"What Kind of King is Jesus?" on John 12:12-19 by Mike C - March 29 2026

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King (John 12:12-19)

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They 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!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;    see, your king is coming,    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. 17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

1. The “Uncooperative” King, (but recently he’s been better) King.

John 12:12-13: The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They 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!”

2. The “He’s Finally Doing What We Want” King. 

Zechariah 9:9

 “Rejoice, O people of Zion!

    Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!

Look, your king is coming to you.

    He is righteous and victorious,

yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—

    riding on a donkey’s colt.”

Psalm 118:19-26

Open for me the gates of the righteous;

    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

 This is the gate of the Lord

    through which the righteous may enter.

 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;

    you have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

the Lord has done this,

    and it is marvellous in our eyes.

The Lord has done it this very day;

    let us rejoice today and be glad.

Lord, save us!

    Lord, grant us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

    From the house of the Lord we bless you.

Psalm 24:7-10

Lift up your heads, O Gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of Glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty.

Lift up your heads, O Gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of Glory?

The Lord of Hosts,

He is the King of Glory!

Zechariah 9:11

 “Because of the blood of my Covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.”

Psalm 118:27

“Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,

up to the horns of the altar.”

Luke 19:40

“If they kept quiet…even the stones would cry out!”

3. The “Wait a Second, He’s Weeping” King.

Luke 19:41-44

“41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

4. The “Are You Sure You Want To Do this Right Now?” King.

Matthew 21:12-13

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

Matthew 21:15

15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

Matthew 21:14

14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

Psalm 118:20

 This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.