Palm Sunday - The Triumphal Road To Discipleship

We follow a Lord and Savior who was meant to be a suffering servant for us all! The cross and suffering are also to be our path as disciples. Not for political power or political activism per se. Rather, following Jesus’ example of a loving, suffering servant.

TRANS: So we see, discipleship then and now is humble submission to follow Jesus.

C. A disciple’s journey is NOT one of entitlement.

Discipleship means “setting our face” to die with Jesus.

Those early disciples might have felt entitled. They had suffered long enough – camping out, sneered at by other disciples of other Rabbis, the losers! It was about time for them to get their reward for all the suffering they had endured. They were certainly entitled to some fame and glory and luxury in life.

Today, we might be tempted to reason in the same way: since Jesus suffered so much and died in our place, therefore, we are free to go straight to the head of the class, as it were, and skip all the exams. He suffered so we could have comfort. He died so we could live. He bore abuse so we could be esteemed. He gave up the treasures of heaven so we could lay up treasures on earth. He brought the kingdom and paid for our entrance and now we live in it with all its earthly privileges, comforts, and luxuries.

But all this is not biblical reasoning. It goes against the plain teaching in this very context. Luke 9:23-24 (NIV) Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

TRANS: When Jesus set his face to walk toward the cross, he was not merely taking our place; he was setting our pattern. He is our substitute and pacesetter. If we seek to secure our life through returning evil for evil or surrounding ourselves with luxury in the face of human need, we will lose our life. We can save our life only if we follow Christ on the road to the cross.

IV. Following Jesus Requires Continual Costly Adjustments. (57-58)

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

So, as they are walking along, on their way to what Jesus knows is a cross and what the disciples think is the final destination, a man comes up and wants to join the merry band of disciples. So, why does Jesus tell a would-be disciple that he has no place to lay his head?

The answer is that even, at this early moment, still many miles away from Jerusalem and the road paved in palm branches with shouts of hosanna echoing off the walls of the great city, Jesus wants His disciples to be like him, and to know that following Him is costly and hard. It will take something out of us. It will require from us. The right road of discipleship following Jesus means we must go where He went.