Edenic Restoration
Matthew 21:1-14
First Sunday in Advent, 2003
An oddity of Jesus' ministry was His reticence to tell people He was the Messiah. The Lord performed all kinds of amazing miracles: healing the sick, casting out demons, even raising the dead, yet He constantly urged His audiences to keep everything a secret (Matthew 8:4; Mark 5:43; 7:36; Luke 5:14). If He really was the Messiah, why didn't He say so openly? Compare the self-restraint of Jesus with that of Baha'ulla. Who was Baha'ulla? He was the second founder of the Bahai World Faith. When Baha'ulla felt himself called of God to be the divine word to the nineteenth century, he broadcast the news far and wide. He sent letters to the Pope, Queen Victoria, and every important leader in the world. His letter informed them that he was a manifestation of the only true and living God, and urged them to admit that his claims were well founded and that his message was the truth.
In our Gospel passage for this First Sunday in Advent, Jesus finally breaks the secret and announces His messianic credentials publicly. He declared, "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey'" (Mt. 21:5). How does Christ's Kingdom grow? And How far can we expect it to grow? These are the issues we want to explore.
Christ's entry on Passover into Jerusalem would begin His last week before death on a cross. He knew that this was the culmination of His ministry, and the purpose for His advent. He knew what His fate would be. On the way, He warned His disciples that the suffering of the Son of Man was about to be realized. At the Mount of Olives Jesus would mount a donkey. Matthew 21:2-7 tells how they got it. [Read them.]
Why did Jesus need a donkey? Was He weary of walking? No. He would enter Jerusalem in order to fulfill prophecy; specifically, the words of the prophet Zechariah. Jesus arrived humbly, "sitting on a donkey"
What a contrast to the normal way in which military conquerors returned. Typically, royalty paraded into their capital cities on chariots and war steeds. A large entourage of officers accompanied the king followed by ranks of marching troops. Arrayed in glittering armor, swords, breastplates, shields, bucklers, and helmets, the army marched in. The crowds lined the streets and cheered.
Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey Jesus comes great and humble, exalted and lowly. He is the One who in this very act is riding to His death, and thus to victory, a victory for those who believe in Him. When the prophecy speaks of the "daughter of Zion" it is referring to Israel, the true Israel; God's elect. Only she will understand the significance of this strange triumphal entry.
The next verses offer further details of the arrival. Reading Matthew 21:8-13.
The Lord's appearance at the Mount of Olives unleashed great excitement. Why? Many people were still talking about Lazarus rising from the dead. The Gospel of John includes this detail (John 12:17). After the cadaver of Lazarus had begun to stink, Jesus called him back to life. This miracle explains part of the reason the city was moved to such excitement, but it doesn't explain all of it. Jesus was evidently a man of immense vigor and dynamism, with a remarkable power of drawing men and women to Himself. You see that kind of charisma in other leaders of history, both good and bad: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, John Brown, Stonewall Jackson, and Hitler. The Anglican Bishop Stephen Neill was a friend to a German diplomat. They had a conversation in 1949. The diplomat began to reminisce: "I knew Mussolini well, and of course I knew Hitler also. Our great mistake was in underestimating Hitler. You could lead me blindfolded through ten rooms, and I would tell you without error in which of them the Fuhrer was standing. There was an electric power that sparked out of him. If you have to deal with a man like that, there are only [two] choices before you to sell yourself to him body and soul or to bump him off." Those were the two choices facing the multitudes that met Jesus that week in Jerusalem. First they embraced Him. Then they bumped Him off.
As Jesus entered the great city, the pilgrims hailed Him as the One who would restore the kingship of David and his royal line. The commotion became contagious. First, the disciples sacrificed their upper garments to make a saddle for Jesus. Then the crowds followed the disciples' example and put down their own coats to make a carpet before Him. Others trimmed palm branches and laid them down also on the road for the advent of the great King and Messiah.
Verse nine gives the impression that there were two crowds. The one crowd accompanied Jesus towards the city; another crowd came out of Jerusalem to meet Him. Meeting Jesus outside of Jerusalem, they turned around to escort Him back. These two raucous crowds advanced toward Jerusalem making Jesus the object of their prayer and praise. The city seemed to tremble. We see this sort of dynamic in sports. I witnessed the Argentines rock the city of Buenos Aires after their soccer team won the 1986 World Cup. The boundless emotion and earsplitting pandemonium were unforgettable. The victory parade for the Anaheim Angels was also pretty big. In Jerusalem the participants yelled out, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" These lines were taken from Psalm 118, a Messianic Psalm. The Jew sang "Hosanna" in terms of the dream of a Messiah who would usher in a worldwide kingdom.
The people laid palm branches on the road. This is a detail that deserves more attention. What were the palm fronds about? During the Feast of Tabernacles each father would eat and drink with his family in his tabernacle decked with palm greenery. The palms symbolized the Eden that had been lost at the fall. If man had not fallen, the garden of Eden would have extended in all directions to blanket the globe (Genesis 1:28). The earth would have been developed and cultivated to near fullness. Then God would have introduced the New Heavens and New Earth. The fall of man did not suspend this mandate. Christ's death and resurrection are designed to put the program of Edenic restoration back on track. By waving the palm branches it was hoped that the Messiah's reign would bring back the fruitful blessings of Eden.
