Northside Church - Sydney
3 Easter Questions: Week 1 – Who is He?
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Well, you can scarcely believe your eyes. You're sitting in a 5,000 seat theatre and whilst the audience is undercover, the stage is in the open air and it's the biggest stage you've ever seen. It's absolutely massive. It's a crowd of 5,000 and then you reach one of the climactic points in this presentation which is, it's a presentation on the life of Jesus and the climactic part is this entry. It's entry into Jerusalem and they tell us that at that point there are in excess of 800 people on the stage. Now, some of you are a step ahead of me and you know what I'm referring to. There's a growing number of Northsideers who've seen this. I'm one of them. It's the Oberamigal passion play in the Bavarian Alps in Germany. It's this play with a long history, it goes back nearly 400 years. They presented every, the villages presented every 10 years and there are special reasons for that but it's a major event in the summer, the German summer every 10 years and there are 2,000 people, 2,000 villages take part in the, in the acting and in the music and in the singing. It's, it's a speck, it goes for five hours and there's a one hour lunch break and so you are, you've really caught up on the latest in the closing events in the life of Jesus by the time this thing is over. In excess of 800 people waving palm branches, shouting Hosanna, laying their, their cloaks on the roadway. It's a total recreation of this passage that was read to us just then by James. It's a scene that I will, I will not forget, I don't think ever in my life. I may lead another tour in 2020 if I'm still moving. And if you want to see this spectacular performance and start saving, 2020 is the next time it will be presented. Well, the producers of Oberamigal do a spectacular job of recreating this, this final entry of Jesus into Jerusalem but I guess it's like so many things. It's a case of if you wanted to understand the full impact you would have had to have been there because they can only really begin to describe what it must have been like. This entry, which took place about a week before the events of that first Easter weekend. And Matthew tries to capture the mood and the atmosphere in the 10th verse of the 21st chapter. And this is what he says, "When Jesus entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into uproar." Who is he? The people asked. And friends, that's interesting because in the next verse it says, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee, the crowds answered." Now this is not without significance, here's a reference to the people and there's a reference to the crowd. The people of the city ask, "Who is he?" And the crowds who are following Jesus provide the reply, "This is Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee." Now what does this mean? Is this just semantics? No, there's something very important happening here. It means that not everyone knew what was going on. On the day when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. I think we in the church, we have this idea that on the day of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, every man, woman and child of the city was there waving a prawn branch, laying their cloaks on the road, "Jesus, pick me, pick me." Just absolutely going crazy. Well, if we look closely at the biblical evidence, it becomes apparent there were those who had been swept up in what we might call Jesus' mania, and there were those who were oblivious to what was going on. Who was he? That was their question. Who was he? What was all this fuss about? This is not surprising when you consider that historians estimate that there were around 80,000 permanent inhabitants in the ancient city of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Around 80,000. But that crowd swelled significantly to deep into the 100,000s during the season of Pentecost and the rather Passover. That's what we're looking at in this passage. This is the lead up to Passover. The crowd in the city could swell under those conditions anywhere between 120, 150, maybe even 160,000. So Jesus was entering the city at a time when thousands of others were also entering, many of them from places Jesus had never even visited. So you've got a mixture of people who know Jesus and who just don't know what's going on at all. But we shouldn't be surprised by this because even in some of his direct contact with people, just to face contact, there were people who really didn't know what was going on, didn't really know who Jesus was. Remember when he, at the beginning of his message, when he stands up in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, reads the prophet Isaiah, makes the extraordinary claim that that passage is fulfilled this day within their hearing? You know the response? Who was this? Who was he? Wait a minute. Isn't this Jesus? Son of Mary and Joseph, paid soccer with my kids growing up. I mean, who's this guy I think he is? Who is he? And then of course in Luke chapter 7, there's that incident with Jesus and Simon the Pharisee. And Jesus goes to have a meal in Simon's house. And there's a prostitute there who decides to anoint the feet of Jesus with the expensive perfume. The surprise that his feet with her hair is a very touching moment of surrender and of commitment. And what does verse 49, sorry, verse 49 of that Luke 7 say, "Then others sitting at the table began to say to themselves, 'Who is this? Who is this? Who even forgives sins?' And then in the following chapter, chapter 8 is the incident with Jesus coming the storm. You know, the storm is raging and the disciples are convinced they're going to die. Jesus, like me, sleep anywhere, he