Palm Sunday: “The King who Rode to Die.” -John 12

All right. Well, at this point in the year, Jesus, as he is approaching Jerusalem, had been ministering for roughly 3 years. I don't know exactly the exact number of weeks, but let's let's figure that Jesus was precisely ministering for 3 years. That would mean that he had been ministering for 156 weeks. I don't know if you've ever thought about that.

How many number nerds do I have in here? Okay, I'm going to lose most of you. That's all right. We're going to keep pressing forward. It's not all numbers, but it's starting with numbers because as Jesus is approaching what we call the passion week, that means if he had been ministering in for 156 weeks, the passion week is only about 64% of his entire ministry.

You think about that, that's less than 1%. That's barely over half a percent of Jesus's ministry is spent in that final week. And you're like, "Okay, well, why is that significant?" Well, it's significant because when you look at the gospels, you look at how much time they actually spent, how much ink they actually spent talking about this one week. It's pretty amazing. If you look at Matthew, Matthew spent 29% of his gospel talking about this period of time.

If you look at Mark, Mark spent 38% of his gospel talking about this period of time. Now, Luke h he kind of backed off to a modest 23%. But John, 48% of his gospel is in this period of time. It starts in John 12 and continues all the way in towards the end. So we're going to jump into John chapter 12 and we're going to see Jesus as he's beginning to march his way towards Jerusalem.

He's in the final week of his life. And the first thing that we're going to see as we get to this point is something that I love to remind us about because it's so easy for us to think of Jesus as okay, he's God and he's God, but we don't think about some of the implications that are there. The fact that Jesus himself is of immeasurable worth because if you actually live your life as though Jesus of imme is of immeasurable worth, it changes how we relate with him. But in the end, little a little kind of thing that comes probably next week, most likely next week, is that he's going to extend that worth to us. This whole thing, this whole march towards salvation is to extend his immeasurable worth towards us.

Amen. So, let's jump into John 12 starting in verse one where we read this. Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead whom he had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper. And Martha certain that Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

And then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with a fragrance of oil. And we're going to stop here for a second. We're going to take stock of some of the things that we just witnessed in these first, excuse me, first few verses. So, first of all, Jesus is with Lazarus who just the previous chapter, he'd raised him from the dead and he'd been dead for several days at this point. The people are like, "Ah, Jesus, what are you going to do?

The guy's going to stink." And he still raises him from the dead. And now here they're at dinner together. He's also in Bethany, which is just mere miles from Jerusalem. He's literally right on the doorstep of where he's heading. so that he might give his life a ransom for many. He's enjoying a meal with some people who are considered close friends, Lazarus and Mary and Martha.

Now, Mary then does something though that's seemingly peculiar. She anoints Jesus's head to toe with costly perfume. Now, we're going to get to that here in a second because John only records the feet, but there's a reason why that is. So, we get the recording of the head in Mark 14. She pours it first on his head.

We also learned, we're going to see why that's important here in a second, but we also learned from Mark that he's in the home of Simon the leper. This is another part of this context that's going on. If you want more of that, you can look back at this message I did on December 1st called Costly Devotion, a dark conspiracy back from December 1st. Now, you might be asking yourself at the moment, why does any of this matter? It seems kind of weird, but again, why does why does that even matter?

It matters for several reasons. The obvious thing the obvious thing that's right in front of us is the mention of the costly wages. The the the Bible declares and tells us that she literally had this stuff that cost 300 days wages. Now, I don't know how much that means to you, but that's basically a year's pay when you take away for weekends, you take away from holidays and all of that stuff for them. Sabbath.

She's literally pouring on Jesus something that costs an entire year's wages. Now, I don't know what any of you make, but I know what average stuff is. And we're talking about a decent car level of expenditure that she's pouring out on Jesus in this moment. And the practical among us would be like, why would you do that? I mean, you think about that.

Like especially if you're a normal person who's not like hyper wealthy, like if you're an only Elon Musk, you you're not thinking about $50,000 as a big deal. But if you're a normal person with normal wages, that's real money. That's that's real like big time real money. And that's what this woman is just pouring out on Jesus. Now the head, this was normal using a little bit of the spikenard to anoint somebody.

That was pretty normal. But where it gets abnormal is when she goes down to the feet. So whereas Matthew and Mark focus on anointing the head, John highlights the feet because foot anointing was the more shocking act. I mean I know most of us have beautiful feet, right? Most of us would not be embarrassed to show our feet to anyone else.

