Responses

April 13, 2014
Palm Sunday:  “Responses”
Luke 19:28-44                                   NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS – How one responds to Jesus Christ makes all the difference in this world, and for eternity.

The graphic I’ve chosen for this week’s Powerpoint Sermon notes might look a little strange—maybe a little boring unless you are a scientist.  This is a spectral analysis of the band-average relative spectral radiance responses of the Operational Land Imager (OLI). If you want more information on this graph . . . well, I just can’t imagine why? I’ll tell you this much:  the Operational Land Imager is a NASA development.  Basically this device orbits the Earth taking a complete spectral scan every 16 days.  It gives a picture of urban centers, farms, forests, and other land uses.  It measures the Earth.  My point with this pic is to demonstrate that scientists love to “measure stuff.” They love to see how “things respond to other things.” Measuring responses to stimuli, such as light, provides an enormous insight into the nature of things. I’m going to apply the same principle to the Bible’s text on the Triumphal Entry of Jesus on what we now call, Palm Sunday. There are several significant responses to Jesus that give us enormous insight into the “nature of things,” today.

One of the worst bits of information you can get from a doctor in regard to the condition of a loved one is that he or she is "non-responsive." Our bodies are created to respond to thousands of stimuli daily, or more. When we stop responding to external stimuli, we are in trouble--sometimes, deep trouble. Our spirits likewise are created to respond to God. A “non-response,”or a negative response to Jesus is a matter with eternal consequences.  In our text we will see a representative sampling of different responses to the Lord Jesus Christ.

LET’S READ IT TOGETHER:  Luke 19:28-44

1.  The Donkey’s Response (v30)

Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.

Next to Jesus, of course, one of the main characters in the story of the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) is Christopher, the Donkey. Most people completely miss this ""Supporting Actor" in one of the grandest dramas in the New Testament. Christopher responds to Jesus by surrendering his back to the Lord. This is the essence of Christian devotion: bearing Christ into the crowd! How more of us need to be like Christopher. This donkey was the “Christ Bearer,” hence the name, Christopher.  Christopher comes from the Late Greek name Χριστοφορος (Christophoros) meaning "bearing Christ", derived from Χριστος (Christos) combined with φερω (phero) "to bear, to carry".

Every child of God should be a “Christ Bearer.”  We should be carrying the soul-saving, life-changing message of Christ into the marketplace of our world.  Our salvation experience should not end with our “forgiveness from sin,” but it should begin there.  Christians bear a message that literally changes eternity—if we do not shirk the duty of “carrying Christ.” Carrying Christ to the world is a heavy responsibility as we learned last week, but it is not a “burden,” in the sense of being a demeaning, useless task.  Of all the characters in that drama of the first Palm Sunday, the donkey had by far the greatest role in the supporting cast. 

Many misunderstand just how important donkeys were in the first century culture.  The donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years (Wikipedia).  Possession of a donkey was considered almost the bare minimum for subsistence in life (Job 24:3).  They were much cheaper than horses or oxen, but were steal not easily obtained by the poor who depended upon them for various tasks.  Often, multiple families shared the ownership of a donkey.  This donkey, in this text, has another application to the unfolding story of mankind’s redemption.  First, this particular donkey highlights the purity of his first rider.  No man had ever ridden this donkey.  It was “unblemished” by worldly use.  Matthew tells us that the young donkey would be accompanied by its mother (21:7).  This donkey represented purity and unblemished service for a pure and spotless sacrifice.  Second, by riding a donkey instead of a horse Jesus prophetically fulfilled the message of Zechariah 9:9, ⁹ Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey.  Third, Jesus was identifying with the common man and distancing Himself from any idea that He came to be a military or political leader.  Fourth, by riding a donkey instead of a horse Jesus pointed to His coming “victory over sin,” which would take place in a week’s time.  When military leaders went out to battle they usually rode great stallions.   When they returned after a victorious campaign, they often rode on donkeys.  So, this donkey, we might call Christopher, had a very significant part to play in the drama of redemption as he responded by “carrying Christ to the crowd.”

2.  The Donkey Owner’s Response (32-36)

³² So those who were sent left and found it just as He had told them.  ³³ As they were untying the young donkey, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the donkey?” ³⁴ “The Lord needs it,” they said. ³⁵ Then  they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their robes on the donkey, they helped Jesus get on it.

There are some shocking, almost scandalous words in these verses.  “The Lord needs it.”  How can Jesus, the Son of God, need anything—much less a lowly donkey!  This is the same Jesus that provided a meal for 15 to 20,000 people with just five small cakes and two little dried fish!  This is the same Jesus who gave sight to the blind, strength to lame limbs, and cast out demons from hell!  This is the same Jesus of which the Bible says (Col. 1:16),

For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth,

the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

So, how could Jesus “need” anything, much less a lowly donkey?  This goes back to a question man has debated since creation—why did God create man?  Was He lonely?  No, He is a community unto Himself as the Holy Trinity?  Does God lack something we possess?  No, God is the very source of all we possess.  Need here must be understood in regard to God’s mission, not God’s person.  God DOES indeed need man to fulfill His mission of redemption.  Of course, He could have chosen a different means through which to extend His message of love and grace to the world, but He chose man—you and I.  He needs us because we are the linchpin of His divine program. 

