Frankie Mazzapica - When You Met the King, What Did You See?
The title of today’s message is «When You Met the King, What Did You See?» Palm Sunday was the Sunday before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died on a Friday and rose again out of the grave on a Sunday. But one week before that happened was Palm Sunday. Now, Palm Sunday is when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem, and what was fascinating is that for the entire three years of His ministry, He never allowed anyone to treat Him as a king. Anytime they tried to make Him a king, He would escape; He would go hide, or He would go pray by Himself. He wouldn’t let anyone treat Him like a king; He was there to serve. But on this one day, He said, «Okay, I’ll let you treat me like a king just for today.» So He came into Jerusalem, and as He was coming in, He was riding on a donkey. Every single person who knew what He had been doing over the last three years was so excited. They had palm branches out; they knew that He had been healing people.
Let me say this: all the miracles that you’ve read about and heard about in the Bible are a small fraction of the miracles He performed. For example, in the book of John, there are only six miracles, but in John 21:25, it says this: «If we had written down every single miracle that the Lord did, the entire world could not contain the books that would be written.» So, everywhere He went, He was healing somebody, blessing someone, and delivering them from demonic spirits. And on this day, this Palm Sunday, as He was coming into Jerusalem, thousands of people were around waving palm branches. Let me read the scripture with you. This is in John 12:12. I know all of you can’t see it because of a prop that I’m going to use in a minute, so I’ll just read it out loud to myself. «The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel! '»
Now, every once in a while, a movie will come along, and they will take their best shot at trying to capture what happened. There’s no way they could grasp exactly what happened; the magnitude was too big. But a film came out a few years ago that did its best to capture this triumphal entry. I want to share it with you. Take a look at this: «The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, shouting, 'Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel! ' Jesus found a donkey and rode on it just as the scripture says: 'Do not be afraid, city of Zion! Here comes your king! ' His disciples did not understand this at the time, but when Jesus had been raised to glory, they remembered that the scripture said this about Him and that they had done this for Him. The people who had been with Jesus when He called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead reported what had happened. That was why the crowd met Him, because they heard He had performed this miracle. The Pharisees then said to one another, 'You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following Him! '»
So, what you see there are three groups of people within the crowd. The first group that we’re going to talk about is the crowd itself, and we’re going to discuss what they saw when they saw Jesus. Again, the title of the message is, «What Did You See When You Saw Jesus?» We have three points, three groups: first, what did the crowd see? Secondly, what did the Pharisees see? The Pharisees were those three guys towards the end of the clip who were wearing all black. Lastly, I want to talk about what the disciples saw when they saw Jesus. When the crowd saw Jesus, they saw a hero. They had been watching; I mean, Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave. «Hey Lazarus, come forth!» He came jumping out, wrapped up all the way.
Now, just as a sidebar, if you read the book of John, every single miracle that Jesus did in someone’s life required them to do something in order to receive the miracle. So if Lazarus had said, «Come get me; I’m just going to stand here until you come get me,» he would still be in that grave right now. But Jesus said, «Come out of the grave,» and he came out. When Jesus said to the lame person, «Pick up your mat and walk,» the lame person had to start moving. What if he had said, «No, I’m going to lay here until you grab me»? Whenever the Lord is going to do something special in your life, He asks you to take a step of faith. If you stand around waiting, saying, «God, when are you going to do something?» you’ll be saying that for the rest of your life. But if you say, «I’m going to worship You until You do something,» you’ll always know what to do next. You will always know what you’re supposed to do—do that next thing.
So, they saw Him as a hero. They saw Him bring a man back to life; He was a hero to them. Furthermore, if He had done all these miracles and is the name of the Lord, the King of Israel, they were anticipating Him pulling the children of Israel out of slavery. Just imagine: we live in a country where certain groups of people are enslaved, and then Jesus comes to town. All of those who are enslaved are excited because they won’t be enslaved anymore. Suddenly, Jesus shows up, and I’m Italian; I don’t know if you picked that up—I’m half Italian, half Brazilian. If all of a sudden, the government says, «I hate Italians, and Italians are just going to serve spaghetti to everybody else. That’s all you’re going to do!» And then Jesus comes to town and I think, «I’m done serving spaghetti.» Then, afterward, I’m still serving everyone spaghetti every morning and every night! All the Italians—this is what happened. They’re looking for Jesus to pull them out of this, and He doesn’t do it. Just like that, because of the great disappointment, they shifted from yelling «Hosanna» to «Crucify Him.»
Have you ever been passionate about God and then felt disappointed? There are certain times when there are three people you have to forgive. Sometimes you have to forgive someone else; other times you have to forgive yourself. You beat yourself up, and nobody else is doing that. You’re beating yourself up for things you did years ago. Then, at other times, you have to forgive God, and I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes you have to step back and say, «You hurt me. I really thought you were going to come through, and I’m sorry that I’ve been angry at you. I forgive the fact that this whole moment happened.» But what most people do when they’re disappointed with God is that they don’t want anything to do with Him anymore. They’re so disappointed that they don’t worship; they aren’t devoted. They’ll sleep right through church if they have to come. If they have to come, and somebody drags them there, they just aren’t passionate about God anymore because God’s not doing what they expected Him to do.
