Matthew 21:23-27 Origin? Heaven!

Matthew 21:23-27  Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.  “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked.  “And who gave you this authority?”  Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question.  If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John’s baptism—where did it come from?  Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”  They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’  But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”  So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”  Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Many people in Judea heard of John’s birth to the Pharisee Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth.  They knew instinctively God was in this miraculous event, so they were open to listening to him in the wilderness.  To them John was a special person, anointed by God from birth.  All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.  Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?”  For the Lord’s hand was with him.  (Luke 1:65-66)  Now in his 30’s John was preaching a very hard message for the people, but still they went out to the wilderness to hear him.  John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.  The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Luke 3:7-9)  Their willingness to hear such words from John revealed they understood John was a prophet.  His call to repent; addressing them as vipers was tolerated because they knew of his beginning.  His addressing the people as vipers would dry up any ministry outside of God’s divine will.  The people should have ignored John’s ministry as a plague, but instead his ministry was popular, drawing people away from their towns, even Jerusalem, into the wilderness to hear his words.  John’s ministry was not in the temple, under the auspices of a priest, instead he was located in the wilderness away from Jerusalem and the temple, the center of the Jewish religion and the anointed place of God’s dwelling.  The wilderness was not where the people brought their gifts and sacrifices to God.  When Jesus asked the Pharisees where did John get his authority to minister, He knew they dared not answer the question wrongly, for the people believed strongly that John functioned under the direct authority of God.  If the Pharisees contradicted the people’s assessment of John’s ministry, they could cause a rebellion to erupt against their authority over the people.  If the leaders

 said, John received his authority from God, Jesus would ask them why they were not followers of John’s words.  What should we do then?” the crowd asked.  John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”  Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”  “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.  Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”  He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”  (Luke 3:10-14)  Jesus knew the priests were extorting money from the people by using their religious positions of privilege.  They were telling the people it was better to swear on their gifts brought to God than upon the temple itself.  The gifts on the altar belonged to the priests, but for the people to swear by the temple, would not garner the wealth they desired for themselves.  Woe to you, blind guides!  You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.  (Matthew 23:16)  Jesus knew the priests were hypocrites.  They  could not answer Jesus’ question.  They feared they would lose their position of deference with the people, so they said nothing.  Instead of being true shepherds, concerned about the people’s welfare above their own, they were concerned mainly about accruing wealth for themselves.   Jesus expresses his disgust for them by saying, Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.  (Matthew 23:5-7)  They were living fleshly lives to honor and bless themselves, not to bless the eternal souls of the people.  True shepherds protect their flock with their own lives, the flock comes first, not their own needs.

Jesus knew the hearts of the priests; their duplicity, their hypocrisy, so He would not answer their question: By what authority are you doing these things?  He knew they did not really want an answer: they just wanted to trap him, make him say He had no Levite lineage to minister in Israel.  The spiritual hierarchy came from the loins of Aaron.  Jesus was not a Levite, so He had no spiritual kinship to say anything about God, let alone heal people.  Because Joseph, his earthly father, was from the loins of David, it was a king’s heritage, but He was not a spiritual leader from the loins of Aaron and Moses.  Consequently, Jesus had no right to attack the Sadducees and Pharisees or to denigrate the temple environment.  He was not a part of the religious structure of the Jewish religion.  But Jesus had no need to express his right to minister, for He knew they understood that He was doing things that no man from the beginning of time had done.  They understood fully that Jesus was a powerful man with the validation of God on his head.  He was doing acts that totally impressed them and the people, acts beyond the understanding of natural man.  After Jesus healed a blind man by placing mud on his eyes, the blind man was confronted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  They asked him about Jesus, the man who dared to do work on the Sabbath.  Who had given him the authority to work on the Sabbath?  The blind man did not know where Jesus went or who Jesus was.  He thought this man, Jesus, might be a prophet, but he did not care who Jesus really was, for he was blind and now he sees.  This was enough for him; he need not know anything else about this man who brought healing to his eyes.  But the priests and the teachers of the law were not pleased with the man’s answers about Jesus. They wanted the blind man to confess that Jesus must be a sinner; they wanted the people who had seen this miracle to understand that no good man could be working on the Sabbath.  He must be evil.  He must come from the dark world, not from God’s domain.  The man answered, “Now that is remarkable!  You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  (John 9:30-33)  As with the focus for today, the hypocrites were afraid that their favored position with the people would wane if they admitted that Jesus was getting his power directly from God.  This would mean that Jesus was displacing the priesthood and the teachers of the law.  For them, this could not be; it could not be allowed for their livelihood, their significance, would disappear in the Jewish culture.   Jesus and his ministry was an anathema to the religious elite.

