OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO HIS PEOPLE TO SAVE THEM

The apogee of Jesusˋ purpose and calling was now rapidly approaching and Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 - 11 registered the initializing steps that were taken to tip the first  domino that would then be followed by the sequence of confrontations with the religious and political forces that led to His arrest.

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Zechariah 9:9) saying:

5 “Tell the daughter of Zion Behold, 

your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, 

A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

Zacharia the prophet, in chapter 9 verse 9, foretold the counter-intuitive signifier of the Messiahˋs arrival where instead of a riding into Jerusalem with a mighty horse in a conquering invasion, He would ride into the city humbly riding a tiny young donkey. To prepare for the fulfillment of this prophecy, Jesus sent His disciples to get a donkey and her colt from a village they were passing and that a person there, already made aware of the requirement, would let them take the animals.

6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David! 

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ 

Hosanna in the highest!”

When the donkeys were brought back to the staging area just outside Jerusalem, the crowd that was with Jesus put clothing on the donkeys and set Jesus on the back of  the colt and they entered the city of Jerusalem as a procession that was laying garments and tree branches on the road as He rode the colt along. The procession of people in front of Him and behind Him yelled out expressions of high admiration for the Lord Jesus and proclaimed Him to be the Son of David and that He had come in the name of the Lord. 

This entrance was a non-threatening provocation that drew attention to the Lord Jesus and made everyone aware of His arrival in Jerusalem. By riding a tiny donkey that still needed its mother nearby to provide milk, His entrance into the city was non-militarized and it belied the historic gravity of the arrival of the Messiah into Jerusalem for the final time. The needle that needed to be threaded was to raise Jesusˋ profile in the city of Jerusalem without appearing belligerent which may had triggered a security response by the Roman soldiers who had a garrison in the city at the time. The careful balance of signals worked as intented because the whole city was buzzing with the question of the identity of the colt rider without feeling threatened and the people who had accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem were able to furnished them with the answer that it was the prophet Jesus of Nazareth from the northern Galilee region who had paid the city a visit.

10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Now that the Lord Jesus was in the city, a rapid sequence of events occurred that brought the political and religious tensions to a fever pitch due the fear and envy of the religious leaders and this culminated in Jesusˋ arrest, trial and sentence of death.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO BRING SIGHT TO THE BLIND

The Lord, moving inexorably towards Jerusalem, left the city of Jericho with a large contingent of followers with him.

Along the roadside were two blind men who heard that Jesus was about to pass their location and so, addressing Him by the title Son of David, they began to call out for the Lord to have mercy on them. The people around Jesus, not wanting the Lord to be bothered by random people along the road, tried to silence the two men but they ignored the directives to be quiet and yelled even louder for the Lord to have mercy on them.

Matthew chapter 20 verses 29 - 34 records the narrative this way,

29 Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. 30 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

31 Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”

32 So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

33 They said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.” 34 So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

The commotion along the road caught Jesusˋ attention and He stopped and called the two men to Himself and asked them what they were clamoring for.

They told Jesus that they wanted to have their eyes opened.

The zenith of Jesusˋ mission was rapidly approaching and the political temperature was rising sharply against Jesus as His influence grew in Samaria, Judea and even in Jerusalem. The religious leaders were actively seeking ways to destroy His ministry and they were putting out bounties for His arrest.

Under this tense atmosphere, Jesus, confronted by the two blind and desparate men, felt compassion for them and He touched their eyes which brought immediate restoration of their sight and they threw their lot in with Jesus and followed Him.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON AS A RANSOM FOR MANY

The mother of the Zebedee brothers, the disciples James and John, had approached Jesus with her sons and lobbied Him for high positions for her sons in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew chapter 20 verses 24 - 28 records the aftermath of that effort and Jesusˋ subsequent corrective teaching on the subject of jockying for positions of prestige.

