Palm Sunday: "the King Who Chose The Cross" Series

Holy Week Series 2025

Pt.1 Palm Sunday: “The King Who Chose the Cross”

Text: Luke 19:28–44; Isaiah 53:10–12; John 12:23–33

Pt. 2 Part 2 – Good Friday: "The Weight and Worth of the Cross”

Text: Isaiah 53:10–12; John 19:28–30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Psalm 34:8

Part 3 – Resurrection Sunday: "The Living Proof"

Text: Luke 24:36–43; Romans 4:25; Revelation 5:9–10

Part 1 – Palm Sunday: "The King Who Chose the Cross"

Text: Luke 19:28–44; Isaiah 53:10–12; John 12:23–33

Opening:

Imagine the noise of a cheering crowd. Palms waving, cloaks on the ground, people shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" The city was stirred, buzzing with anticipation. They thought their King had come to overthrow Rome. But Jesus came to conquer something much greater: death, sin, and the grave.

1. The King Enters: A Public Declaration of Identity

Zechariah 9:9 had prophesied this exact moment.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Luke 19:35–38: "They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’"?

Jesus came in humility, not on a war horse, but a donkey—signaling peace, not conquest.

2. The King Knows: Looking Ahead to the Cross

Luke 19:41–44: ?"When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will put up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground, along with your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'"?

Yet, He still moved forward. Why? Because He saw the joy beyond the cross.

Hebrews 12:2: ?"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."?

3. The King’s Reward: The Fruit of His Obedience

Isaiah 53:10–12: ?"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, For He will bear their wrongdoings. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the plunder with the strong, Because He poured out His life unto death, And was counted with wrongdoers; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the wrongdoers."?

Closing Reflection:

Jesus came, not for applause, but for atonement. Not for thrones, but for transformation. Will you receive Him not just as King for a day, but King of your life?

Jesus came in humility, not on a war horse, but a donkey—signaling peace, not conquest. The donkey was the animal of a servant king, not a conquering general. This moment was deliberate. He was making a statement not just about His kingship, but about the nature of His Kingdom.

From the beginning, humanity has had a habit of shaping God into what we want Him to be. The people in Jerusalem that day were no different. They praised Him for what they hoped He would do—overthrow Rome, reestablish Israel’s dominance, restore political freedom. They were looking for a military Messiah. Even Judas, one of His own disciples, likely believed Jesus would rise up and take control by force. But when it became clear Jesus wasn’t going to meet those expectations, Judas betrayed Him.

And yet, Jesus came to accomplish something far more profound than political victory. If Jesus had conquered Rome, it would’ve been at the expense of the real mission: obedience to the Father and redemption for the world. To settle for political liberation would have been to abandon the eternal purpose of the cross.