Last week we looked at the most miraculous ‘sign’…miracle…in Jesus’ three-year ministry…the resurrection of Lazarus.
Here’s what’s amazing about this miracle…besides the fact that Jesus brings back to life someone whose been dead for four days…they completely ignore the testimony of Jesus and all the signs and wonders that authenticated His claims as the Messiah…which instead of convincing people who He was…it only further hardens Jesus’ enemies against Him and adds to their hatred to kill Him.
Instead of Israel accepting Him as their expectant Messiah and welcoming Him as their King, the religious authorities stealthily waited to ambush Him…arrest Him…and falsely accuse Him of blasphemy.
You would have thought that seeing this miracle would have softened their hearts toward Jesus BUT it only further inspired the religious leaders to actively seek His death…this is one of many examples disproving the claim that non-believers merely lack sufficient evidence.
So to escape those seeking to kill Him, Jesus retires from the city of Jerusalem to the village of Ephraim…this is where we pick up the account, as John begins his countdown of the fatal week in Jerusalem leading to the Cross.
What happens in [V. 54, 55 John 11] happened in Ephraim before His arrival in Bethany [12:1] …the events that occurred during the short time He was in Ephraim concludes His public ministry…John makes no mention of what occurred but is included by the other Gospel writers that reveals John performed a number of important things…According to Robertson, these were:
He healed ten lepers (Luke 17:11-37).
He gave two parables on prayers, (Luke 18:1-14).
He gave his teaching on divorce (Mark 10:1-12; Matthew 19:1-12).
He received the little children (Mark 10:13-16, etc.).
He spoke with the rich young ruler and gave the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Mark 10:17-31).
He gave the third prophecy of his death and resurrection (Mark 10:32-45).
He healed Bartimaeus and a companion at Jericho (Mark 10:46-52). He visited Zacchaeus…gave parable of the pounds…went to Jerusalem (Luke 19:142:8).
Here’s what’s strange…John makes no mention of any of these things…and at the same time the other Gospel writers omitted much of what John recorded…it’s not known why John omitted so much of what the synoptics recorded nor why they omitted so much of what John recorded…commentators speculate for the most part John recorded only the events in Judaea and Jerusalem.
Between Jesus’ stay in Ephraim [54] and His arrival in Jerusalem which included time in Bethany [12:1] John reveals the four types of people and their reaction to Jesus as John begins his countdown to the cross.
…The first is the curious. [11:56]
…The second are the defiant one [11:57]
…The third are the true worshippers…seeking Jesus for who He is. [12:1-3]
…The fourth is the pretender [12:5-6].
John introduces the curious, the first of four groups of people who are usually present wherever Jesus is being spoken of…the curious want to hear more about this intriguing, mysterious person.
56 they were looking for Jesus and were saying…‘What do you think; that He will not come to the feast’
By this time Jesus had become popular throughout the whole countryside…the curious wanted to hear more about Him…He was a mysterious person.
The pilgrims who had gathered for the feast wondered if He would dare show himself in defiance of the authorities…their intent was one of just wanting to see Jesus…these were the curious.
12:20 tells us about the Greeks who heard what Jesus did to Lazarus…they were part of the crowd that upon hearing what Jesus did, “went out to meet Him” [Jn 12:18] …They wanted to see this Miracle Worker for themselves.
The curious are in the Church today…whenever a well-known person is likely to appear, the curious gather to get a look at him…if it was known that Patrick Mahomes was attending church here today it would be hard to find a place to sit…that’s always the way it is with those wanting to hear and see intriguing people.
John identifies the second group of people [11:57] the defiant ones:
57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him
Motivated by fear…resentment…and self-interest…they conceived a plan to have Jesus arrested and murdered…using fear as the motivation to guarantee they would continue to maintain their place and their nation.
11:47 the chief priests and the Pharisees were saying… if we let Him go on …all men will believe in Him and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation
The Scribes…Pharisees and Sadducees had a generally wrong response to Jesus… being stubborn…hard-headed and unbelieving they see Jesus as dangerous while deliberately ignoring evidence of Jesus’ Messiahship.
John identifies the third group of people in the opening words of [12:1-3]:
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was reclining at the table…Martha was serving…Mary took a pound of costly ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus.
It’s possible John chose to include this account in order that we might understand something of what real worship is…in [Verses 2-3] Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are the worshippers…each worshiping in their own personal way.