When Paul was attacked by the religious leaders, he defended himself by saying he had studied under the most respected rabbi in the Jewish culture at that time.  I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  (Acts 22)  Being thoroughly trained in the law could take up to ten years under a respected authority.  Gamaliel was not just an ordinary rabbi: he was the leader of the Sanhedrin.  He was a rabbi of rabbis.  Consequently, Paul used the name of his teacher as a way to escape death, but this did not help Paul much, for they ignored this fact and still wholeheartedly desired to kill him.  Finally Paul had to appeal to Caesar in Rome to escape death at the hands of the Jewish elite.  Jesus knew that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not seek an answer from him to follow him.  They wanted to murder Jesus.  Therefore, they wanted to trap Jesus with an answer that would displease the people.  They desired a statement from Jesus that would cause anger to rise up in the people against him.  In another scene, talking about taxes to Caesar, the hypocrites were using their hatred for Jesus by trying to trap him into saying something that would disturb his followers.  But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.  “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked.  “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this?  And whose inscription?”“Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  (Mark 12:15-17)  The hypocrites hatred toward Jesus was unceasing; their hatred towards Paul was unceasing.  The devil hates the truth; he will not accept anything that is different from his desires of evil.  No matter how much light a Christian displays, the devil will confront it with disinformation, confusion, and lies.  When Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, people were brought in to lie about him.  When Paul was defending himself before Festus, people were brought in to lie about him.  The devil hates truth, hates light—he will do everything possible to eliminated the Good News from man’s existence  He disassembles, destroys, confuses the message that Jesus saves.  Sadly, a religious cast system even in today’s environment will distort the truth of the gospel.  As Christians we must always be alert to divisive words, words that destroy the church rather that unite.  Words lacking love, portraying anger and bitterness are the devil’s tools.  Teachers of the law and the Pharisees knew Jesus was love, peace, a healer, a doer of good works; but hatred consumed their hearts.  They wanted to kill him.  Jesus did not answer them, for nothing He said would dissipate the anger they had for him.  They knew the Good News would displace their favored position with the people.  For the Good News that Jesus came to save sinners would replace the priesthood.  Jesus would bring God to people who sought him, not the religious leaders.  They could not stand for the Good News to exist.  They had to destroy Jesus, to put away this man of God. But my friends, they failed, for Jesus exists in us today because of the power of God is in us just as it was at work in the world when Jesus walked the dusty roads to the cross. 

Matthew 21:18-22 Have Faith, Don't Doubt!

Matthew 21:18-22  Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves.  Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!”  Immediately the tree withered.  When the disciples saw this, they were amazed.  “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.  Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain,  ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

