1. Henry Morrison Returning Home
Henry C. Morrison was a great missionary who served the Lord in Africa for over 40 years. On the way back to United States, he began to wonder “will anyone remember us? Will anyone recall who we are? Will anyone meet us at the boat?” Well, unknown to Henry Morrison and his wife, Teddy Roosevelt, President of U.S., was also on board that ship. He had gone to Africa for a hunting trip
When ship pulled into New York harbor he looked to see if anyone had come to welcome them back home. Thousands of people were there cheering. Bands were playing. There were signs, banners, and billboards everywhere saying, “Welcome Home”.
Henry and his wife were so excited about the crowds of people that were there to welcome them home and they went down to get their luggage, came back to the deck of the ship to get off and they realized that the parade of people were already gone. They had come to welcome Teddy Roosevelt.
Henry Morrison went to his hotel room with a heavy heart. As he sat there on the bed, he asked his wife, “Honey, I just don’t get it…for 40 years we poured our lives into ministry and service. And yet we come back to America and not a single soul comes to welcome us home!” His wife came and sat down next to her husband, she put her hand on his shoulder, and comforted him with words that he would never forget, “Henry, you have forgotten something, you’re not home yet!”
2. Parades – Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade; Bowl Games; Ticker Tape
3. A Parade for Yeshua (Jesus) – John 12.12-15
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”
4. Palm Sunday – One Week Before Easter – resurrection celebration
5. This Day was more than Yeshua’s (Jesus’) journey into Jerusalem and even more than the cross; it included:
I. Emotional Connections
A. Don’t Forget the Emotions of Yeshua (Jesus)
1. Sorrow – Lazarus (John 11.35); Jerusalem – Luke 19.41-44
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
2. Anger – Luke 19.45-46
45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
3. Excitement – Zacchaeus – Luke 19.9
9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
“I am with you” takes on a new connotation – feels what we feel; walks where we walk – rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep.
B. The Passover Story Employs Emotions
1. Emotional Events surrounding the Passover (Pesach)
Rollercoaster of emotions – slavery and freedom; dealings with Pharaoh; plagues; death of firstborn
2. The Lamb – Exodus 12.1-6
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
a. The Lamb was part of the family – the reason the shepherd leaves the 99 to find the lost ONE – doesn’t wait for more to be lost; willing to fight the predators
b. Qualities – One year old male; without blemish; sheep or goat;
C. The “Triumphal Entry” Was Emotional – For God
1. His Lamb – 5 days before Passover (John 12.12)
2. His Son – John 3.16 (one of a kind)
a. Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac – one of a kind son
b. Riding the Donkey – Yeshua (Jesus) assumes God’s and Man’s parts in the sacrifice
i. Yeshua (Jesus) was the Lamb to be sacrificed – “God will provide”
ii. He was also the sacrifice – God sent an angel to stop Abraham – He did not stop himself
iii. God “cut a covenant with Abraham in Genesis in which he assured him that he would fulfill it by going through the blood path twice – the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch
II. Expectation Controversies
Josephus, the notable Jewish historian, estimated that two-three million people were involved in the great Passover Feast. It is known that 256,500 lambs were slain at one Passover and that each lamb represented at least ten worshippers. Teeming thousands from all over the world were flooding into the city to observe the Passover. The mass of people and the necessary housing and food arrangements to handle such a mass of people can hardly be imagined.
A. “Hosanna” – A Triumphant King
1. We – “save us from Sin
2. They – Save us from: Rome; Distress; disease; Distresses; Hunger; etc.
3. Son of David = Political Messiah
B. “Hosanna” – A Sacrificial Substitute
1. Son of David = The Messiah
2. Key to understanding is in these two verses:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9.9
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.” Isaiah 62.11
3. GOD = the salvation (Yeshua) of Israel – God as his own son and servant will accomplish his purpose in our salvation
4. Also hints at TWO visits – the First as a humble sacrifice, riding the donkey; the Second as the victorious King of kings (Philippians 2.9-11)
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Conclusion
1. Pointless Things
I read a story once from Readers Digest about a mother who would listen with her young children to an instructional program on the radio each morning. She particularly enjoyed the exercise class.
One day she tuned in late, only to hear an energetic instructor already urging pupils along at a fast pace: “Up…down…circle round…up…down…circle round…up…down…circle round.” She quickly joined in, only to find that the instructor would continue the pace for quite some time. Finally, when she was just about exhausted, she heard the voice say, “Okay, you can stop now, and everybody put your paintbrushes back in the water jar.” Fortunately Jesus is not about pointless things.
2. There was a Coming where:
a. Yeshua (Jesus) was our sacrifice for sins
b. He rules over all men
3. There is another type of coming – a personal one
Hebrews 3.7-8 (cf. Psalm 95.7)
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
4. We MUST Hear and He will come
5. Honoring Yeshua (Jesus)
The New York Post reports that producers of the 2002 Grammy ceremony held on Feb. 27 showered each of the show’s stars with a personalized gift basket said to be worth $16,000 each.
Britney Spears got a pair of $1,900 diamond earrings, a Blackberry pager, an iPod MP3 player, a free two-night stay in the Ian Schrager hotel of her choice, and some Tic Tac mints.
Janet Jackson and the guys of ’N Sync all received a one-year bi-coastal membership to Sports Club/L.A. (a $4,500 value) and a personalized bust of themselves in bronze or aluminum, plus some deodorant.
If Grammy Award stars are honored so extravagantly for entertaining, how should we be honoring Jesus? (Source: SermonCentral staff. Citation: Silverman, Stephan. “Glitzy Grammy Gifts Worth $16,000.” People.com, February 20, 2002.)
