Bible Baptist Church

There's a story about Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus. It is told a horse dealer named Philonicus tried to sell the untamed horse to King Philip for the amount of thirteen talents. King Philip, knowing the horse couldn't be tamed, refused the offer. Alexander was only twelve or thirteen when he asked his father if he could have the horse.

King Philip made a deal with his son. If Alexander could tame the wild horse King Philip would buy the horse for him. Alexander made the deal even more strategic when he said he would pay his father the thirteen talents if he was unable to ride the horse.

Alexander approaches the horse and in typical style the horse denies any access. Alexander steps back and looks at the horse, and after a few moments smiles. He walks around the horse as the horse turns to watch him. He slowly approaches the untamable horse and whispers in his ear something, and gently gets on the horse and rides the horse that had never been ridden.

King Philip bought the horse for his son, and later that day asked him how he was able to tame Bucephalus. Alexander smiled and said, "When I was watching him I realized something. Bucephalus was scared of his shadow. I turned him into the sun, he did not see his shadow, and became rideable."

I want to talk to you about living in fear of the shadow. There are several dangers about living in fear of the shadow, but I want to share two with you:

1. You hate what you don't understand
2. You manipulate people into what you think they should be

Just like Bucephalus was reacting to his shadow that wasn't real, people in Jesus' day were reacting to expectations that weren't true. Go with me to John 12 as we explore what happens when we live in the fear of our shadows.

I love how John describes the scenes prior to Palm Sunday. If you are just reading the Bible it won't seem that significant to you, but to read it with both open eyes and ears you will begin to see the mastery of John's writing (cf. John 12:1).

On the Jewish calendar Nisan 9, Jesus is in Bethany with three of His close friends: Lazarus, Mary and Martha. It is here, that Mary took a very expensive ointment and anointed Jesus Christ. It is also here, we are reintroduced to Judas Iscariot. He is a man who lives in the fear of his shadow (cf. John 12:4-6).

There are few things at play here:

1. Six days before the Passover is significant, because it is telling us it is
Nisan 9th
2. John 12:12 tells us it is the next day, Nisan 10th

- Old Testament choosing of the Passover Lamb took place on Nisan the
10th (cf. Exodus 12:3)
- The lamb would be observed for five days before it was sacrificed at
twilight (cf. Exodus 12:6)
- Jesus is about to ride on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem for His
triumphant entry

3. It is here, on this Palm Sunday that the disciples and the crowd viewed
Jesus through their shadows misunderstanding Jesus' purpose

- Normally, a king would ride a stallion in a triumphant entry, but Jesus was
on a donkey (cf. Zechariah 9:9)
- The people assumed through the shadow Jesus was to be their militant
leader who would rescue them from Rome
- God, the Heavenly Father, was choosing Jesus to be the Passover Lamb
while the people were looking for a King
- In five days, the same day the priests in Jerusalem would be sacrificing
thousands upon thousands of lambs, Jesus would be crucified on a
Roman cross

4. At the same time, this is all happening Judas is living in the fear of his
shadow

- Judas wasn't responding to Jesus - he was reacting to the shadow in his
own expectations
- Question he may have asked is, "Why a donkey and not a stallion?"
- In Judas' mind Jesus was not acting like the Messiah he assumed he
should be (cf. John 13:2)

When Judas decided to fear the shadows, he also decided to hate the way Jesus was presenting Himself and through the shadows assumed by having Jesus arrested he could force Jesus' hand by making Him become the Messiah he wanted Jesus to be.

Judas believed in the type of Messiah he wanted, but did not grasp the Messiah Jesus was.

When you live in fear of the shadows, you stop trusting truth - and start reshaping it.

In fact, following Palm Sunday and the next four days, the people would grow frustrated with His unwillingness to make Himself the King of Israel. On Nisan 14th, they would cry out, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

Alexander would train his horse and together they would conquer the world. Judas would open his heart to the tactics of Satan and would betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. When Jesus remained the Lamb of God rather than the King of Israel Judas realized his error. He threw the blood money back to the religious leaders and went and hung himself (cf. Matthew 27:3-5).

Alexander the Great and his horse have gone down in history as some of the great conquerors our world has ever seen, but Judas goes down as a symbol of betrayal throughout history.

The disciples, Judas and the people in Jerusalem assumed Jesus would reveal His kingdom as He came into Jerusalem. No one expected a crucifixion five days later. Yet, Jesus was presenting Himself as the humble servant who was following God's plan. Jesus was the Lamb of God who would lay down His life (cf. John 3:16).

Please do not sit here this morning with the wrong motive or picture of who Jesus Christ is. Yes, nearly three thousand years ago Jesus came as the Lamb of God. Yet, here in the short future He will come again as the Lion of Judah. If you are here with misconceived ideas or pictures of who you want Him to be you are not ready for His return.

How can you ensure you are not fearing the shadows of your belief system?

1. Grow by asking questions in what you don't understand
2. Refuse to reduce people to your expectations of them
3. Let Jesus define Himself through Scripture - not your preferences

Eleven men walked away from the Palm Sunday experience confused about who Jesus Christ was, but one man walked away trying to force Jesus into something he wanted Jesus to be. Eleven men failed Jesus later that week, but one man betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Eleven ran for their lives at Jesus' arrest, but one man hung himself in a tree.

Because in the end, everyone in that story had a view of Jesus... but not everyone saw Him clearly. Your view of Jesus matters. So I close with this question: will you remain scared of the shadow, or will you face the Son and see Jesus as He truly is?"