Understanding the Jesus of the Gospels

Offered to the congregation of Long Valley Presbyterian Church on Palm Sunday 2017 by Ruling Elder, Mel Prestamo

Matthew 21: 1-11

The prophets of Israel had a distinctive way of getting their message across. It was along the line of: when words fail to move people, do something dramatic. They would say, “If you will not hear, you will be compelled to hear.”

In a very real way, that is what Jesus did during his last days in Jerusalem leading up to his conquering of death and his Resurrection.

Like the prophets of old, you could almost hear Jesus saying:

• You ask, who is this man that feeds thousands. I will show you that “I am”.
• You ask, who is this man that raises the dead to life. I will show you that “I am”.
• You ask, if this man is the Messiah. I will show you that “I am!”

It is in this light that I wanted to trace Jesus’ final days on Earth and how they began with an event that we almost throw off and dismiss in its significance. Sometimes, we become so accustomed to hearing the Passion Week story that the details begin to lose their significance.

The first event that I was struck by was when Jesus sent two of his disciples to go a take a donkey from the front of someone’s home. He tells them, “Go to the next village and as soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey there… Untie it and bring it here… If anyone asks what you are doing, tell them, “The Lord needs it…”

Curious, isn’t it that Jesus would instruct his disciples to go and steal a donkey for a joy ride? Of course, that isn’t what is happening. Jesus is instructing two of his followers to go to pick up something for him that he has prearranged. And that is a very important fundamental underpinning of the events that unfold during Jesus’ last days in Jerusalem. The underlying story behind this brief passage is that Jesus leaves nothing to chance. Beginning with the choice of donkeys and the prearrangements to use them is planning down to the minute detail. If you are to understand anything that follows, you must understand this: Jesus has planned it out. Jesus was in charge. That must be the filter through which you see what follows.

In the same way, don’t miss sight of the symbolism of selecting a foal of an ass that had never been ridden upon. From Numbers and Deuteronomy, we know that the Arc of the Covenant – Israel’s most sacred and prized possession – must be carried in a cart that had never been used for any purpose before. So high was the import of the sacredness of the Arc. The Hebrews would not even allow it to be carried by a cart that was previously used. We can observe the special sacredness of the Jesus’ procession that the ass he rode upon had never been ridden upon before. So, it is not just that the king arrives on an ass in peace, but that the ass that has never been ridden upon. The symbolism is that it is carrying something sacred.

The construct of the events of Jesus’ last days is meticulous down to minute details like these.

Let’s talk briefly about day that Jesus chose to make his entry into Jerusalem. He chose the days of the Passover celebration. Now, we have read in our scriptures that there were crowds, HUGE crowds. Just how large were those crowds?

Earlier this week, I had asked church friend how many people he thought would have been on the road for Jesus’ procession. He thought for a moment and considered Jerusalem wasn’t that big a city and the surrounding towns were just small villages. He suggested: a couple thousand. What do you think? How many?   Here’s an indication. Sometime after Jesus’ resurrection, a Roman official was trying to explain to the Caesar just how important the Passover time was to the Jewish people and how dangerous the time could be. He commissioned a census by the chief priests to count the number of sheep sacrificed in the Temple during the Passover Feast. The count they came up with was 256,000 sheep. Now Jewish law specified that there could be no fewer than 10 people participating in the sacrifice of any one sheep. There could be more. But it could be no less than 10. So, if you do the math and extrapolate for some cases where there were more than 10 people on a sacrifice, the estimate of the census concluded that there was about 3 million people in Jerusalem during the Passover Celebration. This is recorded by the historian Josephus.

Now when we think of the crowd along the road to Jerusalem on the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem, what number did you imagine? 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000? Well, it is not an exaggeration to suggest there could have been closer to a half million people on the road. Many of them would have been on the road as Jesus began his entry into the city. Picture the scene now. Now, you can begin to envision the likes of a mammoth procession – a ticker tape parade, if you will.

So, Jesus begins his entry into the city. The crowds are aware of who he is. They have heard of him – this is the holy man that feeds thousands of people with bread and fish; this is the prophet who raises the dead to life. And perhaps, Lazarus walking alongside him. The crowds began to swell. Is this our Messiah, finally? Are we to be freed of the Romans and every godless gentile that infects our city? They rush to see him. Thinking that Jesus is the great leader that will free and save them from Roman domination, they begin chanting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

That’s another curious thing. For us the word Hosanna has become a word of praise. For Jews in Palestine, it had a different meaning. It actually meant, “Save us!” It was the greeting the people gave Maccabaeus when he entered the city 150 years before after he had expelled an occupying foreign army from Israel. He, too entered the city on an ass as a conquering hero coming into the city in peace.