eats the sleep in the bottom of the boat. They finally wake him up, 'Lord, don't you understand? We're going to bat the die' and he goes, 'Yeah, okay, hang on. It's going to be okay.' And he says, 'Peace be still.' And what follows? Here's their question. Who is this man? Who is this man? He gives orders to the winds and the waves and they obey him. Yes, they've been with him for a period, but they were still coming to grips with his identity and certainly with his capacity for the miraculous. Well, here in Matthew 21, Jesus' three-year ministry is entering a final phase, a climactic phase. Within the next few days, he will be betrayed by one of his disciples. The rest will desert him, he'll be hauled before the Roman authorities in a mock trial, he'll be beaten to within an inch of his life, he'll be nailed to a cross, he'll be buried in a borrowed tomb. But oh, how things change so quickly, how things can just change, you know this in your life. You can be going great, everything's fine and you're only a breath, a moment away from things totally changing. Can you relate to that? Jesus Christ can relate to that because the week started with such promise that things were about to change, the week that the city was in uproar, the whole city was in uproar. Now friends, it takes a lot to cause our city, a whole city to be in uproar, to get to a point where you can say that it's truly in uproar, it's in a state of pandemonium, there's turmoil and turbulence, there's a high level of commotion and calamity. We've seen this in cities over the years in our recent lifetime. I think it's fair to say New York was in a state of uproar, immediately following the events, the events of 9/11, certainly London in 2005 and the terrorist bombing was in a state of uproar, our own Brisbane was in a state of uproar following the tragic floods earlier this year, Christ Church following the earthquake, those northern cities of Japan following the tsunami, sometimes in very rare instances it takes the visit of only one person, like in this case Jesus, one person to throw a city in uproar, we've seen this here in Sydney with the visit by the Pope a number of years ago, President Bush, remember that? And those guys from the ABC adding to the mix, Vice President Cheney, where they closed the harbor bridge just so he could make a trip to Admiral E. House, get a taxi dick, get a water taxi, you know, get a ferry, that's what we're famous for, and what about recently with Oprah? And yeah, this is where whole sections of the CBD are closed off so that the motorcades of these celebrities can move around with ease, with speed, with comfort while the rest of us sit frustrated in gridlock and burn with rage, you know, well, there was no motorcade for Jesus, no closing off the streets, but his entry into the ancient city of Jerusalem caused an uproar, there was the crowd, the crowd of devotees, and they were doing all in their power to create a sense of uninhibited joy and celebration, waving the palm branches, calling out O'Zanna, and they were, they were those who were wondering what the heck was going on, just did not get it, who is it, what's the fuss, friends here's something very important, those with the question were attracted by the fervor of the crowd, the followers of Jesus, now there's a word we don't use too often these days, fervor, it means intense passion, and it's one of the most effective means of encouraging people to consider Jesus Christ and his claim on their life, and in some cases it ultimately leads them to commit their lives to him, I've seen this over the years, not only every case, but I've seen cases over the years, I've seen it here at Northside, it's where people are brought into the life of our church, maybe socially, maybe through a connection group, maybe to one of the services, maybe through one of our outreach, or community service ministries, one of our courses, and they're quite taken by the enthusiastic sense of purpose and direction the followers of Jesus seem to have, they're challenged by the level of commitment being shown, by the extent to which people are prepared to give of their time and their money and their gifts and their energy and their talents, and this is infectious, that's an infectious thing that strikes a lot of community people as quite strange, because there aren't many settings in our community where this sort of dynamic can happen, where intergenerationally people get a sense of mission and vision and all pulled together and do whatever it takes to achieve the result, there aren't too many equivalents in society, and so people are quite surprised by this, particularly if their life is lacking in a sense of purpose, particularly if their life is decidedly deficient in the area of meaning and fulfillment, the idea of following Jesus Christ has a magnetic attraction about it, at least initially, it's not the only thing, but it's a point of contact, I've seen it many times, well on the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, people were shouting they were waving palm branches, they were throwing their garments, they were affirming their belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah, it was a tumultuous energy filled, passion filled event, and people wanted to know who was behind it, who was causing all this fuss, who is he, and friends here's the thing, they were given a clear, unequivocal answer to their question, verse 11, there it is, this is the Prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee, the crowds answered, this is the one we've been waiting for, this is the promised one, this is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed be him who comes in the name of the Lord, yes the people of Jerusalem were confronted by a