The question becomes—“will we give up that which is most precious to us in this world so that others may gain what is most precious in eternity—that is, eternal salvation? 

As I said above, donkeys were prized possessions.  They were almost a basic necessity in life.  They were expensive, which is why this donkey may have had several families that owned it in common.  Providing this donkey might be equivalent to you and I giving our car to missions, or emptying our retirement accounts—or, it might mean even giving our lives to extend the Kingdom of God on earth as happens so often in other parts of the world.

In a word, these donkey owners responded with “sacrifice!” 

I’ve said before, we have done a greater miracle than Jesus Christ—Jesus died and rose again to make salvation “free,” but we, in our apathy live in such a way as to make salvation look, “cheap.”  The word, “free,” means someone else paid the price.  The word, “cheap,” means we see no real value in what Jesus did.  Hence, we have a Christianity in America today that knows little or nothing of real sacrifice.

Not long ago a very significant man died.  I doubt any of you heard of his passing. His name was Joseph Bau.  Because of his sacrifice, over 400 fellow Jews escaped death in the Nazi prison camp, Plaschow. 
Joseph Bau was born on June 18, 1920, in Krakow, Poland. He was one of three boys in a prosperous middle-class family that lived in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods. Joseph had always been good at art, and at the age of 18, he enrolled in the University of Plastic Arts at Krakow.  But the war interrupted his studies. His family was forced to move to the Jewish Ghetto, and then later to the Plaschow concentration camp. Because of Joseph’s partial education in Art before the war, and because of his talent for Gothic lettering, the Nazis employed him in producing maps and signs for the camp.
Joseph’s job also enabled him to save more than 400 Jews by forging false documents and identity papers that secured their release from the camp. When asked after the war, why he did not forge documents for himself, he replied, “Then who would have done it for the other Jews?”  Spending his young life in a monstrous place like a Nazi Prison Camp so others could go free was Joseph Bau’s “donkey.”  He did what he did because it needed to be done.  Oh, that we as followers of Christ would have such a spirit of willing sacrifice simply because,

“The Lord has need of it!”  The donkey owners responded to the Lord with a huge sacrifice.

3.  The Crowd’s Response (vv. 36-38; 23:20)

As He was going along, they were spreading their robes on the road.  ³⁷ Now He came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸ The King  who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!

I think the KJV in Matthew captures the atmosphere of that event much more eloquently than most modern translations:

And the multitudes [that went before,] and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is [he that cometh] in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Matthew also tells us that in addition to throwing their coats along the road for the Lord to ride upon, they also cut down palm branches from the nearby trees and placed them in the way.  Palm branches were a sign of celebration and victory.  Speaking of the martyrs who stood bravely for the gospel during the soon coming tribulation the Bible says (Rev. 7:9),

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language,  which no one could number,  standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands.

The crowd of common men, women and children were in a near frenzy at the sight of Jesus riding into the Holy City of Jerusalem.  While reading over the description of the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) of Jesus into Jerusalem, the response of the crowd captures my attention. The Life Application Bible states in the notes on this passage: "The people went wild!" Not exactly King James language but pretty accurate. We see that kind of excitement all the time at concerts, sports competitions, or political rallies. We don't see it as much in church. Somehow many (not all of course) churches have made human emotions, out-of-bounds, in regard to worship. Certainly, we should not be "emotional" for emotions sake, but how could someone in the Presence of God Almighty, not simply "go wild" with excitement? I think we need a bit more "energy" in most worship services than we currently experience. Maybe that will spring a new T.V. series: "Christians Gone Wild!"

I think that simply reading about this exciting day, modern believers have lost any connection with the almost riotous nature of this event.  This was a loud, raucous crowd that could not contain their excitement in the Presence of the King of Kings.  These people were full of emotion, full of energy, and full of hopeful expectation.  Their excitement continued growing like blowing air into a balloon.  At some point it just had to “pop!”

I can’t help but notice the contrast with most religious meetings I’ve been in throughout my life—most have been the polar opposite of this crowd’s response. I feel ashamed of myself that I have so often stood in the very Presence of God in worship without any real stirring of my emotions whatsoever.  How this must grieve Our Lord!  Now, I’m not suggesting we get “emotional,” for “emotion’s sake,” as I have said.  There is a cautionary note in regard to this crowds excitement that must be noted.  In just a few short days this same crowd with again be at a frenzied pitch, but with a much different response to Jesus.