In talking about God and his goodness with a little girl that we were babysitting, the question of God and his answering of our prayers came up.  This little girl of strong belief in God, innocently and openly said, if God does not answer my prayers, “I would not believe in him.”  She was very young, but she had a firm belief in God.  She knew her God would answer prayers.  Her simple faith that God would always be there to answer her wishes revealed a strong faith.  Sometimes adults view God and prayer in the same way.  If God is real, he has to answer our prayers, meet our concerns.  Does not Jesus say explicitly, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.  No ambiguity in that statement for sure.  Consequently, people possessing this understanding of God and his will for us often struggle when disaster hits their lives.  They become confused because should not a good God keep them from life’s struggles.  A good God would not allow wars, tornados, hurricanes, devastating fires, abuse, accidents, and the like to happen to good people.  A loving God would protect people of faith from calamities, especially if the people of faith prayed earnestly to escape the natural vicissitudes of life.  People who were raised with this attitude about God and his protection sometimes find it difficult to still believe in the existence of God when disasters hit their lives.  How can one understand when a tornado swirls through a community, destroying some homes but leaving others unscathed.  Some people are praising God for saving their homes from destruction, but others are mourning their loss of a home.  One testifies of God answering prayer, while others reflect in tears the loss of their dwelling places, their prayers unanswered.  Is God capricious, caring only for some and not others?  Does God not care?  Or do some have stronger prayers of faith than others, causing their houses to be saved?   Does God only answer some little girls who believe in him, and leave other young children’s prayers unanswered?  Where is God in the vicissitudes of life?  

Jesus cursed a fig tree for not providing the fruit He desired.  We do not know if this tree was a mature tree, capable of producing ripe figs or a young tree less than 3 years, unable to produce ripe fruit.  That is not part of the story, but we do know that Jesus was not pleased with the tree.  He causes it to wither from the roots.  The fact that the tree dies so quickly startles the disciples.  They had seen other miracles such as the calming of the wind and the waves, but to see this tree die so quickly impresses them.  As Mark tells the story, In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look!  The fig tree you cursed has withered!”  “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  (Mark 11:20-22)  This tree reacts to Jesus’ words immediately, revealing that life comes from the will of God.  Nothing can exist without the blessing of God, and without God’s blessing, death is the result.  This is a major focus of the story of the fig tree.  God determines life and death; therefore, we must have faith in the God of existence.  Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no!  But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  (Luke 13:1-5)  God determines existence.  Unless we repent and get right with God, our eternal souls will not experience eternity with God in his household.  Eternal life, of course, comes through Jesus Christ.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes IN HIM is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:16-17)  The fig tree did not provide Jesus what He wanted, so He cursed the tree and it died.  The disciples’ amazement at this quick transition from life to death caused them to ask the question: How did the fig tree wither so quickly?  Jesus deflects their question to what He wants them to know.  Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  This life and death question was in their hands.  His power caused this fig tree to wither.  The same power was in them if they had faith in him as Lord and Savior.  In the eternal sense, Jesus was saying, you can move mountains that impede life in people.  You can cause their fruitless lives to die and to experience a fruitful life that satisfies God.  Jesus was not telling the disciples to be landscape artists, choosing locations for mountains.  He is not telling them to specialize in agriculture, making trees produce better figs more quickly.  He uses these human concepts of mountains and trees to explain how to help people find God by releasing them from sin and death.  Calamities happen: people experience wars, accidents, divorces, sicknesses, hurts of all kinds; but God deals with people to deliver them, to save them from eternal death.  God loves people.  Whether He answers their immediate and sometimes desperate prayers or not, He is still the giver of life.  He wants every fig tree (person) to produce abundant fruit.  Jesus desired the disciples to know that their faith in him would bring them power.  Whatever they asked in Jesus’ name under the will of God would be done.  Christians under the authority of God and his will possess power that changes lives.  If we wholeheartedly believe IN JESUS CHRIST and if we abide IN JESUS, we contain the power of God to move mountains, to elevate the valleys, to make the path smooth so that people might find God and enter the promised land.

