Sunday of Holy Week: Voices in the Crowd

(Palm Sunday message from March 28, 2010)

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It is a good time to review what we know about Jesus. He entered the city on Palm Sunday in the midst of a huge throng of people. Because of His ministry, Jesus often found Himself in a crowd of people. One way to review some important aspects of His life is to listen to some of the voices in the crowd…

John the Baptist

Before Jesus began His public ministry, and we assume he likely was a hard-working carpenter along with his brothers in Galilee, there was a popular figure who began to attract crowds. It wasn’t because of his good looks or personal habits—he lived in the desert, wore clothes made camel hair, and ate locusts and wild honey. But because of his passion for God and his fiery message, people began to ask the question, “Could this man be the Messiah—the Christ?” He vociferously denied it. No, he said, he was not the Christ but one was preparing the way—the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah who foretold a voice calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord.”

Yes, as we listen to voices in the crowd this morning to inform us about Jesus, we start with John the Baptist. He had great crowds coming to hear him speak from all around—from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan River.

And what did this voice say to prepare the people for the Lord? Let me share two important messages from this voice in the crowd:

“Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” This was the primary message in preparation for the Lord. John was saying, in essence, “The time has come for God to do a special work, to reveal His renewed purposes.” Repentance is not the only step, but the first step: turning away from our own selfishness and sinfulness and turning toward God, seeking Him.

Many responded to the message of John. Confessing their sins, they were baptized, a beautiful portrait of the washing away of sins.

The second message of importance from John was what he told the crowd when Jesus came to see his cousin John at the Jordan River:

“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

How beautiful the symbolism! The Lamb of God… reminding them of the Passover during the liberation from slavery in Egypt—how during the last plague, the plague of death for the firstborn male, mercy would be shown to those houses who had placed the blood of an unblemished lamb on the doorframes of their houses. The Death Angel would “pass over” that house, leaving the firstborn alive. The death of the lamb substituted for the death of the son. Jesus is the Lamb of God.

No wonder John said, “I am not worthy to untie his sandals.” No wonder there was no jealousy from John as Jesus began to draw larger crowds. “He must increase, I must decrease.”

The first voice in the crowd we hear today was a voice of preparation: “Repent, for the Lamb of God has come to take away the sins of the world.”

God the Father

The second voice is even more impressive. When Jesus came to see John, Jesus asked to be baptized. John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by you, and you come to me to be baptized?” But Jesus said, “Permit it to be so at this time so that we may fulfill all righteousness.”

Finally, John consented to baptize Jesus as a symbol of His total submission to the Father. And the Father in heaven, even prouder of His Son than we are of the accomplishments of our children, could not hold back. As Jesus came up out of the water, the very heavens opened, and the Spirit of God Himself descended like a dove and came upon Jesus. And in a mighty roar in the midst of the crowd, the Father Himself testified about Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well-pleased.”

The demon-possessed

Not all of those who recognized Him, though, were well-pleased. Many were unhappy about it. They acknowledged Jesus unwillingly and with dismay. Some in the crowd did not welcome the intrusion of Jesus, for they understood something that many in our world today do not: You cannot ignore the presence of the Son of the God.

I guess it should not be surprising to us that some of the first who recognized Him were the demon-possessed. In actuality, it was the demons themselves who saw, who knew, and who trembled.

There was always a good crowd of people who gathered in the synagogues of the town and villages in Galilee on Sabbath to chant psalms and listen to the Law being read and taught. Jesus, raised in Nazareth, adopted Capernaum as his residence once He began His ministry.

Let’s listen to this voice in the crowd…

READ LUKE 4.31-37

Yes, how amazing! We know from the beginning that there is an evil one. Why should it surprise us to find that this evil one leads a contingent of evil spirits. Yet, Jesus not only had authority in His teaching, but He had authority over the unclean spirits.

But let’s not overlook the voice in the crowd: Two things for us to ponder upon this Palm Sunday as we reflect on the person of Jesus:

“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” This is good question not only for the demon-possessed but for each of us to ponder. “What do you want with us, Jesus?” He does indeed want something with you. What is it that He wants?

That answer comes more clear as we also ponder the testimony of the unholy spirits:

“I know who you are… the Holy One of God.”

The voices from the crowd tell us that Jesus is more than just a man. He is the Lamb. He is the Son. He is the Holy One of God… who comes to invade our lives, whether we bid Him to or not, for He is our Creator, and He has every right to want something from us.

Blind Bartimaeus

Because of this, some believe that God is out to get them. To impose on them. To demand of them. They know a little, but they do not know enough. Their understanding is so small that what little they know turns into misunderstanding. Yes, Jesus wants something with us, but it is not to turn us into slaves or robots. He comes to us with love, demanding from us what we need to give Him so that we might live abundant lives. Like your parents when they wanted you to eat healthy foods and wanted you to study your lessons. You wondered if they were just being mean to you. But, no, they wanted you to eat so that you could grow strong. They wanted you to study so that you could grow intelligent.

God wants something of you… so you can grow holy.

Sometimes the blind see this better than the sighted. We who are sighted often think we see everything. We think that we can be the masters of our own fate. We often think we know better than God and just want Him to leave us alone, just as some of the demons asked.

