Palm Sunday 2024

What an Entrance!

Luke 19: 28-44

Palm Sunday

Pastor Jefferson Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

03-24–24

What an Entrance!

In college, I went to a comedy concert on campus with Michael Winslow (Police Academy) and Jay Leno.

When it was time for Jay to take the stage, the lights went down and it was silent. Then we heard the roar of a Harley. I was sitting on the aisle and Jay rode a Harley right up the middle aisle and onto the stage!

One of my favorite entrances of all time is from a Carol Burnett sketch.

[Went With The Wind - 2:30-3:10]

What an entrance! On this Palm Sunday morning, we are going to look at an entrance that changed the world!

Setting the Stage

Turn with me to Luke 19. We will be camping out there but the triumphal entry of Jesus is told in all four Gospels so I will be bringing in details from those accounts as well.

Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead several weeks before and had traveled to Jericho. On the road to Jericho, he healed two blind beggars and in Jericho, he ate with a tax collector named Zaccheus who committed his life to follow Jesus.

Preparation

After a parable about using what God gives you for the kingdom, Luke records:

“After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” (v 28)

Luke paints a picture of Jesus walking ahead of His disciples with steely determination. Jesus knows what awaits Him in Jerusalem. The disciples were dragging their feet, perhaps out of fear or out of confusion about all this “dying in Jerusalem” talk.

Jericho is the lowest city on earth, nearly 800 feet below sea level. He was headed to Jerusalem, which was 3,000 feet above sea level. The road led through the desert and was nearly straight up for seventeen miles.

His destiny lies in Jerusalem. He has one week to live. He has an appointment with death. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As he approached Bethphage (house of figs) and Bethany (house of the poor) at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 

“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

(v. 29-31)

Bethany was one of Jesus’ home bases of operations. His friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived there about two miles east of Jerusalem. Jesus sent two of His disciples ahead probably into the village of Bethphage. He gives them an errand. Their job was to go fetch a donkey.

Donkeys were ridden in times of peace. Horses were ridden in times of war. But it wasn’t just a donkey. They were instructed to bring back a colt, a young donkey that no one had ever ridden.

They were to untie it and when asked what they were doing they were to say that the Lord needs it. This was a very small area and everyone knew that Jesus was in Bethany so they would have known what this meant.

The two disciples found it just as Jesus had said. Did He make arrangements beforehand or was this another staggering example of His Deity? Luke doesn’t tell us but the owners of the colt immediately give the animal to the two disciples to take back to Jesus.

(Next time try this – just go to someone with a Lamborghini and tell them that Jeff needs it)

Jesus could have snapped his fingers and had a herd of donkeys. Instead, He engaged his disciples to be part of the story. He still does that today!

[Slide] Why a donkey? This wasn’t just a random animal that Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem on. The prophet Zachariah spoke of the Messiah entering Jerusalem nearly 575 years before it happened. Zachariah predicted that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Matthew, whose Gospel was written primarily to Jews, included this verse:

“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zach 9:9)

Every Jewish boy or girl could tell you that when Messiah comes it will be on the back of a beast of burden. The prophecies were coming true right before their eyes. The disciples must have been out of their minds with excitement. John tells us that it wasn’t until after the resurrection that the disciples understood all that was going on here.