Live Free with Josh Howerton - Holy Week: A Crowded Street | Ep. 41 | Monday April 3, 2023

Episode Date: April 3, 2023

At the start of the week, Jesus receives a warm welcome into Jerusalem. Crowds gather to greet Him and wave palm branches as He walks by. In today’s episode, Pastor Mike shares about the significance of this first event of Holy Week and the others that begin to unfold. As you prepare your heart for Easter, you’ll want to start here! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's daily drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. This week's devotionals will walk us through Holy Week as Pastor Mike helps prepare our hearts for Easter. For more information on our special Easter weekend services this coming weekend, visit lakepoint. church slash Easter. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast where we spend just a few minutes each day trying to download a little hope, a little truth into our soul.

And man, God is so gracious. His word is so fresh and so personal. And I hope you know he just longs to do life with all of us. So it's just good to slow down and listen to him during the day. My name is Mike, and thanks for joining us today. And this week, since we're leading up to Easter, we thought we just kind of trace the steps of Jesus Road that week. And we'll be going a little bit longer each day than we normally do. So I hope that you'll kind of hang with us.

But during this week, we're going to find herself walking up a steep hill. We're going to find herself hiding in a dark courtyard, reclining at a sinner's table, praying in a gnarly olive grove. And today we're going to start our journey on a crowded street. You know, the applause of the crowd influences the decisions of politicians and leaders. The main reason home court advantage is so huge in basketball tournaments is that the applause from adoring fans just drive those athletes to another level. Actors, musicians, comedians thrive on it.

Some say they can't live without it. The applause of people can be a powerful thing, even addictive. The crowd who lined the streets of Jerusalem have been waiting for the promised Messiah for a long time. for centuries. They long for a political savior to come and crush the opposition of Rome. They wanted an economic savior to make their lives easier. They needed a regal kingly Messiah who could restore their nations of the golden years of prominence. You might remember how in the wilderness before Jesus began his ministry, you can read it in Matthew chapter four. Satan tries to get Jesus off track. He tries to remind Jesus of what the people want. They will love you. They will

embrace you. They'll adore you. They'll applaud you. If you just do this my way, instead of God's way. Come on, Jesus, let me be your agent. Let me manage your career. Because you know the kind of Messiah they're expecting the one they're longing for. You know they're not going to go for this crucified Savior on a cross thing. You're going to wind up misunderstood, rejected, forsaken, and alone. And who in the right mind would want that? So Jesus, why not play to the crowd? Make a bunch of money, have all these kingdoms, get your name and lights and receive the adoration of millions. Come on. What do you say, Jesus? See, I believe all of his life. in his humanity.

He would have to wrestle with who am I and why am I here and what do I want to accomplish? What's my focus? Can I really go through with the plan? Can I really go down this road? Can I really imagine a cross in my future? There's got to be another way. There's got to be a shortcut. Can I really endure the pain and lay down my life for the sins of the world?

You know what? Maybe I should just go with the flow. Maybe I ought to listen to all the other people. Maybe that really is the kind of Messiah they need. Maybe I ought to pay attention to the opinion polls. Maybe I should play to the crowd because the adoration of the masses feels pretty good. All kinds of internal struggle. But on this particular day, the first day of what would become known as Passion Week,

Jesus would certainly have a chance to bask in the applause of people. In Matthew 21, we find Jesus on the road that would lead him eventually to the cross. This was the first day of the week, commonly known now as Palm Sunday. The Passover Festival was about to begin, and Jews from all of the Romans, world would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem to participate in this week-long celebration to remember their liberation from Egyptian slavery. This was the biggest festival of the year, and it had become so much more than just a mere religious observation.

It was this week, tourism just went through the roof. Restaurants were packed, hotels and ends completely, but it was like Super Bowl week for the local economy. There are people camping out in tents and filling the hillsides around Jerusalem, estimated over 2 million people would jamming to the city. It's like Times Square on New Year's Eve, like them all on Black Friday. Definitely that season of brotherly shove. You know what I'm talking about?

