Allen Jackson - When the Cheering Stopped - Part 1
It’s a Palm Sunday weekend. The first, amen, that deserves some applause. I agree. It’s when the church celebrates Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I grew up as a little child, they used to give us palm branches. Always made me nervous when my mom had a branch. There were some very clear implications when I saw that, and so I was always a little suspicious of Palm Sunday, but it’s been celebrated by the church for a long time. The first record, historical record we have is about the 4th century. A pilgrim visiting Jerusalem from Spain reported in a diary that in Jerusalem, they were commemorating Jesus’s triumphal entry into the city. It’s another 500 years or so before it became a widespread practice in the Western church. Somewhere in that about the 9th century, but for well over 1000 years, the church throughout the earth has celebrated that day when Jesus made that one triumphal entry into the city.
All four of the Gospel writers give us an account of that. There are very few things that all four of the Gospels pick up, so it’s a point of great significance. And I wanna continue that discussion. We began it in the previous session, but there’s a block of time between Jesus’s triumphal entry before he begins his Passion, before his arrest, his betrayal and his arrest and the suffering that ensues, there’s a handful of days where Jesus is ministering in the temple in Jerusalem. And his enemies seem to come. It’s like a procession of people trying to ensnare him or those who hate him. And in the midst of those interactions, he’s ministering to the sick. The Scripture reports he heals blind eyes and he heals the lame and he’s coaching his disciples.
In the evenings, he’ll slip out of the Temple Mount and go back up the Mount of Olives to Bethany where Martha and Mary and Lazarus live. The Mount of Olives has that label because it was an olive grove. It was a hill covered with olive trees where they collected the olives and pressed the oil that they needed in the temple. So it really was a grove of olive trees. But it’s in that setting that I wanna walk with you. I wanna walk through those days between the cheers of the crowd when Jesus is coming down the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem spread before him. The roar of the crowd, the enthusiasm of the disciples, and before he’s betrayed in Gethsemane. I wanna kind of walk through those days with you a little bit. And I pulled some passages from the Gospels, we’re gonna look predominantly at Luke and Matthew, to see if we can hear what Jesus is saying to his friends because he knows very well what is coming.
He’s very aware of what is immediately before him. He’s been telling his disciples for quite a season now. But I would submit to you that he’s preparing them, that he is the ultimate trainer, he’s the ultimate coach that he’s trying to help his closest friends be ready for what is coming. And they’re struggling to process it. He’s preparing disciples. He’s praying for the people of the city. He’s weeping over the city. His heart’s broken. Jesus is the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets. He’s greater than Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos or Jonah, whoever you would choose, and he knows what is the impending disaster that’s coming to that city. And he’s very clear it’s not because of a rebellion of the Jewish armies, it’s not because of Imperial Rome and their arrogance.
The suffering that’s coming to the city is because of a spiritual choice they made. What would happen in our nation if the church could be awakened to the reality that the choices of God’s people determine the course of history? Somehow we have believed falsely that it’s about elections or political parties or economic cycles. We hear some political pundits say it’s the economy, stupid, and we’re just like sheep. And not the good kind. And we say, «Well, it’s got to be about the economy». No, it’s about the condition of the hearts of God’s people. Jerusalem was destroyed because of the hearts of the people of God, not because of the Babylonians the first time or the Assyrians before that, and certainly not because of the Roman legions. It’s a warning to us. It’s an invitation to us to be people of faith. We can change the destiny of nations.
See, we’ve avoided that. We say, «Well, pastor, I’m saved, what do you want from me»? I want you to live like a Christ’s follower. «Well, there you go. You’re always raising the bar». That’s what I thought about my parents. You know, first they wanted me to wash behind my ears and I learned to do that. They want me to brush my teeth and I learned to do that. And then they wanted me to learn to make my bed. I thought, «Are you kidding me? I wash behind my ears and I brush my teeth». «Make your bed». Then they want me to clean my room. I thought that’s why God gave me parents. You clean my room. That did not go over well. Well, I got old enough to drive, to qualify for a license, to be legal. They thought I should pay for gas. What an abusive environment I lived in.