I some of you have been through footwashing ceremonies, I imagine, at some point. And that's been maybe a little awkward for some of you. Some of you didn't really think anything of it at all, but in this day and age, this was a big deal because they didn't have shoes like we have, nor did they have sanitation like we have. They have live animals that are walking around and doing live animal things all in the dirt that they're walking around on. And so now, you know, Jesus is sitting there and she comes down and she pours this costly oil on his feet.

But not only she do that, but she undo her hair and she begins to wipe his feet with her hair, but the thing that we need to understand is she is doing something here that is like the lowest of the low servants. She is putting herself down before Jesus so low, humbly submitting to him and his authority. She is not only laying this incredible wealth for her in front of him. She is laying before him her dignity, her very life. She is laying down before him.

She honored him as a king and humbled herself as less than a servant all in the same motion. It's incredible. But you know, as I mentioned before, not everybody was in line with the sacrifice. In fact, one of Jesus's 12 was not. We continue in verse four.

But one of his disciples, Judas's Scariot, Simon's son, who would betray him in just a few days. Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. What was Judas? He was a thief.

If anyone is surprised that Judas thieved, you know, actually qu is anybody surprised surprised that this guy would be stealing from Jesus. The thing that's actually a surprise to me is that Jesus would have known. But Judas had a very specific role to play which is coming in just a few days. But Jesus says, "Let her alone. She's kept this for the day of my burial." Literally, she's been keeping this valuable item specifically for this purpose.

For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. For you, for the poor, you will have with me always, but me, you do not have always. What we've just seen is that Mary here recognized something that even one of his own disciples who had walked with him 24/7 365 for three years did not see that Jesus was worthy that he's worthy of sacrifice that he's worthy of honor that he's worthy of our time he's worthy of our finance. Now again what Mary gives in this moment is equivalent to a year's wages. This is not 10%.

This is 100% that she is laying down. From a practical standpoint, we might understand really where Judas is coming from. From a practical standpoint, how are you going to live? How are you going to live, Mary? How can you lay everything down before Jesus?

And then we remember the widow and hervites. You know, was it 300 days wages? No, it was two little coins, but it was everything that she had. And this is a thing that challenges me. family challenges me and I pray challenges us because the question is what are we willing to lay down before our king? What are we willing to lay down for our savior?

What are we willing to lay down to sacrifice at the feet of Jesus? For what reasons do we hold back from God? What is our real motivation for holding back from God? Many of us say that we just don't have enough time. Many of us say that we don't have enough talent.

Many of us say that we don't have enough treasure. But the question is, is that really true? If God were to reflect on our usage of what he's given us stewardship over our time, our talent, and our treasure, what would he say? Notice that I'm not just saying treasure, though. Not just talking about coinage.

I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about everything that he's given us. This is something that we so often make a mistake of is we think, "Oh, God only wants my money." No, God wants all of us. He wants all of you. He wants all of me.

He wants nothing held back. Nothing whatsoever. We have a nasty habit in our nation to differentiate from what we've been given stewardship over. That somehow we should just give one or the other. I heard this recently someone say it's like well you know I really don't have a lot of money to give but I give of this I give of my time over here now in this particular situation I'll just let you know this person is is pretty well off but this is what they're telling me and this is not someone here just so you know it's not not in this room not looking at any one particularly but the thing that we have to remember and I love this because Paul Paul did a lot of a discussion with the Corinthians because of their hearts.

The Corinthian church was really struggling with their hearts. First Corinthians was largely written over was largely written over spiritual gifts and which spiritual gifts were the most important, which were the most to be honored and all these things, which is absolute nonsense because they're all from God anyway. But what I'm about to read to you is so applicable even beyond what it was that they were dealing with. It applies to everything that we've been given. And it's in 1 Corinthians 4:7.

What do you have that you did not receive? Now let me ask you a question. If just that one part of that verse you were to apply to your life, how would that change the way you approach life? If you recognize that everything that you have been given, you you you received it. It comes from God.

Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as though you had not received it? family. This verse right here, if you live by this, it brings such humility because somebody is like, "Well, I did all the work. You did the work because you he gave you the ability." Amen. You did the work because you gave you the opportunity. God provides on every single level for us to use everything that he has given us.