Many years ago, a friend of mine would buy tools, like a saw that would cut through 2×4s, and I’m not a tool guy; hammers and all these little tools. He would get a semi-truck, and all these tools would be stuffed into big wardrobe boxes filled with measuring tapes and just crazy tools—lots of drills. He would take them and put them on pallets, and then he would take them to an auction, and people would walk up, look at a pallet, and say, «You know what? I’ll buy that whole pallet for $200.» He would sell all these individual pallets. He would have 200 pallets. Everyone’s walking around buying that pallet, thinking, «You got some stuff on there I can use.» I found out that he was making money doing this, so I said, «God, do you want me to do this?» «Yes, I can tell you do.» So, he gets one semi-truck, and for my first attempt, I thought, «If one semi-truck can do that, how many can two semi-trucks do?» I went to my wife and said, «Hey, I feel like God wants me to do something. We’re going to do this.» She replied, «I don’t have a good feeling about this.»
Isn’t it irritating when your wife seems to hear from God? We never tell them that, though; we don’t give them that credit. I said, «No, it’s going to be triumphant.» I want to share this with you. Take a look at this. I think I still have those tools. We lost so much money, and I didn’t even have a lot of money when we got married. You could vacuum our entire apartment without unplugging it from the wall. It’s a true story. I took all the money we had and bought two semi-trucks worth of tools that I didn’t even know how to use. I was really upset with God for a long time. I said, «We don’t have this kind of money; why did you even let this happen? You could have closed the door.» But when Jesus had been— we didn’t even have it.
Thank God my wife was wonderful because our couch was so small; it was all we could afford. I was like, «If she puts me on that couch, I’m going to be all balled up.» Thank God—she’s wonderful. I was very upset because I was sure I heard from God, and we had setbacks for a long time. Now, I’ve prayed for people who wouldn’t die and they died. The Pharisees then said to me, «You will not die; you’re only 40 years old.» Six months later, he was dead. I prayed for other people, put my hands on their eyes—they were blind. What you see there are three groups of people. I’ve whispered so many times; I can’t even count. The first group that we’re going to talk about is the name of Jesus in deaf ears, and they opened. I laid my hand on a little baby’s collarbone that broke during delivery and said in the name of Jesus, and I felt the bone move under my finger. About a month later, our friend Lana dies, and I’m like, «God, why? The baby would have been fine with minor surgery, so why not that?» So the crowd shifted when they saw Jesus. They saw a hero and then someone who betrayed and disappointed them, going from praising «Hosanna» to «Crucify Him.»
I want to encourage you today, if you are following God, you are signing up to live a life of confusion. Does that encourage you? I was supposed to say that it is supposed to encourage you—I want to encourage you, and you might be confused for the rest of your life. A life of confusion because God does things in ways we don’t expect. Isaiah 55:8 says, «His ways are so far beyond our ways we can’t comprehend them.» But I want to say this: whether you are walking through a storm or you’re walking through favor, keep worshiping Him.
Is there anyone that’s had to do that before? You just have to worship through it. The second group of people were the Pharisees. They hated Jesus because He was now threatening the things that they loved to do. People would come to them and say, «What does God want us to do?» They believed in the entire Old Testament; they believed in Moses, Adam, Eve, and David. They preached the Old Testament and loved having that kind of influence. But suddenly, Jesus comes walking in, and now they’re not even paying attention to them anymore. Jesus calls them out, saying, «You’re so religious!» John the Baptist said, «You’re like a brood of vipers!» They were mad because everything they loved, everything they had gotten used to, was flipped on its head. When they saw Jesus, they saw a threat.
I was talking to a friend of mine just two weeks ago. I hadn’t seen him since high school, and now I’m bald, both gray in the beard. He calls me up and says, «Hey, I want you to pray. My girlfriend and I are having a lot of trouble; we’re not doing well.» I asked him, «Hey, are you guys living together?» and he said, «Oh yeah, but he goes to church.» I said, «1 Corinthians 6:9 says that those who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God.» When you pray for your relationship, Josh, I want you to lower your expectations; don’t expect a lot. Don’t get disappointed in God for not blessing you—just lower your expectations. He got very quiet over the phone. I said, «Because what you’re doing, Josh, is you’re looking at the Lord and saying, 'I know what you like and love, but I’m not going to give you that because I don’t want to, but I need you to bless me, ' and that’s not going to work, Josh.» So we got off the phone, and have you ever been really bold and then walked away thinking, «Oh my goodness!» Like when I’m preaching, I feel powerful and confident, but afterward, I’m worried—"Oh Jesus, nobody’s coming back next Sunday! I’m so sorry! I took 20 years to build it, and I ruined it in one second!»
