Theme: Jesus’ coming to
"Do not be afraid, Daughter of
The
gates of
There
are still gates in the walls of
But,
of course, long before, Jesus had already passed through it.
The
gates of
Think of it - it is
stunning - in terms of the reach and range of the word of the living God, that in
or around 500BC, the prophet Zechariah received a
word from God - that on a day to come, appointed by God, a man would come
through the gates of Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. See, your king, righteous and bringing salvation with Him, comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey….
Now, think of it Just think of it........ how many came
in through those gates as the years passed...... Think of it - out of all the
thousands, the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands who came through
its gates over the centuries - One would come bearing the promise of the living
God .......
See, your king, says the Word of the Lord righteous
and bringing salvation with Him, comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey….through
the gates of
Now, the Gospel of Matthew
declares very simply - that the day the prophet spoke of
has
come: the king the prophet spoke of long ages before - has come.
On the day
that the Lord Jesus came into
Here in Matthew 21 we read of
Jesus coming into Jerusalem...........riding on a donkey with the disciples
singing around Him, the hymn is picked up by the crowds, and soon that road up to
the gates of Jerusalem is filled with the noise of praise, the walls of the
city echo with children singing and shouting Hosanna in the highest..........
Jesus comes into
Now, if we look at Jesus, as
He comes to
we see in Him, these three things:
His faithful obedience
His lowliness
and His love
First, His faithful obedience
You know, in the service on Palm Sunday, we usually focus on that day itself, on the Lord Jesus sending the disciples to collect the donkey from that mysterious man, we focus on the children singing, and the crowds waving palm branches ........... but the arrival of Jesus and the disciples at the gates is only part of the picture...... in fact, if we read the gospels we see that this, the last journey to Jerusalem, had started much further back !
When did the journey to
Well, Jesus had spoken of this journey long ago at Caesarea Philippi !
And how extraordinary that
this journey to
There on the mountain top we
catch a precious glimpse of the glory of Jesus, as the Son of God, as He is
surrounded in radiant light. We see the majesty, the glory, the beauty of the
living God in Him.
But just listen to these words
in Luke’s gospel chapter 9. 29 As Jesus was
praying, his face changed its appearance and his clothes became dazzling
white..........30 Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in heavenly glory, and talked with
Jesus, about the way He would soon fulfil God’s
purpose in
Though Peter
and the other disciples longed to stay there on that mountain, there in that
inexpressible light, hearing the voice of the Father. They longed to
stay, to look upon Jesus, in the radiance of light and glory. It was not to be,
it could not be.
For from this mountain top, the way, the
winding path, leads down the mountainside,
across the rolling hills of
and then, and then to the Cross !
but
look, look at the faithful obedience of Jesus !
On that last journey, Jesus
never deviated from that lowly path, He never turned aside from the way of the
Servant, on that way, He walked always and only in the
Father’s presence, always and only in the Father’s loving guidance.......... on
every step of the way He
placed all His life, and all His trust, in His Father’s care.
This is His perfect, faithful obedience.........
This is exactly what Paul is
saying about the Lord Jesus in the letter to the Philippians
!
Of His own free will he gave up all he had. He took the nature of a servant, he became like man, and appeared in human likeness.
He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death........ his death on the cross
He walked the path of
obedience all the way.............
What is this obedience ?
It is this - that on that last
journey, Jesus never deviated from that lowly path, He never turned aside from the
way of the Servant, on that way, He walked always and only in the Father’s
presence, always and only in the Father’s loving guidance.......... on every
step of the way He placed
all His life,
and all His trust, in His Father’s care.
This is His perfect, faithful obedience.........
And that is what has brought Him to the gates of
we
see in Jesus His faithful obedience
and
as Paul says.......His lowliness
His lowliness........
You know, the crowds, there,
on the road to the gate were perfectly familiar with worldly power, though of
course they might not have called it that. Everybody in that crowd on the road
up to the gate would have known something about worldly power. Simply living
under King Herod was enough to experience the rule of worldly power at first
hand. Herod cleared the landless peasants from all of his territories, he seized
lands when it suited, murdered his rivals, and used force to make sure his
orders were obeyed.
we
see in Jesus His faithful obedience
now
see, as Paul says.......His lowliness
But here is One who comes,
not in earthly, worldly ways of force and power, but in the lowly way of a Servant.
Why the very way He comes to the gates of
And we see that lowliness,
shining as bright as His radiant glory on the mountain top two days later in
In
John 13 John tells us that a two days after this, Jesus and the disciples were
gathered in the Upper Room, now in
was now about to come to its completion................
He knew, says the gospel, that He was now returning to the Father.
In that Upper Room, there are only moments, an hour or more still to unfold.......
So, listen, what happens there will be of vital significance, what Jesus does in those moments that hour...... will be something of the deepest meaning,
It will be a last word, a last miracle in the presence of His beloved disciples.......
The gospel of John tells us what it is, what happened next.............
It
was in these moments that Jesus took a towel, and a
basin of water and washed the feet of His disciples.
Taking
upon Himself the lowliest task, the work left for the lowliest servant in the house,
the One who is Lord, has taken upon Himself lowliness and serves others.
In
Jesus, the One who comes gently and lowly into
we see His
faithful obedience
there
in the Upper Room we see .......His
lowliness
and
we see His love
John 13 puts it so simply..............
Jesus
knew that
the time had come for him
to leave this world and go to the
Father. Having
loved his own who were in the world, he now
showed them
the full extent of his love.
we
see the full extent of His love there in
What we see, in Jesus, is the loving purpose of God, not just for the
city then, but
for the whole world now…….. this
world, the place of violence and bloodshed, and hostility, the place of
betrayal, though this is where Jesus was condemned to death, and died on the
Cross, Yet, in seeing Jesus come into
this world, we see, in fact, the loving purpose of God, and for the whole world now……..
Romans 5.8 But God shows his love for us in this: While
we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Jesus has come to the city of Jerusalem......riding on a donkey with the hymns of praise rightly echoing round Him, and this is His purpose - the purpose that has carried Him through life, from Galilee, to the mount of Transfiguration, then through to the gates of Jerusalem: the great purpose of Jesus Christ, this His purpose which never fails
to
take our sin, our condemnation on
Himself, to take our place at the Cross. He entered the place of condemnation,
went into that searing place of judgment and took it all upon
Himself......... that is -
there we see His wonderful faithful
obedience, lowliness and
and the full extent of His love.