The people were calling to Jesus, “Save us!” They called for him to save them from the Romans. Save us from these gentiles that infect out sacred city. Save us from the yoke they have placed upon us just as Maccabaeus had 150 years before. This was a welcome for the conquering hero that the people wanted Jesus to be.

Now, to be clear, Jesus was not trying to impress the people that he was the next Maccabaeus. On the contrary, the symbolism that Jesus was using was one of contrasts. He comes as a king riding on an ass in peace. But he was not a conquering military hero. He had no army. That was a distinction the people missed.

That was the scene, the frenzy of the event of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem. That is what the Chief Priests looked out at from the city walls. That is what they were now being forced to deal with. The people were receiving a conquering hero while the city of Jerusalem, all of Israel and the chief priests were under the denomination of Roman rule. This was an enormous threat to their position of authority, their control of the Temple, and their ability to continue to rule. This Jesus was going to be a problem. And how they were going to deal with him was going to be a thorny issue.

Now Jesus’ plan continues to unfold. 150 years prior, Maccabaeus expelled the foreigners and went to the Temple to purify it. What does Jesus do? He goes into the Temple and begins to over turn tables and beat and whip money changers. But these weren’t foreigners who were defiling the Temple. These were licensed vendors doing business with the blessings of the chief priests. You’ve got to wince at the irony here. Jesus is purifying the Temple of the defilement not created by Roman rule but that was created by the chief priests themselves. This, as millions of people are coming to the Temple to make their sacrifice. Now this is no small thing. The chief priests had their fingers in every exchange that took place in the Temple. There have been estimates that the Temple Treasury had amassed millions of dollars in wealth. The enterprise they had going made the Temple Treasury one of the richest of the ancient world. And the Romans didn’t touch it as-long-as the chief priests were able to keep the peace. And now, there is this Jesus fellow who in one day shut has down the entire enterprise and then occupied the Temple by sitting and teaching there. Millions of dollars and control of the city were now in jeopardy.

So, what is the result of all of this? The Chief Priests came to the conclusion that they have to get rid of this Jesus. So, they begin to plot. But how? They can’t just arrest him while he is teaching in the Temple. We know that is where he is. Mark tells us, he is teaching the people the parable of the Renters of the Vineyard. The Pharisees try to entrap him with their carefully and craftily worded question about paying taxes. You know how Jesus foiled them, Render unto Caesar… What were they to do? They couldn’t find a way.

That’s where Judas comes in – this man so filled with Zionist dreams and greed. He provides the means for the Chief Priests to arrest Jesus out of the sight of the people while he was praying at night in solitude. It was just the plan the authorities needed. So, they set it up. Once it was done, they had him.

So now what? They want to execute him. Ah, but not so easy. They have to convict him first by trial by the Sanhedrin. The problem is, like every other part of Jewish law, there is procedure; there is ritual; there is a prescribed way to do things. For a trial to result in a conviction a man to be executed the rules were:

• The trial must take place within the walls of the Temple in a room referred to the Hall of Hewn Stone. A decision of the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was reached there.
• The court could not meet at night, nor could it meet during any great feast time – what time of day was it? Night. What time of year? Passover.
• Witnesses must be examined separately and agree in every detail
• The accused could not be asked leading questions in order to convict him.
• Each member of the Sanhedrin must cast their vote separately from the youngest to the eldest
• The vote must be unanimous
• If the verdict was death, one day and night must lapse before it was carried out to allow for any member to change their mind and stay the execution.

The Sanhedrin broke all its own rules to convict Jesus.

• The trial took place in the home of the high priest, Ciafus.
• The trial took place at night during the Passover Feast.
• The witnesses did not agree on any details [One said, “He cured my blindness”; another said, “He said he would destroy the Temple and build it up in three days”, and so on] But there was no detailed agreement per the Law.
• Finally, in desperation, the chief priest asked Jesus directly, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?” – a leading question.

But wait, three things can happen. First, Jesus can refuse to answer. Or he could answer, “No”. Either would totally stymy their plot. They would have been stalemated. But Jesus does neither of those two. Instead, he takes total control of the situation and the circumstances and says, Yes, “I am.”

