Look, the world has gone after Him!

 

 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

The King of Israel!"

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

"Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey's colt."

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

- John 12:9-19 

 

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.  Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think -- that He will not come to the feast?"  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.  There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at table with Him.  Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.  But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"  This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.  For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

 

  Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  When John's Gospel references the Jews, they are speaking of people from Jerusalem, from families close to the leadership of the temple.  This means that many have come from Jerusalem to see both Jesus and Lazarus, at the home of Lazarus and his sisters in Bethany, where Jesus has come to visit just prior to the Passover.  It is clear that Lazarus has also become a public figure in an extraordinary way, because of the seventh and final sign in John's Gospel, Christ raising him from the dead.  The chief priests have already decided to put Jesus to death as they consider Him a threat to their places; now even those from Jerusalem seek Jesus especially because of the witnesses who told of the raising of Lazarus.  Now they plot to put to death also the man who was raised from death by Jesus.

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"   Jesus is coming into Jerusalem from Bethany for the Passover feast.  The cry of the multitude comes from Psalm 118:25-26, associated with messianic expectation.  It was recited daily for six days during the Feast of Tabernacles (the Feast of the Coming Kingdom), and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"  Bethany is to the east of Jerusalem, and it was prophesied that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem from the east (Zechariah 14:4).  This is the event we celebrate in the Church as Palm Sunday.

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  My study Bible notes that this event is called Christ's Triumphal Entry.  It says that by Christ's time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah, who would deliver Israel from Roman control and reestablish David' kingdom.  But here Jesus comes in humility and not to establish an earthly kingdom.  He doesn't ride on a horse or chariot, but rather a young donkey, which is a sign of humility and peace (as it is written in Zechariah 9:9).  My study Bible adds that this entrance into the Holy City is a declaration of the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  It is also seen as a promise of Christ's final entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem with all believers, and of His accepting the New Jerusalem as His pure Bride (Revelation 21:2).  

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"  John gives us the setting, and what is going on in the minds of all the people involved.  The disciples do not understand what is happening, but they remembered when He was glorified what was written about Him and what things were done to Him.  And the people -- especially the ones who were with Him from Jerusalem when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness -- so the multitude came to meet Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  But the Pharisees decide they are accomplishing nothing against Jesus, for those in their world (and in particular the people from Jerusalem) have gone after Him.  The only thing left to them is to plot to have Him killed.

 

Jesus makes His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on the eve of the Passover feast.  But we know what is coming, as He knows and has prophesied His Passion to come.  It gives us a taste of something that is repeatedly expressed through the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, that what appears to be so from a worldly point of view is rarely the full truth, and often appears to us in an upside-down way.  God's truth is different, and as God is all powerful, God has a way of turning the tables on our expectations and understanding.  If we take a look, for example, at Isaiah's chapter 40, a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, we see it begin with a cry from God to the prophet:  "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!"  It is a promise of the Messiah, of God's action which can put to an end the power of great kingdoms and their warfare.  It is about the Lord who will come with a strong hand, and feed His people like a shepherd.  This is the Lord God who measures the heaven, and holds the oceans in the palm of His hand, to whom the nations are as "a drop in a bucket," like small particles of dust on a scale.  "He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless."  God is the One who sees all, and "those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  All of this was written in a time of war and captivity.  In the New Testament, we can look to Mary's song in Luke 1:46-55.  She declares that God has looked on the lowly state of her as maidservant, for henceforth all generations will call her blessed.  God has "shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty."   So, what we find so frequently in the Bible is reflected yet again in today's reading.  We are given the understanding of the various groups of people involved:  the people of Jerusalem, who have heard of the raising of Lazarus, greet Jesus with messianic expectation.  The disciples do not comprehend now what is happening, but when Jesus is glorified these sayings will come to them, as well as remembrance of the welcome of the people on this day.  The Pharisees decide there is nothing they can do to stop Jesus and the people's response to Him, and so they will join the plot to put Him to death.  But nothing is really as it seems, and God's hand is at work, even in the worst of times that are to come, just as God's hand was in the midst of devastation and captivity for Israel so many centuries earlier, as prophesied by Isaiah.  We should remember that our own perspective is limited, as, in the words of Isaiah, "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22).  Compared to the perspective of God, we are limited as grasshoppers to know and understand how God's work will come to be through the events of our lives and our world.  But it is faith that illumines and draws us forward, giving us strength, and structure for our lives.