The King We Needed | Sermon 10/01/2023

John 12:12-19

The crowd of people that went out to meet Jesus and see Lazarus is now spreading the news of Him and all of Jerusalem is anticipating His entry. The people took palm branches and laid them before Jesus in the same way they used palm branches in celebration of God’s salvation over His people and national victories their nation had previously experienced. They shouted “Hosanna!” or “Lord, save us we pray!” And then quoted from Psalm 118 with full messianic fervor. They proclaimed Him the King of Israel and yet did not know what kind of King He was. Jesus then ordained a colt of a donkey to be made ready for Him to ride on thereby fulfilling yet another prophecy of Him from Zechariah. Jesus isn’t coming in on a pure white stallion, that is what He rides on in the Revelation. The King comes lowly, gentle, and riding in on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

John admits that even the apostles didn’t understand what kind of King Jesus was at that moment. They only became certain after His death, resurrection, and the coming of the Spirit. We, too, sometimes don’t understand certain things about God but He reveals them at the right time. And not only that, sometimes we don’t understand why He allows things to happen in our lives the way they do and it’s not until later we make the connection point. But what we need to know about the Lord, the Christ, and salvation He has made clear to us.

The large crowd acted as witnesses for Christ and soon many of the people went to meet Him. The Pharisees are concerned the world is going after Jesus and while they state that in an exaggerating way, the reality is the world will indeed go after Jesus. But only after the King dies, rises, and saves. His greatest act is the last thing we could have expected of a King. In the end, He wasn’t the King we wanted but the King we needed.