Notice the repeated question: "Who is this?" and the answer, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." It gives the impression that the people of the city did not know what to make of this dramatic arrival, and it was the Galilean pilgrims accompanying Jesus who enlightened them. However, the title "the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee" failed to impress the non-Galileans. After all, Nazareth was a small backwater village in the semi-pagan region of Galilee. This title "prophet" alludes to Deuteronomy 18:15. God told Moses to promise the children of Israel, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst Him shall you hear."
For a single exciting day one and all acknowledged the greatness of Christ. The passage calls Him Lord in verse three. Verse five announces Him as King. Verse nine names Him the "Son of David." Verses twelve and thirteen set Him up as the great Priest. For one fleeting moment the multitudes recognize Him as their Lord, and acclaim Him as their Prophet, Priest, and King.
The deplorable fact about this grand gush of excitement is that five days later, instead of crying out, "Hosanna!" they were chanting, "Crucify Him!" What a flipflop! Their praise so quickly turned to rejection.
In spurning Jesus, the people determined that Christ was not really the type of Messiah they desired. What kind of Messiah did they want? History throws a little light on the question. In Acts 5:36 Gamaliel refers to a couple of revolutionaries: one, a man named Theudas. He was slain with about four hundred followers. Another guy was known as Judas the Galilean. He perished along with his troop of supporters. Acts 21:38 speaks of an Egyptian in the desert who lead 4,000 assassins to their demise. We have the book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha. That book recounts how Judas Maccabaeus led a successful revolt against the cruel Syrian King, Antiochus Epiphanes. Judas employed guerilla warfare. To this very day Jews observe his victory in 165 B.C. It is called the Feast of Hanukkah. The Jewish historian Josephus records other revolts before and after the time of Jesus. And let's not forget Barabbus. St. Mark calls Barabbus a rebel who committed murder in a rebellion (Mark 15:7). Unrelenting waves of revolt crashed upon the land of Judea until A.D. 135. The Roman Empire finally said enough is enough. After they put down the Bar Kochba revolt in 135, they kicked the Jews out of Jerusalem and allowed them to come back only once a year, on the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. One day out the year they were permitted to lament at the Wailing Wall, the last remaining structure of Herod's Temple.
The bottom line is this; at the time of Jesus, Israel was producing one bloody revolution after another. Did the Lord have the leadership qualities to lead a revolution? Of course He did! His unhesitating authority, courage and charisma could have pulled it off easily. At any given moment He could have called on ten thousand angels to help. However, by entering Jerusalem so humbly and peacefully Jesus was giving an emphatic No to the violent expectations of the crowds. Yes, He was the true Messiah promised by the prophets. He was the Son of David; their Lord, their King, and their Prophet. But He was not going to usher in His Kingdom by the sword, or with coercion of any kind. His kingdom would be built on personal regeneration and moral reformation. The nations would eventually come under the sway of King Jesus, but it would occur by means of the proclamation of God's Word, the celebration of the Sacraments, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Christianity would gradually seep into every corner of culture and renew every department of life across the face of the earth. But it would take place in increments; precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little; through persuasion and obedience to the Holy Spirit, God's grace would redeem the world. This entire process would take time and demand patience. Unfortunately, the crowds at Christ's entry into Jerusalem were not patient. By demanding immediate results, they preferred a heroic deliverer, a warrior like Judas Maccabaeus to strike a blow against the Roman oppressors. If they couldn't get a Judas Maccabaeus they would take a lowly scoundrel like Barabbas. As for Jesus, five days later they were pleading to Pilate, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
What can we learn about Christ's entry? Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in such a way that it is both full-orbed and non-coercive has always been a challenge. The temptations have been to shrink the kingdom of God, or to advance the kingdom of God by force. On one extreme, a few radical groups have tried to impose their version of Christianity with the sword. The Fifth Monarchy men during Cromwell's time are an instance of this. They were crazy and immature. You can read about them in a good history of the English Revolution. On the opposite end of the spectrum the Church has always had her retreatists and escapists. The goal of the escapist seeks only for personal salvation. The retreatist insists that the kingdom of God awaits Christ's Second Coming, or that the Kingdom of God will never be successful before Christ's Second Coming. In neither case is there hope of victory, so why try? These escapist and retreatist views get a boost from people afraid of the Radical Muslims. Just as some Muslims are willing to impose Islamic law by force and violence, it is thought that Christians are ready to do the same. In order to stop such action, Christians are told to abandon completely the hope of world transformation. Christian faith should remain a private matter. Bottle it up in the Church but don't let it spill out into the other areas of life and thought, because the Christian goal of converting the cosmos is a recipe for tyranny; it is one of those utopian dreams that make fanatics resort to violence in order to attain Heaven on earth.
Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem refutes this fear entirely. By riding into Jerusalem, lowly on a donkey, Jesus was rejecting coercive conversion and violent revolts as the means for building the kingdom of God. The palm branches suggest that the Eden project is still good. Just as Gospel transformation must extend outward from the Church to cover all the globe, so must Eden be extended outward from he Church to cover all the earth. The prophet Muhammad led his followers into conquering countries for the Koran, but Jesus never did and never would. Jesus commanded us to baptize and disciple the nations through the peaceful proclamation of the Gospel. Jesus calls us on this first Sunday in Advent to maintain that full-orbed vision, and work toward it.
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