I’m grateful that you can sympathize with me. We come to the cross of Jesus where God sent his Son in an earth suit to die for us. And we tortured him to death so that we could be forgiven. And then God calls us out of darkness. In his mercy and grace, when we’re rebellious and ungodly and immoral and all the junk, he calls us out and says that we can be a part of his kingdom. And we say, «Yeah, we think we probably deserve that». But do you know, to be cooperative, we’ll confess Jesus is Lord of our lives, okay. So what do I have to do? Be baptized in water, in public, in front of people? Couldn’t I have a private ceremony? And then we’re greatly offended that God says, «Now you have to grow up». No, no, I’m born again. «Clean your own room».
Well, I would submit to you that Jesus is trying to prepare his friends. And you’re gonna meet three very distinct groups of people in this scenario. You’re gonna meet the disciples, the people who’ve raised their hands and said, «We’ll follow you». They’re confused. They’re kind of like Keystone cops. They’re bumbling. They’re having a hard time, but they’re in. In fact, they’re gonna suffer greatly because they’re in. Then there’s the crowds, this large, nameless, faceless group of people that they go where the best options are. While Jesus is healing, they’re all in for Jesus. When he’s feeding people with a little bit of food and there’s no cost to it, they’re in for that too, but when the Jewish leaders need somebody to shout their mantra and they’re willing to hire protesters, gee, that’s not a new thing. It’s really not.
That same amorphous faceless crowd is willing to take the bribe and shout in the streets of Jerusalem, «Crucify». But wait a minute, weren’t you coming for healing yesterday? Yeah, today the prophets on the crucify side. And then there’s a group that’s just as staunch as the disciples. They’re just on the other end of the spectrum. They’re the antagonists. Now, you don’t recognize them as antagonists. They don’t have horns. They don’t wear black hats. There’s not dark music playing when they step onto the stage. In fact, they’re dressed like religious leaders. They’re scriptural experts. We better be taking note, folks. The most determined antagonists to Jesus were not people standing outside the umbrella, they were people under the tent.
And somebody had to have the discernment to recognize the difference, to believe what you see. I’ve been inviting you for months and months now, years as a matter of fact, to watch and listen and think. They’re going, «I don’t have to do that. I’m born again». You better. We gotta go. Luke 20. The authority of Jesus is gonna be questioned. It’s repeated in multiple Gospels. I gave you Luke’s account. It’s intriguing to me. «One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel». Now, this is between the triumphal entry and his betrayal in Gethsemane. There’s just a handful of days. It’s under a week. He’s teaching in the temple courts and he’s preaching the gospel «And the chief priest and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him». Now remember, he’s had a public ministry for three years. «Tell us by whose authority you’re doing these things».
Who gave you this authority? Well, you mean to heal blind eyes? To help the lame walk? Raising the dead. «And Jesus replied, 'Well, let me ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism, was it from heaven or from men? ' Well, they discussed it amongst themselves and they said, 'If we say, „From heaven,“ he’ll ask why didn’t you believe him? But if we say, „It’s from men,“ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.' So they answered, 'We don’t know where it was from.'» Was that true? No, they’re lying through their teeth. Look back at the group of people, you gotta connect this. It’s the chief priest and the teachers of the law. Jesus asked them a question. They know the answer. But they’re not about to tell the truth. «So Jesus said, 'Then I’ll not tell you by what authority I’m doing these things.'»
I’m not obligated to deal with liars. I’m not obligated to deal with deceivers. It’s brilliant. You see, what’s being implied in the question is, you don’t have the authority to do these things. Now, I suspect the point that caused the most angst was he just recently overturned the tables of the money changers. They are stealing from the people. They have their snouts in the trough, if I could use a more current expression. They are practicing fraudulent, deceptive, manipulative tactics to fleece the sheep, the people. They’re required by law, by religious rule, to offer animal sacrifices, and they need the priest to offer the sacrifices. You can’t offer the sacrifice on your own. You need the priestly blessing to say that the animal is kosher, that it’s acceptable for the sacrifice. So human nature being what it is, what do you imagine the priest could begin to do? They say, «Well, we have only priestly approved animals».
