Well, I invite you to turn this morning to John chapter 12. We're taking a break from our study in the Sermon on the Mount, and we will be looking at the triumphal entry from John's record, John chapter 12, on page 1068 in your Bibles. Beginning at verse 12, this is the word of the Lord. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness the reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign so the Pharisees said to one another you see that you are gaining nothing the world look has gone after him. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me he must follow me and where i am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him now is my soul troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. And there we'll end today the reading of God's Word. Well, truth be told, I've always found the triumphal entry somewhat difficult to preach. I'd like to survey pastors and see if they feel the same way that I feel. Maybe I'm just the oddball. But I find this a challenging section to preach. I always have because I've struggled with what to make of it. We kind of say the same thing every year, and maybe that's good. We can say the same thing every year. Everyone wants to hear the same thing over and over, I'm sure. They may not want to hear the same sermon over and over, but they want to hear the same story. And most of the treatments of the triumphal entry do end up saying the same thing. This large crowd comes to Jesus, and they hail him as king, but these were the same people ironically who would chant crucify him crucify him and we say wow what a terrible thing what is the point of it all what is what is this capturing for us what is this showing us the actions themselves seem somewhat confusing this whole thing seems to be mysterious to us the big thing that happens in front of them think of mark when mark records this mark says jesus hosanna in the highest heaven jesus entered jerusalem and went into the temple and courts this is after the triumphal entry he looked around at everything but since it was late he went out to bethany with the 12 what an anti-climactic moment it's late we'll be back what is this passage really helping us to understand today i believe what the authors are doing is showing us something that really functions like a parable. A parable, of course, is a short story that is set beside a truth that helps us to grasp some spiritual concept. The difference here is that this parable is enacted by Jesus himself, one that can be appreciated and grasped to see the whole picture. So what we have in this scene is something that is foreshadowing something that is to come and in this way it challenges us to think about what we call the triumphal entry what was so triumphal about it what was so great about it what did it really mean the text shows us ironically massive blindness to the whole thing. Nobody gets it. Nobody understood it when it happened. And you would think that, well, why wouldn't Jesus want to just make this very known? Mark, like Mark, if you look at verse 36, when Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. So it's just, again, a kind of anticlimactic moment. What that means is nobody understood what happened, and Jesus then moves away and hides himself. So what makes it so interesting, why it's such a fascinating section to study, is to sort of stand back from it and ask, what are the gospel writers showing us, and what is the particular writer that we're showing, emphasizing? And I think John has a unique emphasis here, while we look at the different kinds of people that have gathered around Jesus. Here's the scene. Jesus, of course, leaves Bethany, and he tells his disciples to go and get this colt that is tied up. He descends on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, and verse 14 tells us that Jesus finds this young donkey and sits on it just as it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. Obviously, Scripture is being fulfilled here, which is a very important point that the disciples would later look back and understand. But my question that I kind of want to pursue for a minute with you is, who exactly has come? Who are these crowds? Who are these people. In the last chapter, we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem to the Passover to purify themselves. It was swelling with people. People were all over the place. Josephus records when these Passovers happened. Hundreds of thousands of lambs were being carried in at this moment to Jerusalem to be slaughtered. It was festal. It was a time of celebration. We get the same kind of sense when we have our holidays and our celebrations, and it's a happy time. It's a fun time for people. It's a together time for people. We love holidays. We love get-togethers. This is similar, but I want you to notice the different kind of people mentioned. First group, this account as John presents it is intricately woven together with the account with Lazarus, the raising of Lazarus. In the middle of that account, we read that many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him. Verse 17 captures that group. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him continued to bear witness, they say. So there's one of the groups that has come together. They had witnessed the raising of Lazarus. They believed in the words of Jesus, and they bore witness. It's really fascinating. That's group number one. This was the band of believers who were testifying of Jesus. They had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, which had included Mary and Martha, and they bore witness to this great event. This group includes the disciples. Verse 16 tells us, isn't this interesting, that even this group did not understand any of it. Only when Jesus was glorified did they understand. The second group represents the religious leaders. In the middle of the Lazarus event, we read that some of these from this group went out and told the Pharisees what Jesus did. And the end of that account says the Pharisees had given order that if anyone knew where he was, he should be reported and arrested so that they might kill him. So there's that group. There's a group there that wants to kill him. The third group represents the large crowd here, the one singled out in verse 9, where some of the other translations actually do say large crowd. Here it does too in the ESV, when the large crowd had come. Notice it's singled out, when the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. This group is the group that Jesus had the big problem with in the gospel of John, that many people wanted to see signs, many people wanted to see wonders, and they never internalized it like we've been looking at in Matthew. They just wanted the show. They just wanted the feedings. They were just interested in the things that Jesus could