A Crown Or A Cross?

A Crown or a Cross?

Mark 11: 1-11, Mark 15: 1-15

It is Palm Sunday. Seriously? Do you really need me to preach another Palm Sunday sermon? These high holy days are the most difficult to preach. We preachers always want to say something new and creative on these familiar passages of scripture. Honestly, everything that can be said has likely already been said, so I’m going to be brief this morning and let the text speak for itself. Perhaps that which is old will become new to us if we simply let it speak to us.

I want to do something different, though. We’ll read Mark’s account of Jesus’s entry, but then we’re going to jump to the end of the week, Good Friday. I want to do that because one, we’re not doing a Good Friday service, but two because we see two different reactions in the crowd in less than a week’s time. The crowds in the same city went from shouting “Hosanna” to shouting “Crucify him!” The crowd began the week expecting a crown, but they were ending the week getting a cross.

READ MARK 11: 1- 11 AND MARK 15: 1-15

Here is what I note about the first crowd: They knew the Scripture. As Jesus rode that young colt into Jerusalem, the crowd was singing straight from Psalm 118: ‘Hosanna! Save now! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!’ They joined the festal procession, spread their cloaks and palm branches, and anointed Him as King. These were not outsiders—they were good, religious people who loved the Word of God.

But here’s the heartbreaking truth: They knew the Scripture… but they did not understand the Word. They wanted a crown on their terms. When Jesus refused to fit their expectations, the cheers turned to cries of “Crucify Him!”

Here’s what I note about the second crowd: It was still a crowd of religious people in Mark 15—chief priests, scribes, and devoted worshipers—who cried out, ‘Crucify Him!’ and chose Barabbas instead. Whether they wanted to crown Him or crucify Him, the root issue was the same: Jesus shattered their expectations.

And friends, if we’re honest, the same thing can happen to us. We are often those good, religious folks who love the Bible and love Jesus… but don’t always understand the Jesus we claim to love. We pray for healing, for deliverance from addiction, for our children to come home—expecting the crown of quick answers. When God says ‘no’ or ‘not yet,’ when the cross comes instead of comfort, our hearts can waver just like that crowd.

Yet here is the wonder of the gospel: God’s “no” to our agenda is often God’s greater “yes” to a better, eternal life—resurrection life. God does not abandon us to our sin. He uses it to redeem us. The very thing we think will destroy us, the Lord uses to redeem us. A temporary “no” becomes an eternal “yes” through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Remembering our message from last week, even Jesus received a temporary “no” in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed, “Let this cup pass from me.” In that moment, even the Son of God prayed for a different way…and heaven was silent. Not because the Father didn’t love Him— but because the cross was the only way to save us. That “no” from the Father became our eternal “yes.” Because Jesus went to the cross, the crown comes through the cross—yet one more beautiful paradox of the Kingdom of God.

Once more, we are reminded that our God is a big-picture God. As He declares in Isaiah 46:10, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come.” He sees the whole story. We can only see the painful circumstances right in front of us. But He is already turning our “no” into resurrection victory.

So, what does this mean for us on Monday when the scan comes back worse, when the phone call brings bad news, or when the prodigal still hasn’t come home? It means we have a choice every single day: Will I demand the crown on my terms right now, or will I trust the King who leads through the cross?

Practical steps when your expectations are shattered:

• Name the disappointment honestly to God (Jesus did in Gethsemane).

• Remember you are not abandoned — the same God who said “no” to His own Son is working something greater.

• Choose to worship anyway. Sing “Hosanna” even when you don’t feel it, because Sunday is coming.

• Cling to your baptism. The water marked you as belonging to the King whose crown came through the cross.

When you feel your heart beginning to waver like that first-century crowd, run back to the cross and say, “Lord, I don’t understand, but I trust You. You are still King of kings.”