MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/ACB422A9/theshapeofobedience(John12worksheet).htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" The shape of obedience

The shape of obedience

John 12:11-33

 

The Palm Sunday story is very familiar to Christians. But do we see it clearly? There were two processions entering Jerusalem that day. One was the procession of pilgrims and peasants with Jesus at its centre, winding its way down from the mount of Olives and entering through the eastern gate of the city. The other was Pilate's. He l= ived on the coast at Caesarea maritime but came to Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals. He entered the City from the West with his legions to bolster the Roman garrison that lived in the Antonia fortress overlooking the temple. H= is procession with its ordered ranks of troops carrying the most sophisticated weaponry the world had ever seen, holding aloft the golden eagle that symbolised Caesar's rule over his empire, reminded the people of Israel of their subject status.

 

The last time a Jewish leader= had entered Jerusalem with palm-branch waving crowds greeting his arrival by quoting scripture was 200 years earlier when Judas Maccabeus, fresh from his victory over the Greek armies of Antiochus IV Epiphenes came to claim his throne.

 

The day Jesus arrived was a t= ense day. The air was alive with rumour and fear. Here was Jesus fulfilling prophecy, but resolutely refusing to meet expectations. There are two key characters in John's narrative – Jesus and the crowds.

 

1) the shifting crowd

 

John isn't usually interested= in the crowds around Jesus. His focus is on the disciples or Jesus' opponents.= But here the crowd comes centre stage: four times he mentions subtly different crowds that have a key bearing on the story (9, 12, 17, 29). They certainly influence the Pharisees: 10-11, 19. Were they also hoping to force Jesus' h= and? What did it want?

 

i) God to come:  t= he people felt abandoned, oppressed by the Roman occupiers; they felt the exile was not really over as the great prophecies had not yet come true. But here= was Jesus – he'd  raised the= dead, talked about the Kingdom coming; surely he's one, they thought.        =   

 

ii) good old days:= Jesus was David returned and the glory days co= me back, the days when Israel was an empire, when it had clout and ruled its o= wn affairs. However short-lived, it had really happened once, so could happen again.

 

It's good to want God to come= but God's people often want it just because they hanker for the good old days, = the days when the church was centre stage, when people were more respectful and= the shops were shut on Sundays. What if that's not God's agenda – do we s= till want him to visit us?

 

2) the still Christ

 

At the centre of the action, Jesus is focused. All through this gospel timing has been key. Jesus was focused on the coming hour – it was not yet in 2:4 and 7:30; but it is now (27, 31). He knows:

 

i) destiny (23-24; 31-33): entering Jerusalem as king for = this battle is reason he's come (27b; Isaiah 53:10f; see v38): but the battle is= not the one of popular hopes – it has to do with his death as he makes cl= ear – and because of that he will: 

✔ not be diverted by the crowd (34) or his friends (see 11:7-8, 16)

✔ not be driven by popularity – he's never been more popular because of Lazarus (though he's  never been in more danger as a res= ult of it: 10), never been in a better position to call the people to arms, to rise against Rome. And yet...

 

He knows that his destiny is = to be king on God's terms – not the crowd's, not his friends' – so= he goes to embrace it with an amazing singleness of purpose.=

 

ii) distress (27; see Isaiah 53 which lies behind this whole section); destiny is never trouble-free:

✔ <= span style=3D'font-family:"Gill Sans MT";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roma= n"; mso-fareast-language:AR-SA'>cross R= 11; the thought of suffering all-but overwhelms him and yet it's the reason he's come: 23-24, 27b, 32 and see Zechariah 9:10-11

✔ <= span style=3D'font-family:"Gill Sans MT";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roma= n"; mso-fareast-language:AR-SA'>disappointment: his friends let him down – the disciples still don't ge= t it (16) and soon they'd deny him and run

✔ <= span style=3D'font-family:"Gill Sans MT";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roma= n"; mso-fareast-language:AR-SA'>shunned: he's rejected by those who should have welcomed him (1:12) – so he knows w= hat it is to be a teenager, refugee, unemployed, shy: this is why he can be sav= iour of all!

 

iii) discipleship<= span style=3D'font-family:"Gill Sans MT";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roma= n"; mso-fareast-language:AR-SA'> (24-26; 28-29): so, how does he keep going?

✔ faith – prayer (28-29 and Gethsemane) and scripture (14: Jesus gets the donkey so can consciously fulfil prophecy aft= er people have started chanting – even though we know he's planned this carefully beforehand). His relationship with God through prayer and Bible s= tudy means he knows what his Father is calling him to do (note the intimacy of t= he address in 27-28 – that's why he can do it despite cost

✔ <= span style=3D'font-family:"Gill Sans MT";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roma= n"; mso-fareast-language:AR-SA'>following: here= of all places he gives lesson in discipleship 25-26: we're called to live like= he has; he is the shape of obedience: suddenly this isn't just a story of comi= ng king, it's call for us to live like him in world: are we up for it?

 

In this shifting crowd, in all the noise and competing expectations as Jesus enters Jerusalem, where are w= e? Is Jesus just interesting or are we drawn to him in such way that we are prepared to pay the cost of following him?