The blind are not under the illusion of self-sufficiency. At least, not the blind we meet in the New Testament.They know that what Jesus wants from them is not only what they need but what will fill the deepest needs they have.

Jesus was about to leave the city of Jericho. As was so often the case as he traveled, a huge crowd gathered not only to listen to Him but to follow Him. Everyone was nice and well-behaved—well, all except one. One voice was heard above the crowd…

READ MARK 10.46-52

Here is another voice in the crowd we must listen to if we would truly understand Jesus.

“Jesus, have mercy on me!”

The blind man needed mercy, and he heard that Jesus could provide it. He shouted out for it, and the people tried to hush him up.

But another voice was heard in the crowd—the voice of Jesus. “Call him!” And then! “What do you want me to do for you?”

It’s still amazing! He wants to fill the deepest needs in your life.

The Palm Sunday Crowd

To sum up His three year ministry in the understated way of Luke: “Jesus went about doing good.” He healed the sick. He calmed the rowdy sea. He taught with clarity and compassion. He came to free the people from the shackles of their sin as well as the shackles put on them by the religious elite. He showed them what God is really like and how He delights in His people, how God wants to be reconciled to His people and to share a love relationship with them. He does not delight in punishment but delights to forgive and show them the right path.

Because of this, the common people, the salt of the earth kind of people though all Israel and even the Gentiles who lived among them loved Jesus. He freed them from fears. He let them know that God cares. He said he would give them true freedom. He gave them clarity and purpose. It is no wonder that on Palm Sunday the voices in the crowd cried: “Hosanna!” That word means, “Save!” As we sang it today, I hope that it was in recognition that we, too, understand that we need a Savior.

The people also shouted, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus, this prophet from Nazareth, came to give us a message from God and to be a message from God for us!

The Good Friday Crowd

But not everyone was happy about Jesus. Not just the evil spirits who were asking, “What do you want with me?” The religious leaders, those more concerned about national pride and institutional religion, were threatened by the message. On Sunday, they rebuked Jesus for letting the people honor Him in this way. He said, “If they don’t, the very rocks will cry out!” On Monday, he cleansed the temple. Tuesday was likely a day for the leaders plotting against Jesus. For on Wednesday, they set about to trap Him, trying to make Him appear less authoritative and perhaps get him in trouble with either the people or the Romans. But Jesus again turned the tables, not as He had in the temple courts earlier that week, but on these who tried to trap Him by their clever questioning. Jesus made them look foolish, and even a few of their own kind began to see the light of Jesus. This was too much.

The religious leaders still had their own power and their own heavy handed way of dealing with problems. They paid a betrayer, conducted secret and illegal late night, early morning trials, and gathered up an early crowd on Friday to petition the governor, Pontius Pilate, to rule against Jesus.

The cheers of “Hosanna” turned to the jeers of “Crucify Him!” Not content with anything less than eradication, the leaders had determined that Jesus should die. The voices in the crowd that day concurred.

Pilate did not understand a lot, but he understood that there was Jewish religious politics going on. He stated: “I am innocent of this man’s blood.”

To seal their guilt, the crowd shouted, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Jesus

As Jesus was stripped, flogged, paraded through the streets, and finally nailed to the cross, a crowd once again gathered around Him. There was a group of courageous women who loved Jesus, gathered together near the foot of the cross. Only the disciple that Jesus loved, John, took his place among them. The rest of them were scattered, afraid that they might be next.

The soldiers were there, too, doing their duty, gambling after the only earthly possession of this Son of God, a seamless garment. One, though, the centurion leading the group, said, “Surely He was the Son of God!”

Other in the crowd mocked Him as did even another who was being crucified. Yet, the voice in this crowd that I want you to hear is the voice of the condemned man Himself, Jesus of Nazareth.

He said several things while hanging on that cross for those hours. Let me remind you of three. One was probably not loud enough to be heard by all. Even on the cross, as He surveyed the crowd, He remembered His mission:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

As the time drew nearer for His death, Jesus became overwhelmed. Drawing from the despairing words of Psalm 22, Jesus cried out. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Some believe that as Jesus was at the very point of death, He was feeling the loneliness of God the Father turning away from Him while He was accepting Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins, truly becoming the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Whatever the cause of His feeling forsaken, whether the pain and suffering of the cross itself or the anguish of loneliness or both, we know that Jesus kept His faith, for the very last voice in the crowd we note today are the very last words of Jesus, His dying words…

READ LUKE 23.4-46

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

This Holy Week, let us reflect on the person of Jesus: His life, His words, and His sacrificial death. Let us ponder what it is that He has do do with us. Let us clarify our own understanding of who He is. Was He a good man? Of course He was. But He was so much more.

Let us lift our voices so that they become voices in the crowd testifying with so many others the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Holy One of God, the One who shows mercy and fill our needs, the One who saves, the One whose death we will remember on Friday and whose glorious resurrection we will celebrate next Sunday.

Yes, you must lift your voice in the crowd: The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Let me be a voice in this crowd this morning. “Jesus is my Lord!” Are there other voices in the crowd to be heard today?

What about you? What do you say about Jesus?

Is He your Lord?