Palm Sunday 2019

7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.

Why the cloak and dagger approach?

I think it was that Jesus was keen not to let his opponents among the Pharisees know what he intended to do

They would have been well versed in Scripture and once they had realised that Jesus had ordered a donkey they certainly would have tried to stop him fulfilling of the well known Messianic prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9 that talks of the Messiah coming into Jerusalem on a donkey

But once the Pharisees do actually realise what Jesus was doing - it is too late as the crowds supporting Jesus were out on the streets and it would have caused a riot had they tried to intervene.

But the cloak and dagger affair of the procuring of the donkey on Palm Sunday is worthy of Sherlock Holmes but will have to do for a sermon at another time.

Conclusion

So what can we take home from the triumphal entry in Jerusalem for ourselves today?

We are called as Christians to love God and our fellow man – and with that must a willingness to die to our selfish desires.

Jesus put it well when he said:

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

If you go on our website you will see a quote from Jim Eliot who gave his life taking the Gospel to the Andean Indians in South America in the late 1950's.

He wrote this: He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”

The last General to conquer Jerusalem was General Sir Edmund Allenby at the end of the First World War.

It was early in December 1917 that the Turks surrendered the city to Allenby and his British Expeditionary Force

And on 11th December 1917 General Allenby entered the city - the last foreign conqueror of the city.

Allenby was a Christian and when he came to the Jaffa Gate to enter Jerusalem he got off his charger and walked into the city.

He reasoned that if his Lord and Master rode in on a donkey in to Jerusalem, he could not ride in on a more powerful symbol of power – the charger.

So out of respect for Jesus he walked into the city.

Perhaps as we remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, let us remember that the kingdom he ushered in was also a countercultural kingdom.

A kingdom in which "whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant" (Mt 27:7).

The Question I would like to leave you with in Holy Week 2019 is this

Is that the sort of kingdom that you have signed up for when you became a Christian? Or what you expected if you grew up a Christian?

Because if it is – it will require a change of mindset.

Let us pray:

Father, during this time of Lent and Passiontide, may you give us ears that are willing to listen to what you want to say to us.

May we keep the Cross of Christ before us – realising that we need to crucify our own selfish nature and take on the nature of Christ

May we be willing to embrace the changes you wish to bring to our lives

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.