Anticipation will rot your brain. Anticipating something is rarely ever a reflection of the reality of something. Perhaps this is because our imaginations are greater than our capabilities. Think back to your wedding day as an example. How much time goes into making preparations for that day? The food, the music, the paper invitations, the clothing, the guests, the reception … this list is as long as your arm. It often takes more than 2 people to get it done. There is an entire cottage industry of wedding planning, justifiably so, to deal the immensity of having a single spectacular day. And the expense that goes with having “the” perfect day is sizeable as well. You can worry yourself sick about your wedding day, right up until it happens, and then in hindsight remember it only as perfect. Or perhaps ever watch a child anticipate going to Disney World? It is nearly the same thing reduced into an age-appropriate comparison. The anticipation of Disney World, or Christmas, can make your kid nearly nuts. Rare that anything can ever live up to the hype we can assign to it while in anticipation mode. And vacations; don’t even get me started.
So you would think that kind of thing doesn’t happen in scripture right? At least not in the time of Christ. But, … wait for it 😊, … it does happen. And like most things, the reason why the anticipation does not match the reality, is because what we “believe” about what will or should happen, is mistaken. Sometimes horribly mistaken. Other gospel authors address the “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem from a number of different perspectives. The central theme in all of them, is great excitement about Jesus coming “home” to the capital city of the nation. There is just a huge feeling in the air itself, that Jesus is finally going home to become King of Israel, and begin the work of pushing the Romans out of Dodge. Honestly this idea terrified the Pharisees and Sadducees. If Jesus did this, they lose all leverage in opposing Him. Jesus would be King of the land, and He had already shown Himself to be king of the church, or the faith. Arguing with Jesus about anything after that would be pointless, and likely wind you up on the point of an Israelite spear, or under a ton of nearby Israelite stones. This lack of pushing out the Romans, was “the” only thing the Sanhedrin had to cling to, to verify that Jesus was a false Messiah. Ironic, how a leadership united by hatred of Rome, still preferred Rome to The Truth. Are our modern denominations too far from this today? Are we?
But enough Debbie-downer, this story is about anticipation, and it is going to begin with a bang! Matthew writes his gospel to his Hebrew contemporaries. In doing so, Matthew wants to correlate the Old and New Testaments where Jesus is concerned. Matthew wants to show the fulfillment of prophecy of Isaiah and OT prophets through what Jesus actually did. And frankly what no other human before or since has ever even come close to. In addition to the mistaken point of view of what the mission of the Messiah was, there were also a number of other prophecies that were fulfilled exactly as specified. One need not throw out the Word, because something they believed in, was in error. No, a great many other things happen exactly as outlined. And the things we were wrong about, with perhaps a second look, and through the lens of Jesus, can find a better interpretation of, than first imagined. Matthew is attempting to encourage his contemporaries, not to discard the Old Testament, or discard Christ, but to find the true harmony in both.
He picks up in chapter twenty-one in verse 1 saying … “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, [verse 2] Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. [verse 3] And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.” Here Jesus begins with direction, with purpose, and with prophecy. The great multitude is still in tow. And the direction leads towards Jerusalem. Nearly everybody is just seething with anticipation. They all know where this trip will end, and they are all eager to get there. But Jesus takes a pause. Near one of His favorite places of prayer (the mount of Olives), Jesus pauses and asks His 2 disciples (in order that there may be 2 witnesses to what will occur), to go and fetch a colt in a particular place. If they are questioned about it, by the owner, they are to say a particular thing. And all will be well. This is straight up prophecy. And as you might imagine, it happens exactly as He has just specified, including the challenge, and response by the owner.
Matthew continues in verse 4 saying … “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, [verse 5] Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” Keep in mind Jesus did not own an ass, or a colt. He owned nothing. And He did not purchase one for this occasion. For those that would argue (as the Pharisees were quick to point out), that Jesus was “making” the prophecy of Isaiah come true – they have a point. But to extend that argument, you would have to say that Jesus also “made” an owner of an ass, who happened to have a colt recently; appear at a particular place and time, and then respond in a particular way to these events. It would have been easier to simply buy the needed animals in advance. But this is not what took place. And anticipation continued to rise. The people were not completely ignorant of the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets, and they began to sense their fulfillment.
Matthew continues in verse 6 saying …” And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, [verse 7] And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. [verse 8] And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. [verse 9] And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” At this point, the crowd begins to take action as well. Common people begin to lay down palm frawns, and spread out their over coats, and tunics, across the dirt road. In effect the worlds’ first protracted red carpet. The idea was to make the road smooth, and give it a royal feel. They did this without the slightest hesitation, and with no prompting, and with no concern with whether or not the donkey, or colt, might leave behind a few “treasures” on their particular coat which might require extensive cleaning afterwards. No one cared about that. Everyone just wanted in on making this road look more elegant for the King of Kings to travel upon.
Then came the music. You cannot have a processional without awesome music, well you cannot have a “good” processional without awesome music. And so began spontaneous praise singing from the entire crowd. Old men, women, little children, of one accord singing in one voice, in multiple part harmony saying HOSANNA. “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord”. HOSANNA in the Highest. HOSANNA to the Son of David. The entire crowd recognizes the lineage of Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus as direct descendants of the house of David himself. They then sing praises to the Father God in the highest. And then sing praises to Jesus their soon to be crowned King. And with these anthems began to shake the entire Roman empire. But beyond that, with these anthems began to shake the entire Satanic empire, and evil itself. These musical anthems foretell the end of evil, the end of death itself. They foretell a time beyond all of this when life is restored to what it should have been all along. No one coerced the praise and worship, it was natural, spontaneous, and could not be contained.