do. It was amazing. They knew he was a powerful and could be a powerful political leader verse 12 tells us the next day they are mentioned again when they had come to the feast and heard that jesus was coming and it's this group that took the palm branches and went out to meet him crying hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord even the king of israel verse 18 makes clear that this crowd came for this reason because they had heard of this sign that Jesus did. You notice how directly John says it there? The reason why, verse 18, the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign. Then there's a fourth group. Down in verse 20. Now among those who went to worship at the feast were some Greeks. And they came to Philip and they said, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Now, that's a lot of people surrounding this event, isn't it? Let me summarize for a minute. You have those who believed but understood none of it. You have those who want to kill him. You have those who just want to see a sign. You actually then have, on top of all this, Gentiles asking to see Jesus. Now, I trust you see the confusion here. You have the confusion in all of this. All of these people want Jesus for different reasons. But here's the overarching problem. Nobody understands what's happening. Nobody. So we celebrate this great event every year, and when it happened, no one understood it. Do you think that's possible, that we could celebrate this with no understanding then? Oh, it's very possible. That's the whole point of this. Which means it could be only understood when the disciples understood it, meaning that the event can only be understood when Jesus was actually glorified, then the meaning could be grasped. Well, what about us? I mean, there's no doubt that all of these groups could be represented today. What does this mean? Here's the remarkable thing. With the exception of the hostile Pharisees and leaders, the entire group begins to sing Psalm 118. Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The King has come. It's him. Our king has come. They're all singing Psalm 118. Psalm 118, we just sung a moment ago. It's a good case for singing these psalms. They mean something. They celebrated, that psalm celebrated the Egyptian Passover. Well, that's an irony, that at the very moment all these Passover lambs are coming into Jerusalem, they began to sing about the Egyptian Passover. And they apply it to Jesus. The blood of the lamb put on the doorpost so that the angel of death would pass them over and they would not face judgment because of that blood of that spotless lamb. Hosanna to the son of David is he who comes in the name of the Lord, in the highest. And then Jesus gets on this colt. And you'll notice, just as is written to fulfill, Zechariah 9, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey colt. Everyone has broke out in praise, except, of course, those Pharisees. And they're singing the song. and I bet they sang them with gusto. I bet it was a great moment of praise. I bet they had never heard the psalm sung that way. Now to me, this is quite a dangerous thing. To have a moment of excitement. To have a moment of enthusiasm. At the annual feast. And yet, what they're celebrating, they don't understand. You think anything like that happens today? At the annual feast? At the annual celebrations? Easter is our, I saw somebody say, Easter is our Super Bowl Sunday. I can't believe the marketing strategies this year. I haven't seen so many marketing strategies like this. This is new for me. Maybe I'm just dull. Maybe I should try one. Easter egg hunts. I mean, Easter egg hunts. Can't you do that at home? Church will be, I saw one, church will be fun. The message will be practical and relevant. I'm reading, quote, When I was in Vancouver yesterday, that's what I saw. They've named it this year, The Big Invite. And across this land, on Sunday, next week, the churches will be swelling with people once in the year. You think anything's different? Why do people come? What are they celebrating? Is there understanding? Why does this day get so much attention? And the reality is, across the board, every other Lord's Day, the church in America is dying. It doesn't seem like understanding. Why is that happening? And you see, I believe what the author here wants us to do, what John wants us to do is to think about what the disciples did when they looked back on fulfillment because they understood it. The mouths of those who didn't understand it from those who wanted him dead. And it's indeed true, the ones now standing here holding the palm branches are indeed the ones who will say crucify him. This is the one who had come in the name of the Lord. This is Israel's king. And you see why I say we have kind of a parable. What do the Pharisees say? What do the Pharisees say when they see all this mass of people? We have accomplished nothing. The whole world has gone after him. That's a remarkable statement. It must have been for a moment like Psalm 2. He who is in the heaven shall laugh. Even though the crowds are fickle. Even though nobody understands this. Even though no one can grasp this. Even though the very crowd will put him to death. What just happened? The world has gone after him. That's why I say it's a preview. It's a parable of preview, of coming attractions. And that is why the Gentiles all of a sudden are brought in as the last group here. They come to Philip, who they know is from Bethsaida. Sir, we want to see Jesus. This gets to the heart of the passage this morning. This gets to the heart of the passage. Picture the scene. The disciples are standing there. The Jews have encircled him. On the outside now are the Gentiles, masses of people all around this figure. verse 35 by the end of it he hides himself from everyone but the heart of everything is in verse 23 beloved jesus answered and said when the gentiles wanted to see him the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified that's only when the disciples would understand it only when anyone would understand it most Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains there alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. See what he just did. He answered the request. He answered the problem. I'll give them access. This is really good news. I'll give them access. I'll do far beyond that. I'll give the whole world access. But for that to happen, I have to die alone. No one understood that the king they just sung out about was the son of man who came to die. And no one knew why. This is the whole picture of salvation. He's coming to do what? To be lifted up to die because he is the lamb. In the midst of this Passover, the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world stands there. And the whole message is what we celebrate about Palm Sunday. He has descended and then will ascend again. He's descended and will ascend to the cross, to descend into the earth, to ascend again to heaven for us. It's not with the blood of goats and calves, Hebrews 9, but with his own blood he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. That's what he did. He obtained through his blood, opening up heaven for you, eternal redemption. So the scene's capturing this, that what we have is Psalm 24. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Lift up your heads, O you gates, and lift them up, you everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in. Who is he? He's the Lord, mighty in battle. The shock of that psalm is that this is a warring king. who has come to do battle for you because of your sin. So he's pictured as descending into the valley of the shadow of death, coming as a mighty conquering warrior to make atonement for sins and then to die on that cross, to go into the grave, to rise up triumphant that he might open heaven's gate for us. There is nothing that could stand in opposition to this. His plan, the crowds, the opposition, everything is serving it. The very gospel of your salvation, beloved, comes and says, everything went just according to plan. God's purpose succeeded and nothing could stop it. To save you. That's the message here. Jesus says, the hour has come for me to die because apart from the cross, there is no spiritual harvest. They won't be able to see me. They can't see me until I've done that. The picture here is a scary one because at that point, none of the crowd has come by faith. Jesus says, when I do, and when I accomplish this great work, there's going to be a harvest of souls. I want you to notice verse 27. He says, but now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I've come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And the intense suffering of soul begins right now. He says, I've got a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am until it's accomplished. The horrors of the cross begin to fall on him right then and there. He has no rebellion in his heart. He has not been tempted in any way with sin to go away from this. He has chosen this path for you. He's determined to do this for you. He says, I've come forth for this purpose because those have been given to me by my father. I must save. and if God so loved the world that he gave his son, if anyone is going to have access, this is the only way. And all of a sudden, the disciples are standing there, and Jesus prays. A voice starts shaking the heavens. Third time, the father spoke to his son in his ministry. he immediately responds, I've glorified it, my name. I will glorify it again. The father was saying to the son, I've glorified myself in you, my son. And now the father says, I will glorify my name in you and your own exaltation. And here's the heart of it today. The Greeks had asked, can we see? These are your people. These people represent us, far out, kept out. In verse 30, Jesus answered, This voice didn't come because of me, but for your sake. 31, now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And if I am lifted up, I will draw, notice this, all peoples to myself. This is the problem in this text. None of these people can come to Jesus. None of these people understand him. None of these people know him. None of these people know what he had to do. But they're singing. They're gathering at the feast. but it's the resurrection, he says. When I'm lifted up, I will sovereignly drag, it doesn't even say peoples, all to myself. This, he said, signifying by what death he would die. He'd be lifted up on that cross. And he'd go in the grave and rise triumphant. And when that happened, all the peoples of the world, all the nations, all the people groups, all the Greeks, all the peoples of different nations all these peoples represented in all these categories listen to this it's the same word of John 6 I will drag them to myself it's the beauty there will be true response in that day there will be true response in that day and that's what he says in verse 40 for whoever believes in me will not remain in darkness the spirit of truth when he comes will guide you in the truth he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you but here's what I want to leave us with today to close there's going to be a lot of celebrations here in the next week this is not just a sweet story this is not how cheapening to think it's just if kids want to do an Easter egg hunt I'm not condemning that but how cheap to make it something that doesn't consider the depths of the suffering that the son of God had to go through to save you from your sins how could we celebrate it without contemplating that and Jesus comes along to his disciples all through the ministry and he says something really powerful and he says it to you today if you understand these things blessed are your eyes for they see blessed are your ears for they hear blessed are your understandings for they have been open what we need is jesus to forgive our sins beloved what we need was a savior who would die for us and atone for all of our rebellion You know how great your rebellion is? It doesn't take much in your weeks for your whole heart to turn away from him. And all of a sudden you find yourself in the thick of doing things you know you shouldn't be doing. Jesus had to save us. And he's done something wonderful. He's opened up heaven for us. He's accomplished it. And he says to us Gentiles, you want to see me? You can see me too. The whole ends of the earth, all the ends of the earth will hear Psalm 22 we sing, and they will praise the Lord, the name of the Lord. Praise God today, believe in him, and worship him with understanding. That means a lot to him. I'm afraid that we talk so much on the surface about worship. Worship him with understanding. An understanding that considers the depths of his sacrifice. Considers the love of God and where you would be without it. Considers all that he's done for you. Considers that he rose for you. Consider that he gave you eternal life. And believe him. Thank him. That's what he wants. Receive this gift with the joy that it's intended. Then you can sing, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord with meaning. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this great text today, and thank you for challenging us. Give us understanding, oh Lord. Open our understandings to see the depth of your love for us in Christ. And thank you for this sacrifice. Thank you for giving your son to die and rise again. May that old story never become old to us. May it freshly alive in our hearts every day that we might give you praise for calling us out of the darkness that's shown in this passage into marvelous light. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.