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Read 1 John 2:15-17, Matthew 21:1-11
The King, Prophet and Messiah that was promised 800 years ago is finally here! The Savior of the world is here! What is the problem? Why did Jesus end the week on the cross?
The Point: Do Not love the world rather Love Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah who the world killed because they thought they deserved a kingdom and plan in their image rather than receiving God’s Holy Kingdom and plan.
1. Jesus is the true Messiah which was promised on the Old Testament.
Holy Week is one of the most important weeks for the Christian Faith. It is a week that marks the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ as He came into Jerusalem to everyone worshiping Him and declaring that He is the true fulfillment of the promises given by God in the Old Testament.
Some OT prophesies of Jesus
“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased. To crush Him, putting Him to grief;”
--Isaiah 7:7-9
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; he is [a]just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the [b]foal of a donkey.”
--Zechariah 9:9
The Holy week started with this amazing celebration! The people had palm branches, they lined the entrance into Jerusalem waiting for their prophet and King, they were recognizing Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of these Old Testament Prophecies. The specific prophecy in Zechariah was given to a nation that was invaded by Babylon (their enemies).
“Some seventy years later, descendants of the exiles began returning to their ancestral homeland. Hopes ran high for the restoration of Judean independence and the Davidic monarchy, as expressed in texts like Jeremiah 23:5–6 or Ezekiel 34:23–24. Those dreams never materialized. The foreign kings of Persia remained in charge for another 200 years, only to be replaced by Greek and then Roman rule.
The book of Zechariah engages these realities of post-exilic Jewish life. Chapters 1–8 reflect the decades immediately after the exiles’ return. Chapters 9–14 likely come from the next century, amidst growing frustration with Persian rule.”
--Working Preacher.org https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-14/commentary-on-zechariah-99-12
This prophecy in Zechariah is giving the people a hope for their perfect king, their saviour, their messiah for both the Jews and The Gentiles.
“The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD;
Hosanna in the highest.”
--Matthew 21:9
The King, Prophet and Messiah that was promised 800 years ago is finally here! The Savior of the world is here! So what is the problem? Why did Jesus end the week on the cross? Well, we find the answer both in 1 John 2:15-17 and in the last week of Jesus’ life before His death.
2. The world is full of sin and rebellion which is why it is unwilling to accept Jesus as the prophesied Savior.
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
--1 John 2:15-17
Notice the three major sins of the world that John is warning the church about: “Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” John is connecting these three sins together, we lust after flesh and with our eyes because of our sinful pride. The world thinks it is deserving of the pleasure that comes from their sin. Pride elevates the human onto the same level as God therefore killing God and declaring they no longer need God.
We see this pride in the Jewish high priest during the accounts of Holy Week.
-Jesus overturns the tables in the Jewish temple because they are making money from using the temple as a market (Matt. 21:12-17)
-The high priest questions Jesus’ authority as He enters the temple
“When He [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave You this authority?’” (Matt. 21:23)
-Pay your taxes to Caesar
“Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said…Why are you testing Me (Jesus) you hypocrites?...Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are Gods.’” (Matt. 22:15-22)
-The Sadducees, who do not agree with Resurrection, were testing and trying to trap Jesus in questioning—this is when Jesus foretells of His coming Kingdom which is different than the world’s kingdom. (Matt. 22:23-46).
Jesus and His Kingdom were at direct odds with the earthly kingdom of the present in that time (and our time). The two kingdoms do not connect, they cannot exist together, the Kingdom of God has a different kingdom, set of laws and mindset than the world’s kingdoms. The Jewish High Priest could not accept Jesus because of their pride—they were above Jesus and deemed Jesus a heretic, a blasphemer—this is what led to Jesus dying on the cross.
3. Jesus’ answer to the world’s sin and pride was to give the perfect example of Holy love. He willingly paid the price of sin by dying in the world’s place. Do not love the world—Love Jesus, His Kingdom will rule forever.
The perfect, spotless, and blameless lamb paid the ultimate price for humanity by dying on the cross. Jesus loves His people. Jesus loves those in His family. Jesus showed the world His love by dying for the world so they can repent, put their faith in Him and be saved from the depths of hell by Him and His work on the cross.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathering her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. ‘Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of The Lord!”
--Matthew 23:37-39
Jesus is lamenting over how lost Jerusalem is. He is also knowingly attending His last Passover, He knows that His death is imminent and it is because of the sin of the world. Jesus will take the cup of judgment and bear it upon Himself (this is what He prays in the garden of Gethsemane the night He is betrayed). (Matt. 26:39). The world doesn’t deserve Jesus, but God has given Himself to the world because of His amazing grace and Holy love. Jesus did this because He loves His family, His people and ultimately, the world. This is why John reminds us to not love the world rather love Jesus Christ—Jesus’ kingdom does not pass away, it will remain forever.
“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
--1 John 2:17
The Point: Do Not love the world rather Love Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah who the world killed because they thought they deserved a kingdom and plan in their image rather than receiving God’s Holy Kingdom and plan.