The Sylvr Pen

Have you ever noticed how much scripture—what a large portion of the gospels—concerns one brief week out of all world history? In every gospel, the pivotal event is the Triumphal Entry.

Look where it occurs in each (Mt 21:1-11; Mk 11:1-10: Lk 19:28-40; Jhn 12:12-19) and how much gospel text follows it, and realize this event forms a line of demarcation. At this point a weird and powerful phenomenon suddenly gathers overwhelming momentum to roll through the approaching week like an enormous tide, sweeping one way then another, seeming to control the whole course of events, even of world history: crowd mentality.

Fair Warning

My mother warned me long ago to avoid stirred-up crowds. And through my adult years I’ve seen the wisdom in her advice. On numerous occasions in varied settings I’ve sometimes observed, in stunned astonishment, bizarre and chilling behavior in groups of people captivated by some cohesive force. I’ve watched individuals I thought I knew transform into unfamiliar beings taken over by a Group Mind, whose personality supplanted their own.

Is this what happened back in that week two thousand years ago–if not at Christ’s entry, at least later on, when the crowd ended up chanting, “Crucify Him! Crucify him”?

In Their Sandals

I try now to put myself into the scene that fateful first day—as, say, one of the villagers seeing two men enter my town, untie my neighbor’s donkey colt, and start leading it away. I hear someone shout the equivalent of “Hey! What are you doing?” and their reply: “The Lord has need of it,” then the counter-reply: “Oh.” Then I watch the two men, the colt, and its mamma depart, and I watch the people around me—and the huge crowd beyond the village—respond.

A stirring takes place. Individuals make a mental connection between this event and ancient prophesies, and begin murmuring of them to others, and soon it seems the whole village is emptying to rush forth and join the crowd beyond.

Not Ignoramuses

These people may have been rustics, but they weren’t ignorant about certain ancient foretellings. Under Rome’s oppression, they found hope in past promises of a future Messiah: like Isaiah 62:11–and Zechariah 9:9. And now the miracle-working Teacher in the crowd was about to use a donkey foal and its mother to enter the great, prophetically pivotal city, Jerusalem, “the Daughter of Zion” (Zec 9:9). Could it be…?

The thought would take my breath away. How could I not follow, at least at a distance?

Could I then have kept from getting caught up in the spreading fervor, amid the crowd chanting and singing the familiar words,“Hosanna! [Save now!] Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Ps 118:25-26; see also Ps 118:19-24)—and throwing palm branches and their own outer clothing onto the path before the Man on the donkey? If nothing else, wouldn’t intense curiosity seize me?

Something Bigger…

Yet more was at work here in these people than curiosity, or football-stadium-type cheering. For by the time the whole multitude had crowded into the astonished city, some of whose occupants had come out to join them, even the children were shouting and singing—to the point that the dismayed Jewish officials demanded Jesus shut them up, make them stop. He replied by quoting Psalm 8:2 and adding that, were the whole crowd silenced, the very rocks would cry out. Something uncanny and supernatural was happening here.

It was frightening. It frightened the scribes and Pharisees. This popular groundswell could cause the iron fist of Rome to come down upon them and their whole nation! It frightened the Roman occupiers as well—always uneasy as they felt anyway in their oversight of a people who proved so capable of turning into a rabble.

Christ’s Own

What about the Disciples? I don’t mean the masses thronging along for all kinds of reasons (the miracles, a desire for their own king and freedom, or animosity toward odious Rome–or just propelled by mob-mind, which needs no sensible reason, but simply responds with the collective response). Hadn’t trepidation filled the disciples’ hearts when they heard Jesus say he was going into Jerusalem to be betrayed and handed over and killed—so much that it numbed their minds into denial that such a thing could happen to Him they recognized as “The Christ, the Son of the living God”? (Mt 16:16; Jhn 6:69)

What a day that was! And what a week to come! It deserves our thought and attention in the week before Palm Sunday. How would you have been affected by the crowd and its group mentality—then, or days later, when it roared for Jesus’ death? Let’s take some time to think about this.

Moving from Psalms to the Prophets, seeking prophesies of Christ’s “Passion Week,” I ran into one of those “difficulties in the Bible.” You know, one of those places that some people immediately want to jump on to “prove” the Bible isn’t trustworthy.

I was reading Matthew 27:9-10, which credits the prophet Jeremiah with foretelling Judas’ thirty silver pieces going to the potter’s field. So, of course I searched for a cross-reference in the book of Jeremiah. No such thing there—but one in Zechariah instead! Hm. What do you do with this?

What to Do?

The easy answer is forget about it! Just discuss something else and skip this “difficulty.” But that wouldn’t be quite honest, would it? Besides, I like to ask the hard questions. I don’t always arrive at an answer overnight. Sometimes that happens years later, but when it does, I’m almost always richer for it (e.g., Christ’s two genealogies).

