Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

Jesus is about to ride into Jerusalem to face certain death.

He knows this.

It’s been his plan all along.

It’s been his mission from the start.

But he’s not dead yet - and there are some things he needs to set straight before he dies.

As we look at our text today, I want you to ask yourself that -

what do you need to set straight before you die?

Now, for many of you, death is way in the future, but a year ago on Thursday, my dad thought the same thing....and he didn’t get to see the end of that day.

I know I’ve mentioned my dad a few times over the year - I’ve tried not to - but what happened to him is a wake-up call to everyone on how death could be just around the corner for some of us.

And if you’re waiting until you’re almost dead before you ‘set things straight’ with God - like the thief on the cross - then what happens if you don’t even see your death coming?

Where will you be?

If you don’t see the end of today, are you SURE you’ll be in heaven and not hell?

Jesus did see his death coming - and he set things straight before he died.

Pause

So Jesus heads to Jerusalem, and we have this triumphal entry into the city.

But Jerusalem is not as welcoming as it looks… Jerusalem is a hostile place.

The religious leaders are out to get Jesus - they’re looking for a way to trap him and get rid of this heretic who claims the same authority as God.

They think Jesus is a blasphemer and they want him dead.

And then you’ve got the Romans who have occupied the land and brought with them a tremendous sense of fear - and we’ll look at that in a minute.

And the crowd welcome Jesus and hail him as a king, crying out to him, ‘Hosanna’, which means ‘save us’.

But this crowd soon turn on Jesus when they realise that he isn’t going to save them…at least, not in the way they think.

Pause

So with all this going on...Jesus rides in on a donkey.

And Zechariah 9:9 prophesied this many years before, that the king will come to them - humble and on a donkey.

Now, what is the significance of this?

The significance is this…Jesus was brining peace.

If Jesus rode in on a horse, he was waging war.

A house was the mount of war.

But a donkey was the mount of peace.

And that’s what the people wanted.

Cos they were sick of the peace that Rome brought.

Cos the Romans brought peace.

It was called the Pax Romana - which is Latin for ‘the peace of Rome’.

Pax Romana - Peace of Rome

But the pax Romana wasn’t real peace - it was peace through fear and oppression.

It went something like this...

If you get out of line and disturb the peace - I’ll kill you.

So anyone who got out of line and disturbed the ‘peace’ was taken away and killed - crucifixion was the popular method.

Now, what happens when everyone who disturbs the peace has been crucified?

There’s no more disruption of peace - everyone is happy.

Everyone is SCARED - scared to put 1 foot out of line.

That’s not peace, but that’s what Rome brought.

And the zealots - who were Jews out for rebellion - they were trying to bring peace by going to war.

They took up arms against the Romans in an effort to drive them out, but they were unsuccessful.

And so the crowd were crying out, ‘Hosanna’ - save us…save us from Rome.

Son of David, establish David’s kingdom.

Bring his reign back to us.

And they would have expected a horse…but what they saw was a donkey.

They would have expected war…they wanted this king to come and take up arms and finally bring peace.

And here’s the thing, Jesus brought peace…but not in the way ANYONE had thought.

Jesus brought peace through humility - humble and riding on a donkey.

Pause

So what’s the first thing that Jesus does when he enters Jerusalem?

He enters the temple and turns the place over…not a very peaceful thing to do.

Or is it…?

Cos the temple system had become corrupt and it abused the poor…and the poor had no peace, cos they had no access to worship and had no access to God.

Cos we’ve to to remember, it’s not like it is now - back then, God was only accessible through the temple system, and if the religious power-hungry, greedy leaders blocked access to worship, people didn’t have access to God.

And that’s what was happening back then.

So picture the scene...

A poor family are in the courtyard with their best lamb for sacrifice.

They are queueing up to bring it to the priest, but they get to this table where people are inspecting the animals.

Now, don’t forget, the whole system is corrupt...

So the man behind the table says, ‘uh…you can’t bring THAT for sacrifice.

Look at it.’

‘But it’s our best lamb.

All our others aren’t as good as this one.’

‘But it’s blemished - you need to buy one of OUR lambs.’

‘But we can’t afford one of your lambs.’

‘Well then…get out.’

To make matters worse, there was a temple tax of half a shekel that had to be paid, but with mint coins - you know when you get a £1 coin that’s fresh from the mint and it’s shiny and new - that’s what the temple tax had to be paid with.

A tarnished old looking coin wouldn’t be accepted.

‘But it’s ok - you can change your money here…but we’ll charge you a hefty commission for it - You think Thomas Cook is bad - you ain’t seen nothing yet!’

Now, think of how the poor felt - they can’t get access to God, they can’t make atonement for their sins cos they can’t afford the lambs that are being sold, they can’t afford the commission to change the money for the temple tax.

So where to do they stand with God? How will they get right with him?

DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE PEACE?

Pause

Now, with all that in mind, what does Jesus do?

He removes all the obstacles for the poor people so that they can get to worship God.

He removes ALL obstacles that hindered those who WANTED to get to God from actually getting to God.

And for the first time, the poor had access to God.

For the first time, the poor could breathe a sigh of relief.

But that was just a foretaste of what he would do on the cross…cos our sin is an obstacle that hinders us from getting to God.

And Jesus removed that obstacle when he died on the cross to take the punishment for sin.

Pause

Jesus brought peace...

Jesus was a peacemaker.

We’ve been looking at this in the midweek - Jesus wasn’t a peacekeeper, he was a peacemaker.

A peacekeeper is someone who keeps the peace - in other words, there already IS peace, they just keep it that way.

A peacemaker is someone who brings peace where there IS no peace.

And there was no peace in Jerusalem at the time…cos the Roman way of peace wasn’t peace at all.

And the zealots way of peace wasn’t peace at all.

And what Jesus did is to show the world that peace comes through humility - by bringing yourself down a peg or two and submitting to someone else’s will.

And that’s what Jesus did - he humbled himself, rode in on a donkey, and submitted to the will of the Father...

Remember those words in the Garden… ‘Father…remove this cup from me.

Nevertheless not what I will, but what YOU will.’

Pause

The crowd were expecting Jesus to start a war…and he did.

But it was a war on sin…it was a war on Satan.