24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

When word got out that the Zebedee family had discreetly tried to press Jesus for preeminent positions in the kingdom of heaven, the remaining ten disciples were offended and a rift could have established itself in the midst of the disciples on the strength of that incident but the Lord Jesus called a meeting and gave them some perspective on the nature of rulership in the kingdom of God that humbled the Zebedee brothers and assuaged the rest of the disciples.

For contrast, Jesus help up an example of the Gentile societies where positions of power wielded by the rulers were gained and maintained by asserting forceful dominance over the rest of the people in their societies but Jesus told the disciples that in the kingdom of heaven, this would not be the operating model.

Those who would rule in the kingdom of heaven would be servants instead of lords and they would be slaves instead of masters. 

If any of them aspired to greatness in the kingdom of heaven, they would have to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus who did not come to earth to be served but to serve and not to demand the lives of others be given for Him but to give His life for others.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO WILL DETERMINE THOSE WHO WILL SIT IN AUTHORITY IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD

In the book of Matthew chapter 20 verses 20 - 23, an encounter between the mother of two of the Lord Jesusˋ disciples occured.

Mrs. Zebedee, having recieved some revelation into the identity of Jesus and the importance of His ministry and His eternal kingship, calculated that her early perception of the truth about Jesus could gain her sons, who were already His disciples, prominent positions in the kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming if she lobbied Him before anyone else did.

Mrs. Zebedee approached Jesus respectfully, knelt before Him and asked for a favour.

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”

Jesus listened to her wish which was basically a request to post her two sons in the number two and number three positions in the hierachy of the kingdom of God.

A few verses earlier, in Matthew chapter 20 verse 16, the Lord had laid out the protocols of attaining greatness in the kingdom of God,

16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” 

The kingdom of heaven placed people in high positions of authority based on their voluntary self-relegation to the lowest positions of service. Likewise, the people who assigned themselves to elevated positions, were moved to lower placements.

These mechanisms bypass the channels of lobbying or back-room dealing and rely on the Fatherˋs final decisions as to whom to place where.

The Lord Jesus responded to the womanˋs petition by letting her know that even though she had gained insight into Jesusˋ identity and how exalted He truly was, she was not privy to the processes that attaining those elevated positions would require.

22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”

23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

Jesus asked the two disciples if they were capable of drinking the cup of suffering He was about to drink from and be baptized in the brook of death that he was about to be baptized in and they replied that they were able. 

The Lord Jesus assured them that they would partake in those things but nonetheless, the posting to positions of authority in the kingdom of God were not up to Him but were in the purview of the Father who had prepared these roles for those He had determined would fill them.

Have mercy on us O God.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS BELOVED SON TO DIE ON OUR BEHALF

Matthew chapter 20  verses 17 - 19 captures a moment where the Lord Jesus paused privately with His disciples and told them plainly that there was going to be a sequence of events that would take place when they got to Jerusalem that would result in His trial, scourging and crucifixion. 

17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”

This revelation was given to the disciples as they travelled to Jerusalem to prepare them for the imminent culmination of Jesus ministry as a servant on the earth.

The events that Jesus mentioned would happen to him are in this order;

• Arrival at Jerusalem
• Betrayal to the chief priests
• Betrayal to the scribes
• Condemned to death
• Delivered to the Gentiles to mock
• Delivered to the Gentile to scourge
• Delivered to the Gentiles to Crucify
• Rise again on the third day

The disciples, having been given a concise agenda, did not fully understand that it was going to actually happen and that they were headed towards the end of life as they knew it.

Even though the disciples understood that going to Jerusalem was dangerous for them for example in John 11 verse 8 which says “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”, they could not imagine that the Lord would let Himself be entrapped and killed.

They also did not understand the last event on the list which was the ressurection, would also be happening and this would change the history and open eternity of mankind.

The kingdom of heaven that Jesus had painstakingly been teaching His disciples about was going to become accessible to them and the rest of the world when they believed that Jesus, having died on a cross to pay the debt of their sins, rose from the dead.

The ressurection of Jesus was the certificate of the success of the transaction and innaugurated the kingdom of heaven being available to us.

Amen and thank you Lord Jesus.

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