Today we’re going on a deep dive into what sorts of agenda sand demands Jesus confronted on Palm Sunday. The shocking thing about the story is how we should all walk away from Palm Sunday and learn to be more introspective about our own sometimes hidden motives because we’d all be in a better place if we listened to Jesus instead of demanding of Jesus.
Handout
No wonder the Herods, the Caesars and the Sadducees of this world, ancient and modern, were and are eager to rule out all possibility of actual resurrection. They are, after all, staking a counter-claim on the real world. It is the real world that the tyrants and bullies try to rule by force, only to discover that in order to do so they have to quash all rumors of resurrection, rumors that would imply that their greatest weapons, death and deconstruction, are not after all omnipotent.
T. WRIGHT AND MICHAEL BIRD
He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.”
MARK 7:6–7
Matthew 7:29 (NIV) 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 22:23–33 (NIV) 23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
Acts 4:2 (NIV) 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:27)
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:20)
John 3:3 (NIV) 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
(Matt. 15:6–9 ESV)
John 1:29 (NIV) 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Series outline adapted from Darling, Daniel. The Characters of Easter. Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.