Wanting to resolve this issue while still posting this series, I immediately looked to see if R. A. Torrey’s Difficulties in the Bible might address it. Afterward I felt a little stupid (especially after yesterday’s post) at not realizing Matthew didn’t necessarily contain any mistake.

Who Said This?

Regarding that last post: Who said, “You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption”? Paul, Peter, or David?

All three, of course. Paul and Peter both quoted David’s psalm. If it had gotten lost in antiquity, or weren’t included in the canon of scripture, would their quoting of it become invalid? Of course not! This is very possibly what happened with Zechariah 11:12-13.

Quotes of Quotes

The prophets did quote other prophets. Zechariah himself  alluded to former prophecies (Zech 7:7), and in Zech 1:4 he quoted Jeremiah 18:11. Torrey says Zechariah would be especially likely to quote him, because according to a saying the Jews had, “the spirit of Jeremiah was upon Zechariah.” Furthermore, the Bible contains numerous quotes from literature no longer available.

The Main Point: Prophecy Details Fulfilled

The real trouble with such a question is its distraction from the important point: that this incident was prophesied so accurately by whomever (or however many whomevers) so many centuries beforehand! In two verses we have all these details:

Jesus would be valued, at 30 pieces of silver—an insulting amount equal to the Law’s required recompense to a master whose slave had been gored by a bull! (Ex 21:32)

The LORD, in Zechariah 11:13 voices His sarcasm about this sum, calling it “this princely price they set on me.”—Judas had criticized Mary for “wasting” the equivalent of a year’s wages on the Lord (Jhn 12:3-6fn). Then he accepted this paltry sum for betraying him. That’s how much Christ was worth to Judas.

The money would be thrown into the house of the LORD.—When the religious leaders wouldn’t take back the money they’d paid Judas for Christ’s betrayal, he threw it into the temple.

The money would be for the potter.—The religious leaders purchased the potter’s field with it.

Amazingly fulfilled prophecies God gave through men so many years before!

“For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” -Psalm 16:10

While all the abusers were using the Lord Jesus Christ as their target for bullying, what was Jesus’ target? I need to remember this, and aim the same place myself—for the same result.

Wondrous Psalm

Psalm 16 is a favorite Psalm of mine. What an outcome it describes for those who have the LORD as their “portion and cup,” who “set the LORD always before” them (Psalm 16:5,8,11)!

Psalm 16 is also a Messianic Psalm, proclaiming Christ and His resurrection, as both Peter and Paul affirm in Acts 2:22-28 and Acts 13:33-35.

My Desire

I want to experience the fullness of joy that can only come from being in God’s presence, the eternal pleasures I can only find at His right hand. But I now get mere sips instead of full, satisfying gulps from this cup of blessing—partly because I’m still stuck on fallen Earth, and also (mostly) because my unresurrected self is not nearly so focused on Him and His presence as I’d like to be. I need a steadier aim.

His Aim

Jesus’ aim was perfect, and unwavering. We owe our future hope to that perfection of purpose He maintained. His path led not just to suffering and death, but beyond, to resurrection and ascension—victory over death.

Jesus was not just a martyr, his body still lying in the grave. He is the risen Savior. Without His resurrection (as proclaimed in the two Apostles’ speeches referenced above) His death would give us no hope to aim for (1 Corinthians 15:14). Psalm 16:10 pre-announces his rising from the grave (Sheol), and the Gospels all give eye-witness accounts of it.

This was Christ’s targeted final destination, for Himself and for us: resurrection, then ascension, which Psalm 16:11 pictures with joy. Hebrews 12:2 says “For the joy set before Him, he endured the cross.”  And the ultimate aim of His whole earthly life was to please the Father, abiding in Him constantly and serving as the vehicle for Him to work His will on Earth (John 5:19). He looked to the Father in the continual way Psalm 16:8 describes.

My Aim

So let my aim be. My attention can so easily get drawn to earthly endeavors and petty to-do lists. May the LORD be more and more constantly before my face, my eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith (Heb 12:2). After all, just as He told His disciples before going to the cross, apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:5). And when earthbound life gets rough and suffering becomes inevitable as part of the path Christ leads me on, let me, like Christ, look beyond the grief and pain to the ultimate outcome: a resurrected life to enjoy in His presence forevermore.

Did I mention insult?

Actually, two posts back, I was using the word figuratively. But Jesus experienced much of it literally as well.

The word appears as “reproach” in many Bible translations. It means disgrace, shame, railing against, saying sharp things, taunting, upbraiding–stuff like that–whatever way it’s translated.

