What were you expecting?

Matthew 21:1-11

 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

A couple of years ago on Palm Sunday I did a sermon from the perspective of the person who owned the donkey that Jesus rode into the city but this morning, I am going to do the sermon from a perspective that may hit a little closer to home.  The city of Jerusalem was already a busy place since many pilgrims had made their way there to celebrate the Passover and here comes this man riding a donkey into the city.  This was the moment the Jewish people had been looking forward to since their exodus from Egypt.  This is the day their Messiah had arrived.  It is difficult for us to imagine just how important this moment was to the Jewish people.  For example, if you had been promised a promotion at work and your supervisor told you that in 2 months that promotion was guaranteed to happen.  In the meantime you are planning on what to do with your new office and maybe even figured out how to spend your bigger paycheck.  For two months you looked forward to this promotion by telling your friends and family all about and then that day finally gets here and the promotion wasn’t what you expected.  Instead of a new office and better pay you get none of that, just more responsibility.  You got a promotion but it was not at all how you planned that promotion to go.  You now have two options: one, you can get mad, upset, disappointed and mope around the office; or two, you can go with the extra responsibility and be happy and do the job the best you possibly can.  As Jesus entered into Jerusalem, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies those people were left with the same two choices.

The correlation between those people in Jerusalem and our example of the promotion is closer than you may think for the Jewish people also believed they were getting a promotion.  Their expectation of a savior was a savior politically, economically and spiritually.  In other words, after many generations of oppression, those people that day were ready to receive a worldly promotion and did not see Jesus for who he truly was.  To them a king meant a worldly ruler, one who control wealth and land and these people would finally “get paid” for all of their years of dedication to their faith.  All the pilgrimages made to Jerusalem, all of the animal sacrifices made, all of the oppression was going to be vindicated by this man they call Jesus.  At youth group this week I compared it to Jesus arriving into Jerusalem like a rockstar with the fog machine running and the fans blowing Jesus’ hair.  This is exactly how he was received that day but we know that in less than a week, these same people were yelling “Crucify Him!”  So what happened?  How, in the course of week, did Jesus go from being Jerusalem’s biggest rockstar to hanging on a cross?  

It almost seems unrealistic to us, doesn’t it?  We think to ourselves, “How could these people do this?  If they were this excited to finally see their Messiah enter the gates of Jerusalem just as the scriptures said he would, how could they be the driving force that put him on the cross?”  We ask ourselves, “What is wrong with these people?”  But if we are going to ask this about the people of Jerusalem, we must be willing to ask ourselves the exact same question... Because we still put Jesus on that cross today just as those people did 2,000 years ago.  What keeps putting Jesus on that cross?  Most of us would probably think that it is our sin.  This is partly true but more importantly, I would say that it is the same thing that put him there 2,000 years ago: our expectations of him.  Just as those people were expecting Jesus to change their worldly condition for the better, we too have this same misconception sometimes.  When we hear the expression “Jesus Saves” this can mean so many things to us, just as it did in Jerusalem, but Jesus did not come to change our worldly condition.  He came to save our eternal condition.

Jesus arrived to Jerusalem with intent and purpose.  He entered humbly by riding a donkey which was an animal of peace and he arrived in the plain sight of day.  Jesus knew what was about to happen because those in power had long had it out for him.  His following was becoming bigger and bigger and those in power did not like the strength his ministry was gaining.  They too mistook Jesus for a man of worldly power.  They too thought that Jesus was their to take over their throne and all the power that came with it.  It is amazing to me that two wildly different groups of people, one who a lot about Jesus and one who knew very little, came to the same conclusion about his purpose which could not have been more wrong.  God enters our hearts just as Jesus did Jerusalem: in peace, with purpose, in love and with motives different than our best intentions.  It is easy to be critical of those involved in the death of Christ but we too must be willing to look deep within ourselves as well.  Life does not get easier once we openly involve God in it, it just changes our perspective and changes our hearts.  The only throne Jesus wants to occupy is the one in your heart.  The only kingdom Jesus wants to control is the one found in your home.  The only person Jesus wants to rule is your mind.  Our faith in God does not guarantee worldly wealth, riches or even health but it does guarantee eternity.  Our faith is meant to be a light to others.  Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

The truth is that our expectation of Jesus can be mislead at times.  No matter how long we have believed, no matter how long we have tried with the best of intentions, we must know and understand that we can be wrong.  We may have worked our tails off and deserve the promotion we were promised but how do we respond when we do not get it?  That is the question we must continually ask ourselves during the course of our faith.  If we don’t, we might miss out on the most important things in life.  Things that may make the biggest difference in our lives, yet we disregard them because it was not what we expected.  Do not disregard the power of Christ just because it is not what you have expected.  I had a couple friends who read the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting.  It is a book that helps you better comprehend what it is like to be a first time parent.  My friends were all about the great ideas of this book before their children were born.  After the fact, and now that many of those children are around Griffin’s age, they have assured me that the book has been thrown out.  We all know that we cannot ever fully understand what it is like to raise children before the crying fits that seem to have no end; before the tantrums that arrive out of thin air; before that first time we hear them say, “I Love you.”  The truth is that we can never fully understand what this life will bring.  Our expectations are so often wrong and yet God still loves us.  We fall short of the expectations God has of us, yet he still loves us.  I fall short of the expectations of my wife, yet she still loves me.  I fall short of the expectations my kids have of me of as a father, even if they do not know they have them, yet they still love me.  God’s love for us is not based on how well we live up to certain expectations, God’s love in unwavered despite our best efforts to sometimes prove otherwise.  As Jesus entered Jerusalem, there were any number of expectations by the pilgrims, authorities, and his very own disciples and not one of them was met.  Yet here we are this morning, with so much to celebrate and be thankful for.  The only possible reason for this to be happening this morning is because of the love God has for each of us.

Our scripture for this morning poses a very important question: “Who is this?”  Our expectations of 

God and faith have formed an idea of what we think God and Jesus are and those expectations can

make God, faith, and Jesus unrecognizable even when we see them first hand.  The entire city of 

Jerusalem saw Jesus first hand and yet they ask, “Who is this?”  The disciples that witnessed the 

many miracles of Jesus still asked “Who is this?”  We see the many blessings of this life and we still 

ask, “Who is this?”  We must remember that our Messiah died on a cross, not sat on a throne; he 

came out of love, not hate; he came to lead, not to rule.  Jesus rules in our hearts and in life eternal 

and in doing so, we are called to do our best to live out that faith during the course of our everyday 

lives.  Who is this man that could have had any kingdom the sun touched yet he chose us?  Who is 

this man who died yet God raised him from the dead?  Who is this man who loved us so deeply he 

gave us the ultimate example of sacrifice?  That man, is Jesus and he loves you.  Amen.