This climactic week begins with what we call the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Each of the gospels records this event, and the first significant thing they tell us about it is that Jesus arranged what was to happen. In other words, this was not a case merely of some spontaneous outburst of excitement on the part of the people, though there was obviously some spontaneity about it. Rather, it was something the Lord carefully planned in order to make a statement.
The most important life ever lived was that of Jesus Christ, and the most important part of that life was the momentous week that ended it. The week began with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. It included his second cleansing of the temple, his final teaching, his arrest, trial and crucifixion, and it ended with his resurrection from the dead on What we call Easter Sunday. Eight momentous days in all.
As I stated in yesterday’s lesson, the three conditions of a kinsman-redeemer were fulfilled in the case of Jesus Christ, but they are best illustrated in the story of Ruth and her redeemer Boaz. Here is their story. In the days of the Judges there was a famine in Israel, and a man from Bethlehem, whose name was Elimelech, left Judah with his wife Naomi and two sons to live in Moab. Not long after this, Elimelech died, and shortly after that the sons married two local girls from Moab. One was Orpah. The other was Ruth. Ten years later the sons also died, and Naomi and her daughters-in-law were left. They were quite poor. So when Naomi heard that the famine in Judah had passed and that there was food there, she decided to go back to her own land and live again in Bethlehem. Orpah, the first daughter-in-law, returned to her family, but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi.
Yesterday I spoke of the word, lutron. We can go back further than this. Lutron has parallels in the Hebrew of the Old Testament. The first parallel is the word kopher, which also means “a ransom price.” But kopher is richer than the simple Greek idea, because it refers to the redemption of a person who, apart from the payment of that redemption price, would die.
Once Jesus spoke specifically to James and John, he then called the entire group together and reinforced what he had already been saying, “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25-28). These are the verses I referred to above as linking up with the prediction of his own suffering in verses 18 and 19.
