Forever. There's an old movie that opens with a careless pilot dropping his empty glass Coke bottle from his window as he's flying across the African plain. And when this piece of litter was found by an indigenous tribe, they were unsure what it was and how it got there and what they were to do with it. Now, the technical name for this struggle is teleology, which means the study of purpose and design. And so whether it's in the field of mechanics, or medicine, or construction, or computers, you need to know the purpose and design of the equipment, tools, and instruments you use in order to know how to use them correctly. And in a similar way, it's natural for us to want to know our own teleology, to understand our own personal purpose and design in this world. We all wanna know why we're here and how we got here and what we are to do with the skills, abilities, and life that we have been given. And if our own purpose in life does not always seem so clear to us, then it wouldn't make sense and we should be of no surprise that Jesus' teleology, that Jesus' purpose was not always clear to those around him. People had all sorts of ideas about why Jesus came and what his purpose was. And we see that reflected in the religious leaders in the verses just before our text. If you look back at John 11, we see that Jesus had gone to the town of Bethany. And there he raised his friend Lazarus back to life after he had been dead in the tomb for four days. News of this miracle quickly spread and it reached all the way to the high priest Caiaphas and the other religious leaders. Now you would have hoped that they would have responded with great joy. But like Jonah, who became upset with God's mercy toward the Ninevites, these religious leaders were filled with a growing disdain toward Jesus, because they did not understand his teleology. They did not understand his purpose. And if we were to look back at John 11, verse 53, there we read, so from that day on they, referring to the religious leaders, they made plans to put him, that is Jesus, to death. And from John 12, verses nine through 11, we see that their diabolical plan even included a plot to murder Lazarus. And in the midst of all that is going on, we are told in John 11, verse 55, that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went out from the country to Jerusalem. The little walled city of Jerusalem, smaller than the city limits of Byron Center, was now bursting with folks from all over the Roman Empire. who had gathered for this annual religious celebration. And we read in verses 56 and 57 that they, again referring to the religious leaders, were looking for Jesus. And saying to one another as they stood in the temple, what do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know that they might arrest him. There was now a plot against Jesus. There was now a price on his head. And because of the masses of people, and because it was the Passover, the religious leaders did not want Jesus' popularity and proclamations to spread among the crowds. Nor did they want to kill him during the celebratory week and make a scene. They figured that as a good Jewish man, Jesus was going to be in Jerusalem among the crowds. And at the same time, they assumed that he would try and be inconspicuous. because after all, they had essentially issued a warrant for his arrest. And so in their initial plot, they were gonna find Jesus, arrest him quietly, and hold him until after the festivities and after the crowds had departed and his popularity died down, then, then they would kill him. Now with all of that in the backdrop of our text, do you see all the more what Jesus did is revolutionary and shocking? He did not sneak into the city under the cover of night, nor did he hide himself in a crowded caravan of pilgrims. Instead, he rode into the city on a donkey in broad daylight. with crowds surrounding him, almost daring the religious leaders to follow through on their diabolical plan. But what we find in our text is that it wasn't just the religious leaders who did not understand Jesus's teleology. It wasn't just the religious leaders who did not understand Jesus's purpose. As our text opens, we see that neither did many in the crowds. Now, I don't know about you, but it's hard to believe that Memorial Day is right around the corner, especially with there still being snow on the ground. And one of my favorite memories from years gone by is the annual Memorial Day parade. Folks would don their favorite red, white, and blue, and they would line up their lawn chairs on the street as they anticipated the parade, where we would honor our veterans and remember the sacrifices made for our nation's freedoms. Veterans, first responders, and high school marching bands paraded down Main Street that was lined with American flags. And in a similar way as Jesus was making his way down Main Street, if you will, as he was entering the city of Jerusalem, he was, in a sense, a parade of one. The fervor and chatter surrounding Jesus had reached fever pitch, not only because of the past three years of his teachings and healings, but also because of what just happened in John 11 with the raising of Lazarus to life. Now, some may have dismissed his teachings. Others may have attempted to explain away his healings. But there was no denying