Christ’s Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem
John 12:12-19
For the Christian, this passage of Scripture is a call to victorious rejoicing. It is “Palm Sunday”. This day, Jesus fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, which says, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey!“ It is the announcement or the coming of Zion’s King. It is the announcement of the Messiah. This day is often referred to as “Passion Sunday”. It marks the beginning of “Holy Week”, and concludes on “Easter Sunday”. The Scripture tells us that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted Him with palm branches…waving with shouts of “Hosanna! (Save now, I pray)…Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” (John 12:13) Although His disciples did not understand the significance of this act..at this time.. (John 12:16), the people rejoiced in Him as the Christ. At this point, because the word was spreading about Jesus and what He was doing (particularly raising Lazarus from the dead), the Pharisees become more threatened by Him. They fear that everyone will follow Jesus.
John 12:20-50
Now, even the Greeks are among those who want to meet Jesus. After all, one who can do such things as “turn water into wine”…”cause a blind man to see”…”cause a crippled man to walk”…and most recently, “a dead man to live again”….is worth seeking out. It is not enough just to come and see Jesus. What Jesus says is, “whoever serves me must follow me, and wherever I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” (verse 26). Remember in chapter 1, verse 43, Jesus invited Philip to “follow Him”. In verse 12 of chapter 8, Jesus said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
I want to get a true grasp of what it means when Jesus says, “Follow Me“. “The ‘Greek word for follow is ‘Akoloutheo. The calling to follow Jesus involves an abiding fellowship with Him, not only for the sake of learning, but also for the sake of the salvation known or looked for, which presented itself in this fellowship. Thus following Jesus denoted a fellowship of faith as well as a fellowship of life, sharing in His sufferings not only inwardly, but outwardly if necessary. Such outward fellowship with Jesus, however, could not continue without inner moral and spiritual fellowship, without a life resembling His and in a self-denying sharing of His cross. The expression “following Jesus” occurs only in Revelation 14:14; John 8:12; 10:4,5,27 and John 12:26.” Taken from my Hebrew-Greek Study Bible, page 1661
It must have been rather confusing for Jesus’ followers, since on more than one occasion he said, “you cannot go where I am going” (7:34; 8:21; 13:33)….yet he said, “follow Me“. We’ll discuss this thought again in chapters 13 & 14.
Doubting Thomas, revisited….I am so thankful for the written word. Can you imagine, if Jesus was ‘physically’ with you how attached to Him you would be. Then all of a sudden, He’s ‘physically’ not there anymore. Thomas found it easy to say, “Let’s follow Jesus, so that we may die with Him” (11:16)..when Jesus was standing right in front of him. Until that day when Thomas saw, and touched Jesus after the resurrection, he did not understand . Thomas did not have the written New Testament to study and ponder. Thomas was not the only Disciple to doubt and fear. They all failed to stand (follow physically and in their hearts) by Jesus (Matthew 26:56). Have we not all doubted or feared, when our focus was taken away…when we have taken our eyes off Jesus and placed them on another matter?
Never fear…there is hope…in Jesus….even for us! Jesus’ promise is this….”But I, when I am lifted up will draw all men to myself” (verse 32).
The Scripture says beginning in verse 37, that many still did not BELIEVE, even though He had done miraculous signs in their presence. Yet, many among the leaders did BELIEVE. But, they would not confess their faith because of fear, “for they loved praise from men, more than praise from God” (verse 43). Then Jesus reminds all that “He does not speak on His own, but the Father who sent and commanded Him….my Father’s command leads to eternal life”. (verse 49-50)
Thought to Ponder: Let your focus be on “The Passion Of Christ” and His Purpose
Scripture to Ponder: John Chapter 13 (will be posted tomorrow morning)
This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Bible Studies, Sharing The Gospel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
