DHD: Six takeaways from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem

by Chris Doyle | Apr 7, 2017

Greetings!

Palm Sunday is this weekend, so for this week’s DHD, I wanted to share six thoughts about what happened on the very first Palm Sunday. This breaks from my recent presentation of offering thoughts from one particular passage of Scripture. Discussing the historic event of Jesus’ ride in Jerusalem, I’ll consider commentary involving all four Gospel accounts (Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19).

1. Instructions to two disciples

Jesus is aware of the week that is ahead. My imagination causes me to want to know more about why Jesus went about doing certain things and why the Gospel writers chose to share what they shared.

For example, why did Jesus instruct two disciples to go get a donkey? And this is a loaded question because, depending on whose Gospel narrative you read, Matthew tells the two disciples to get a donkey and its colt; Mark and Luke say get a colt, and John doesn’t even give the details of how the donkey was obtained.

I’ll share more in next point about the animal used for riding, but back to the disciples, why were two chosen, and why are we not privy to who they were? This is just my silly curiosity.

And yes, Jesus is fully God and fully man, but I am fascinated with His detailed instructions. He said to go into a village where they will find a donkey that has never been ridden and bring it back. If anyone were to ask about the disciples taking the colt, they were to say the Lord needs it, and they will bring it back.

The supernatural knowledge of Jesus fascinates me, especially how He chose to communicate to His disciples about certain things. This is one of those fascinating scenarios.

2. The chosen steed

Jesus chose to ride on an animal that has never been ridden. Did you get how scary of a situation that is? Watch one of those western movies like The Big Country that features a scene involving riding a wild horse, and you’d think twice about riding an animal that’s never been ridden.

I remember when I was much younger being at a church carnival that offered pony rides and witnessing a young child getting bucked off a pony. You talk about the horror everybody felt witnessing that ordeal.

But Jesus chose to ride an unridden donkey colt. Matthew reports this was done to fulfill prophecy in Zech. 9:9. Also, riding a donkey instead of a horse meant Jesus represented a peaceful entry instead of riding a horse which meant he would be preparing for battle.

3. Coats and branches

In my younger years, I had a hard time understanding why people would lay coats on the ground as people and animals walked over the garments. Ancient customs say it represented honor to the one who would go over the coats. As valuable as coats can be, this is quite a sacrificial custom.

Waving and laying down palm branches also represented honor and celebration. This is what happened when Jesus made his entrance into Jerusalem. Many were still hearing about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11), while others were just intrigued by his many miracles. Reacting to seeing Jesus on a donkey caused all the people to get excited.

4. Praise from the fickle

Have you been to sporting event with tens of thousands of fans? Here in Oklahoma City, we are pretty excited about the Thunder. Russell Westbrook tied Oscar Robertson’s season record for most triple-double performances this week. It was a loud and exciting atmosphere in the arena when Westbrook made this achievement.

But just as sports fans enjoy the thrill of victory, they can also turn on a team in the agony of defeat.

Reading Matt. 21:9, I love picturing the crowd shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest Heaven!” I naturally think of Michael W. Smith’s song “Hosanna” when I read this passage.

Regardless of who is shouting this praise to Jesus, it is an exciting image as this is one of the few places where the Gospels make known all the people recognized Jesus’ glory.

But oh how quickly the people’s praise will soon turn to hateful shouts.

5. Sharing the news with others

The Palm Sunday experience was not without an evangelistic opportunity. Matt. 21:10-11 says the whole city wanted to know who Jesus was, and the people let those who inquired know it was Jesus, a prophet from Galilee.

This challenges me to make known to others who Jesus is, especially when they inquire about Him and His Gospel message.

I read an article this week that will be published in next week’s Baptist Messenger about the chaplain for the Texas Rangers during spring training in Arizona. The story tells about the chaplain leading a Bible study with many players and coaches attending. He was sharing John 3 and the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus (which I shared in a DHD two weeks ago).

The chaplain spoke about Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again. Someone in the study interrupted the chaplain and said, “Stop talking and tell us how we can be born again.” Six team members made professions of faith that night.

6. Leading to a powerful week

The historic entrance into Jerusalem begins a heavy, passionate, powerful week for Jesus and His disciples. Some of the great occurrences of the Christian faith happen. Jesus’ second cleansing of the Temple, the Olivet Discourse, the Last Supper, His emotional prayer in the Garden, and His trials before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod will occur in the days that follow.

These events lead to the most anguishing day in the history of mankind – The Crucifixion of Christ. But this leads to the most glorious day in the history of mankind – The Resurrection.

All this began with Jesus telling two disciples to get an unridden donkey for his entry into Jerusalem to be praised by fickle followers.

DHD: 6 takeaways from John 4 — Jesus and the Woman at the Well

by Chris Doyle | Apr 1, 2017

Greetings!

I’m continuing my series of takeaways from favorite Bible passages. This week’s DHD focuses on John 4 and Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.

I’m not going to be elaborate in my takeaways, but I hope you would read and study for yourself, especially if you have never done a study on this passage. There’s a lot packed in this unique encounter.

