You know, Palm Sunday is kind of a strange day to me.
It’s hard to explain, but today is kind of an enigma:
- We call it “Palm Sunday.”
- It seems like it should be a special day – a “holiday.”
And in some ways it is
- It is marked every year on the calendar
- We have a name for this day
- There are special symbols that can be found for it
But we really don’t treat it like a holiday
It’s like we don’t know what to do with “Palm Sunday.”
- We don’t usually gather with family for a big meal
- There is no celebration
- We don’t exchange gifts
- You won’t find “Happy Palm Sunday” Greeting Cards at the local gift shop
Maybe it has to do with the sequence of events.
You see, I think Palm Sunday is hard to swallow, because we know that it comes just before “Good Friday.”
The story doesn’t end with Palm Sunday; it is really just the beginning – the beginning of the end.
We celebrate Easter – rightfully so, because it is the beginning
The beginning of life
The beginning of faith
The beginning of everything that is truly important.
Palm Sunday is just the opposite.
Palm Sunday rings hollow.
Palm Sunday seems to be filled with false hope.
Palm Sunday is a difficult day, because we really don’t know what to make of what happened 2000 years ago.
• The people celebrated Jesus, but then rejected him.
• The people honored Jesus but then they had him crucified.
• The people hailed Jesus, then they hurled insults at him.
Palm Sunday seems to be a day where nothing seems to be as it should.
In fact, I would submit to you that everything about Palm Sunday was either Fruitless; Fraudulent; or Faithless.
Let’s read the story: Mark 11:1-11 - As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple . . .
Finding the temple officials in agreement, Jesus set up His throne, established His Kingdom, and they all lived happily ever after!
And that’s why we celebrate Palm Sunday!!!
- You know, that would be a much more pleasing story, wouldn’t it?
- But, that’s not the way it ends!
- The fact is, Palm Sunday ends with Good Friday
- and I think that is why we don’t know what to do with today.
Let me read it the right way:
Finish reading Mark 11:11 - Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Wouldn’t you like to get into Jesus’ mind about right now?
- It’s Sunday
- First day of the last week of His life
- He has just entered Jerusalem
- People have hailed Him as a conquering King
- From the outside, it couldn’t have been a better day
- But Jesus knows the rest of the story
- Jesus knows that He is about to confront the religious leaders of Israel
- Jesus knows that the people who have just hailed him as king will also shout “crucify Him – we have no king but Caesar” in just 5 days
And so, as he is “Looking around at everything” He has to be extremely conflicted in his heart.
And then He leaves.
What is he thinking?
I think we are given a pretty good hint by what happens the next day:
Read Mark 11:12-21
12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.13 Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
15 Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16 and He would not permit anyone to carrymerchandise through the temple. 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” 18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
19 When evening came, they would go out of the city.
20 As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. 21 Being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”
So, it’s the next day – Monday and Jesus is returning to Jerusalem
Today is different
- No fanfare
- No crowds shouting
- No laying out of their coats and palm leaves
- No hailing Him as the King
- Just a normal walk into the city
As their going, Jesus sees a fig tree and goes to get some fruit. Finding none, he calls a curse down on it and it dies!
He then proceeds into Jerusalem where He immediately fashions himself a nice little whip
- Goes into the temple
- Begins to overturn the tables
- Throws out all of the money-changers
- Declares the temple to be a house of prayer
Religious leaders immediately begin to conspire to have him killed!
Let’s begin with the Fig Tree:
- Did you ever wonder why Jesus cursed the fig tree?
- Doesn’t that seem kind of petty
- Oh, the tree didn’t give me any food – I think I’ll kill it!
- On top of that, Mark says “it wasn’t the season for figs”
So, why did he do it?
- Understand
Jesus isn’t cursing the fig tree
He is cursing “unfruitfulness”
Think about that tree:
- Walking down the road – from a distance – it looks like a nice healthy tree
- It would be a nice “healthy” tree
- The leaves are full and green
- Everything about it says: “come and eat from my branches”
- People who are hungry would think that the tree was going to produce something for them to eat
- But when you get near and examine it closely – it was barren
+ It was useless
+ For all of its great appearances – it provided nothing of substance
+ It was all show
+ But no fruit
+ It was fruitless
It was Jerusalem
It was the Temple
It was the Pharisees
It was Israel
It was the people
And it was everything Jesus despised!
And so Jesus cursed it!
And symbolically, Jesus was cursing Jerusalem
Symbolically, Jesus was cursing the temple
- the Pharisees
- Israel
- and even the people.
You see it don’t you?
God hates hypocrisy!
God hates us posing as something that we aren’t.
And – this is where it really hits home – how many of us are like the fig tree?
On the outside, we look good. We go to church, we sing our songs, we read our Bible and we parrot the Christianese around our friends . . . But behind the nice green leaves, there is no fruit. We are not producing the things in our lives that Jesus desires:
- We are not making disciples
- We’re not loving our neighbors
- We’re not praying for our leaders
- We’re not hungering and thirsting for righteousness
- We’re not forgiving as we have been forgiven
- We don’t show the Fruit of the Spirit.
o Love
o Joy
o Peace
o Patience
o Kindness
o Goodness
o Faithfulness
o Gentleness
o Self-Control
Fruitlessness – Jesus hated it in the fig tree, how much more in our lives?
Now, with that in mind, let’s go with Jesus to the Temple.
When he got there on Sunday evening, what did he see?
