Exeter Temple Bible notes
13th April 2014 Bible Reading Luke 19:27-40
Today the phrase false colours refers to intentional deception of one kind or another, and "true colours" indicates straightforwardness or honesty in some regard. Jesus used His entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday to drive home to everyone who He really was.
1. A Declaration of Kingship
It was time to make things clear, once and for all. It was time for Jesus either to lay the rumours of His identity to rest and say, “I’m just a carpenter or declare once and for all, I am the Messiah”.
Jesus arrival in Jerusalem became a declaration of Kingship. He didn’t paint a banner that said “I am the Messiah!” but He might as well have done. His actions were as provocative as say the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, turning up for the trooping of the colours in the Queens carriage and then riding her horse!
Even behind the scenes Jesus had been acting in a king-like of way.
It was the custom of the day that a major political or religious figure could request the use of livestock. Just as a police officer can commandeer a car in an emergency Jesus requested the use of a young donkey. He sent His two disciples as envoys and they were obeyed.
Jesus then acted out a prophecy from the Old Testament which was all about the Messiah. Then when the people began to welcome Him as that Messiah He refused to stop them. Jesus was declaring Himself and offering Himself as their king and their leader.
He has never withdrawn the offer. There is no ambiguity. Jesus claims to be an eternal king and He asks for our allegiance. The question is whether we first of all believe Him and whether secondly we are willing to submit to Him.
2. An Endorsement of Kingship
Claiming to be the Messiah is one thing but people claim all sorts of things and they might not be true.
Jesus did not make his claim to be the Messiah on the basis of his popularity, the size of any army or what the religious establishment said.
Jesus’ belief that he was the Son of God and the Messiah who was to rule God’s kingdom came from an inner conviction that God had declared this about him.
At His birth angelic messengers proclaimed, “Today in the city of David a Saviour has been born. He is Christ, the Lord”.
And on two very special occasions God gave Jesus an endorsement of his kingship. Once at his baptism, God said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And again on the Mount of Transfiguration where He said the same thing but added the words, “Listen to Him.”
The New Testament also declares to us in Philippians 2:9 ‘that God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’.
God is totally satisfied with Jesus. He has no plans to substitute Him with anyone else.
In today’s world people want to be at peace within themselves, to find happiness and stability, to have certainty about the future, some want spiritual enlightenment and to be in touch with their inner selves but many have no room for Jesus. But God has said that unless people accept and embrace His Son they cannot inherit the rest.
3. The Character of the King
Actions speak louder than words or image.
Frank Cooke writes, “Your theology plain or fancy is what you are when the talking stops and the action starts”.
Jesus certainly did not choose the way of the image maker but always showed His real self regardless of the cost.
When we consider Jesus’ passionate desires to have His revelation of God accepted in the lives of men and women it would not have been surprising if Jesus had resorted to any means to win over the influential people of His day.
He could have trimmed His speeches so as not to anger them. The Pharisees and Sadducees had particular faults He could have spoken to them about, something else for the sake of His work.
On the contrary, Jesus was in the habit of telling the plain truth no matter who it alienated. He spoke to men who over emphasized religious forms and told them their faith was a sham.
And even deeper evidence of Jesus’ inner and perfect sincerity and genuineness of character is that however how much He wanted followers He never lied to them about the cost or the hazards of joining Him.
To understand Jesus’ passion for truth and hatred of insincerity we must look at His actions under circumstances where ordinary men are tempted to lie. Think about Him in Pilate’s court with the Roman ruler rather kindly disposed towards Him and the mob outside crying for His crucifixion.
Put yourself in His place and consider the excuses that would have suggested themselves to you to justify a lie. How easily compromise could have been constructed that would have mollified Pilate and effected His release. But Jesus would not lie even to save Himself from the Cross.
4. An understanding of the Kingdom
When Jesus declared Himself to be a king people misunderstood despite the fact that over and over again He had explained He was a different kind of king who ruled a different kind of kingdom.
Welcoming Jesus as King on Palm Sunday is all very well but do we understand what that means.
We need to understand that this King is a king of the people. A Roman emperor would have ridden in a chariot with white stallions. A politician would have been surrounded by security guards. A general would have rushed past on his way to the battle field, a religious leader would have moved more slowly but he would have kept the “unclean” at a distance. But Jesus borrowed a donkey from a peasant, rode among the crowd, at their pace and didn’t shrink from anyone’s touch. He totally identified with us. We need to understand where Jesus rules.
Jesus said when He started His ministry, “The Kingdom of God is near.” He didn’t mean near in the sense of time, like it’s nearly lunch time but near in proximity. Jesus says, “I’ve come near to you. I am with you”.
Jesus is King wherever He rules. The place where He wants to rule is in the heart of believers, not just places and property.
Jesus challenged Jewish people to give up their revolutionary agenda to topple the Romans and give themselves to the Kingdom of God where forgiveness rules, where social status is irrelevant, where every tribe and nation is welcome, where the meek and the lowly are considered important.
Jesus doesn’t just preach such a manifesto of what He would like to happen, He provides the means for it to happen Himself. He is the King like no other king ever was or ever will be.
Napoleon recorded in his diary, “Alexander, Ceasar and myself found great empires but upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded an empire upon love and to this day millions would die for him.”
In the coronation for the Monarch of the United Kingdom the Archbishop of Canterbury presents the newly crowned King or Queen to the people as “Your undoubted sovereign and rightful sovereign”.
The claims of Jesus present us with the same confrontation, “Will you have this King rule over you”.
In a democracy it depends on what other people vote whether the candidate gets into power or not. Not true with Jesus.
Our decision to make Him ruler of our lives e depends upon no one but us. If we choose Him, He is immediately able to come into our hearts and live in power to begin effectively changing them and transforming them into something new and wonderful.
Submission to Jesus as king is hard for us. We live in an anti-authoritarian society. We are taught independence and not submission. It is good that Jesus is seen as our friend and our teacher, our shepherd etc but we must not let our culture blind us to the fact that Jesus is not being unfair when He asks to for absolute rule over every aspect of our lives.
He won’t be our Saviour without being our Lord.
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