decision that day, a potentially life-changing decision, a pivotal decision in their lives, you see, who is he, who is he, is the question of the ages, it really is, who is Jesus, that's the question of the ages, that's the question that demands a response because Jesus is the central character of history, he's the dividing line, you know, BC, AD, there it is, he is the pivotal person of human history, but more than that he makes extraordinary, even outrageous claims, he says I am the way, the truth and the life, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, I and my Father are one, he went on to say I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, though they be dead, yet shall they live, and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die, friends Jesus claims to be God, he claims to be the only means of salvation, he claims to have the key to eternal life, these are incredible claims, so when the question comes to you and me, who is he, who is Jesus, what's he all about, we rather accept Jesus, so who he claims to be, or we reject him, or we do what I suspect a lot of people do, it's the same as that little pop-up that comes onto our computer screens when there are updates to be installed, ask me later, I think that's where a lot of people are, oh ask me later, I've got too much living to do, ask me later about that Jesus stuff, well here's the thing, answer the question we must, see people are more inclined to ask the question when they see and experience our intense passion as followers of Jesus, that's what happened in Jerusalem, they saw the fervent, they saw the craziness, who is he, what's causing all this, and people are more inclined to ask the question when they see and experience our intense passion, when they see and experience our availability to care, when they see our willingness to serve, our desire to give, our capacity to love, when they see and experience all of these things, then people are more inclined to ask, who is he, who is this Jesus who commands such allegiance, who is this Jesus who evokes such deep passion and intentionality on the part of his followers, who is this Jesus who's changed your life my friend, my husband, my wife, my child, who is he, what's what's happened to you, friend you know Easter, Easter provides us with a unique opportunity to arouse interest in the one who came to seek and to save the lost, you see Jesus is about to make his entry into our city, sadly it's unlikely to throw the city into uproar that just shows you how times have changed, it's up to us as a church and as Christians to determine the extent to which people take notice of Easter 2011, you see it's Easter again and there will be special services in churches, there will be questions asked about what are you going to do over Easter, where are you going, what's it mean to you, maybe not in quite those words, the TV stations will run some classic movies on the life of Jesus, you know, being her and the greatest story ever told, they all come out and they'll show the documentaries like the Christ files and so on, Wesley Mission will have their annual street parade where they take an actor through the streets in preparation for his mock trial and crucifixion, there will be good Friday and Easter Sunday services and the media will be there in some of our big cathedrals and they'll show on the news how the Christians responded to Easter this year, there with the Jesus march which we will be providing some leaflets for in a church march in the city and all of this will say that Jesus is entering the city once again, just like on that first Palm Sunday, our friends within our circle of friends, within our families, among our colleagues, we'll find ourselves, maybe some of us, we'll find ourselves in a situation where somebody asked who is he, who is he, what's this all about, what's this fuss all about, now here's the point and this is directly back to the original incident, the chances of that happening are directly proportional to the extent to which they observe passion and fervour in your life and mind, ultimately the extent to which they see the difference that Jesus Christ makes by his regenerative power of the Holy Spirit within, it's not a matter of being good, it's a matter of letting his power be unleashed within our lives, I remember a cartoon that appeared years ago in the Adelaide Advertiser at Easter, I kept it in my file for many years but then I realised I'd never forget it, so I think in one of my many cleanouts I let it go but I'll never forget this cartoon, it was a series of pictures, Easter and Easter traffic jam and the traffic was banked up for kilometres as far as the eye could see, it's made, cars just banked up, winding their way out of the city and the next frame showed motorists honking their horns and yelling out what's that hold up, I've got a holiday to get to, I've got four days off, I've got my kids screaming what's the hold up, who's up the front there, what in earth's going on and at the top of the cartoon, there's a bruised and battered and bloody Jesus carrying his cross, he was holding up the big Easter Exodus, see friends Easter involved a person, most of us have answered who is he, most of us have taken him as our Lord and Saviour but we mix and move with people all the time who have not made that decision, some of you in this church right now haven't made that decision, we get a chance, some of us the awesome privilege of being able to help people discover as they did on that first Palm Sunday, who is he, he's Jesus of Nazareth, he's the Saviour of the world, he's the one who can just change everything, oh I hope and pray that if that opportunity comes your way and my way we'll be ready, happy will, let's bow and pray shall we?