20230402 Matthew 21:1-17 - Hosanna! Save Us

Can you name the band who sang, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need”? I can think of different areas of my life where I choose what I want over what I need. What if someone could make those choices for me? I would eat better, exercise more, and enjoy more time in communion with God through prayer and Bible reading. I would spend more time with people and less time on screens. Sometimes, because of circumstances that are out of my control, I do get what I need instead of what I want. I rarely regret it!

Matt 21:1-17 shows that Jesus is not the savior we always want. He is the savior we need. He is a different savior than our sinful nature desires, but he is a better savior. 

Matt 21:1-17 presents Jesus as king in these ways. Jesus is heading for Jerusalem, the city of kings. Matthew refers to Zech 9:9, which describes the arrival of a king. Jesus is the son of King David. Like King Solomon, Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey (1 Kgs. 1:38-40). The crowd places clothes under Jesus as they had done for king Jehu in 2 Kings 9:13. Jesus is king. 

Now, other details in the text show us that he is not the king the people expected. We are attracted to comfort, money, power, and beauty. We want kings, governments, and people in power who will protect our interests. Jesus has his own agenda. In Matt 21:1-17, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem with a crowd of Galileans. Then, he confronts the religious authorities. What the people needed did not match what they wanted. Jesus angered the wrong people. A week later, he is nailed to a cross. 

How do we respond to Jesus? Will we, like the Galileans, accept Jesus as he presents himself? Or, like the religious, will we reject Jesus when he confronts us? 

Summary: Let us accept Jesus. He is the king who is God himself. He is the shepherd-king who cares for his sheep. He is the king who is the savior of the whole world.

1. Jesus is the king who is God himself (Matt 21:3, 12// Mal 3:1; Zech 14:21).

Sometimes we live as if we were God. The following are examples. We intend to worship God on Sunday. Yet, we can be more concerned about our own preferences than whether our worship pleases God. I prefer biblical texts that address other people’s sins rather than my own. As I stand in judgment over the Bible, I make myself, God. I turn to the Lord in prayer more when I need something, as if his role is to serve me. 

Matthew 21 confronts the reader with the presentation of Jesus. He is more than a human king. Matthew highlights that Jesus is God himself. (1) In Matt 21:3, Jesus instructs his disciples. If anyone asks why they are taking the donkeys, they should answer “The Lord” needs them. “The Lord” is God’s name throughout the OT.[i] (2) In Matt 21:12, when Jesus enters the temple and cleanses it, he fulfills the prophecy of Mal 3:1. God was to enter his temple to cleanse it. (3) Matthew refers to Zech 14. In this chapter, God is king, and a day is coming when the traders will no longer be in the temple (Zech 14:21). Jesus is this God and king.

Application: 

First, we need to assume that we project wrong characteristics onto Christ. The people of Israel expected a military messiah who would destroy their enemies. When Jesus arrives, he announces that they themselves were the enemies of God. Anne Lamotte says that we can be sure that we have created God in our image if he has the same enemies as we do. God reveals himself to us in his Word. The best way to know and love Jesus as he presents himself is to read the gospels. We need to accept and follow Jesus as he presents himself.

Second, as it was at Jesus' first coming, there will be surprises at Jesus’ second coming. Not everyone who calls Jesus, Lord, belongs to him. Those who belong to him do his will. This is not a call to judge others or even start doubting your salvation. It is a call to become more confident in your relationship with Jesus by turning away from sin. Jesus is the king who is God himself. He will return to judge the world. We live for Him until he returns.

Third, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem humbly. Then, he expressed anger when he entered the temple. Jesus’ zeal shows how much he opposes all who prevent people from accessing God. In the first century, spiritual abuse prevented people from going to the temple (John 9:34). The church did the same thing with the ex-communication of faithful Christians, indulgences, and religious wars. A person once told me that she had a disagreement with a pastor, and he told her that God was “very angry with her.” Every pastor, leader, parent, and Christian must use God's name, and quote the Bible carefully. We do not want to hinder people’s access to God.

2. Jesus is the shepherd-king who takes care of his sheep (Matt 21:5//Num 27:17; Zech 9:9, 12:10, 13:7).

Our ideal leaders are strong, intelligent, and winners. They achieve what they set out to do. We see in the news that corruption reigns in almost every government. No matter who is in power, leaders tend to abuse their power for their own gain. We often vote for our own interests. We want leaders who will take care of us and our loved ones so that we can have an easier life. Jesus teaches that in his kingdom, whoever wants to lead must serve. God wants humble men and women to lead his people. 

Moses was a humble shepherd who led Israel. According to Numbers 27:17, Joshua was to be the shepherd who replaced Moses. This was so that God's people would not be like sheep without a shepherd. 

The prophetic book, Zechariah, portrays Israel’s leaders as shepherds. Matthew quotes Zech 9:9. It is part of a series of messianic texts. They foresee the conflict between the messiah and Israel's leaders. The Messiah is the good shepherd, while Israel's leaders are the bad shepherds (Zech 11). Zech 12:10 and 13:7 present the death of the good shepherd. By quoting Zech 9:9, Matthew identifies Jesus with the good shepherd. He shows that at this point, Jesus’ death was inevitable. 

