There is a tangible undercurrent to God’s Kingdom – it’s the place where we find Biblical Justice-for-all. Throughout the ages, sin has left us with those who have a permeant expression of harm: the hurt, the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the immigrant. We desire to live patterned after Jesus’ promises to make all things new and restore the broken.
Observations: The Quintet of the Vulnerable:
- Poor – resourcelessness makes them vulnerable
– no self-sufficiency - Sick/Lame – weakness makes them vulnerable
– no flourishing capacity - Widow – defenselessness makes them vulnerable
– no covenantal covering - Orphan – voicelessness makes them vulnerable
– no social advocacy - Immigrant – homelessness make them vulnerable
– no economic/political protection
- Why: The curse of sin expressed as a tangible physical permanent contrabonum
The Triumphal Entry inaugurates a subversive kingdom in which the humble King exposes and judges systems that protect injustice, liberates the broken and deceived, and establishes a new order where God’s presence is inseparable from justice for the vulnerable.
Conclusions:
- When the King shows up, he immediately sets up justice
- When the King shows up, the imposters will squirm and scheme
- When the King shows up, he models the visible expression of his Kingdom
1. God’s Justice exposes the wicked and does not hide them
2. God’s Justice cares for the vulnerable
3. God’s Justice elevates the voice of the marginalized
4. God’s Justice says no “religion” without action
5. God’s Justice rests upon no other authority than Jesus
Application:
- Are you ready for Jesus to arrive?
Zechariah 7:9-10
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”
Revelation 3:1-3
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: “These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
Jeremiah 7:1-11
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.”
1 Peter 5:2-3
“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
Romans 12:3-6
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.”
Philippians 2:3-5
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…”
James 2:1
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.”