Well, the Roman government would always assign extra troops in Jerusalem during Passover week because things would often get a little out of hand. Different political activists or Messiah wannabes would try to rally all the people, try to organize protests to express their longing for political freedom from Rome. So soldiers during this week did not. hesitate to use force to keep the peace. Adding to the already electric atmosphere was the anticipated arrival of this miracle worker from Nazareth. Word had spread through the city and along the roads that he was headed their way just a few days before Jesus has performed his most spectacular miracle

over in Bethany, the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. John in his account of the story records that the people who had actually seen Jesus raised Lazarus were telling everybody about it. Now the whole area was buzzing with what had happened. And many people sensed that no one could do a spectacular miracle like that unless he was from God. So the crowd wanted to see this miracle worker for themselves. Well, Jesus and his disciples are approaching Jerusalem from the east, just as the prophecy said the Messiah would come. They're on this 19-mile road from Jericho, and it says this in Matthew chapter 21. As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Beth page on the Mount of Olives.

Now the Mount of Olives is a ridge about two and a half miles long on the other side of the Kidron Valley just east of Jerusalem. It rises some 700 feet in height gives a pretty spectacular view of the whole city of Jerusalem. So Jesus could have seen almost every part of the city from that part of the road. Well, he sends two of his disciples to a nearby village, probably Bethany, to get a donkey and her colt and bring them back, telling them where and how to get it. And he says, if anybody ask you what you're doing, just tell them, the Lord needs it.

and they will immediately let you take it. Now, we don't know if this is something Jesus prearranged while he was in Bethany, but from the other gospel accounts, it seems like it wasn't. Mark and Luke add the dialogue of the owners and some people standing nearby saying, hey, hey, hey, what are you doing on tying that cold? Where are you going with that donkey?

And the two disciples say, the Lord needs it, and they went, oh, okay, they obviously knew who they were talking about. Now, I can assure you, if I told a couple of you, there's a truck parked in the parking lot of this dealership. It's a black floor before with leather interior. here, go and get it for me. If they hassle you, just tell them, bro needs it. You're not coming back

with that truck, but not so with Jesus. And it says in Matthew 21, verse 4, this took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, tell the people of Israel, look, your king is coming to you. He is humble riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey's cult. The Old Testament prophet Zechariah had predicted that the Messiah, the deliverer, would come riding into Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey. In fact, there's all kinds of century-old prophecies from Zechariah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, the Psalms unfolding this ride into Jerusalem, all kinds of signs pointing to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, the deliverer.

But very few made that connection. John, who was riding from the vantage point of being one of those closest to Jesus, a guy that was in the loop, in the know, he writes this later on about these events. He says in John chapter 12, his disciples talking about themselves. They didn't understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remember what had happened and realized these things had been written about him. So here's John, one of Jesus' closest friends saying,

even we were clueless in the moment. We didn't know. We just got swept up like the crowd. We got it swept up in the excitement of the day. But after Jesus was crucified, after he was raised from the dead, we looked back at all those old scriptures and we realized, yeah, coming from the east on a donkey, palm branches lining the streets, Hosanna in the highest, children singing, everything through the ages. Pointed to Jesus, our friend, our teacher, our master, our Lord as the long-awaited savior of the world.

By the way, do you know there are over 300 mezzanic prophecies in the Old Testament? And Jesus fulfills every single one of them. His DNA is a definite match. Matthew 21, verse 6 and 7, the two disciples did it, Jesus commanded. They brought the donkey and cult to him and threw their garments over the cult, and he sat on it. Now, you'd expect someone who's a king to ride in on a white horse, right? Revelation says someday will, but royalty in that day commonly rode donkeys in times of peace. King Solomon rode into his inauguration on the back of a donkey.

And here, the king of kings, the prince of peace, rides in on a donkey's cult, his humility and his royalty at the same time. All fulfilling prophecy. Mark adds that this cult had never been ridden, and since it didn't have a saddle, the disciples threw their garments over the cult so that Jesus could sit on those, this was also a sign of respect and an acknowledgement of majesty.

Lots of people have been following him, and crowds of people coming in Jerusalem, those already there began to gather on this stretch of road a mile outside Jerusalem, and when they see Jesus, they go crazy. see. It says, verse 8, most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession and the people all around him were shouting.

Did you catch that? Jesus was in the center of the procession and all the people around him were shouting. Man, what a spectacle. What a rush. What an enormous boost to your ego, right? To hear the applause, to feel the love, to think, Oh, they like me. They really like me.

Wow, to be the center of attention. And have everybody cheering for you to have people taking off their coats to roll out the red carpet for your entrance. They're cutting branches from trees, waving them in the air, dropping them in the street to add to this royal treatment. This is the kind of stuff they did for conquering kings. And everybody is caught up in it. And all the people are shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven.

