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Vignette 2, for Mark Chapter 11:1-11

4/17/11

Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Mark 11:9

As it does today, the Middle East of the 1st Century reeled toward tumult.

Growing discontent swirled then as a tempest, sweeping away the indigent, impoverished

and pathetic masses of people. In 2011, multiplied billions still look for an escape fromthe circumstances and the structures of society by which they are hopelessly bound in

servitude. Laboring in vain, too many find themselves permanently cast as an under class

in the majority of the worlds 195 recognized countries.

Contemporary American discontent grows as well. Economic hard times have hitus all. We loathe the hubris and greed of a cursed few that have brought our country to

its knees, but we must multiply our pain a thousand times over to begin to understand the

discontent of those pathetic souls subjected to the interminable reigns of despots who

wield power with their iron fists. Revolution is still in the wind. Jesus Christ was, inaddition to being a Prophet, Priest and King, a Revolutionary.

In response to the revolutionary spirit, Barbarism was the order of the day forthose that resisted Roman authority in the first Century in Judah. While it offered many

benefits to Roman citizens, the Pax Romana required tribute and obedience. Resistance

was futile. Wise leaders finding themselves adversaries to Rome quickly acquiesced to

Roman authority. They were spared, and to a degree, thrived as a result.In Judea during the time of Christ, a family of vassal Kings remained upon a

puppet throne of Rome as long as the submission of Judeans was guaranteed. Shortly

after the time of Christ, the Judean power structure changed. Rome utterly vanquishedthe nation, severing the wandering Jews from their homeland for the next two millennia.

A minor character in the gospel, but a player none-the-less, Herod Antipas filledthe shoes of his father, Herod the Great. Earthbound, fleshly and wicked to the core, hewas governed by the same excess that corrupted every branch of his family tree. As is

the case today, so has always been true; the character of nations and peoples are utterly

dependent upon those who rule over them. When good and honorable individuals rise toauthority, nations are prepared for times of great blessing. When the opposite is true, as

we see most clearly in places like Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda and Ivory Coast,

chaos, destruction, murder and mayhem rule the day.

A few steps short was Herod of these extreme circumstances, but not too many. Itwas, after all, Herod who acquiesced to his mistress, the wife of his brother, Phillip, and

her request for the head of John the Baptist in a charger He was a drunken fool of a

king. To him and his court, Jesus Christ was one of an ever-growing parade ofcuriosities. Paranoid from continual inebriation and excess, when he heard of the mighty

deeds done by the Lord Jesus Christ, he could think of nothing but his great sin, spilling

the innocent blood of the greatest prophet ever to walk the earth, John the Baptist.It must have given Herod some relief to have Pilate send the Lord Jesus Christ to

him to undergo his foolish inquest; an inquest to which the Lord Jesus gave no response.

He certainly thought to himself, I have nothing to fear from this shadow of a human

being, this so-called Christ. But as is the common destiny of men and women, we

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must all appear before the judgment seat that which Herod assumed hed escaped was

waiting for him in the seconds after his death.

If the authorities, religious and civil, Pharisees, Sadducees, Procurators andTetrarchs alike were ignorant of their time and the nature of the person paraded before

them, the commoner of the day perceived quite well the nature of Jesus Christ. Is it the

eyes of the blind that see because they most have the need? Whatever the case may be,the common people heard him gladly.

Oppressed religiously and politically, their hungering hearts were never full.

They were a stouthearted people; hard working and plain. This is the case most of thetime with the church through the ages. Paul said it to the Corinthians, For ye see your

calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many

noble, are called: (1Co 1:26 AV)

We are not those who should say who is called or who can be saved. Only Godknows the heart. But consider it a rule of thumb, salvation by grace through faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ is a matter for those who choose and most often those who choose are

those on the margins of societies.

To them the Lord Jesus came, not with a scepter or a crown, not in riches andglory, in honor and in power. He came to them simply and humbly. Their heartfelt

acclamation as he rode into Jerusalem on the road from Bethany was a fulfillment ofZechariahs prophecy, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O

daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with

salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zec

9:9 NAS95)And so, in fulfillment of prophecy, and the very nature of the God of the

Universe, here in Jesus Christ, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to

shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the thingswhich are strong, (1Co 1:27 NAS95)

While they cried Hosanna in fulfillment of the prophets word, they yearned for

more than they were initially to receive. They were anticipating the Kingdom of God toburst forth in the glorious reign of the King, the son of David, Jesus Christ.

Jewish Messianic expectation is quite different from its Christian fulfillment.

Through the centuries the Church has magnified corrupt humanitys greatest need,forgiveness of sin, and taken the suffering servants sacrificial death on a Roman Cross to

the nth degree. Christian doctrine is built upon this part of the gospel story.

But Jews have a completely different understanding of such things. They separate

the atoning work of the Priests and Levites from the ruling work of a king like KingDavid in the Kingdom of God. Their anticipation on that great Palm Sunday was the

renaissance of the Davidic Monarchy. It was, after all, during the reign of King David

that the Nation of Israel could be said to have been at its zenith.While Davids son, Solomon, expanded the Kingdom geographically, the hearts

of the people of Judah could only hearken back to the progenitor of the Royal Family.

We do this ourselves as Americans when we rehearse our history and hearken back to ourmost famous logger-in-chief, President Washington.

Remember however, that which was misunderstood about the nature of Messianic

prophecy, does not negate the reality of what began at the moment of Christs baptism;

the inauguration of the Kingdom of God (Heaven). Everything about the Lord Jesus

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ministry pointed to the dual nature of that Kingdom. It is a kingdom both now and

future. It is at hand and yet to come. It is, none-the-less, powerfully at work in the world

today through the lives and ministries of its subjects, every individual who now namesthe name of Jesus Christ.

What the crowd cried on that first Palm Sunday, we acclaim today to the Lord

Jesus Christ. Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And whilewe ascribe such high praise to Him, we remember also that the same must be ascribed to

us, his followers, as we go in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and do those things that

he promised we would when he said to the apostles, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he whobelieves in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will

do; because I go to the Father. (Joh 14:12 NAS95)

Indeed, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.