Palm Sunday Fulfilled And Previewed – Easter Message For Palm Sunday Series

PALM SUNDAY FULFILLED AND PREVIEWED – EASTER MESSAGE FOR PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday as it is called is one of the most significant days in the church calendar for some churches, mainly those that pay attention to the ritual of a church program. It has always been a favourite of Sunday School lessons and I still have memories of it 70 years back, with the artists’ impressions of Jesus riding on a donkey or colt, and images of people in the crowd waving branches.

Yes, it is a captivating Sunday School Story, but what lies behind that event? It was not just a sudden impulse from some quarter, but a lot more.

[A]. HOW IT WAS INITIATED

This event did not come from the people but from Jesus Himself. This is how it came about – {{Mark 11:1-2 As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.”}} The Gospel of Matthew is almost identical but adds this, {{Matthew 21:2 “you will find a DONKEY tied there and a COLT with her. Untie THEM and bring THEM to Me,”}}

Jesus commissioned two of His disciples to go and collect a donkey AND a colt from a village that some suggest was Bethphage itself. The colt is a colt, young ass, foal. Jesus was to ride upon the foal though it was accompanied by the mother, a detail which the other evangelists do not mention, because I am certain, their full attention is on the One who was mounted.

[B]. THE CAUTION THAT WAS GIVEN

Mark is the evangelist that gives the more complete account of collecting the two animals. This is how he described that event – {{Mark 11:3-6 and if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’, and immediately he will send it back here.” They went away and found a colt tied at the door outside in the street and they untied it, and some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them and they gave them permission.}}

In a sense this is amusing for you can imagine the thoughts of the bystanders, “Someone is making off with these animals – they are stealing them.” The Lord warned his disciples this COULD happen because He used, “IF anyone says to you . . .,” but the Lord knew it WOULD happen, so He told them what to say.

Don’t you think it is remarkable that the bystanders gave them permission simply because they heard from the disciples the words, “The Lord has need of it.” Well it may be remarkable, but I really think the bystanders/the owner of those animals was a believer in Jesus. The disciples were to claim the right to use the beasts as for the service of a King, not to hire or ask permission. The matter was resolved straight away, best described in Matthew, {{Matthew 21:3 and if anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”}} It is Luke that says directly that it was the owners who gave permission.

Only Mark and Luke mention that no one had ever sat on that colt, one which had never been broken in, and which makes it the more wonderful, that Christ should choose to ride upon it, and that it should quietly carry him.

[C]. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

The gospel writers all described this remarkable event that seemed to happen spontaneously, and the interaction from the crowd. They each mention certain aspects but I have gathered them up and here they are -

* They put their garments on the colt, and He (Jesus) sat upon it.

* They brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their garments on them.

* Most of the multitude spread their garments in the road.

* Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.

* Some took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him.

* Many spread their garments in the road.

* Others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.

* They threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it.

There is one misconception about this event that seems to have become entrenched. Nowhere in the gospel accounts does it say people were waving palm branches but so many illustrations and descriptions have the waving of palm branches. It probably did not happen.