the miracle that the once dead Lazarus was now alive and well. And now this crowd surrounding Jesus was made up of three different groups. The first group was made up of those who had followed Jesus from Bethany after witnessing the resurrection of Lazarus. The second group was made up of those who were simply making their way to Jerusalem to partake of Passover. And the third group, as we're told in verses 12 and 13, were those who had come to the feast and heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. And so in the first group, you have those who are intentionally following Jesus. The second group was following Jesus, but only in the sense that they too were going to Jerusalem. And no doubt there would have been chatter among those two groups. And it was the third group who was not just following Jesus, but they had received word that Jesus was coming. And so they went out from the city to meet Jesus and they converged with the other groups. And it is this third group, we are told, that had the palm branches in their hands. Now what, we must ask, would compel them to run up to Jesus and welcome him into the city, waving, of all things, palm branches? Well, much like the American flags that lined Main Street on Memorial Day, palm branches were a symbol of nationalistic pride. Historically, symbolically, and culturally, they symbolized the coming of a king and the overthrowing of tyrannical powers. And that went all the way back to the Maccabean Revolt. That was when Jerusalem was under the rule of the Greek ruler Antiochus, who treated the Jewish people horribly and desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar. led by Judah Maccabee, an army of Jewish rebels attacked and drove out the Greeks and rededicated the temple. And what were waved in the air to celebrate Maccabee's overthrowing of the Greek tyrannical powers? Palm branches. And bear in mind that the Maccabean revolt had taken place just 200 years before. So the memory of that event was still fresh in their minds. The fact that palm branches were used here with Jesus's arrival into the city points to the expectation that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to perhaps overthrow the tyrannical Roman powers or perhaps King Herod who had corrupted the worship of the temple. And do not think that the symbolism of waving palm branches would have been lost on the Roman guards who had also flooded into the city for this week. Being students of history, they understood that such scenes were indicative of a possible revolt. That's why John shares with us the treasonous shouts of the crowd who cried out in verse 13, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. Now you and I may be accustomed to hearing the word Hosanna, which by the way means save us, and envisioning the waving of palm branches and hearing the declarations that Jesus is king when you and I celebrate Palm Sunday. But do you realize that such words and actions were seen as rebellious and even revolutionary? That they would have been interpreted as the early tremors of a possible political revolt? It's no wonder then that five days later on that Friday morning, Jesus would stand before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. And what was the crime that the religious leaders accused Jesus of in order to secure his death? That Jesus claimed to be king. That he was nothing more than a treasonous rebel to Rome who needed to be put down. Pilate's examination sought to discover if this claim of kingship was true, a treasonous act that would have resulted in death. And though Pilate saw no such threat in Jesus, he would capitulate into the crowd and command that Jesus would die a rebel's death on a cruel cross. And on the wooden placard that hung over Jesus's head, that told all the pastors by of his crime that earned him this horrific punishment, what did it read? king of the Jews. So many in the crowd that surrounded Jesus as he entered the city in that first day of the week, they wanted a king. But they wanted a king on their terms. They wanted a king who would make life easier by removing the occupying oppressions. And so they waved palm branches in order to welcome an earthly king. who they believed would establish an earthly kingdom. So focused on the earthly and the immediate, they missed the even greater spiritual and sinful oppression that King Jesus came to overthrow. And much like the religious leaders, but for entirely different reasons and expressed in entirely different ways, the crowd did not understand Jesus's teleology. They did not understand his purpose. They wanted a Jesus who met their needs as they defined them. The question before your heart and mind this morning is, is that you? Is the reason for your worship and celebration of Jesus built upon the expectation that he's supposed to make your life easier? Or is it with the understanding that he came to make life everlasting for you? If your expectations of Jesus is that he has come to make your life easier, when it's not, understand this, your shouts of hosanna will turn into shouts of crucify when he doesn't meet your expectations. But the crowds were not alone in this lack of understanding the purpose of Jesus. We also see it when we look upon the disciples. Now the disciples had been with him for the past three