathered together pilate said to them whom do you want me to release to you barabus or Jesus who is called
Christ who are they going to pick and we know the end of the story story of
course
um we know that barabus is mentioned in all four gospels in the Gospel of
Luke it says that he was being held for rebellion and murder keep that in mind a man of rebellion a man of murder a man of action of force of aggression of
power um
he represented the way of Rome he represented what the people wanted they wanted to get rid of Rome and here we have Jesus what do we know of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 he says I'm gentle and lowly of
heart we know that he was a person of healing of humility of submission he lived an unhurried
life he preached things like love your enemies turn the other cheek go the extra mile and forgive and so here's this Choice presented before the people and surely Jesus would have been chosen you think of all the lives he impacted the positive way the ways he he lived as I mentioned healing blind paralyzed sick deaf feeding thousands supporting the
marginalized um he had a completely different way of making Israel great
again but the people chose barabus and they didn't just choose barabus I think what they were choosing is they were choosing the ways of
barabus the ideology of of Revenge of insurrection of force and it was such a shortsighted selection there was one who was the image of off offering relief now even though barabus could do nothing against the Roman
Powers but Jesus was offering a permanent
physical mental social and spiritual relief and
Redemption and so even though Jesus could have called more than 12 Legions of
angels He chose to obey he chose to submit he chose to follow his father's
will
and he did in a way um get anointed as king that day didn't he he wore a crown of thorns he wore a robe of mockery uh he was elevated not to a throne but onto a cross but in doing so he demonstrated to us the way we must live and I just want to go to uh First
Peter chapter
21 um I'm going to start at verse 21 I put
up uh the main part we want to focus
on um but I'll read from First Peter chapter 20 uh verse two sorry First Peter chapter 2 starting at verse
21 and here it
says for to you for to this you were called be because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth who when he was reviled did not revile and return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose Stripes you were healed for you were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your
souls so we're to follow his steps follow that example when he was reviled he did not revile when he suffered he did not threaten he committed himself to him who judges righteously when when you look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5 coercion isn't there and violence is not listed and aggression is not listed those are the things of the flesh emnity Strife jealousy fits of angers rivalries dissensions
divisions but the the fruit of the spirit is love love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and
self-control and so what Jesus did by living that way was he achieved the greatest Victory and and a victory that will last
forever uh he he couldn't have done it the other way and so just to close we're heading into a volatile world
um and it could get a lot worse we I think we know it's going to get a lot worse um and so how do we navigate that uh how do we navigate those situations that we come up to in in in our lives in our community and our workplaces um hopefully not in our ecclesias but there are tensions that
arise well we're given the example by Christ that we're to chose we're to choose to follow the Spirit of Christ and not the ways of Rome um and