Then you’ll have to buy your animal from us. And then one of them figured out if you control the whole supply chain, there’s even more money. So they raised their own sheep in the shepherd’s fields out by Bethlehem. That happened to be the place where, 33 years earlier, God sent the angels with a little bit of an announcement. He was already tweaking the supply chain. So Jesus comes into the Temple Mount and said, «You have turned my Father’s house into a den of thieves, you bunch of crooks». Scroll forward 2000 years and we get… you can’t sell a t-shirt at church because Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers. Which Bible do you read? He said you’re stealing from the people. He didn’t say they shouldn’t have sacrifices. He didn’t say they shouldn’t pay the temple tax. He didn’t say they shouldn’t pay taxes to Rome. He’s not opposed to financial exchanges. We gotta stop with our pettiness, folks. It’s time to grow up a bit.
We’re gonna build through these little vignettes, and I don’t have time in one session to unpack all of them, but I want you, Jesus makes this triumphal entry, and then day by day, half a day by half a day, one encounter by another, Jesus keeps pushing. He understands what’s there. This is not a conciliatory week. If you won’t tell me the truth about John the Baptist, I’m not talking to you. Jesus didn’t have to overturn those tables. He’s been to Jerusalem many times. He’s been to Passover many times, and there’s no record prior to this visit that he ever overturned the tables. There’s a very clear escalation and intentionality about it. He’s determined that there be clarity for the people. You see, he loves us enough to give us a clear choice. Please don’t treat the invitations that God puts before you shabbily or incidentally or casually. They’re precious. There’s a great price paid for them.
Matthew 21. Jesus is talking. He says, «What do you think? There was a man who had two sons and he went to the first and he said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' And he answered, 'I will not, ' but later he changed his mind and he went. And the father went to the other son and he said the same thing. And he answered, 'I will.' But he didn’t go. Which of the two did what the father wanted? And their answer was the first. And Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth.'» Now, when you see that phrase, you know he’s about to drop a truth bomb on 'em, right? Remember, he’s just asked 'em the question about John the Baptist. «I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you». You understand how offensive that is? He’s talking to religious leaders and he said, «The hookers are holier than you are».
Well, I thought Jesus was always about love. And if at this point I said he loved the prostitutes, you’d misinterpret that, so. The prostitutes and the tax collectors are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. «For John came to show you the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you would not repent and believe him». So which category is this group? Can we safely call him the antagonist? See it’s not a lack of awareness. They don’t have an information shortage. It’s not that the evidence is scant. There are blind eyes being opened and the deaf are hearing and the lame are walking and the dead are being raised and there are crowds of people going to repent. This isn’t new.
John the Baptist’s ministry preceded Jesus, so there have been years of presentations of the truth, years. And they’re still standing in their stubborn, recalcitrant, unyielding unbelief. They want to do what they wanna do. Same chapter, Matthew 21, there’s a couple more parables Jesus told them, but each one is just an escalation of that point. I mean, he really, if I use the sports analogy, it’s the killer instinct. He intends to shut down his adversaries. And then at the end of this chapter in verse 45, it says, «When the chief priest and the Pharisees heard Jesus’s parables, they knew he was talking about them». Again, there’s no confusion. They understand exactly what is happening. And their response, «They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet».
Please understand, if we pull it forward to millennia, when the truth is told and it breaks into the public square, some will cheer and some will oppose it. That’s not political, that’s spiritual. Become a person of the truth, become a person of integrity. Become a person that does what’s right. In most cases it’s not ambiguous or unclear. We prefer confusion and a muddying of the discussion so we can avoid the awkwardness of our choices. It’s not a new thing. Now in Matthew 24, Jesus pivots, meaning he takes a new direction. It’s like he plants a foot in the ground and he goes another way. The instructions are going to change.
Remember there’s two or three days of this very up close and personal and intense training that he’s giving to those who will listen to him. And he’s been trying to expose the hypocrisy of the leaders in Jerusalem so the people will have the courage not to be swept along by them. But now there’s a pivot that takes place. And he’s gonna begin to give us some instruction on preparations for the «parousia». It’s a fancy religious word. It means the Second Coming. He’s gonna begin to talk to the people that are listening about his return. It seems a little inconsistent with the messaging until you see the bigger picture. Jesus understands that he’s within a few days of leaving and he’s going to begin to try to prepare his best friends for what next will look like. What an amazing friend we have.
