Easter Preparations - Part 3

Have you ever done anything that you knew was going to be painful but would ultimately be for your benefit? Maybe you started an exercise program and you knew it would be difficult but you needed to get back in shape or lose some weight. Or maybe you underwent some surgery you knew you needed even though you knew the recovery was going to be difficult. Or maybe you were trying to impress your childhood sweetheart by doing something stupid.

You know what I mean. You said, "Hey watch this!" And she said, "Oh, be careful!" And so you jumped off the house on to the trampoline and broke your arm but your girlfriend called you "so brave." For a guy, that is so worth it, right? Stupid, but worth it. How about you? Have you ever done anything you knew was going to be painful but would ultimately be worth it?

How about this one? Have you ever gone into a city where you knew the rulers of the city hated you and would kill you but you went in on the biggest day of the year and declared to millions of people that you were the Messiah? Anybody? No? Well, this is exactly what Jesus did on Palm Sunday 2,000-something years ago and it worked out to His glory and for our salvation all the while fulfilling several prophecies and being obedient to the Father and accomplishing plans set in motion before the creation of the earth. So...yea. It was kind of a big deal.

Turn to Matthew chapter 21 in your Bibles and let's continue with our preparations for Easter as we see what was going on in the life of Jesus as He prepared for His own death and resurrection. We have seen in the last few weeks that Jesus has consistently made enemies out of the religious folks in Israel at the time by doing miracles and teaching with authority. Now, that doesn't sound like something that should make enemies but it did back then and in that culture because in the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus was getting all the honor while their level of honor went down.

Thomas Carlyle once said, "Show me the man you honor and I will know what kind of man you are." Well, the converse is also true. Show me the man that you dishonor and I will know what kind of man you are. We talked last Sunday night about how to know if you were a modern-day Pharisee. Well, to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, if you dishonor Jesus...you may be a Pharisee. If you can't stand to see Jesus get the honor He is due...you may be a Pharisee.

The last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, the Pharisees had tried to kill Him but it wasn't yet time so Jesus left town but decided to come back to Jerusalem on the biggest day of the year when the most people would be there. It was the time of the Passover, the celebration of when the Israelites were rescued from Egypt many years before. Experts estimate that there were between 1-3 million people in Jerusalem at this time. Some were there to see Jesus. Some were there to see Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. And some were just there to be good Jews and participate in the Passover celebration.

Now, if you didn't know the whole story, you might think this was a bad mistake by Jesus. If He wanted to celebrate the Passover, it seems like He could have just snuck into town in the mass of people, taken some back alleys over to the house in which He was staying and then the Pharisees would not have seen Him. He could have stayed alive longer if He had done that.

If you remember, for years before this, Jesus would do a miracle or heal somebody and then tell them or the people around them not to tell anybody because His time had not yet come. Well, that time was now. The time had come. It was time for Jesus to declare that He was the Messiah to everybody around. And as we will see, the people in the crowd believed it, loved it and celebrated it even as they misunderstood it.

Let's read this famous passage in Matthew 21:1-11. It is a story found in all four Gospels. Evidently God thought it was that important that it needed to be shared by all four and while I am sure you have read this before, let's read it once again. Just a quick note. It is my understanding that the city named here that looks like "Bethpage" is actually pronounced "Beth-fajay". I'm going to call it Bethpage because I don't want to sound like a guy who says...Bethfajay.