And it's incredible. And it transforms and changes how we approach life. It changes how we give to his church. It changes how we serve in his church. It changes how we relate with the people that are outside these walls.

It touches every single part of our lives when we recognize that everything that we have been given comes from him. And it is not ours to hold on to. It is ours to freely give. Amen. Amen.

So what has God held back from us? Nothing. He gave his life. Amen. that we might have eternal life with him. Which then begs the next question.

So why would we hold back from him? Oh, wait. I got to look up. I don't want to look any bigger. But it's like we we have to ask that question of ourselves.

If he is not held back from us, why do we hold back from him? So what is Jesus worth to you? What is Jesus worth to you? Now the easy answer is to say everything. Well, there's an easy litmus test.

Then what does my life show? And I'm not talking about others, right? Well, that person over there irrelevant in this calculus, that's irrelevant. You only have control over you. I only have control over me.

Trust me, I've learned that in 17 years of ministry. I have no control over any of you. But I certainly can control myself. Amen. And I can control how my heart is before my king and how I align myself with my king.

And I know his desire for each and every one of us to walk in his ways. Amen. Amen. See, the thing is words are easy, but actions are so hard. Amen.

Now, Jesus is not here to lavish us for us to lavish him with gifts, right? Jesus walked in the door. I'd step aside. I'd let him start talking and we could all come lay everything down at his feet. And my guess is we probably all have an easier time laying stuff down at his feet if he was physically here.

And so we can't necessarily just lavish all these gifts upon him as Mary is doing here with the spikenard. But what we can do is do what he said. We can love God and we can love people. Amen. That's what he wants us doing, family.

He wants us going out and loving in his name. He wants us going making baptizing and teaching. He wants us to utilize the time, talent, and treasure that he has given us to go and do what he's called us to do. To go make those disciples, to love on anyone and everyone that he puts in front of us. And yes, even that person, whoever that person happens to be in your life.

Now, as we continue, we also see that Jesus is humble savior and king. Continuing in verse 12. Now the next day a great multitude that had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went out to him and cried out, "Hosana, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the King of Israel." And then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it, and as it was written, "Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming sitting on a donkekeyy's colt." So, literally, we're told that this is the next day.

This is after the private dinner that Jesus had been having. We're told that there's a great multitude. Now, one of the things that we learn about this this great multitude is that this is a number that's too great to count, right? Right? We already know the feeding of the 4,000, the feeding of the 5,000, those were numbers that could be counted.

This is a number of people that goes beyond that. And there's a reason why this is happening is that there's two feasts that are recurring within the Jewish calendar that people are descending upon Jerusalem for. First, you have the Passover, which commemorates God sparing Israel's firstborn through the through the lamb's through the lamb's blood on the doorpost. That being the 10th plague in the book of Exodus. And then you have the feast of unleavened bread which commemorates Israel's urgent departure from Egypt such that they didn't have time to let the the the bread rise.

And so that's what the feast of unleven bread is. And so these people are every these people these pilgrims are coming in and they are collecting around Jerusalem. And the the ancient historian Josephus estimated that Jerusalem at that time it normal population was right around 80,000 people. But during this time when all of these pilgrims come in, you're looking at hundreds of thousands of people. So massive amounts of people are moving in.

So you have this great multitude of people who have likely heard about Jesus. They've likely heard about him raising this guy from the dead just days before. They've likely heard of him or maybe they've even experienced him to a certain degree as he's traversing through Israel and doing ministry for the previous three years. and they're hearing that Jesus is coming and suddenly they're they're welcoming him with these cries of hosana. And so we have this massive crowd gathered for this incredibly important Jewish festival celebrating God's provision, celebrating God's salvation. Many had likely heard that Jesus again is coming.

Uh and now he's coming towards Jerusalem. He's riding on this young donkey and he's literally fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah the prophet that had been written some 500 years earlier where we read, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, oh daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt the full of a donkey." Now what's interesting is that the people are responding with cheers of hosana.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Yet they don't realize really at this moment the prophecy is being fulfilled right in front of him. How do we know that? Verse 16. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things were written about him, that they had done these things to him.

It's like in that moment they're caught up in the fervor of the crowd. They're celebrating. They're waving palm tree palm branches and all of these things. And then we get back to this thing though. He's on a donkey.

