Today marks the beginning of what we called the Passion Week, the week that Jesus was arrested, judged, tortured, and crucified and then rose from the dead.
• It is the most significant week of the Christian calendar.
• The Gospel writers - Matthew, Mark and Luke, devoted a full third of their Gospels just to this one week in the life of Jesus. John goes even further - over half of his Gospel addresses the events of this week.
Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of this Passion Week. It is the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
• He knew full well what was to happen, yet He was determined to go.
• The people were oblivious to what would happen. They happy to see Him, celebrating His arrival with palm branches and casting their garments on the road for Him.
• They were joyful most likely and ONLY “for all the miracles they had seen” (19:37).
• They do not understand the significant of this event. They were ignorant of what was to happen.
While they were happy, Jesus wept. He saw through their ignorance and foolishness. He saw through their sin and rebellion.
• While they cared little about God’s will, Jesus was determined to do the Father’s will. This journey was one He must take, for the salvation of your soul and mine.
• We see here LIFE at its best – the TRIUMPH OF LIFE – when one humble life, fully offered to God, accomplishes God’s will and giving Him the highest glory.
• The best thing you can do with your life is to offer it to God, to do His will and glorify His Name.
No wonder scholars named this passage, and rightly so, the TRIUMPHAL ENTRY - in all the four Gospels.
• To the sceptics, there wasn’t anything triumphant in all of this. “Rebuke your disciples!” the Pharisees said to Jesus (v.39). This whole thing was uncalled for.
Frankly it looked that way, from man’s perspective.
• It was nothing but the sight of an unarmed man riding on the back of a donkey, followed by His small group of disciples (mainly fishermen) and bystanders waving branches.
• It was far from being grand. In fact, it looked pathetic. There was no evidence of authority, no sign of victory, and no indication that He had won anything.
• In fact, if you consider the events that were to happen in the next few days, it would seem more like a failure - Jesus was defeated in the hands of His enemies.
Where is the triumph? Why do we call this a triumphal entry? Why did God inspire the writers to paint this picture as one of a TRIUMPH?
• It was so, to God… at least in 3 ways.
(1) TRIUMPH OVER SELF – SUBMISSION to God
The Father saw an obedient Son. Between fulfilling God’s will and gratifying self, Jesus chose to do the Father’s will.
• Despite the sacrifices He has to make, Jesus submitted fully to God. In a couple of day’s time He will accomplish the Father’s will. And God was pleased.
• John 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”
It was a triumph that was taking place within our Lord’s own heart – He submitted to God. It was a triumph over self.
• I believe all of his natural instinct would have cried out against this journey into Jerusalem, where opposition, danger, torture and death awaits him.
• All those instincts for safety, security, for self-protection must have warned Him against this.
• We saw His agonising prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane, and we know it wasn’t easy. It means pain and sacrifice.
Yet today, we read that He has chosen to enter Jerusalem. He knows that Jerusalem was where God wanted Him to be.
• Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we’ve seen that. Doing the Father’s will was paramount to Him. He wanted to do what the Father wants.
• JESUS said in John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Submission is not a dirty word. There is something glorious about submitting to God and doing God’s will.
• There was something triumphant about that man as He rode along on the back of the donkey. It was a triumph of God above self.
• That triumph has already taken place within His heart, unseen by the world, but fully known to the Father above.
Jesus chose the will of God above his own. What about you? How often are we concerned about His will? How often do we choose our own will above His?
• The more we die to ourselves, the more we can live unto God.
• The more we let go of our selfish desires and embrace His, the richer our lives become. We are living out the perfect will of God.
(2) TRIUMPH OVER SITUATION – VICTORY over the Circumstance
The Father saw an Overcomer.
No one can stop Him from doing what the Father wants. Not the religious leaders, not Judas, and not Pilate.
• On the surface, this trip looked like a journey of doom.
• The devil thought he had Jesus cornered, finally, and nailed to the cross. But Jesus turned it around, and transformed it into a symbol of victory and freedom from sin.
