Thursday Night Fellowship
July 13, 2006
Study of John
Order
Food and fellowship
Games
Stewardship Devotional
Lesson
Prayer
Leave
Introductory Stories
Oprah Winfrey and A Million Little Pieces
Emily Dickinson's Poem
Fame is a fickle food (1659) by Emily Dickinson
Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.
Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the Farmer's Corn –
Men eat of it and die.
Our Passage: John 12:12-19, Luke 19:28-40
Recap:
Jesus comes into Jerusalem during Passover. People cheer and wave palm branches and hail the King of Israel. The disciples are confused. The Pharisees are sarcastic.
When they say King of Israel what were they expecting?
They were expecting Jesus to come take over Israel and blast away the Romans. Something didn't fit quite right though. If you were expecting a king, what animal do you think he'd be riding? A horse.
Here's a picture of the President's Limo (show picture). Read description of President's Limo. If the president's motorcade was proceeding down the street with cop cars, motorcycles, fanfare, and then at the end you see a 98 blue dodge neon, with the president waving out the sunroof, you'd think something was out of place.
What was Jesus riding? Why was Jesus riding a donkey?
To fulfill OT prophecy (Psalm 118:25-26; Zephaniah 3:15)
To show his humility Zech (9:10)
To symbolize peace
If Jesus was coming to conquer the Romans he would have rode a horse to symbolize war. Where in the Bible does Jesus come riding a horse? Revelation – when Jesus comes to finish taking over and wipe out his enemies. In John 12 Jesus has come to make peace. He makes peace between God and man through His sacrifice and not through the sword. Later he will bring his sword.
What's up with waving palm branches? Turn to 2 Maccabees 10:7....just kidding. The Maccabees are a apocryphal book that wasn't included in the protestant Bible. While it contains truth it is not Scripture. The Maccabees talk about when Judas Maccabeus cleansed the temple in the inter-testamental period. When he came into Jerusalem his followers waved palm branches to signify his victory.
We have three types of people:
Disciples
Crowds
Pharisees
Tell me something about each of them and if they are following Jesus or not:
Disciples: confused, following Jesus
Crowds: excited, following Jesus
Pharisees: angry, not following Jesus
The disciples and the crowds are following Jesus. That leaves the small group of the Pharisees left not following Jesus. It did look like the whole world was following Jesus. But what was that same crowd shouting just a few days later? Crucify Him!
What can we learn from these three people?
Disciples -they didn't quite understand the what was happening, but later did. They remained faithful and later understood why things happened like they did. We too may be in situations which don't make sense to us, but we can know that Jesus knows what's going on and he will do what is best. We can trust Jesus during times of uncertainty.
Crowds – The crowds praised Jesus with one voice and gave him the glory due to him. Let us as a youth group speak and live in such a way that praises Jesus and gives him glory. We can also learn about the fickleness of the crowd. Sometimes it's easy to follow Jesus when it's popular, but when it's difficult will you remain committed? Don't be a casual follower of Jesus Christ, because you could suddenly realize one day that you are on the wrong side.
Pharisees – Are you a skeptic or an unbeliever? See that Jesus fulfilled prophecy from hundreds of years ago. He did not rebuke the people for calling him the King of Israel, he who comes in the name of the Lord. Believe Jesus is who he says and demonstrates that he is.
Next week:
Read John 12:20-50 twice next week and see if you can figure out what Jesus is saying to the Greeks.
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