Some use today’s scriptures as one might use a Monopoly card for getting out of jail free.  All we must do is pray hard and nothing bad will happen to us in this life.  They believe calamities of this world will not happen to Christians of strong faith.  They are like the little girl in some ways, believing God has to come across when they pray.  Sadly, implied in this kind of belief is that if God does not protect them at all times, they will question God in their faith.  However, faith must endure as God’s love endures.  God has never quit on his creation.  Even though man is intractable in his rebellion to God, even though his wickedness is intrinsic in his nature, God has never quit on mankind.  In Jesus’ death, God pays a ransom for the souls of men.  Jesus on the cross is completely in the hands of Pilate, owned by Pilate, the Roman.  Jesus was sold to the world by God.  Now, Pilate after the crucifixion could do whatever he wanted with Jesus’ body.  The ransom for the deliverance of people from sin was completed, Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.  With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.  (John 19:38)  God released us from the bondage of sin through Christ on the cross.  He freed us not so we might have lives free from the struggles of life, but to rescue the sick and dying from the hands of the evil one.  At the funeral of Lazarus, Jesus wept about the hopelessness of the human condition: all will die, all will struggle through adverse circumstances of life.  But we do have a hope, not yet realized, eternal life.  Jesus told the disciples, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.  If you believe what?  That eternal life is on the horizon.  Jesus is not informing the disciples that a mountain should be moved, or that a tree should produce plentiful fruit.  He is not telling them they should be landscape experts or agricultural specialists.  He is talking about life and death.  He is sending them to the people of the world, to preach the Good News.  Most of them will die a martyr’s death.  Paul was beaten, stoned, ostracized, abused, mistreated in every way; but his faith in God never wavered.  We too follow the disciples.  Life is not always fair, justice is not always a part of our lives: the Bible says that in this life there are many trials.  We also feel the sting of ostracism when we talk to the world about our Savior Jesus Christ.  They do not recognize the need to know Jesus as their Savior.  But Jesus said, Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.  (John 14:12-14)  Jesus came to do the will of the Father, that in his name all mankind could be redeemed to God.  Therefore, everything we ask in Jesus’ name should come under the will of the Father to save mankind from eternal death.  Jesus could only reach a few with this message of eternal life; but we, his followers, have reached billions with this message of Good News.  Jesus went back to the Father and sent us the Holy Spirit.  Through the power of the Spirit many have found Jesus Christ as Lord.  In lands and areas of great darkness, places of demonic control, supernatural miracles from God’s hands through the faith of his servants have brought freedom to the captives.  Friends around this breakfast table, perform God’s work with power and authority.  Release the mountains in people’s lives.  Give their shriveled lives, eternal life for the glory of God.   

            

Matthew 21:12-17 Hosanna!

Matthew 21:12-17  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.  But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.  “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.  “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”  And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

In the above focus, Jesus comes into the temple with anger in his spirit.  He overturns the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  He drives these merchandizers out of the temple, showing God’s anger at its defilement.  Jeremiah prophesied this expression of contempt many years prior to the event.  The people were willing to carry out a religious function, but their hearts were far from God.  They thought their sacrifices made them right with God no matter what was in their hearts.  But Jesus’ rejection of the people making money from the sacrifice of birds and animals revealed that God knew the hypocrisy in their hearts.  The exchanging  of a variety of currency to the acceptable currency of the temple: the Tyrian shekel, was not to serve God better, but it was for making money.  The worshipping of a holy and righteous God was lost in this secular commercial enterprise.  Even the Tyrian shekel with its image of a pagan god on one side was an abomination.  The temple of God was a sacred place, a holy place, not a place for secular activity.  But instead of a place of consecrated activity, the brazen spirit of fleshly man made the Temple a place to make money.  Jeremiah speaks of this cavalier attitude towards God’s temple, telling them that God said,  Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”  If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.  But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.  “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?  Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?  But I have been watching!  (Jeremiah 7:3-11)  Jeremiah reveals that God is watching the people desecrate the temple with their hypocrisy, living worldly lives and then sanctimoniously sacrificing animals in the temple.  Their very presence in the temple with unthankful, wayward hearts disrespects the God who made them.  Their willingness to live lives disobedient to God and his likeness corrupts their worship.  Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?  Their eat, drink, and be merry attitude corrupted the temple.  Lacking sincere hearts, they carried on the ritual of sacrifices.  Jeremiah says God has been watching the lives of the Israelites: their unthankfulness, their waywardness, their unwillingness to remember they were once slaves to a froward master, Pharaoh.  They trust in the temple of God in their midst rather than true repentance.  But this is false security, believing God’s mercy and grace will cover them no matter what they do.  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!  The Lord’s temple does not ensure security of a soul if the heart is wicked.  One cannot say that I can do anything I want in the flesh, and the Lord will provide mercy and grace to me.  God demands obedience, a willingness to reflect his goodness to the world.  Jeremiah foretold that the Jewish people will be safe in the land of Israel if they dealt justly with each other, treated the foreigner well, took care of the fatherless, cared for the widows, did not murder, and served God only.  Jesus enters the temple, knowing the Israelites are trusting their religious traditions, activities, and inheritance more than their obedience to God.  John the Baptist calls the religious leaders a brood of snakes; Jesus calls them vipers.  Their hearts lack obedience to the everlasting God.  They were content with their religious lifestyle and worship, but Jesus reveals God’s anger with them because of their hypocrisy, their willingness to serve the world’s manna rather than God.