^{Lk:23   20} Pilate, wanting to release Jesus,  addressed them again, ²¹ but they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify Him!”

Emotions can be a “fickle” thing.  We must guard against any sort of emotionalism that originates in the flesh and does not arise out of our spirit.  Yet, we cannot dismiss the fact that this crowd’s response to Jesus was one of almost “unrestrained enthusiasm.”  I believe we need a lot more of that in our worship services. 

The donkey’s response was of willing surrender to carry the Lord upon his back into the crowd.  The donkey owners responded to the Lord with a willingness to sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of fulfilling the Lord’s mission.  The crowd responded with an unbridled, enthusiastic worship of the King of Kings.  There is one more response that we must examine.

4.  The Religious Response (39-44)

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!” ⁴¹ As He approached and saw the city, He wept  over it, ⁴² saying, “If you knew  this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden  from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come on you  when your enemies will build an embankment against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.  ⁴⁴ They will crush you and your children within you to the ground,  and they will not leave one stone on another  in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

I’ve taken the response of the Pharisees and married it with the response of the Holy City of Jerusalem as a whole because both the Pharisees and the Holy City represent the decay that inevitably comes when we respond to Jesus Christ with religion.  Part of the problem arises because of a misuse of the word, “religion.”  James tells us:

^1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our  God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows  in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

The Greek word translated, “religion,” occurs frequently in Greek writing outside the N.T.  Surprisingly, in the N.T., it only occurs 4 times, two times in James, chapter 1.  A reputable Greek lexicon defines this word as, “appropriate beliefs and devout practice of obligations relating to supernatural persons and powers.”  James uses the word in this context, as an appropriate response to the sovereignty and majesty of God.  This is why James uses the two modifiers, “pure and undefiled,” to describe godly religious practice.  True religion, that is Christian practice derives from a deep, abiding devotion to God through Jesus Christ—that is, a relationship.  True religion is not an “end,” or even a “means to an end,” but a result of a relationship with Almighty God.  It is always growing, always expanding.  This is what you hear people say, “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.”  Religious practice is just the natural outgrowth of a inner relationship.

The Pharisees in particular, and Israel (represented by the Holy City, Jerusalem) in general represent “religion” as it is commonly practiced by men.  It is an “end” unto itself, or a “means” by which people seek to justify themselves.  Instead of a religious practice that develops as a natural outgrowth of a devotion to God, it is a religious practice that seeks to gain favor with God.  This type of “religious response” to God is actually self-defeating and results in a person drifting further away from God than being drawn to God.  This kind of “religious” response actually brings God to tears.  Jesus cried because he saw how far self-righteous religion had taken Israel away from God. 

In fact, Jesus compares the unemotional response of the religious Pharisees with, “rocks that would cry out in praise to God.”  This is a huge put down by Jesus in regard to the “religion” of the Pharisees and the Jews in general.  A bag of “rocks” offers more praise to God than the religion of the Pharisees!

I’d have to bet that there are folks sitting right here in this church that are in the same bag as the Pharisees.  You here punching your “religion ticket” hoping that God will be pleased to see you in church.  No . . . God is not pleased to watch people punch a religious ticket.  God desperately wants to have a growing, deepening, expanding relationship with each and every one of us.

This text begs for self-examination.  Are we willing to “give our lives to bear Christ into the crowd?”  Do we demonstrate our devotion to God by making everything we own, and everything we are, available to Him for use in His Kingdom?  Do we get emotional when we stand in the Presence of Our Lord in worship?  Or, do respond to God with self-righteous, ritualistic religion?  This passage begs us to examine how we are responding to Jesus Christ, the Lord.

When Jesus marches into a person’s life, everyone responds in one way or another.  How we respond makes all the difference in our lives, now, and forever.

I can verify that this story is true, but it certainly is enlightening.  One day in 1943 thousands of soldiers were preparing to leave for Germany and Italy. The Army, the Navy, and the Marines were preparing to load on the ships. The General decided to have a huge parade through New York City to seek prayer and honor for the men. Many of these brave men would never return home. A little old lady was sweeping off her sidewalk, and she heard the commotion of the crowd. She looked up to hear the cadence of the soldiers. She stood at attention and watched as the men marched by her. She cried and put her shoulders back as she saw the red, white, and blue flag go by. After a few minutes the old lady put her broom stick on her shoulder and started marching along side of the troops. Someone yelled out of the crowd: OLD LADY! OLD LADY GET OUT OF THE WAY! WHAT CAN YOU DO OLD LADY? The old lady yelled back with pride: I CAN SHOW ON WHOSE SIDE I AM! She kept on marching!

How will you respond to Jesus, today?  Will you make it clear “who’s side you are on?” Will you “keep on marching?”

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