when Palm Sunday as Holy Week begins
were drawn to very particular attention
obviously everything Jesus said and did
is worthy of our attention but there's
something about these words and actions
as he comes to the climax of his life
that draw our attention very
particularly and here's one that we're
gonna miss but but I would argue no
first century Jew would miss it
we here now in Mark's Gospel this line
when Jesus and His disciples drew near
to Jerusalem to beth faj and bethany at
the mount of olives you say well yeah
okay he's just coming to jerusalem and
he's giving us a little geographical
detail but anyone that's been in
jerusalem no is that just to the east of
the holy city is the Mount of Olives and
then further on the eastern slope of the
Mount of Olives you've got Beth faj and
Bethany so Jesus is approaching mark is
telling us gradually from the east he's
coming to his holy city and you say well
so what why in the world would that be
important well here's why it's important
keep in mind any pious Jew of Jesus time
is just swimming in the text of
Scripture when they were trying to
understand anything they they in turn to
philosophy or we would today by turn to
science they would turn to the Bible to
the great text of their tradition here's
text they all would have known from the
prophet Ezekiel Ezekiel I've spoken
before about him in these videos it's
especially mysterious and haunting
here's the text those from chapter 10 of
Ezekiel the glory of the Lord went out
from the threshold of a house and
stopped above the cherubim so he's
imagining the cherubim the angels and
the glory the Lord's above them the
cherubim lifted up their wings and rose
up from the earth in my sight as they
went out they stopped at the entrance of
the east gate of the house of the Lord
and the glory the Lord of Israel was
above them now what's being described
there is something utterly devastating
Ezekiel is pronouncing a kind of
judgment on the temple
the temple was in almost a literal sense
Yahweh's dwelling place on earth but
it's become so corrupt Ezekiel saying
that the Shekinah the glory of Yahweh
which dwelt in the temple got up and
left and it left by the east gate which
is the main gate of the temple and then
as he goes on further he says it hovered
above the Mount of Olives
so he's imagining the glory of the Lord
leaving the holy temple and and going
east devastating text haunting text has
God's glory in fact left the temple
because of its corruption but then now a
little later in Ezekiel we find this the
prophecy that one day the glory of the
of the Lord would return and return the
same way he left listen now this is from
chapter 43 then he brought me to the
gate the gate facing east and there the
glory of the God of Israel was coming
from the east the sound was like the
sound of mighty waters and the earth
shone with his glory he left because of
corruption but he will come back says
Ezekiel and he'll come back from the
east and take possession of his temple
and then Ezekiel says read the rest of
that book from 43 on the temple would
then be rebuilt and reconstituted and
the glory of the Lord would dwell in it
okay as I say pious Jews of that time
would have known these texts would have
been haunted by these tax they're trying
to understand Jesus Jesus who said as he
commenced his public ministry you have a
greater than the temple here see what
he's saying in his own person heaven and
earth have come together in his own
person the glory of Yahweh is dwelling
okay they've heard him say that and now
they see at the climax of his life he's
approaching Jerusalem from the east who
is he
that's just an itinerant rabbi he's the
Shekinah he's the glory of Yahweh now
coming back to reclaim his temple now
now watch what he does the minute he
arrives in the holy city as he goes into
that temple like Ezekiel he proclaims
judgment upon it overturns the tables I
will tear this place down and in three
days rebuild it exactly what zekiel said
would happen when the Shekinah of Yahweh
would return the temple would be rebuilt
Saint John adds of course he's talking
about the temple of his body see so
what's happening here is very richly
textured presentation ISM is Jesus is
the reestablishment of the link between
heaven and earth which had become
ruptured through sin the Shekinah of
Yahweh had left the temple but now in
Christ the two come together
he himself is the rebuilt temple okay as
if that weren't enough there's more on
Pamplona that's why these these texts
are so densely a textured the other gray
text which the first Christians couldn't
have missed is zechariah 9:9 easy
remember Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9
here it is
rejoice greatly o daughter Zion shout
aloud o daughter Jerusalem lo your King
comes to you triumphant and victorious
is he humble and riding on a donkey on a
Colt the foal of a donkey okay there's
Zechariah predicting what the definitive
return of the Davidic King so go back to
2nd Samuel now we find David the great
king of Israel coming into Jerusalem
David conquered Jerusalem and
established it as his capital as he
enters leading the Ark of the Covenant
the people wave palm branches and
celebrate in comes the triumphant King
David's son Solomon builds the great
temple which houses the Ark of the
Covenant for that brief shining moment
Israel is well governed it has a
righteous King but then as we know
Solomon himself and then a whole slew of
his descendants fall into corruption
they're not doing what the Israelite
King is supposed to do the prophets
pronounced judgment on the Kings as they
pronounce judgment on the temple and
they begin to long and hope that one day
a definitive David would return that
Zechariah's prophecy now to make it even
more textured another conviction is
dawning on the ancient Israelites that
somehow in this Davidic King Yahweh
himself would become king Yahweh would
govern his people through this Davidic
King listen now just to a couple of
passages I could have chosen so many
more here's from Isaiah your sentinels
lift up their voices together they sing
for joy for in plain sight they see the
return of Yahweh to Zion Yahweh as king
coming into Zion here's some even the
Prophet Maliki for I am a great king
says Yahweh of hosts and my name is
reverenced among the nations that's the
idea
Yahweh would reign as king and then all
the nations would would see it
here's Psalm 145 I will extol you my God
and king and bless your name forever
your kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom
your Dominion endures throughout all
generations Davidic King yes who is the
vehicle by which Yahweh becomes king of
Israel and thereby king of the world
The Return of the King long before
Tolkien picked that up is a great
biblical idea but let's see the
wonderful poetry oh can you beat the
Bible when it comes to just the that
that sense of irony and poetic reversal
and
how will this Davidic King arrive well I
mean ancient peoples knew and we do too
we have the triumphant King comes on the
Arabian charger comes surrounded by his
army same thing to do you know it's true
today our presidents and kings and prime
ministers are surrounded by their Armed
Forces and great display of worldly
might and all that
how's he come though this new Davidic
King on a donkey not a arabian charger
and even on the foal like a baby like a
little donkey surrounded by armies no he
comes in humility and simplicity
beautiful poetry of the Bible is this is
The Return of the King
yes the Shekinah coming back to reclaim
the temple coming from the east but now
the king coming to take possession of
his capital city is he David yes but the
fight is David did no now it was Holy
Week unfolds we see precisely how the
new king fights by allowing all the
powers of the world to overwhelm him and
he swallows them up in the great ocean
of the divine forgiveness the divine
mercy he thereby conquers the enemies of
Israel and emerges as the true king of
the world which is precisely why Pontius
Pilate despite himself becomes the first
great evangelist putting over the cross
jaysus Nazarene rxu day Oram Jesus of
Nazareth King of the Jews and in all
three languages of the time Hebrew Greek
and Latin so no one would miss it that's
Pilate with supreme irony announcing
yeah the king came back and see here's
why it's so important for us these
ancient tax and we say well that's
interesting all those connections but
what about us well see he has everything
to do with us because Yahweh coming back
to claim his temple means heaven and
earth have met heaven and earth have met
in this Jesus Yahweh reclaiming his
capital city that's Yahweh now as Lord
of the world the Lord's and presidents
and and great figures that we see there
at the Lord's the world Yahweh is
what's the church's job to announce this
great truth to all the world and so how
wonderful that we can go back to these
ancient ancient tanks which found their
fulfillment in Jesus and that now fills
us with life and purpose and mission