It was not the plan of the Sanhedrin, the Chief Priests, the Pharisees, or even the Rule of Law that convicted Jesus. Jesus was in total control. He could have backed out and said no, not me. But he didn’t. In order, to fulfill the Gold’s plan, he very authoritatively states, “I am the Messiah, the Son of God.” And so, Jesus sets God’s plan in motion. Do you remember how Jesus planned for the donkey? Nothing was left to chance. He had laid everything out and he pushed it all to its ultimate conclusion.

To complete the review of the Sanhedrin’s proceedings that night:

The was no call of the vote – member by member – there was only Ciafus’ call, “Why do we need more witnesses? You have heard him claim to be God.” And, by acclamation, they called for his execution.

The proceedings were rushed to Pilate, and the execution was sought before sunset of the same day – less than the required day and night period of reconsideration.

Every rule of law was broken in order to get rid of this Nazarene.

Before we move to the end, let’s take a look at another detail. I want you to think of Peter and his three denials and the three times he responded to Jesus’ questions, “Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know that I love you. Feed my sheep.” Why? What was so important in Jesus’ plan that he had to humiliate Peter? Because that is what he did. You see Peter was a strong-willed person. He was convinced that no matter the circumstances, he would step forward and strike down any of Jesus’ enemies which he tried to do when he cut off the ear of the Temple Guard. That would not do. That was not the kind of Rock Jesus need as the cornerstone of his church. What Jesus needed was a man willing to be a servant to the people. One who would love them like he loved Jesus. So, Jesus had to take Peter down a notch. That was the final element of Jesus’ plan. That was the final detail of the night of his arrest. Jesus had to exposed to Peter that his bravado was not going to make him the leader Jesus needed. Instead, Jesus needed a servant that would love and feed his sheep. That is where Jesus needed to bring Peter.

This is a lot; and what does that all mean?

We all know the story. We know the assumptions, that God is in charge. What does it change to see the pieces come together and really see that Jesus was really in charge every step of the way? From procuring the donkey to ride, the day and time of day and physical site of his procession into Jerusalem – all done to create the greatest amount of stir and maximize his visibility – the symbolism of riding an ass into the city – which every Jew would be able to see and understand [though they misinterpreted it] they understood what it meant.

How does that all play out for us?

For me, my understanding now is that Jesus was in full control; that the circumstances didn’t happen to him but that he arranged, and he pushed them forward. That he could orchestrate all the moving pieces is mind blowing:

• The minute arrangements, the donkey and the symbolism it provided
• Maximizing the people on the road so as to visually make the most challenging statement possible to the authorities
• The purifying of the Temple to directly challenge the chief priests
• The reaction and actions of the Chief Priests played right into Jesus’ plan
• The actions of Judas facilitated the plan
• Playing the whole Sanhedrin at the trial. They had nothing until he gave it to them

So, what does this mean for us; to see that these things didn’t happen to Jesus but that he orchestrated them to happen; to see that Jesus used all of these events to demonstratively show the people [and us] that he is truly “I am”?

At this point, I am going to play a devil’s advocate and challenge you that everything we have seen to this point does nothing to prove that Jesus was anything more than a master manipulator.

• He chose to ride in on the foal of a donkey. He knows his history.
• The procession and the Clearing the Temple of the money changers was a great way to focus attention on himself
• The chief priests? It was just his way to pushing their buttons
• Judas? He was just a bad apple.
• The trial before the Sanhedrin and Pilate getting backed into a corner by the chief priests might have been a miscalculation but it doesn’t of itself prove anything.

What then do we have to be faithful about? Even when you sit back to appreciate how well Jesus put all the moving parts of the passion week together, you still have nothing that proves anything.

Except for one thing and that one thing is the empty tomb.

Proof? There were countless witnesses who testified to have seen the risen Christ in the days that followed his crucifixion. Mary and the women at the Tomb speaking with Angels who told them he had risen. Peter and John at the Tomb who had entered the empty Tomb and handled the linens that he was wrapped in. The disciples on the road to Emmaus who walked and conversed with him and whose hearts burned as he spoke to him. They welcomed him into their home, sat to eat with him and then at the Table their eyes were opened as he blessed the bread, and they recognized him. The disciples in the upper room where he entered through locked doors. Thomas who testified that the man before him was, “My Lord and my God.”. Paul on the road to Damascus who was confronted by the Christ asking why do you persecute me.

All these were witnesses to the risen Christ and that the Tomb was empty. The One that rode in on the foal of a donkey has now been raised to his true Kingship. Jesus has shown all that he is the great I am.

Source material: Palm Sunday – Triumphal Entry! By William Barclay