I don't know if you've ever ridden a donkey or been near a donkey. They're not a super impressive animal in my opinion. At least not compared to like great stallions. If you've ever had seen some of the great stallions that are why is he not doing this? Well, Jesus is literally commuting something very important for this group of people.

You see, in the ancient near east, if a king came in peace, he would ride on a donkey instead of a war stallion. So, he is purposefully communicating to the Romans, I am not here for war. This is very targeted, very purposeful. But contrary to what some would want Jesus to do, he's not entering to depose the Romans. And he's communicating this.

This is not why Jesus is here. Jesus is not here to sit on the throne of David in this moment. That's not why he's here. But he has come to go to war. That's the thing that they're not seeing.

His disciples don't see it. The people don't see it. The Romans don't see it. But Jesus knows and he sees it. But he is coming to do something very different.

But all the while the picture is him coming in peace and the people yelling, "Save us now. Save us we pray." They want him to depose the Romans. So you have these two conflicting pictures of what's going on, what the people want and what Jesus is there for. Anybody relate with that? Anybody relate with not being in alignment with Jesus and our God and wanting something different than what our God is calling for?

And yet, what is the thing? If you've ever been through those times, what is the thing we always learn? His way is best. It's always the best. And so that's why what Jesus prays in the garden, which is coming later this week when he says, "Not my will, but your will be done." I encourage all of us to add those to our prayers because again, what changes in your life when you recognize that prayer is not answered in the way that you want.

Well, then you know it's in alignment with his will. Amen. It's in alignment with his will. But again, as I mentioned, Jesus is there for a very specific purpose. And it's again not to depose the Romans who are just the first or the latest of the empires to have held on to the Jewish people before that was the Greeks or that was the Persians before that was the Babylonians.

You know, they have had century after century after century of just having someone ruling over them and they're ready to be saved. And yet Jesus is coming to go to war again for a different purpose. Jesus is coming to address sin and death. That is what Jesus has on his mind. We've talked about this in recent weeks.

Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus is coming to accomplish the salvation part. Not salvation from the Romans, but salvation from sin and death. the true enemies that we all face beyond what happens in this temporal world because you know we lose this life then we have life eternal with him if we have him but that's the thing we have to have that right relationship with him and Jesus knew that there was nothing that we could do there was nothing we could say that there was no amount of money that we could pay that could make us right with God that is why Jesus came Jesus understood that it was required that the shedding shedding the blood was necessary so that there could be remission of sins. A perfect sacrifice had to be made and there was no one who was perfect but him. He was the only one who had the ability to accomplish this.

Amen. Now with tens of thousands of people present, a strong Roman military presence, being in the presence of those religious leaders who desired him to be no more, facing the cross just days away and everything that will lead up to it despite all of this. This is the thing that I love to point out. Just imagine this. You had this this just simple man.

He was probably a You get this picture from Isaiah that he wasn't like, you know, he wasn't like a model or anything. He was a normal looking dude. He was probably strong, you know, he'd been working with his hands. He was a carpenter. He probably was fairly fit, but nothing overly impressive about him physically.

And now he's riding in on this little donkey's cold. And everybody's doing all of this stuff. Thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people, Roman soldiers, all these things, all of this stuff. And the thing that's so easy for us to forget is that he was in complete command. There was never a moment through any of that where Jesus was not in command.

Amen. Everything he did, he did willingly. This is so important for us. Most of us in this room at some point have been victimized. You've had something perpetrated against you out of your control.

That was never Jesus. And let me ask you a question. What happens in your life when you realize that about Jesus's sacrifice? Jesus didn't go to that cross because somebody imposed it upon him. He did it because he willingly chose that for you.

He chose that for me. He chose that for all of humanity. It was purposeful. It was strategic. He did it because of the love that he has for each and every one of us.

It's absolutely unbelievable. Jesus never did anything outside his will. Now some would say, "But later he's like, "Hey, father, take this cup from me." Yeah, but what does he do? He brings himself in alignment with the father. His will was the father's will.

Does that make sense? Amen. Again, that's why we choose to align ourselves with the father. We choose to desire, Lord, let my will be your will. And that's the secret to answered prayer, family.

When we align ourselves with God's will, guess what happens? Whatever that will happens to be. Amen. So Jesus knew what was coming well in advance and he demonstrated to his followers the truth of his position in the midst of what was coming. Says, "For therefore my father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again." Jesus says, "I laid down my life and I take it up again." Are you seeing the command, the power in this moment?