1. An unconventional meeting

Jesus and his disciples were traveling back from Judea to Galilee (vs. 3-4). The quickest route is to go through Samaria, but many Jews did everything they could to avoid traveling through Samaria because of the hatred formed over thousands of years. Samaritans were a mixed race of Jews and Assyrians who were living in this region.

Jesus rested at Jacob’s well after a long journey (vs. 6-9). A woman from the village came to get water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. All the years of hatred caused her to be shocked to receive a simple request of a drink of water. Jewish men did not EVER speak to women in public and ESPECIALLY Samaritan women.

But this modest inquiry led to an amazing encounter.

2. A great blessing comes from an indirect answer

This is an interesting case study for Christians sharing the Gospel with an unbeliever. One thing about it, neither the Samaritan woman, as far as we know, nor Jesus directly answer each other’s questions. John never tells if she ever gave Jesus a drink of water, and Jesus never tells her why He, a Jew, is talking to her, a Samaritan (vs. 10).

He does, however, reveal a great description of God as living water, and through His intriguing response, she learns about satisfying a spiritual thirst.

3. Being relational can cause inquiry

The Samaritan woman wanted to know more about this living water Jesus mentioned. Of course, she thought Jesus was talking about fulfilling a physical satisfaction. Many unbelievers know they have needs and would be willing to connect with Christians if they knew such needs could be met by doing so. This is why it’s important for Christians to be understanding of what it takes to connect with people, finding out what they seek and being able to help them in a time of crisis or needing answers, results or support.

Unbelievers won’t understand the Gospel. If they did, they wouldn’t be unbelievers. It takes a process through the Holy Spirit’s intercession to fully grasp the greatest message ever given to mankind. Being relational is part of the process.

4. Sharing uncomfortable truth

I mentioned last week about Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus went straight to the point in telling Nicodemus his issue. Nicodemus needed to be born again, and Jesus boldly told him so.

With the Samaritan woman, Jesus wasn’t as direct, but He did point out a concern in her life. Though we don’t know all the details, Jesus does reveal that she has been previously married– five times as a matter of fact, and she was in a live-in relationship with a man who wasn’t her husband.

Jesus was subtle in how he brought this up. It appears He was able to comment about her personal life in such a way that didn’t cause her to shut down and leave or get defensive and tell Him off. We should pray for Jesus to give us this great discernment and communication skill that He demonstrated with the Samaritan woman.

5. Sharing deep truth about worship

Instead of getting huffy and puffy with Jesus when He directly addressed her five marriages and her adultery, the woman keeps talking to Him and brings up a popular theological issue of the day – where to “correctly” worship God. Samaritans worshipped at Mount Gerizim, while Jews worshipped in Jerusalem. It was a hard segue, but Jesus plays along and gives a powerful explanation about genuine worship (vs. 21-24).

“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must do so in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24, NLT). Jesus stressed the location of worship is not important, but how we worship is.

6. Sharing Who He is

My favorite part of the conversation between Jesus and this woman is in vs. 25-26. First of all, though it may be easy to judge this woman as having a rather loose reputation, she presents herself as being knowledgeable of the Scriptures.

“The woman said, ‘I know the Messiah will come – the one who is called Christ. When he comes he will explain everything to us’” (John 4:25, NLT).

“’I am He,’ Jesus told her, ‘the One speaking to you’” (John 4:26, HCSB).

So the first person to hear Jesus reveal who He is, according to John’s Gospel account, is an unknown woman with a troubled past. Of course, she immediately becomes a changed woman after Jesus told her He is the Messiah. After living in such a way to avoid people in her community, she sprints back to town, leaving her water jar, a valuable resource, to declare to everyone she just met the Messiah.

People who meet Jesus are loved and accepted, no matter who they are. But after they meet Him and come to grips with Who he is, they are changed people who want to tell others about Jesus.

What a great story about meeting Jesus!

DHD: Six takeaways from John 3

by Chris Doyle | Mar 24, 2017

Greetings!

I’m beginning a new series within my weekly Doyle’s Half Dozen. For the next few weeks (or longer, depending how many passages I want to analyze) I am going to offer six points about different Biblical texts.

Please know, I’m not a Bible scholar. I have about 12 hours of seminary work that have figuratively been placed on the shelf, plus two courses of Biblical Greek that were audited (I know just enough Greek vocabulary to maybe comprehend some words my pastor pronounces during his sermons).

I’m just a guy who fell in love with teaching Sunday School about 15 years ago, and mostly that was due to realizing that you actually do learn more about a subject when you teach it, and I’ve loved studying the Bible since I was a wee lad.

With that being said, these will be observations I offer about my favorite Bible passages. I start off with John 3, which features a fascinating conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus.

1. A meeting between two community leaders

John 3 begins with a brief introduction of Nicodemus, who is identified as a religious leader. Today, nobody would consider Nicodemus as somebody significant, but at this time, he had much influence and was considered to be a very educated man. I picture Nicodemus to be somebody whom, if he walked into a place, everybody would stop what they were doing and give him their full attention. Whatever he said would be considered golden.