Worship can take various forms…Martha did what she was most comfortable doing …she served…she, like many who find it difficult to express in words how they feel about the Lord…she expressed how she felt by doing…she served.
Mary worshiped in another way…all three Evangelists agree that Mary did not anoint Christ sparingly…but according to the other gospel accounts, she anointed Him with an expensive ointment beginning with His head first…running down his body until it covered his feet…using her hair she wipes the excess ointment with it.
This costly perfume was derived from a special plant which grew only in the Himalaya Mountains…but somehow Mary had obtained a whole pound of it.
Her heart was so filled with joy and thanksgiving that she poured the whole pound on Jesus until the fragrance filled the whole house.
Then there was Lazarus…he was with Jesus and sat with Him at the table…he ate…drank…and conversed with Jesus…proof that 1) he was really risen from the dead…2) he is the only person in Scripture to have died twice…3) despite the danger he openly and publicly associates with Jesus.
John possibly chose to include the accounts of Mary…Martha …and Lazarus in order that we might understand something of what real worship is…that each worshiped in their own personal way.
In addition, in the crowd were the people that were with Jesus when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead (Jn 12:17). We are told that this crowd “continued to spread the word” (Jn 12:17). These people were witnesses to and followers of Jesus (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:9).
Nisan 9. The sabbath.–Six days before the Passover Jesus sups with Lazarus at the going out of the sabbath, when, according to the custom of that country, their suppers were more liberal.
10. Sunday.–Five days before the Passover Jesus goes to Jerusalem, sitting on an ass; and on the evening returns to Bethany, Mark 11:11. On this day the lamb was taken and kept till the Passover, Exodus 12; on which day this Lamb of God presented himself, which was the antitype of that rite.
11. Monday.–Four days before the Passover he goes to Jerusalem again; curseth the unfruitful fig tree, Matthew 21:18; Mark 11:12: in the evening he returns again to Bethany, Mark 11:19.
12. Tuesday.–Three days before the Passover he goes again to Jerusalem. His disciples observe how the fig tree was withered, Mark 11:20. In the evening, going back to Bethany, and sitting on the mount of Olives, he foretells the destruction of the Temple and city, Matthew 24, and discourses those things which are contained in Matthew 25.
13. Wednesday.–This day he passeth away in Bethany. At the coming in of this night the whole nation apply themselves to put away all leaven.
14. Thursday.–He sends two of his disciples to get ready the Passover. He himself enters Jerusalem in the afternoon; in the evening eats the Passover, institutes the eucharist; is taken, and almost all the night had before the courts of judicature.
15. Friday.–Afternoon, he is crucified.
16. Saturday.–He keeps the sabbath in the grave.
So what we have is the curious [11;56] …the defiant [11:57] …the seriously devoted [12:1-3] …then we have Judas…who represents the fourth group of people…the pretenders…he is the example of those who outwardly seem to be committed to Christ but in fact view their commitment to the Lord as a waste of
time…they try to appear as though they are with us, but their hearts are far from us.
It’s the people I talked about last week…the hypocrites…these are the people who were curious to see Jesus…people who exhibit faith in God but only for personal reasons…acknowledging Him as The Messiah but are the same people who in just a few short days with hearts full of hate are wanting to kill Him. [John 12:10] …in reality, they’re hypocrites.
God hates hypocrisy because hypocrisy misuses religion…taking advantage of it for self-advancement… hypocrites want religion—but only for the advantages they gain from it…Judas loved to be recognized as one of the ‘12’ but in reality, he was using his popularity to deceive and steal.
Some of Jesus’ harshest words in the entire New Testament makes it clear that God’s most severe judgments are reserved for hypocrites.
In all the Bible Jesus never spoke in more severe or harsher terms than He does [Matthew 23] where He gives a scathing condemnation of the religious authorities because of their hypocrisy.
These are the people in [Luke 20:20]: ‘spies who pretended to be righteous’ … People who worship but only doing so to look good in the eyes of others.
They don’t want to change their lives…their habits…to conform to God’s will… their intent is to appear to be righteous…to seek the approval of people so they can be thought of as being earnest Christians.
This is exactly what aroused Jesus’ anger…people wanting the blessings of God and the approval of men, without actually turning their hearts to God appearing to be outwardly righteous while actually being full of self-indulgence…these are the modern days Judas’s.
