Month: December 2021

The miracle of the resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith and without it we are of most men to be pitied (I Corinthians 15:19).  Its publicity, however, is the opposite of the Palm Sunday drama.  The drama of the resurrection is that it was witnessed by very few people.  It was basically a private event.  Have you ever thought about that?  We, including the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15, like to use eyewitness testimony to support our claim that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, as we should.  And Jesus did make enough public appearances to provide a foundation for our faith.  But think about the numbers.  The best Paul can come up with at one time is 500?  Yes, 500.

Where are the appearances before 5000?  What about an appearance in the temple, a place where Jesus had regularly addressed the crowds just a week earlier?  Would that have been helpful?  Where are the appearances before the skeptics, the Pharisees, and the rulers?  For some reason, following His resurrection, Jesus took His kingdom almost completely underground.  Have you ever thought about that?  So many public appearances in Jesus’ former life, and then very few after His resurrection.

So to summarize the timeline of events surrounding the announcement of the coming of the kingdom, we have the following:

• Jesus’ early ministry:  announced the arrival of the kingdom of God.
• Jesus’ earthly ministry:  public, but downplayed the King title.
• Palm Sunday:  public, and embraced the King title.
• Death:  public place of execution, witnessed by many.
• Resurrection:  private, witnessed by very few people.
• Ascension:  Very private, by invitation only.  And poof, Jesus was gone, back to heaven.

And this is where we live today; citizens of a secret kingdom.  But secret does not mean powerless.  Remember the kingdom of God is within us.  And the same power that raised Christ from the dead infuses the citizens of His kingdom.  It really is a kingdom not of this world.  It is a kingdom that is largely invisible to this world.  At the same time, it is a kingdom of supernatural citizens whose true home is somewhere else; citizens who truly are “in the world but not of it.”

With the exception of the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane, the passion week remained a public week for Jesus right up to His crucifixion.  His death was very public.  His trials bounced from leader to leader with stops before the crowds clamoring for His death.  He carried His cross through the public streets and died in a public place of execution.  His death made news throughout the entire city and beyond.

Remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus the next Sunday who, not suspecting their guest was Jesus, said, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here these days … concerning Jesus the Nazarene?” (Luke 24 18-19).  Christ died a very public death.

So less than a week after Palm Sunday, the King was dead.  Now silence.  The dead King is buried.  In the world’s eyes, the very public figure, who less than a week earlier accepted the multitude’s praise as Messiah King, is dead.

But something is stirring in our minds.  What are we to make of the Isaiah 61 passage that launched Jesus’ public ministry?  Jesus said it referred to Him.  What are we to make of His claim to be God’s Son?  And what about His own prediction that He would be “delivered up to the Gentiles to mock, scourge, and crucify Him, and on the third day He would be raised up.” (Matthew 20:19)?  What are we to do with “the King is dead” but wait?

What happens next is dramatic in more ways than just the awesome miracle of the resurrection, as powerful and incredible as that was.  How dramatic?  We will talk about it next time.

In the gospel of John, Jesus’ proclamation at the feast, His attesting miracles, His identifying Himself as one with the Father, and His announcement that eternal life is found only in Him are all leading to the recognition that He could indeed be the promised Messiah.  This momentum builds toward the Sunday before the Jewish Passover.  In an event we now call “Palm Sunday,” Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey in fulfillment of the prophet Zechariah’s words from circa 500 BC.  “Now this took place (the triumphal entry into Jerusalem) that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden” ‘ “ (Matthew 21:4-5 quoting Zechariah 9:9).

Luke further describes the scene, “And they brought [the colt] to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it.  And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road.  And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’  And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’  And He answered and said, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’ “ (Luke 19:35-40).

In a complete reversal from the feeding of the five thousand when Jesus fled the multitude’s attempt to make Him king, He now embraces their praise and recognition that He is the promised king.  The crowds cry out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38), ascribing this title to Jesus, the Nazarene.  In fact, this day was so ordained for Jesus’ kingdom to become public that if the crowd were silenced, as the Pharisees demanded Jesus do, the rocks themselves would cry out the proclamation.

Now we enter the tumultuous passion week of our Savior.  The week starts with Jesus staying in the public eye.  “And [Jesus] entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them, ‘It is written, “And My house shall be a house of prayer,” but you have made it a robber’s den.’  And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on His words.” (Luke 19:45-48).  Jesus’ cleansing of the temple and daily teaching in the temple were very public aspects of His ministry during the passion week.

Of course, a dramatic turn of events is coming as the passion week is unfolding.

Let’s return now to John chapter 7 and the advice of Jesus’ brothers.  You may recall their message to Jesus was, “You are doing all these miracles here in the backwater of Galilee.  If publicity is what you are after, go to the big city, Jerusalem, and put on a show there in front of the big crowds.”  Of course, publicity was not what Jesus was after and He initially passed on their suggestion.  But the time was soon ripe for the next revelation of the Messiah King.  Let’s see what happens next.

Jesus did end up going to the feast in Jerusalem shortly thereafter, and while there, announced Himself to the crowd.  “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” ‘  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39).

This public proclamation of Jesus animated the crowd and they responded, “Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, ‘This certainly is the Prophet.’  Others were saying, ‘This is the Christ (i.e. the Messiah).’  Still others were saying, ‘Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?’ “ (John 7:40-41).  Others probably returned to their question from John 6 when Jesus described Himself as the bread come down from heaven.  “They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, “I have come down out of heaven”?’ ” (John 6:42).  Questions, assumptions, and guesses.

Something is stirring.  The crowd is quizzical.  Could it be that the promised Messiah King has finally arrived?  Could Jesus of Nazareth fit the bill?  Is Jesus about to go public with His kingdom?  All questions for next time.

“Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, ‘You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them.  But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many’ “ (Mark 10:42-45).

In another twist that made no sense had Jesus been setting up a military or political kingdom, the role of servant is elevated.  And what the world regarded as greatness was basically of no value in God’s kingdom.  Throughout His ministry, Jesus taught this upside down reality of the first shall be last and vice versa.

“Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.  Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me’ “ (Mark 9:35-37).

 Jesus welcomed children.  Jesus elevated children.  Jesus elevated the humility of children.  And Jesus elevated child-like faith.  “And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ “ (Matthew 18:2-4).

The message could not be more clear.  The greatest in the kingdom of heaven?  The one who is the humble servant of all.