The Pharisees and the scribes thought they had removed Jesus once and for all.
• Nobody sided with Him. His own disciples – one betrayed him, one denied him and the rest deserted Him. Every one, and everything, seemed to work against Him.
• Yet Jesus was triumphant over the situation. Nothing was able to knock Him out or hold Him down, not even the grave.
This was probably why Jesus wanted to enter Jerusalem on a donkey. It was a sign of victory.
• Jesus gave a very odd instruction while at 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?’ tell him, `The Lord needs it.’" [Luke 19:29-31]
• This was unusual because the disciples had been walking from place to place with Jesus. In all the Gospel accounts, we have never seen Jesus riding on any animal to get from one place to another. He walked all the time.
But now, He gives this command, and He knows where the donkey is. He knows no one has ridden on it before. He even tells the disciples the exact words they are to use should anyone question them - say, "The Lord needs it."
• Was this prearranged? Did the owner know what Jesus was going to do? Why would he trust the disciples? We don’t know.
• But clearly God has planned everything. In fact that the colt had never been ridden and yet she submitted to Jesus showed God’s sovereignty over all creation.
It was prophesied in Zech 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
To ride on a colt was God’s way of declaring Jesus as the King. He will soon set His people free and declare His victory.
• Take heart, brothers and sisters. Do not give in and be defeated by the harsh circumstances of life. Jesus was triumphant over the situation, and so can we today.
• Many allow the pains and sufferings of life to master over them, and shape their outlook to life. They are living in defeat.
• Submit to God and you will triumph over them. It is the Lord within you that enables you to overcome. If He is bigger than you and dwells within you, He will show. You need to submit to Him.
Jesus showed us we can be master of the situation when we are fully committed to doing the Father’s will.
• When He is on the throne of our hearts, we can be victorious over any circumstance. God is sovereign and He plans everything.
• Jesus overcame all that man and the devil tried to do to Him. He never allowed himself to become the victim of the circumstances. He never once was.
God can transform every situation into something beautiful.
(3) TRIUMPH OVER SATAN – SALVATION of our Soul
God fooled the devil into believing that the cross was the end of Christ. The cross was God’s plan.
• When Jesus was with His disciples, from time to time He said He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the 3rd day be raised to life.
• The cross wasn’t a mystery; it wasn’t an accident. Jesus walked towards it on purpose.
The disciples did not understand then. They only did after.
• While everyone was happy and waving branches, Jesus wept for Jerusalem, because they “did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them.” (v.44)
• We don’t always understand God’s plan. Like the disciples, when we are in the midst of it, we can be tense and fearful, confused and lost.
• But remember, He has won.
2 Cor 4:16-18 “… do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
• Look beyond your present troubles. Focus on doing the will of God.
• There is nothing that men or the devil can do to thwart God’s plan.
There’s is a true story about an old man who came to worship faithfully every Sunday. It was unusual for him because this man could not see very well nor could he hear very well. His participation in the service was quite limited.
One day a friend asked him why he came, since it was quite obvious that it was so difficult for him. He didn’t hesitate a moment and responded, “I just want people to know whose side I’m on!”
Always remember whose side are you on!
HOLY COMMUNION: Let us remember His sacrifice again, as we take the cup and bread this morning.
• Don’t take it for granted. Ray Boltz has this song FEEL THE NAILS.
They tell me Jesus died for my transgressions
That he paid that price a long, long time ago
When he gave his life for me on a hill called Calvary
But there’s something else I want to know
Does he still feel the nails every time I fail
Can he hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again
Am I causing him pain
Then I know I’ve got to change
I just can’t bear the thought of hurting him.
It seems that I’m so good at breaking promises
And I treat his precious grace so carelessly
But each time he forgives
What if he re-lives the agony He felt on that tree
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
Do you still feel the nails
Every time I fail
Have I crucified you Jesus with my sins
Oh I’m tired of playing games
I really want to change
I never want to hurt you again
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