Jesus quickly reveals the true purpose for the temple by healing people there.  The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.  His compassion for the people expresses God’s love for them.  The leaders of the Jews had little compassion for the people; Jesus, the true shepherd, cared for the people.  He was castigated, ridiculed by the Sadducees and the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath.  Jesus told them that if they really cared for the people as they would care for an ox on the Sabbath, they would rejoice when people are delivered from their infirmities on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”  But they remained silent.  So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.  Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”  And they had nothing to say.  (Luke 14:3-6)  The Pharisees were not true shepherds, for they lacked sympathy for the blind, lame, and sick.  If they would have been true shepherds, they would have responded positively to Jesus’ question, but they were silent because they had little love for God’s people.  The people were without shepherds.  Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.  “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care  for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.  (Zechariah 10:2-3)  Jesus loved the people; he wept over Jerusalem.  He told his Father to forgive the Jewish people for crucifying him.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)  Jesus would leave the 99 sheep and seek the one that is lost.  Jesus would heal the outsider, the lost, the blind, the lame, the sick, all of those who are not in the fold.  The children who saw Jesus’ compassion for the lost in their society disturbed the environment of the temple by crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”  This shouting of the children disturbed the false shepherds.  Indignantly, they asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”  Jesus refers them to Psalms 8:1-4.  Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory in the heavens.  Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?  The children recognized the glory of these miraculous healings, as great as the glory of the heavens.  By praising Jesus, they were staving off the devil’s accusations against him.  Jesus, the Creator of all things, cared for people.  Why would He even be mindful of them?  He cared for the children because Jesus reflected God’s love for the world.

Often Christians excuse the waywardness in their lives by extolling God’s grace and mercy, not necessarily wrong because God is merciful and full of grace.  But we must be aware of what the Jewish people were claiming about God’s covering when they exclaimed we have the temple in our midst.  This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!  Therefore, we can do anything we desire.  God’s temple will always cover any wrongdoings that we desire.  Yet should we misuse our temple for our fleshly desires or purposes?  We even exclude some of the word of God when we go astray.  We write our own Bible.  We accept the temple’s regulations when it is convenient, and we avoid the sanctity of the temple when we choose to reject it.  But Jesus came into the Jewish temple and turned over the tables and chased the evildoers out of the temple.  In our own lives, we cannot allow God’s holiness and his righteous claims on our lives to be ignored.  If the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then these are the attributes that should be revealed in our temple where the Spirit dwells.  If we choose to have only a few of God’s attributes manifested in us at all times, we have written our own Bible.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  (Matthew 5:9)  If we depend on our own secular wisdom rather than God’s wisdom, we have written our own Bible.  The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.   Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  If we choose when we want to be reverent or submissive to God’s authority, we write our own Bible.  The Jewish people through their actions in their temple believed they could write their own holy script.  But they were wrong.  Jesus’ actions in the temple reveal how wrong they were.  Jesus, a man of peace, displayed his appropriate anger towards the hypocrisy of people claiming one thing but doing another.  By commercializing the temple’s environment, they were actually displaying their disdain for God’s authority in their lives and in the temple.  We who express Jesus by mouth must hold the authority of God as preeminent in our lives.  If we live without enduring love, love of God, and love of our fellow man, we are living in opposition to God’s intentions for us.  If we display discord, bitterness, anger, and even rage towards others, we are writing our own Bible, and we will not escape with such intentions.  When our carnal wisdom and knowledge displace God’s goodness and love towards others in the world, Jesus will overturn the self-willed tables in our temple.  He does not allow our worldliness for personal gain to replace true servanthood to God and others.  The mighty God who is evident in the galaxies and stars in heaven should be revealed in us.  Hosanna to God is our praise and should be the praise of all who experience God’s love.  Let the Spirit of our holy God be in us at all times.  Of course, we fail often, but repentance should be at our lips so that the galaxies and the stars will be seen through our lives.  Glory to God forever, and ever.  Amen!  

