Who Is This? – Sermon 13 April, 2014

Who Is This?

“Who is this?” A question the whole city asked on the day of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. And the crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Sadly, a few days later the same crowd shouted, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

If today we see the Lord entering our lives and people ask us the same question, “Who is this?” What will our answer be? Will we be able to say that He is the Son of God and our Saviour? Or we will deny Him as Peter did. We should probably ask ourselves, “What will I say if I am asked the question?”

The triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem is celebrated each year on Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of the Holy Week. Around the world, the eyes and hearts of the devoted followers of Jesus Christ will be focused day by day on those events that took place during the last week of the earthly life of our Saviour. His royal entry into Jerusalem was the beginning of that week. His victorious resurrection from the tomb brought it to a grand conclusion.

Being the King of Kings, Jesus’ entry was not so heroic if we compare it to the entry of a Roman king. A Roman king usually entered, seated on a war horse, accompanied by an official party, formalities and sounds of trumpets. People praised the king and bowed down before him. In the case of Jesus we see ordinary peasant people, who put their garments on the animals, cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road, praised Him and shouted “Hosanna, hosanna”, which means “save us”.

Interestingly in contrast to His usual behaviour, this time He accepted the people’s claim of Him and did not deny that He was the King.

So we can say that His entry was deliberate; He had planned this entry, even making prior arrangements with the owner of the donkey and the colt. As if a password was set to the owner of the animals, which was “The Lord needs them”.

His entry was also a fulfilment of prophecy. The prophet Zachariah had foretold the royal entry:

“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. …. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth” (9:9-10).

During His three year ministry, Jesus told many parables, which were stories to communicate great truths about the kingdom of God, but His entry into Jerusalem was an acted parable.

What Jesus was trying to communicate to the people with this act of His?

1. Offering Himself as a King

By His coming into the city in the manner which He did, he was following in the tradition of David and the other kings of Israel. He was deliberately accepting the acclamation and the praise of the crowd as a king. He did not rebuke at this time when they gave Him the applause and recognition of a king. By His royal entry, He manifested His kingship and demonstrated the authority of the kingdom of God.

2. Revealed the nature of His Kingship

On one occasion, He denied that He had come in order to bring peace on earth; but rather sword. He did not tolerate certain situations. He could not disregard hypocrisy, injustice and unkindness. He could not approve social, political and spiritual oppression. He did not come to the world only to call people to be loyal to God and reconcile with Him, but He came to challenge the corrupt religious and social system of his day. In that sense He created war instead of peace. By His strange act of riding a donkey, he revealed that His kingship was based on love and grace, not force and power.

He came as king so that people might have peace with God, as they discover both the way and the power to live according to the divine will and enjoy peace with one another. As king, He would rule by love rather than by force.

3. Gave His life for others

In the last six months of His ministry He gave himself to the task of teaching the disciples the things concerning His Kingdom. He wanted to reveal to them that His Kingdom was based on love, that it was inward and spiritual. He tried to teach the concept of the Kingdom of God to be in the hearts of the people. This seemed strange for the disciples, as they were looking for a king who would lead a revolt against the authority of Rome.

He offered himself as a king who would rule by the principle of love, but Israel chose not to accept this and rejected the proposed peace. His kingdom was based on the concept of self-denial and self-sacrifice. He lived as a perfect king, spoke with authority and was ready to die on the cross.

All of His actions were based on love. Everything He did was act of a perfect love. Though He was a King, He humbled Himself and gave His life as a ransom for us, setting a perfect example before His disciples and us all.

Do we see Him as our King, who rules over us with His perfect and unconditional love?

Are we willing today to recognise His Kingship and grant Him control of our lives?

It would be wise for us to make Him King of our relationships with people.

If we want to know the peace and power that comes from God, then we need to make Him King of our loyalties.

To Know Him as the Prince of Peace, we must respond to Him as Lord and King.

‘Who is this?’

This is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and our Lord and Saviour.

So let us rejoice and be glad with His Love and dominion.

Krikor Youmshajekian