Matthew omits the naysayers who attempted to stop it along the way. The Pharisees who came and demanded that Isaiah’s prophecy dare not be fulfilled in this way. But Jesus instructed these Pharisees, that if the people were made to be silent, the very stones would cry out in praise. The appointed time was at hand. The appointed activity was in full swing. And no matter what Satan wanted, this was happening, which made all of demon empire tremble even more at the echoes of the refrains blasting above them. I am sure the courts of heaven echoed these anthem refrains with a more elegant, and boisterous noise than what was taking place on earth. The angels sing their praises for the same reasons we do. Because they want to. Because they love it. And because they mean every word of it. This day, the music, the self-sacrifice, and the naked anticipation of what was coming was at its zenith. It would never get any higher than it was now. The worship service was in full swing.
But something goes sideways. Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? [verse 11] And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.” His entry into Jerusalem moves the entire population to take notice. Excitement bursts from everyone. And then … we get it wrong. Like all good modern worship services it only takes one false idea to burst an emotional bubble and leave you with nothing more than a memory of something you no longer understand. The people ask who this is? Instead of saying this is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. They answer, this is Jesus, the prophet, of Nazareth, of Galilee. Not God on earth. Not part of three in One. Not the savior of our sins, but instead, just Jesus. A normal guy like you and me, who happens to have some supernatural abilities. Let’s force Him to be our King over the Romans. Good idea. But wait, where is He? Where did He go?
The good-guy-prophet, just vanished in front of them. The crowd once again was unable to force Jesus to become the earthly King they wanted Him to be. The crowd was unable to force a false interpretation of the prophets no matter how much they wanted it. No matter how high their emotions were. No matter how strongly they held their belief, it was wrong, and it was not to come to pass, and they could not make it happen. Huge disappointment. And just like that, the entire thing fell apart. And we think this is merely history? How many of us crave the emotional high that comes from inspiring music, massive production value, lights, instrumentation, talent, comfort. Our churches are designed for the ease of attending a show once a week, that lasts a few hours. It is like going to a movie, only with live players in 3D in front of us. And we get to join the festivities. In offering calls, in study, in prayer, in song. Our worship of God, that begins to swell in us an emotional high of this event. Follow this with a sermon, that too might be inspiring, elevating, thought provoking. And how could it get any better? But just wait, next week is coming and we can do it all over again. A new Sabbath to anticipate coming once again.
But there in is the rub. Church is not something you attend. Church is not something you participate in. Church is a not a place where you go. The church of Christ, is something that becomes – who you are. The Kingdom of Heaven is something that “lives” inside of your heart and mind. How you love. Who you love. Why you love. Questions that have different answers when you are truly transformed by your surrender to Jesus who can re-create you into what He intended you to be. “That” is church. Things I hear. Things I do. That do not change me, that do not reach the part of me that would cast aside the old, and embrace the new – are nothing more than entertainment. I could be watching Pureflix, and get as much out of it.
When I place the concept of His church as something outside of myself, I am left empty. When I look at the poor, and the needy, and the ones in open sin; and believe the “church”, that is the organization of the church, should do something about that. I am left empty. When I make excuse, by making donation, instead of making surrender – I am left empty. Something has gone sideways in modern Christianity. We have trained ourselves to treat church as something we are barely a part of. We refer to church like we refer to any corporate entity. It could just as easily be called Exxon. Sure we identify with the church corporate body, but we miss the entirety of the personal power of change – because we refuse to accept the method from where change springs. We make Jesus, that good-guy God who died for our sins and will one day take us to heaven. But we refuse to acknowledge Him as our personal Creator, capable of remaking us, if we would only but personally allow Him to do so. No corporate body can make that happen, but it sure can distract from it.
Corporate church tells you not to worry about your sins, because there is always forgiveness for them. In so doing they make grace cheap, of little worth. Or they take the other extreme where they tell you to do nothing but focus on your sins, and make a “choice” to simply stop sinning, leaving the power of perfection in your hands, and tacitly telling you, it is your fault you continue to sin – and you will never make it to heaven until you stop doing it. But I say, your sin is an addiction to self-love, that is more powerful than any cocaine habit ever dreamed of being. You do not control it. You were not meant to. You were also not meant to keep living in the pain your sin causes, both you and everyone else. You were meant to give it to Jesus, and let Him take them from you. Not just forgive, but reform. To truly change how you live, because you surrender any notions of control over to Jesus, giving Him full control of how you think, of what you want, of who you love, and of how you love. That kind of full surrender changes you, and YOU become church. Not a church of self-worship. But a church fully surrendered to Christ, who then becomes in harmony with His laws, because His laws of love are etched into your heart.
All that anticipation wasted, because the doctrines of man, cause you to look at Jesus for what He could do for you in this world. Instead of looking at our God for what He could work within you, and transform you to be. Trusting in Jesus to save you. To do what He promised. If you will but get out of the way. Only after you do this, will doctrine begin to make sense to you. Only after you do this, can obedience become something not just possible within you, but natural within you. That is change. That is church. Not something outside, but something deeply personal. No one else has a say about that. But once it infects you, you will hardly be able to stop talking about it. You will not understand how it happens, but you will see with your own eyes, what it does to you. And how you begin to truly love others, and love yourself less. This is His love you were meant to reflect. This is living where anticipation meets reality, instead of being a shallow shadow of what was possible. Let us not be a repeat of the history of these events, but rather let them guide us to a surrender to God we trust completely to make us His church, how He wants it to be. His reality will always outshine our anticipation.
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