Repeated Reproach

Look how often it appears in Psalm 69, considered a Messianic psalm (having some word foreshadowing Christ and getting verified by the New Testament referencing or quoting it): Look at Psalm 69:7,9,10,19,20. Though this is a Psalm of David, expressing in many places his own anguish, it contains those intermittent foreshadowings and outright prophecies of Christ. For instance, compare Psalm 69:9 with John 2:14-17, Psalm 69:9 with Romans 15:3, and Psalm 69:21 with Matthew 27:34.

If you read through the Psalm, you’ll find many other verses that could apply to Jesus’ time of suffering and express His anguish (like Ps 69:12). Verse 4 not only does this, but gives the whole reason for all this reproach getting heaped on Him (Ps 69:4).

Rightful, and Unrightful, Reproach

Reproach, shame, and disgrace can be heaped on people rightfully, if they have acted vilely or disgracefully–or failed to act when they should have. Sharp rebuke might wake them up to their wrongs and failings and stir up repentance. But in Jesus no wrong could be found. Though he had stolen nothing, He restored.

Ever been in debt up over your head, debt way bigger than you could ever repay? Guess what? We all have: debt to God! We have robbed God in neglected giving (Mal 3:8) and neglected obedience.

There are trespasses of commission and sins of omission. The first are the wrongs we do against God and His name. The second are the things we should have done but didn’t–the obedience we owe to a holy God but have fallen way short in fulfilling. We might think ourselves squeaky clean because of the “I never”s (“I never committed murder, or adultery, or…” whatever, and still not have done a lot of things that God commands.

Reproach Received, Debt Relieved

Some of us word part of the Lord’s Prayer this way: “… And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” God is able to forgive those debts of ours because Jesus paid for them in full, just as the last part of Psalm 69:4 says. Thanks be to Christ for restoring that which we could not repay–and for receiving heaped upon Himself all the disgrace that we deserve to bear because of it! The crux of the cross.

Pick on someone your own size!” we say to bullies, because they generally torment those smaller or more vulnerable than themselves.

But the Jesus those New Testament bullies “picked on” (previous posts) actually had way more power than they—as exhibited by His simple “I am” answer in Gethsemane knocking down a whole slew of tough soldiers (John 18:4-6)!

Why didn’t He hit back? How does this work?

I think of two examples from my life. One is the boy I saw getting pummeled outside my sixth-grade classroom—by a kindergartner! The other is the bullying I endured myself as a second-grade girl.

The Bully and I

In my own case there truly was a great size difference: the tallest kid in the class and the shortest. Only… the tallest was…me! (I did all my growing before junior high.)

But I was a non-warrior, unused to such aggression as this little Napoleon displayed every time I passed his house when he was home and spotted me. (Which was nearly every school day afternoon, because he made a habit of racing home for the opportunity.)

I was also my mother’s daughter. Her great desire was for people around her to live in peace, harmony, and gentleness toward one another.

But one day when I came home in tears, with another rotten-peach stain on my dress and bruise on my arm, she finally said, somewhat sheepishly, “Well, maybe… you ought to… just hit him back.”

I’m not presenting this as a parenting skill. I’m not even saying it was right. I’m just telling you that the next day as I approached his house (out in the middle of the street where I usually walked to avoid it), I was ready. When he came running out like one of those terriers that like to bite people, and started flinging his arms and legs wide to bar my progress, then let loose with his punches, I just stood still, hauled back, swung hard, and walloped him! That day my gentle mother saw a triumphant daughter stride in, un-muddied and un-bloodied, exclaiming, “I hit him back. And you should have seen the look on his face!”

He never bothered me again. He had come to recognize our relative sizes.

Another Inequality

The sixth-grade boy getting pummeled and backed against a wall had an even greater size discrepancy. He was about twice the weight and height of his tormentor. After I had shuffled the little squirt picking on him off to his own nearby classroom and returned, my sixth-grader shrugged his shoulders and asked, “What could I do? I couldn’t hit him back!”

Why not? Just because of his greater power. He could have made pulp of that twerp. But he was a kind and gentle sort who wasn’t going to knock kindergartners against walls.

Two Reasons Why

There you have it: one reason Christ didn’t hit back. His enormous power could wreak great destruction, and it wasn’t time for that. Earlier on, when He had opened the scroll in the synogogue and read Isaiah 61:1-2, proclaiming the text spoke about Himself, He left off His reading right in the middle of verse 2. Then was “the acceptable year of the LORD.” “The day of vengeance of our God” was—and is—yet to come. In that day, every one of us is going to become suddenly, intensely aware of our relative size.

The other reason? Grace. Jesus Himself explained in Matthew 26:53-56: How else could all be fulfilled that would open the way of grace for all repentant sinners–even bullies?