Matthew 21:7-11 Sing Hosanna!

Matthew 21:7-11  They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  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!”  When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”  The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The whole city of Jerusalem was stirred about this man, Jesus, who was coming to them on a colt.  They had heard rumors about Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.  The Jews, suffering under the harsh treatment of the Romans, had been waiting for this moment of rescue from their harsh overlords.  Zechariah 9 had been taught many times in their Jerusalem synagogues.  Now, they thought this might be the time of fulfillment of the prophet’s words.   Some of them in Jerusalem were already followers of Jesus, the man of miracles and wonders.  They and others covered Jesus’ way into Jerusalem with their own cloaks to show their respect and allegiance to him.  Many cut branches from trees and spread them on the road to usher in this man of power.  Jesus was anticipated by many as being their deliverer from the hated Romans; therefore, they shouted Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest heaven.  For them on that day, Jesus was the messenger of God sent from the highest heaven.  The word Hosanna has a variety of connotations, but all of them imply “save.”  The people greeted Jesus with joy because in their minds He was bringing salvation to them from their enemies.  But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces.  Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.  Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.  Zechariah (9:8-10)  No longer would the Jews have to learn war to defend themselves.  The chariots of war will be gone, the warhorses will disappear from the land, and the battle bow will be broken. What a joyous day that will be when war leaves the hearts of men.  They were happy and smiling on that day when Jesus, their proclaimed savior, entered Jerusalem.  They believed their long anticipated day of deliverance had finally arrived.  Of course, Zechariah’s prophecy would be fulfilled completely some day, but in that day, Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to release men permanently from the oppression of the evil one.  He was coming to the seat of power of the Israelites’ religion, the temple, to overturn the tables of corruption and selfishness.  He was coming to defeat the hierarchical structure of the priests, for He was from the tribe of Judah, David’s clan, not from the tribe of Levi.  Once again, a man after God’s heart would take control of the land of Israel.  But Zechariah’s prophesy does not end at the borders of Israel: He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.  Surely, the people who greeted Jesus that day with hosanna did not fully realize that He came not only for them but also for the Romans and people around the world.  His salvation would extend over all people everywhere.  He, the Prince of Peace, would establish peace in the hearts of mankind, changing the world from a place of violence and corruption to a place of peace and mercy.  Men would possess the wisdom of God in their lands: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  (James 3:17-18)  A harvest of righteousness would be the inheritance of mankind.  But not yet, some day.