years. They had seen his healings. They had heard his teachings. And now they were bearing witness to the most overwhelming, jubilant celebration that had ever encircled their rabbi and teacher. They saw the waving of palm branches. They heard the shouts of the crowd. And now Jesus was riding in on a donkey. Now riding in on a donkey was not only the fulfillment of Zechariah 9, but who else in the Old Testament rode on a donkey? King David. Try and put yourself into the scene. Step into the text. See that the people were feeling oppressed by the Romans. The pilgrims were making their way to the city and they were singing psalms and they were thinking about the history of their people and that first Passover back in Egypt. They're hearing these stories about Jesus and who taught with authority and performed miracles like he did in Bethany and raising Lazarus. And now they're seeing this very same Jesus riding in on a donkey just like King David. And he was fulfilling Zechariah nine. Can you imagine what it must have been like and what was going through their minds? Could this be the prophet like Moses as was promised in Deuteronomy 18? Could this be the king in the line of David that was promised to us in 2 Samuel 7? Surely God has heard our cries and remembered his promises to us just like he did to our ancestors when they were oppressed in Egypt. This Jesus must be the one who is going to free us from the Romans at this Passover, just like Moses did with the Egyptians in the first Passover. This Jesus must be the one who is going to be like David and be a new king over Israel. And for the disciples, this is their moment, right? They had been with him from the beginning. They had gotten in on the ground floor. And with the presumption that Jesus was gonna be an earthly king, they were lining up to be his right-hand men. We read in verse 16, his disciples did not understand these things at first. These things refers to all that they were seeing and hearing in that moment. And it should strike us as interesting that they did not have their aha moment. They did not get it while they were in the upper room with Jesus before his crucifixion. They didn't get it after his death and burial as they huddled in that same upper room on that Friday night. Even during the 40 days after Jesus' resurrection when he was with them and was teaching them. Verse 16 tells us that it wasn't until after Jesus' ascension after he was glorified, after the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, that they finally understood what these things meant. Now is that you today? Have you been like the disciples? You're trying to follow Jesus, you're trying to figure out who he is, you go through the religious motions, But now the Holy Spirit has been working in you in such a way that as you read and study this text, one that you've read and studied before on Palm Sunday, and now falls upon your ears and heart afresh, or perhaps for the very first time, is who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish beginning to make more sense to you. Is the Lord in his mercy granting you an aha moment? Are you starting to get it? where the beauty and wonder of the gospel and the teleology of Jesus are beginning to make sense to you? And is that blossoming into belief in your heart this morning? Amongst the crowd, there was a group that we would not have expected to be there also. This was, after all, Passover. This was a Jewish celebration. And yet within the crowd, we are told of another group in the Greeks. That's what we read in verse 20, is it not? No, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks, Gentiles. And what did they say in verse 21? Sir, we wish to see Jesus. And they were brought to Jesus. And what did he say to them? The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now, the weight of those words is felt when we look at the Gospel of John in its entirety, because we find that one of the repeated phrases of Jesus in John 2, verse 4, 7, verse 6, 7, verse 30, and 8, verse 20, is that the hour has not yet come. But now the hour has come. The hour when Jesus would bear our sins has come. The hour when Jews and Gentiles would turn to Christ and find in Him their Lord and Savior, that hour has come. The hour when our depravity and His divinity would collide on the cross of Christ in a way that would bring glory to the Father, that hour has finally come. And we see that Jesus is not merely the king of the Jews as the placard above him declared. He is the king of the nations. And he is establishing and ushering in a kingdom that is, as Paul wrote in Galatians 3, verse 28, where there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. A kingdom that is in its perfected fulfillment is described in Revelation 7 verse 9 as those from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. And Jesus went on to teach how this kingdom would be established and how he would be glorified. And he did so through the illustration of a grain of wheat. Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of weed falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Do you understand what Jesus just did? He gave us his teleology. He gave us his purpose. Through the picture of a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying, and then bearing much fruit. Jesus is teaching us what would happen at the end of that Passover week when he would die on the cross, be buried in the ground, and three days later would be resurrected to life and bear much fruit in the redemption of those he came to save. And do you see how that teleology would have seemed so illogical to the religious leaders and to so many in the crowd? That's not what they were expecting That's not what they wanted. And yet that is exactly what Jesus' teleology is. It's a picture of his imminent cross and then the crown. And in these words, do you also see your teleology? Do you see your purpose and design? Jesus is showing us that we are made in the image of God. We have been designed to know Him, to love Him, to worship Him, to be in communion with Him. But that image has been distorted and marred by sin. We cannot save ourselves, and any attempt to do so only compounds our sin by stirring either pride or hopelessness. We need a Savior who can save us from ourselves and our sin. And so our purpose is found not in making a life for ourselves, but in losing our life to Christ. It's not found in being served by many, it's by serving Christ alone. It's not found in being esteemed by others, but in honoring our Heavenly Father. It's found in following Christ. And where was Christ going? To the cross. You and I are called to follow Christ to the cross, not where you and I bear the wrath for our sins, but where you and I bear witness to the reality that Christ has borne our punishment in full, and we have been forgiven, and now we belong to him, body and soul, in life and in death. We follow Christ to the cross, where we lay down our life in order to receive life everlasting. You know, when we think about giving ourselves to Christ, we often think of it in terms of giving him our sin and giving him our shame. But to truly give ourselves to Christ is so much more than that. It means that we don't just give him our sin and our shame, we also give him our time, talents, and treasures. It means that we pray, it means that we sing, Lord, take my love. Take myself, take my will, take my heart, take my silver and gold, take my intellect, take my voice and my lips, take my hands and my feet, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. May my life be set apart to You, O Lord. Take my moments, take my days, and let them flow in ceaseless praise, because that That is my teleology. That is my purpose. That is my design to glorify you, Lord. And much like the grain of wheat that dies in order to bear fruit, you and I are called to follow Christ to the cross, to die to ourselves in order that we might live and bear the fruit of his spirit. And when we follow Christ to the cross, the good news is we also follow him into the tomb, where he bears our death. And we also follow Christ in his resurrection, where we are assured of everlasting life. And we are also assured that we will follow him in his ascension, that we too one day will join him in glory. Do you believe that this day? Of all the different groups we've encountered in our text, there are folks from each of those groups in the crowd here this morning. Are you one of the religious leaders? Leaning on your own personal piety and religious rituals and rules to gain your salvation? Are you looking forward to the day that you can stand before Christ and say, look what I've done for you. You're welcome. Or will you stand before Christ when he returns and say, look what you've done for me. Thank you. Praise you. May your name be lifted high. Or are you like those in the crowd? who wanted Jesus, who even want Jesus as king, but you want him on your terms. And you want Jesus for an easier life rather than for everlasting life. If so, hear this this morning. Your shouts of hosanna will turn into shouts of crucify when he doesn't meet your expectations. Or are you like the disciples? Are you like the Greeks? Whose heart cries out, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Is the reason you came to church today is because you want to see Jesus. Did you come here this morning and say, I need more of Jesus. I want more of Jesus. I didn't come here to hear the wisdom of a man. I didn't come here to simply be entertained. I came here because I need to see Jesus. I need to hear Jesus. I want to see Jesus. Each of us are a part of the crowd. To which group do you belong? To which group do I belong? Do you understand Jesus's teleology? Do you understand his purpose for coming into this world? Only when you understand his, will you then truly understand your own. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we humbly confess that so much of what consumes our time and thoughts in this life is the pursuit of figuring out our teleology, of trying to figure out our purpose and design, And Father, we pray that by seeing Jesus's, we would then worship him aright and see our own. That we would see and truly believe that our chief end is to glorify and enjoy you forever. And so Father, we pray that you would silence all other voices and thoughts apart from yours that would seek to tell us something different about Jesus's or our own purpose. Father, in this day, we pray that you would take our lives and let them be consecrated, Lord, to thee. All this we pray in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.