It’s Matthew 24:36. «No one knows about that day or hour». He’s talking about when his return will be. And he said, «No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father». Now with that statement, if you meet somebody that tells you they know when Jesus is returning, what do you know? That they don’t know. I wouldn’t argue, I wouldn’t debate. I’d just smile and go, «Oh, bless your heart». If they’re not from around here, they’ll think you complimented them. It’s okay. «As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, up till the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man».
So Jesus just gave us a picture of what it will be like before he comes. And he lists some behaviors that people will be engaged in. I would note to you that none of them are ungodly or immoral. They’ll be buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage. They’ll be doing normal life things. They’ll be living too far into the world system to understand that God is moving. He said, «Up until the day that Noah entered the ark, nobody knew what was coming». You read that and you go, «Well, maybe».
Except Noah had built this great big boat out in the middle of the field. I mean, it wasn’t floating on one of the docks at Percy Priest. He built a great big old boat out in the middle of a field and then animals started lining up. I mean, maybe that’s normal. But I’m thinking that’s a little outside of usual, but it wasn’t unusual enough to keep them from investing or keep them from planning the next round of activities for their family. Certainly wasn’t enough to cause them to listen to the message. Now, here’s the punch line. Jesus said it will be just like that. There will be things that perhaps should give you pause. There’ll be things somewhat unique, somewhat different. There’ll be something going on that if you had any sensitivity to the things of God, there will be voices saying repent, but there won’t be very many repenting.
Folks, it should give you concern if you can walk with your friends who are marginally aware of the things of God and there’s no distinction with you. There better be some distinctiveness in our lives or we’re like salt that’s not salty. You ever put salt, that’s not very salty. You start taking the top off the salt shaker. It must not be working right. It’s the humidity, live in the South, blah, blah, blah. It’ll be just like that, he said. Verse 40, «Two men will be in the field: and one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill: and one will be taken on the other left». There’s a sense of very unexpectedness, an assumption that we’re all good and the assumption’s faulty. And then he says, «Therefore keep watch because you don’t know on what day your Lord will come».
Again, there’s an unexpectedness to us. I’m amused at the determination Christians have to try to tell everybody we know. This is the time. I’m like, did you read what the boss said? «You do not know, but understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into». No duh. «So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you don’t expect him. Who then is the faithful and wise servant»? That’s a very important question. I want Jesus to think that I’m a wise and faithful servant, don’t you? I don’t want him to think I was a good preacher, a good church attender, a good organizer. I don’t want to think I was a good planner.
I want the Lord to look at me and go, «You are a faithful servant». That’s the category where I wanna ring the bell. So that’s the question posed. He’s gonna give us an answer. «Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns». What are we supposed to be busy with? Serving the people and the purposes of God. He’s coming back, he said. And there’s gonna be an unexpected component to it. And what you wanna be busy with is the assignment he’s given us. «But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'Nah, he’s staying away a long time, ' and then he begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards».
Well, we’ll just call that evangelism. «The master of that servant will come on a day when he doesn’t expect him and an hour that he’s not aware of». Watch this. «And he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth». It’s a pretty hard pivot Jesus makes. In the paragraphs before, he’s talking to the religious leaders and he’s saying, «You know, your hypocrisy is not hidden. Your duplicity has been exposed. You’re not as clever as you think you are. You should repent».
You know, I really dislike the idea of a religious lecture. I believe the point of ministry or opening the Word of God is to be transformed by it. So before we go, I wanna give you two invitations. One’s a prayer I’m gonna pray with you, but the other is our offer this month. The book is «The Lord is My Shepherd» by my friend Rob Morgan. It’s an important word in this season to understand God’s direction, his abiding presence, his protection. We all need that. It’ll be a blessing in your life and something I think you wanna share with some friends, but I wanna pray with you before we go, that we’ll know we’re not alone.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the resources you give us, for the voices that you provide in our lives, that in a world of turmoil and confusion and, honestly, great fear, that your calm assuring voice guides us, and I thank you for it today. Thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus’s name, amen.