He calls me up three days later and says, «Hey, I talked with Heather. We want to get married. Will you come out next week and marry us?» I’m like, «Come out where?» It’s a three-hour round trip! I said, «Yes, absolutely!» I hung up the phone and thought, «That’s a drive.» We get there; we go to a beach—it’s me, them two, and two friends to take pictures. We find an old cross set up somewhere, and we just park anywhere—there’s a cross. Suddenly, we get married, and it’s one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever been a part of. He was a Pharisee, but then he said, «God, there’s nothing I’m not willing to stop doing, and there’s nothing I won’t do. You’re everything to me.» You see, it’s very easy to wave palm branches, but only followers who love Him will carry a cross.
Carrying a cross means you decide, «I know this is not going to be easy, but I’m going to worship You and live for You, regardless of whether it’s easy or not. If this is what life looks like, I’m going to worship my way right through it.» I remember sitting down with Chris and Denise; their son called from England to say, «Hey, the doctor just told me I have cancer in my body.» He was only 26 years old. They call me over, and Chris looks me straight in the eye. He says, «I see a couple of options here. Number one, I lose my son. Number two, I don’t lose him, but we have a long road ahead. Or number three, this is a short rough patch and the Lord will get him through it fast. Those are the only three options I see.» I looked into his eyes and thought, «How does a father acknowledge this might not turn out the way I hope?» There was an unwavering look in their eyes. «We’re going to continue to believe. We’re going to continue to worship; that’s non-negotiable.» Praise the Lord, it was the third option; it was a slight rough patch, but it ended within a few weeks. He’s healthy, strong, and married.
But the Pharisees were not ready to do that. «Don’t threaten my life! Don’t challenge my life!» The last and final group was the disciples. When they saw Jesus, they were completely confused. On one hand, He’s healing people; in the very next breath, He stands up and speaks to the crowd. He just fed 5,000 people with a couple of fish and a few slices of bread. They are eating, and He steps back and says, «Just know this: I’ve just taken care of your lunch, but if you want eternal life, you must eat my body and drink my blood.» He was talking about communion. The wine represents His blood; the bread represents His body—He’s saying, «I’m accepting all of you.» But they didn’t get it—they’re eating fish sandwiches. The crowd leaves, and they’re like, «You’ve gone mad, you’ve gone crazy.» Now the disciples are confused too. Jesus turns around and looks at them and says, «Are you going to leave, too?» Everyone’s confused. They left. He asks, «Are you going to leave, too?» and Peter says this, «Well, where are we going to go?» I found that amusing because clearly, he thought about it. He considered it and thought, «Well, where are we going to go? Okay, you’ve gone mad, but what’s my other option?» The disciples faced doubt and thought, «What is my other option?» We’ve all thought that—am I going to quit on God? Well, what do I do next?
The disciples continued to work through it. Jesus walked in the garden in Genesis with Adam and Eve and prayed in the garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested. When He rose from the tomb, it was in a garden; significant moments happen when His disciples stick with Him and walk in the garden because there’s conversation, there’s intimacy. When Adam and Eve stopped walking with Jesus in the garden and became enamored with the fruit they weren’t supposed to eat, they stopped walking with Him. You know the end of the story. Many years ago, a very famous preacher whom I admired fell from grace due to sexual sin. His friend came to him and asked, «When did you stop walking with Him in the garden?» He looked back and said, «About two years ago. I’ve been going through the motions for the last two years.» And that was the end of the story, the end of the ministry. He didn’t see it coming. Just like that.
This prop here is the garden. What I like about this prop is that there are boundaries. I am no longer in the garden. There are constant temptations to stop praying and stop talking. I want to encourage you to make your car or truck a garden while driving. It’s easy to talk on the phone; we have this speaker system now. Turn it into a garden. Turn your house into a garden; walk in the garden and talk to Him. Because when you first saw Jesus, you saw a savior. You met Him in that intimate place, and I want to say this: He’s still a savior. Each of us is believing God for a miracle, and He’s still a savior. He’s still a rescuer, but we must stay in the garden of prayer and worship.
Let’s stand up and give Him a standing ovation! Can we do that? Come on, let’s give Him our best! We love you, Jesus! We love you, Jesus! We love you, Jesus! I would like for all our prayer partners to come down, if they would. I say it often—sometimes you just need someone to pray for you. That’s why the prayer partners are up here. They want to pray with you. If you want someone to pray with you, there’s someone available.
Psalms 56:9 says, «The very day you call for help, the tide of the battle turns.» Let me say it again—Psalms 56:9, «The very day you call for help, the tide of the battle turns!» When you come down here to pray, whatever is going on outside of these walls, the tide of the battle is turning. If you’re in this room and you’re not ready to see the Lord, if your heart were to stop beating in the next five minutes and you’re not ready, I want you to get your life right with Him. If you’ve been a Christian for many years, I want to remind you of a scripture: the Bible says that the rapture of the church will rise to meet Him in the sky. The Bible says this—"In the blink of an eye!"—and we should live with that holy expectation that in the next blink, we have to make sure our hearts are ready. If I’m talking to you and you’re not ready to meet the Lord, I encourage you to come down and pray with someone. There is no official dismissal; you can leave whenever you’re ready, but let’s sing this song one time through before anyone goes. May the Lord bless you, may He keep you, may His face shine down upon you and be gracious to you. May His countenance be lifted upon you and bring you peace. In Jesus' name, Amen.