The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar, Matthew writes, as he entered. Who is this, they ask? And the crowds replied, oh, it's Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee. Now, the word Hosanna has come to be known in the church world as kind of a way to give praise to God. But in its original meaning, it was more of a cry, which meant, save us, we pray. In fact, in Jesus' day, Hosanna had become a slogan of the ultra-nationalistic political zealots. Hosanna, please save us, give us freedom. We are sick of these Romans. So when the people wave palm branches, they were waving a symbol that had been stamped on

Jewish coins during a time when the nation was free. They were not so much a symbol of peace and love as we usually assume. They were a symbol of Jewish nationalism, a longing for political freedom, a longing to a return to the golden era of David. So in Jesus, this incredible miracle worker, this amazing teacher, this prophet riding on the back of a donkey shows up, the crowd goes crazy with anticipation, political hope gets stirred up to an all-time high. They could feel their liberation from Rome was finally at hand. And what better time than Passover week with the support of two million strong? This could be their king. This could be the long-awaited deliver, so they're chanting, Osana, save us now, save us now, save us now. He's finally. He's finally,

here our conqueror, our king. But they didn't understand where this king would lead them. They didn't know he had come to deliver them from so much more than Roman oppression. They couldn't see that he had come to conquer sin and death for all people. They didn't know on that very day they were supposed to choose the Passover lambs for sacrifice, that the spotless lamb of God was rotting down that street to eventually lay down his life for their sins. Now, thanks in part to the self-serving negligence of their religious leaders and their own self-centeredness, they had grown deaf to the words of the prophets. They were blind to Jesus' real mission.

So when it becomes apparent later that week that Jesus was not going to fulfill their hopes and dreams, that same adoring crowd would turn against him. And they wouldn't cry, Hosanna. They would cry, crucify him when Jesus stood on trial. When given a choice between Jesus and this murdering political zealot named Barabbas, they choose Barabbas. They're thinking, at least he's trying

to do something about our problem. But on this day, on this road, the masses are cheering. They're shouting, they're bowing, they're waving, they're singing,

they're applauding. And as Jesus rides in like a king, there are tears in his eyes. Somehow I miss this until this week. Luke records this part of the story. He says,

but when he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. As people cried out their political hosanas. He cried tears of grief for the hearts of these people. He foresaw the terrible devastation of Jerusalem that would happen just a few decades down the road. He knew their distorted views. He knew that they would have nothing to do with a Messiah who came to deliver them from their sin. So as they went berserk with praise and adoration, while most people would just

bask in the applause, while most people would be on a huge ego trip, while most would cave in and say, you know what, I'll just give them what they want. Jesus cried. You know, I spent a lot of my life just following the crowd and doing whatever they said to do. I spent way too much of my life living for their applause and their approval. So I had to ask myself this week, if I were in the shoes of Jesus, if I were soaking up all that adoration that day,

would I have chosen to bag the plan of God and say, you know what, this feels good? This feels right. I mean, what kind of Messiah dies on? the cross anyway. These people love me. They want me. I could use my power to feed them, heal them. I mean, I really could be their king. But Jesus knew not to listen to opinion polls or let the applause of people lead his life. He wasn't going to let shallow flattery and misdirected praise swell his head. He refused to be a celebrity. He was not going to let the adrenaline rush of being liked,

even adored, derailed him for what he came to do. He was going to stay on the road God marked out for him. And I think that one of the reasons he wrote in Jerusalem that day with tears in his eyes is he saw your face and mine. He saw our need for a Savior. He said, I'm not going to do what the crowd wants me to do. I'm going to walk this road. I'm going to lay down my life so that someday everyone can live forgiven and free forever. I'm going to live my life for an audience of one.

I'm already accepted by the one who matters most. I've always loved that the Living Bible puts Luke, chapter 9 verse 51. It says as time drew near for his return to heaven, Jesus moves steadily onward toward Jerusalem with an iron will. I love that. And I for one, him gratefully did. Super grateful. He chose the applause of heaven and laid down his life for all of us in that crowd. Man, I hope you join us every day this week. As we follow him down that road. We'll see you tomorrow. Join us for our Easter weekend services this coming Saturday and Sunday, either in person or online.

You can find all the information about our Easter services at lakepoint.combe. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of LakePoint, visit lakepoint.