Sermon Central
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Jesus Weeps At The Parade
Contributed by Michael Deutsch on Apr 13, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Does He do the same over our towns?
Jesus Weeps at the Parade
April 5, 2020
I don’t know about you, but I’m not much of a parade guy. Debbie likes them, I don’t! Debbie likes the New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving Day parades.
For me, they move to slowly, last too long and interfere with the food I want to eat and pregame football. Of course, I didn’t mind the Alexandria parades, because they aren’t long and they throw candy your way.
So, to be honest, I’m not sure how I would have felt about the parade that occurred on the first Palm Sunday. I mean, what if you were on your way somewhere and traffic came to a stand still? Seriously, doesn’t it drive you crazy when you get stuck by an Alexandria train!? Especially the same train - at two different places?!!
We don’t like to be inconvenienced. When a parade starts up - streets are blocked and traffic gets backed up. And this one wasn’t on the calendar. It wasn’t mapped out, so that may be more of a problem. Nobody knew it was coming.
With that in mind, let me read to you the story from Matthew 21:1-11 --
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
10 And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
That’s such a great story! Jesus was riding into town, the people were screaming and celebrating. They believed Jesus was the Savior. They were shouting for Jesus to save them. Save them from what though . . . . is another question?
Now, before we move on, I want to go back to one verse that can be really, really confusing to many people. It’s verse 7. In that verse, Matthew wrote -
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
Matthew tells us there were 2 animals. It would have been the mother and colt. Having the mother donkey walk alongside her unbroken colt would be the best way to keep calm it during the noisy entrance to the city. And when Matthew says Jesus sat on them . . . he’s not referring to the donkey’s, but to the cloaks the disciples put on the donkey.
Remember this was the beginning of the Passover celebration and it was a time of great celebration for the Jewish people because of the miracles God performed to free the people out of slavery from Egypt.
Can you imagine some of the people in the crowd that day? There would be Mary and Martha and the newly revived Lazarus. Bartimaeus, the man who was blind, but now could see. Maybe Zacchaeus made the trip. What about the lepers who were now clean and gave thanks to Jesus. Maybe Jairus’ daughter, whom Jesus brought back to life. Or the mom and her son from Nain, whom Jesus brought back to life. The centurion and his guard who Jesus healed. Or the woman caught in adultery, now freed. The woman at the well. And there would be the women, led by Mary Magdalene; and so many more followers and curiosity seekers who wanted a glimpse of Jesus.
It was a great moment . . . YET Jesus knew the bigger story. He understood more about what was going on. There were always the dissenters, but more than that, something was missing.
As Jesus listened to their “Hosannas” and the disciples celebrated the joy of the day . . . Jesus knew those happy voices would turn into cries of “Crucify Him!”
After the parade, Jesus was descending along the road from the Mt. of Olives and stopped walking. Maybe He was going to say something. Maybe someone touched His garment and were healed. Something was happening and the look on Jesus’ face said it all. The smile and laughter were gone. There was a look of pain - sorrow and tears. Jesus was weeping.