This day of greeting Jesus with shouts of Hosanna was a day of acclamation for the Jewish people.  The word, Hosanna, was probably upon many people’s lips.  However, not many days in the future, the words, “crucify him” would be shouted with fervor from many of the same lips.  From the heights of the day we call “Palm Sunday” to the lows of the dark day of crucifixion, we find a span of only a few days.  The whole city was stirred with the emotions of both events.  Of course, seeing their savior bound and punished by the hated Romans brought great disillusionment to the people.  How could their anticipated deliverer seem so weak, effeminate, unlike the warrior they expected.  How could a man supposedly sent by God, who comes in the name of the Lord from the highest heaven, now be the captive of the Romans. To them Jesus was now a betrayer of their highest expectations to become free from the Romans.  Jesus was a humiliation to them, even Pilate toyed with their affections by placing a humiliating statement at the cross: King of the Jews.  This man Jesus was their King, a weak and emaciated man, unable even to come down from the cross.  Compared to the Romans, this King of the Jews had no power, no kingdom, no land, no authority to do anything.  He could not even protect his own self from the Romans; how could He defend the Jewish people from their enemies.  Impossible!  Now the Jerusalem people were stirred with hatred.  They believed Jesus had betrayed them.  He was a charlatan of the worst order: the great pretender was He.  Consequently, an evil man, Barabbas  was released to freedom that day because the Jewish people would rather have this criminal, this revolutionary released than this helpless man, Jesus.  Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.  (Luke 23:19) At least Barabbas fought against the Romans, a man of strength, not like this helpless Jesus.  Releasing Barabbas angered Pilate, for Barabbas was a threat to Rome, so he placed his anger on Jesus’ back by having him flogged with a lead tipped whip.  The Peacemaker was whipped and crucified.  The evil, violence, and disruption personified in Barabbas won the day.  He was free to do his wicked will, but Jesus was bound and crucified with nails in his hands and feet.  Jesus, the Son of God, died, Barabbas, the murderer, lived.  

Peter in his sermon on Pentecost referred to the days after Jesus’ resurrection as the last days.  The Barabbas contingent in life will always be scoffers and persecutors.  They will consider Jesus as dead and absent from their existence.  Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?  Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.  (2 Peter 3:3-4)  For them, Jesus was never powerful then and will never exert power in the future.  He is dead, Barabbas is alive.  The world will continue as it has always been.  The powerful will rule, forcing their will on the weak and vulnerable.  They, the powerful and strong, are containers of evil, doing their own thing, living for their own purposes.  When Peter talks to Ananias, a member of the Christian community, but a liar, he says, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?”  (Acts 5:3)  Ananias’ heart was filled to the brim by Satan.  He was willing to go against the Holy Spirit, who was present in the Christian church.  From the very beginning, Satan has corrupted and hardened the hearts of humankind, making people unwilling to follow God and his righteousness.  In the time before Noah, the people were totally corrupt and violent.  God repented of making such people, who in their freedom chose rebellion and evil.  Barabbas was a man of evil, a man of rebellion.  The Jews chose him over the man of peace.  They wanted a violent man who would defend their rights, win back their freedom through force.  The world still wants that kind of man.  We choose force rather than servanthood.  We choose “our rights” over the rights of other people.  We have little patience with leaders who do not defend us with violence and ferocity.  As the scoffers, we know everything is the same as it was from the beginning.  Even for some wayward Christians, Palm Sunday never happened.  The man of peace never fully arrived in our lives.  We choose Barabbas to defend us, not Christ.  We claim the Christ of peace, but when things get really tough, we demand our rights, our pound of flesh.  That is who we are in the flesh, and the flesh is still too strong in our lives.  We have not been crucified with Christ as Paul describes our Christian lives.  (See Galatians 2:20)  That is who Peter was when he denied Christ in front of the world—in the flesh.  Jesus knows our hearts: He knew Peter’s heart when Peter proclaimed loudly that he would always be there for Jesus.  But after the resurrection, the women at the tomb are told, Go tell Peter, the denier, to meet me in Galilee.  Jesus knows our hearts.  He knows the depths of our love, the quality of our allegiance to him.  But his love is greater than all of our intestinal fortitude or desires.  The angel tells us that Jesus will meet us on the other side of the resurrection.  He paid the supreme price for all of us.  There are no special people around this breakfast table, no super righteous at this meeting place.  Yes, we are willing to greet Jesus on Palm Sunday with happiness, but are we willing to follow Jesus who sometimes seems powerless in our lives?  When we struggle and life has gone sideways on us, are we willing to visit Jesus daily to hear his voice or have we become disgruntled, removing ourselves from his presence?  Nevertheless, the presence of God is always near us, even at our mouths, if we are willing to express praises to him: Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!  Our Savior is here today with us!  Sing his praise.  Amen!