WHICH CROWD ARE YOU IN?MATTHEW 21:9

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

It was a spring day in Judea, a Sunday, the day we call Palm Sunday. Jesus spent Saturday night in Bethany at the home of his close friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Bethany was a village just a few miles east of Jerusalem. It was a convenient place to stay while visiting that capital city and worship cen-ter of the Jews.

The town was rapidly filling up with people who had come to celebrate Passover at the Temple. Indeed, that’s why the disciples and followers of Jesus had come – to commemorate Israel’s release from slavery in Egypt many years before, and to anticipate Israel’s deliverance from the slavery of sin, death, and hell to take place when the Messiah arrived.

Jesus had come to Jerusalem as that Messiah. In the days to come, he would fulfill every prophecy con-cerning the redeeming work of the Messiah. He, personally, would achieve complete victory over mankind’s most deadly enemies for one and all – Jew and Gentile. By the time the week was over, our sin would be paid for; death would no longer have any claim upon us; and Satan’s head would be crushed.

Jesus began this Holy Week by directing his disciples to bring him a donkey upon which he could ride into Jerusalem. This must have surprised them, for Jesus usually walked everywhere he went. Practically speaking, they couldn’t afford such a luxury. But they did as they were bidden. And soon, they saw why Jesus needed to ride into Jerusalem this way.

As our Old Testament reading told us, it was prophesied that when the Messiah came to his people, he would come in a meek and lowly fashion, riding on a donkey. Such a choice would emphasize his true mission as their Deliverer. He would not come to deliver them riding on some magnificent steed, as some kind of military general. Instead he would come on a humble beast, as an ordinary human being.

He was not bringing them any kind of earthly deliverance, but a spiritual one. The fact that he was the Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed, was indicated by the reception he received from his people. An action that would almost certainly have gone unnoticed at any other time, was noticed and celebrated by a large num-ber of people. Their words of welcome would indicate that he was more than a man, because the work of their deliverance required a God.

On that day, there were three separate and distinct crowds in Jerusalem. The first is the crowd we see in our Gospel reading and sermon text. We don’t know how, exactly, this crowd came to be. Did the disci-ples go into town first and drum up an enthusiasm for Jesus that resulted in this kind of reception? Jesus had done miracles in the midst of his fellow pilgrims coming to the Temple in the days before.

Were these people the ones who formed the crowd? Were they expecting him to do more miracles? Did they hope that he would deliver them from Rome’s tyranny? Or did the Holy Spirit simply use his divine power to pull this crowd together so that Zechariah’s prophecy would be fulfilled? Whatever the answer, the affect was amazing. An unexpected crowd of people surrounded Jesus as he rode into town.

People ahead and behind him shouted out their acclamation. Hosanna!, that is, Save us, Savior!. They acknowledged Jesus to be their Deliverer and greeted him as such. They placed themselves under his do-minion with their shouts Hosanna to the Son of David! They recognized that he was the descendant of King David he needed to be as the Messiah.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! They understood that Jesus was no mere man. He had come as the Lord’s own representative, as God, himself. They blessed his holy name and the love he’d come to show them. Hosanna in the highest! There was no one like Jesus. He was the only Savior from the greatest of all perils. He was worthy of the highest praise. This was the busy nature of the first crowd.

The second crowd was somewhat smaller – perhaps 70-100 men. These were Jesus’ avowed enemies. They crowded together seeking a way to discredit or perhaps eliminate Jesus. They were busy working on strategies to trip up Jesus in his own words so that the people would hear things they didn’t like and abandon him.

If that failed, they would move on to Plan “B”. This back-up plan was a pure power play. They would arrest Jesus in secret; try him out of the public’s sight; and have him executed before anybody knew what was happening or could take any steps to stop it. It was a plan made easier by one of Jesus’ disciples, who came to them with an offer to betray him for a few silver coins. This crowd was also busy on Palm Sunday.

Certainly the largest of the three crowds was the great majority of people in Jerusalem that day. They, too, were busy – but not busy with Jesus in any way. They were busy in their day to day lives. They didn’t know and didn’t especially care if Jesus was in town. They neither loved him nor hated him. He was just there, a part of their ongoing existence.

These were the three crowds around Jesus that first Palm Sunday. They still are! So, it’s fair to ask you, on Palm Sunday 2012, which crowd are you in? I know it’s 2000 years too late to participate in the crowd activities of Jesus’ day. But the crowds still exist, in fact, everybody is part of one of them. So, which crowd do you choose to be in today?

Most of us would like to think we’re not in that huge crowd of the indifferent. After all, we’re here to worship the Messiah, aren’t we? Doesn’t that clearly eliminate us from the cold and uncaring crowd? Yes, it is a good indicator and we rejoice in it. But at the same time, we should take a warning from the nature of this crowd. People are identified as part of that crowd because they do not want to be involved with him in any meaningful way.

We need to take heed, because it’s easy to fall in with that crowd. When we are too busy with the lesser things of life to worship our Lord, we’re in danger. When we never find time to read our Bibles or study it with others, we’re inching closer and closer to that crowd. When we don’t pray because we don’t need anything, we put ourselves into that group that chooses not to communicate with their Lord and Savior.

When we ignore the needs of people, when we fail to fulfill our purpose in life to bring them the Gospel, that crowd sees us as one of their own. Whenever we think we’ve got enough Jesus, we’re thinking ex-actly like the indifferent crowd. We need to monitor ourselves and detect this slide before our member-ship among them is complete!

Most certainly, we do not consider ourselves among the crowd that opposes Jesus. We’re not violently against him. We don’t want to see him dead. But ask yourself, What was the gist of their opposition to Jesus? They didn’t want him to occupy the position of Messiah in their lives. They had preconceived notions of what the Messiah should be and Jesus didn’t fit those expectations.

The Messiah, as he came to them, was inconvenient. It would mean giving up their power and prestige in life if they followed him. Can that be us? It can be if we, too, want a Messiah that fits our specifications, and not the Lord’s. If we expect our Savior to be Someone who rewards our earnest prayers with abun-dant wealth, family peace, and good health, then we’re in sharp opposition to what he really is!

If we find that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is Someone for whom we must apologize, or excuse, or ignore because his message of salvation rejects man’s contribution, we are his enemies. If we find fault with the love of God because unbelief excludes family members, friends, and much of the world’s population from heaven, we have rejected the Messiah and put ourselves firmly in the opposition camp.

We need to anchor ourselves again and again in the unchanging Word of God and the love it proclaims, lest we fall into the crowd which detests Christ crucified. We must work hard, for hard it will be, to stay in the crowd that welcomes Jesus and hails him with their Hosannas! Like them, we must recognize Je-sus as the Son of David, the Descendant foretold as our Savior from sin, death and hell.

We must put him in his proper place as Lord of our lives and arrange our lives around him. Before we speak or act, we must determine if our words and actions are in accord with his will. As we make deci-sions, we’ve got to know if they will please the Lord. Before we employ our time, money, or abilities, we need to be sure that their use glorifies the Lord who entrusted them to us for expanding his kingdom.

Which crowd will you choose? Scripture makes the choice more than obvious! Compare the crowds that welcome Jesus in this life to another crowd found in heaven. In John 12:12-13, we read the great crowd took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!" and in Revelation 7:9-10 we read a great multitude were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." The crowds are one and the same – the choice is obvious! Rejoice to be in this crowd, live in this crowd now and forever. Amen.