Jesus, of course, is considered an outsider at this time, but he was gaining influence. People were amazed at his teaching and watching him perform miracles. Nicodemus also was amazed by Jesus. Other Pharisees were jealous of Jesus because he challenged their views and would undermine their authority when it came to their ridiculous, unnecessary rules.

Nicodemus, however, had a curiosity about Jesus and wanted to find out more about him.

2. A meeting after dark

I’m always fascinated by little “nugget” passages of Scripture, the kind that don’t tell everything but just enough to offer an intriguing description. In John 3:2, Nicodemus visits Jesus “at night,” and it’s mentioned in sort of a parenthetical fashion.

Why did John just throw in the timing of when Nicodemus chose to meet with Jesus? The most common conclusion would be to imply that Nicodemus did not want his peers to find out that the great Jewish leader was meeting with a rebel rouser.

I would agree with this conclusion, but I also believe Nicodemus wanted to have a setting where there would be no distractions. Obviously, nobody did business at night because it was hard to see. No electricity, just fire torches or oil lamps that didn’t give off much light, so people were more accustomed to be in their homes and would not venture out in public after dark. This offered a prime setting for Nicodemus to approach Jesus privately.

3. Jesus got to the point

Nicodemus starts his conversation with Jesus in a respectful manner. He calls him “Rabbi,” a title of an educated teacher. Nicodemus seems to be establishing a rapport with Jesus, complimenting him as a teacher from God who performs miraculous signs.

When I read Jesus’ response in verse 3, I conclude He isn’t buying the “fluff” Nicodemus offers. He basically said, “Let me be honest with you, unless you are born again you will never see the Kingdom of God.”

Much could be discussed on what Jesus means when he talks about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven. For the sake of this DHD, I’m not going to elaborate, but Jesus bluntly told Nicodemus if he wanted to be a part of God’s Kingdom, he must experience a spiritual rebirth. Specifically, Jesus told him, “You must be born again.”

What’s fascinating about all the recorded conversations Jesus had with different people is they all are so different. He didn’t follow a script. His overall message was the same, but He applied different approaches. For next week’s DHD, I’m planning to offer takeaways from John 4, which features Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well, a total opposite method He uses from the way he deals with Nicodemus.

4. Is Nicodemus being ‘sassy’?

One of the reasons I like Nicodemus is I can see a lot of myself in how he is presented in John’s narrative. A few of my co-workers have said I can be a little “sassy,” regarding some comments I make once in a while. It’s understood I’m being funny and making light of a situation (at least I hope so).

When Nicodemus responds to Jesus’ imperative of being born again (vs. 4), he asks how is it possible for someone to be born again and refers to the physical birth process? I love this response because Nicodemus gives a ridiculous notion that a grown man must get back into his mother’s womb.

Maybe there’s an element of disrespecting Jesus or maybe Nicodemus literally doesn’t understand what Jesus means when talking about being born again. If Nicodemus would have asked his question on social media, I wonder what kind of responses he would get. Sarcasm doesn’t always translate well on Facebook or in email or text messages.

Because of the setting at night, with no one else around, I conclude this is a light-hearted situation. I don’t believe Nicodemus is trying to make Jesus appear foolish. I believe he sincerely wants to understand but couldn’t fully grasp the terminology Jesus was using.

5. Jesus stayed on point

Here is where Jesus overlooks the possible sassiness of Nicodemus’ question and gives him a complete explanation (vs. 5-7). He explains how there is a difference between physical birth (born of water) and spiritual birth (born of spirit), but both are needed to enter the Kingdom of God.

I like the New Living Translation of verse 6: “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.”

All humanity experiences physical birth, which is flawed because of sinful nature (Rom. 3:23), but only through the Holy Spirit providing a spiritual rebirth can someone experience new life. This is why everybody falls short, and nobody is able to “live a good life.” Also, this is why Jesus reiterated in verse 7 to Nicodemus that being born again is essential to experiencing eternal life in Heaven.

Jesus continues his teaching on rebirth, how it involves faith in believing in the Son of God, using the example of Moses in the wilderness lifting up a serpent on a pole for the Israelites to gaze upon to receive healing from snake bites. Salvation from a life of sin comes when we look upon Jesus who was lifted up on the cross.

6. The greatest message is pronounced

The last takeaway from this conversation at night between two community leaders is this is where the most popular summation of the Gospel is first communicated. Otherwise known by its reference, John 3:16, Jesus shares for the first time with Nicodemus what many consider the most popular Bible verse:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

This describes the pattern of true love, that it’s formatted sacrificially, and God lovingly sacrificed His own son Jesus as a demonstration of His true love for the world. And we who believe in Jesus will have eternal life that is possible through the penalty Jesus paid on the cross.

I conclude with a commentary on John 3:16 from the Life Application Bible:

“When we share the Good News with others, our love must be like Jesus’ – willingly giving up our own comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love.”