The good shepherd is a humble king who brings peace. Like every king, he wants his empire to grow. With Christ, it is not by shedding the blood of his enemies. Rather, out of love, his kingdom will grow by the shedding of his own blood. He is not a manipulative leader, but a gentle servant. Jesus is the kind of politician who would never be elected by any people, but the shepherd we all need. 

We need gentleness, humble leadership, grace, mercy, and love. Jesus is that shepherd. Before the incarnation, he had all the glory that was due to him. But our God shows us his way of ruling. Jesus came to us. He became a human being. He knew the temptation of the devil. He suffered, even death, for us. This is the kind of shepherd that he is for us. He takes care of his sheep.

Application: 

The word “pastor” means shepherd. Pastors are to follow Jesus' example in gentleness, humility, and love to serve God's people. Everyone who serves in the church seeks to be like our good shepherd. Parents, brothers, sisters, spouses, sons and daughters, this includes you. At home, school, work, and church, as we are clothed with Christ, we present Christ. In humility, we become servants to all. I saw this in a kitchen once, “Anyone who wants to change the world can start by washing dishes!” I was talking with two friends recently. One said he wanted to be a CAKE kind of person. The other stopped him and asked, what is a CAKE kind of person? A Curious Attentive, Kind, with good Eye Contact listener. This is a wonderful way to care humbly for people.

3. Jesus is the king who is the savior of the world (Matt 21:5, 13, 14// Zech 9:9, Isa 56:7; 2 Sam 5:8).

I remember a big sign in Florida before the last presidential elections in the USA. It said, “Only God and Donald Trump can save our country.” I thought, God, yes, I agree, Donald Trump, I'm not so sure! It's normal to turn to a man when you don't know Jesus. Throughout the history of redemption, God is a savior. He saved Noah, Lot, and Israel from Egypt, and from Babylon. God is a savior. God saved Israel from other nations, but our biggest problem is our spiritual problem. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, the crowd of Galileans accompanied him. They cried out: “Hosanna.” This is a combination of two Hebrew words, Hoshi'ah - brings salvation, and na - now. 

In the Bible, salvation is not always about salvation from sin. The concept of salvation occurs in warfare. God saves his people from their enemies. Salvation also refers to the healing of a disease. In our context, Matthew refers to three verses in the OT that announce God's work through his messiah. Jesus brings peace to the entire world so that all kinds of people can have a relationship with God. The contexts of these verses show an expansion of who has access to God in the Messiah.

First, there is Zech 9. In Zech 9:9, the Messiah arrives in Jerusalem on a donkey. According to Zech 9:10, the shepherd will do two things. He will announce peace to the nations and rule from sea to sea from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth! Jesus is the king of the world. He has come to proclaim peace to the world. Jesus can bring us comfort when we are distressed by what is happening in Ukraine. If Jesus is for world peace, he is already working through the power of the gospel. This is why we want to spread the gospel throughout the world. Our first step is to be serious about the gospel having its effect in our lives. A second step is to involve ourselves in a local gospel preaching church. Third, we disciple one another so that every one of us is always ready to explain our faith. Fourth, we pray that God would allow us to have conversations with people. As a church we can get creative for creating space for gospel conversations.

Second, Matt 21:13 read, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you will make it a den of thieves.” This verse borrows from Isa 56:7. The previous verse, Isaiah 56:6, speaks of the temple as a place where all nations will come to praise God. It will be a house of prayer for all nations. We who belong to the nations see this text fulfilled in our lives. The church includes people from all nations and is the temple of God filled with the Holy Spirit.

Third, after Jesus drove the traders out of the temple, he healed the blind and lame in Matt 21:14. This very group was excluded from the temple of God's house according to David in 2 Sam 5:8. There were many reasons in the OT that meant people could not enter into the Temple. These restrictions taught the holiness of God. Everyone who comes to Christ is clothed by Jesus’ righteousness. They can enter into the presence of a Holy God. This includes all those barred by OT restrictions.  

We see that Matthew, by his choice of OT texts, presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies. He is the savior of all people Jewish, and non-Jewish, and no matter what your physical condition. Jesus invites everyone so we can extend his invitation to all.

Conclusion:

Jesus is the king who is God himself, a gentle shepherd, and the savior of humanity. He is the humble king who gave himself for the sins of the world. This is the Jesus we serve and follow. This is the Jesus we want Brussels to hear about. We proclaim this message of the forgiveness of sin for all. We are a people who love all people, from all nations, no matter what their physical condition or sin. We do this knowing that God accepted us with our flaws. Let us be his agents of reconciliation for his glory as we remember our identity in him. We serve Jesus our king. He is God himself, a caring shepherd, and the savior of humanity.


[i] “The LORD” in Greek, occurs throughout the LXX. It replaces God’s Hebrew covenant name, YHWH.

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