No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down of my own initiative, of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my father. No one takes it from me.

I lay it down myself. I have the power. I lay it down. I take it up again. Are you beginning to see the pattern, family?

Jesus is in absolute control. And he says, "The hour has come for the son of man that he should be glorified." And he says,"Most assuredly I say to you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain or much fruit." Now, in this little nugget of a verse, Jesus tells us that he must die. Again, willingly walking himself toward the cross, he recognizes that his death is required for the fruit of what is to come. to give birth to the church must be accomplished. And to the one who is asking, "Wasn't there a different way?" There wasn't a different way.

You're like, "How do you know that?" Because if there was a different way, he would have done it. This is absolutely the perfect and only way for this to be done and accomplished. And here are some closing thoughts. We started this morning at a dinner table in Bethany watching a woman break open a year's wages and pour it at the feet of Jesus. Not because it made financial sense.

I'm just going to tell you there's sometimes that we do things for God and it doesn't make sense because she but it was because she saw what even one of his own disciples couldn't see that he was worth it. He was worth every drop. He was worth every dollar every single day. Then we walked with him to the gates of Jerusalem. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people shouting, "Hosana!

Save us! Save now!" And there he was, not on a waror, but on a donkey's cold. Prophecy fulfilled in plain sight. A king so humble, he came in peace to fight the war that not a single army could win. The war against sin and death.

And then we saw what sets Jesus apart from every leader. That sets him apart from every other hero, every would-be savior this world has ever produced. He was in complete command. No one took his life. He would lay it down willingly and purposefully because unless that grain of wheat should fall to the ground and die, family, we would have no hope.

Amen. So, here's what I'm asking us to do today. The first thing is I want each and every one of us to examine our own grip. What are we holding back from God? Is it time?

Is it our finances? Is it our comfort? Take an honest look at your calendar. Take an honest look at your wallet, your energy, and ask yourself, "What would God say about how I'm stewarding what it is that he's given to me?" Second, lay down something costly, not leftovers, not something that something rather that cost you. Serve somewhere that stretches you.

Give it a way that requires faith. Surrender an hour you guard most jealously. That's the Mary move. That is the Mary move. The Mary move that Jesus called beautiful.

Third, stop drifting and start walking on purpose. Jesus didn't float his way to the cross, right? He didn't ride the winds and the waves just getting kind of tossed around. He purposely had his eyes fixed on that cross. He marched towards the cross.

Identify one area of obedience where you've been coasting and take a deliberate step forward before this week is over. And if you're here this morning and you've not surrendered your life to Jesus, I want you to hear this. The king who rode into Jerusalem that day rode there for you. Again, he wasn't a victim. He chose the cross because sin and death had you enslaved and there was no other way to be set free.

He laid his life down so that he could take it up again. And he honor offers that same resurrection life to you today. If you want to respond to him, there's a number of people here that would love to hear from you. But understand, it's not a fancy prayer that you need to pray. It's not a set of specific words.

The Bible tells us that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. Amen. Not might, not possibly, you will be saved. Amen. Now, church, what we've walked through today is just the setup.

Mary anointed him for burial. The crowds welcomed their king and Jesus has set his face toward what was coming. This Friday arrives. This Friday it arrives. The cross, the cost, the moment everything we have talked about for days collides with the greatest act of love in human history.

Amen. And so I invite you all to join us on Friday night at 7 p.m. because the king who rode a donkey into Jerusalem again walked willingly to a Roman cross for you and for me. I want us to go and lay something at his feet this week because he is worth it. Let's pray. Father God, again, thank you for this morning and for this truth. the reality that you just selflessly walked right into the lion's den.

You could have easily walked yourself out, but that your love compelled you to keep moving forward because you desired relationship with us, not for moments, but for all of eternity. And I pray that we, your people here at Sunrise, would be your hands and feet, recognizing the amazing things that you have done, that you have accomplished. And that you would that you would continue to just remind us of that. And that that would spur us on, that we would remember that we're not alone in any of this, but you have given us power through the Holy Spirit to do anything and everything that you have commanded us to do. We thank you and we praise you again and ask that you'd be even preparing us this week to lay these things down at the foot of the cross and that you would bring us back together on Friday night to remember that sacrifice on the cross and that we would be again preparing for the celebration that comes that Sunday morning.

We thank you and we praise you in Jesus name.