There are many Judas’s in the church today…they don’t worship God…they don’t do their work “as unto the Lord” …they fall in step with the ways of the world… who are there for purposes other than real worship.
John reveals the heart of Judas…he had no care for the poor…any concern was nothing, merely an excuse…as the treasurer of the disciples it turns out Judas was a thief who stole money from the money box…he wanted the money for himself.
But at the same time…it’s important to understand what hypocrisy is not…it’s not the difference between what we are and what we long to be…as Christians it should be our desire to be different tomorrow…next week…next month…next year …than what we are today…that’s called spiritual maturity.
It is important to distinguish between a person who is a hypocrite, and one who falters in sin because we’re human…who falls short of his Christian profession because of our sinful nature…who seek to do God’s will but at times does sin.
How sad it is to see people who have made a profession of faith in Christ…then began to follow Him…but later fall away and now are far from God…in some cases these people have even been involved in serving the Lord in full time ministry…but something went wrong and now they are not only out of the ministry and away from the church…some are not even professing to believe in Jesus.
There are many causes for such spiritual failure…sometimes, things in life or ministry did not go as they had hoped…maybe they got burned by other believers who violated their trust…some developed doubts or were given answers about the Bible that were fed by skeptics…or in some cases the person fell away because of serious sin.
The Bible contains many examples of spiritual failures:
…Judas [John 12:4] one of the twelve, who betrayed Jesus.
…Ananias and Sapphira [Acts 5:1-11] church members who were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit.
…Simon the magician (Acts 8:9-24), who professed faith in Christ…was baptized, but tried to buy spiritual power from the apostles so that he could impress the crowds with miracles.
…Paul [Acts 20:30], warned the Ephesian elders that some would draw away the disciples after them.
…Paul [1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:15] warned Timothy about those who had turned from the faith.
…Both Peter (2 Peter 2) and John (1 John 2:19; 3 John 9-10) warned about false teachers, who probably once were sound, but now were preying on the flock.
Here’s the common denominator in every one of these instances…they fell away from the Lord because they never knew Him in the first place…or they lost sight of who Jesus was.
Understanding Jesus’ identity is crucial because your eternal destiny rests on believing the truth about who Jesus is and what He did on the Cross.
If at any time your ideas about Jesus are based solely on what He will do for you in this life…at some point you will become disappointed and will fall away from your initial profession of faith.
The question is…which one of these four groups do I find myself in…am I only wanting to hear about Jesus…or am I wanting to be a follower of Jesus.
The longer I’m a Christian, the more I’m saddened to see people who made a profession of faith in Christ and began to follow Him, but later fell away and now are far from God.
In some cases, these people have even been involved in serving the Lord in full time ministry. But something went wrong and now they are not only out of the ministry and away from the church, but they’re not even professing to believe in Jesus.
There are many causes for such spiritual failure. Sometimes, things in life or ministry did not go as they had hoped. Perhaps they got burned by other believers who violated their trust. Some had nagging doubts or difficult questions about the Bible that were fed by skeptics. In many cases, the person fell away because of serious sin.
John tells us that Jesus was in Bethany six days before the Passover [12:1].
On the next day the large crowd who heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of the palm trees and went and went out to meet him [12,13]
On the next day…the day after Mary’s anointing of Jesus—the Lord’s day, or Sunday…people were wondering if Jesus would come to the feast (11:55-56).
Jesus’ so-called “Triumphal Entry’ into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passion Week is a good example of people putting their faith in Jesus based solely on what He could do in this life.
When Jesus approached Jerusalem [Luke 19:41] the crowds lined the street and cheered for Jesus as the long-expected king of Israel…problem was they were confused in His mission.
They were not interested in a Messiah with a spiritual kingdom who would provide forgiveness of sins…they wanted a political king who would lead them in a military victory over the Romans…who would provide peace and prosperity for their nation …they were looking for someone who could do something for them in this life.
That didn’t happen so within a week the shouts of ‘Hosanna” turned to Crucify Him” …they were following Jesus for the wrong reasons.
Up to this point John has revealed seven of Jesus’ miracles…he calls signs…most were done in a relatively quiet manner…even asking people not to proclaim Him as Divine… BUT now Jesus’ celebratory parade by riding into the city on a donkey affirms His mission as the Messiah.
This sums up the entire gospel of John…something he states in the last two verses of the last chapter…to provide proof that Jesus is the divine Son of God [20:30-31].
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem begins Passion Week…five days before Passover.
Passion Week is the time from Palm Sunday the day Jesus enters into Jerusalem through Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday) [Matthew Ch. 21-27; Mark Ch. 11-15; Luke Ch. 19-23; and John Ch. 12-19].
Also included within Passion Week are Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Spy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
- Palm Sunday is the beginning of Passion Week and Jesus’ final journey to His crucifixion.
- Holy Monday – Following Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, He spent Sunday night in Bethany…He returned on Monday to Jerusalem two things; First Jesus curses the fig tree for not having figs…another event of Holy Monday is the Temple cleaning.
- Holy Tuesday – the religious leaders…Pharisees…Herodians…Sadducees join together combine forces to discredit Jesus…He pronounces seven condemnations (“Woes”) (Matthew 23:13-33).
- Holy Wednesday – On Wednesday, the day Judas first conspires with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus.
- Maundy Thursday – On Maundy Thursday, believers remember the last meal Jesus Christ had with His disciples prior to His arrest and crucifixion…often called The Last Supper.
Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane – It was here that Jesus, having been betrayed by Judas, was arrested and taken to several sham trials before the chief priests, Pontius Pilate, and Herod.
Jesus endured six trials. Three of the trials were by Jewish leaders and three by the Romans (John 18:12-14, Mark 14:53-65, Mark 15:1-5, Luke 23:6-12, Mark 15:6-15). During this time, Jesus survived painful beating, whipping, and mocking (Mark 15:16-20). Pilate tried to compromise with the religious leaders by having Jesus beaten, but this act didn’t satisfy them, so Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified (Mark 15:6-15). Jesus was mocked by the soldiers as they dressed Him in a purple robe and a crown of thorns (John 19:1-3).
- Good Friday – Jesus was crucified .
- Holy Saturday – The time Jesus spent in the tomb before His resurrection…this ends Passion week.
Jesus fulfills prophecy by riding into the city on a donkey… affirming the fears of the local religious leaders who worry Jesus’ popularity will attract the anger of the Romans…in response…the religious leaders tried to arrest Jesus in an attempt to control the crowd.
How successful were they? …almost the same response that was made after the resurrection of Lazarus… they said to one another…no matter what they did to control Jesus and His crowds, they were getting nowhere…in fact, Jesus was gaining in popularity.
John records that “the great crowd that had come for the Feast … went out to meet [Jesus] [Jn 12:12] …most commentaries state that the population of Jerusalem grew by 100,000 people during the Passover as caravans of extended families would come and offer sacrifices in the temple.
It is on this day the sacrificial lamb was taken and kept until the Passover [Exodus 12] …it is on this day…the same day the Passover Lamb was identified…that Jesus enters Jerusalem and presents himself as the Lamb of God…declaring His victory over sin…Satan…the world…and death.
The news about Jesus’ arrival is spreading…Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem (12) …the Pharisees watched the crowd…the crowds were meeting Jesus…the crowds were honoring Jesus…the crowds were greeting Jesus…the crowds were praising Jesus…no wonder the Pharisees said to one another:
Look how the whole world has gone after him! [19].
So here we have the TRIUMPHAL ENTRY into Jerusalem…all four Gospels make reference to it and although the accounts differ, they do not conflict in any way.
In His suffering and death, we see the achievements of Christ:
1. Christ absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf — He did it by suffering.
2. Christ bore our sins and purchased our forgiveness —He did it by suffering.
3. Christ provided a perfect righteousness for us that becomes ours in him — He did it by suffering.
4. Christ defeated death — He did it by suffering death.
They recognized what they saw as proof of Jesus’ divine power and authority [12:11] …as we begin to look at the events of Passion Week, we need to realize that the word ‘passion’ does evoke the emotion of love…but in Latin the original meaning meant to endure suffering.
So in Passion Week we see the last week of Jesus’ life on earth…a life filled with compassion…and with a strong emotion of love.
The effort this morning is to teach you the Word of God…not for the purpose of just having information about Christ…but that you might know Him and the salvation He offers…that you might understand the sufferings Christ endured for you…that His death is your death….His life is your life.
By committing your life to Jesus today you have the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life…which is the sole purpose of Passion Week.