Assume he walked into the court of the Gentiles – the outer court
There was all kinds of commotion
Animals were being herded in and out
Doves
Sheep
Cattle
People were haggling with “money-changers” about the value of their animals
Money changers were being obstinate, not haggling at all
Some people were angry
On top of that, the temple was the local beggars hangout
People with all kinds of needs were there trying to get their share of “alms”
• Widows
• Children
• The blind
• The lame
Finally, there were probably a few people who were actually trying to pray
Let me tell you about the scam that was going on.
This is Passover week – the week that everyone brought their annual sacrifice to the temple
Required in the Mosaic Law
Tell you about the Temple Treasury
+ Only money accepted was the temple money
+ Roman money was not allowed
People are coming to sacrifice
1st born of their flock
Without spot or blemish
Had to have the animal inspected
Invariably the inspector would find something wrong with the animal
Family would sell it in order not to have to take it home with them
Someone from the temple would buy it below its actual value
Now family needed an animal to sacrifice
Since family wouldn’t have temple money, the “money-changers” would exchange temple currency for Roman currency – at a very high rate
Temple authorities would provide an animal for them – at a cost – much greater than its normal value
The family then could go and perform their sacrifice
What happened to the animal the family brought for sacrifice?
It ended up in the temple stock yard to be sold to another family!
The only word that I can think of to describe what Jesus saw: Fraudulent
Nothing was what it was supposed to be.
The families were 3 time losers in this deal:
- Sold their animal for less than it was worth
- Exchanged their currency for less than it was worth
- Bought a sacrificial animal for much more than it was worth
But here’s the thing: even with all of that, the main thing for the family was to get this ritual done so that they “could be right with God.”
There was very little – if anything about the system – that resembles what God wanted from his people.
The Temple officials were getting rich off the backs of the people.
Again, Jesus saw the evil and the hypocrisy of what was happening and he did something about it.
Jesus cursed the money-changers and threw them out of His Father’s temple! As Jesus told the Samaritan Woman at the well, God is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
There was nothing spiritual or truthful about the Jewish worship, it was – well, it was fraudulent!
The entire ceremony was a sham.
The priests didn’t care about the sacrifices – they were all about lining their pockets.
The “worshipers” didn’t care about the sacrifice – all they really wanted to do was appease God and get on with their lives.
In fact, as Jesus watched in the temple, there was only one person that Jesus saw whose heart was truly seeking God – an elderly widow who put 2 cents in the offering!
You know, the lesson writes itself – what do we bring to the worship of God?
Is it a genuine sacrifice . . . or is it fraudulent?
Listen, this Easter season, let’s examine our lives – our worship . . . and ask ourselves;
Are we worshiping God as He desires?
Are we living the truth, or is it a lie, all done to fulfill a ritual to appease God.
I can’t answer that question – that is between you and the Lord. But as we consider the Holy week of Easter, that is a question we all should answer.
Now, let’s go back to Palm Sunday
Jesus has entered into the city
He has been hailed “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”
People have honored Him, praised Him and blessed Him
As he stands there that evening, looking over the people, what is going through his mind?
I wonder if it weren’t the words of Isaiah 29:13 – The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth; and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Think about it:
- Corrupt people
- Following corrupt leaders
- Going through the motions of worship – but in reality – just a part of big ritual that had long lost its meaning!
Palm Sunday – everything that Jesus saw and heard could be summarized by the Fig Tree and the Temple
It looked good – but there was no fruit!
The people were there for the Passover, but not for God – it was a fraud
They hailed this “prophet” but they had completely selfish motives
• Loved his teaching
• Loved his healing
• Loved his miracles
• But they couldn’t care less about Him!
Everything about what was happening – everything about the week – was not about God – it was about people.
Their needs, their wants,
It was no different than today
It was a “what’s in it for me mentality”
And Jesus saw right through it.
You see; the people who lined the streets on Palm Sunday never really dealt with the Jesus issue
Who He was
What He did
What that meant
It came to me during the week. I was thinking about this message and what God wanted me to say about Palm Sunday. And honestly, it was like a flood, this thought came to me:
We are too much like the men and women who were in Jerusalem that last week of His life.
On Sunday, they were throwing out their garments, laying out palm branches, singing and rejoicing . . . declaring how great Jesus was.
But during the week, they were turning on Him, betraying Him and crucifying Him!
Their worship on Sunday was fake – because their lives the rest of the week was faithless.
You know, it’s easy to come here on Sunday, gather, sing and declare how great Jesus is.
But what about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday?
You see, eventually we all have to deal with the real Jesus.
Like the people of Jerusalem 2000 years ago, eventually we are going to be asked to decide “what about Jesus?”
They were asked to choose between Barabbas and Jesus and they chose Barabbas.
And Pilate asked: What about Jesus.
2000 years ago, they cried: “crucify Him – crucify Him.”
And when they did, the nature of their hearts was revealed.
They were truly faithless. They rejected Jesus
You know, it’s the same for us – it’s a matter of faith
You see, Jesus is easy – when He is acting the way you want Him to.
Jesus is easy – when He comes riding in as a conquering King.
But, Jesus is hard, when He challenges you.
- Jesus is hard to follow, when He makes you open your heart and examine what is inside.
- Jesus is hard to say “yes” to, when He is asking you to take up your cross and follow Him.
- Jesus is hard when the rest of the world is turning away from Him and yelling “crucify Him, crucify Him.”
And when Jesus is hard, all of the “Hosanna’s” that we sing on Sunday will not drown out the “crucify him” that we shout the rest of the week.
You know, I’ve said a lot this morning about Fig Trees, Money Changers, and Palm Sunday Worshippers.
The one constant in all of that is that they all looked good on the outside, but upon closer examination, they were all useless.
Nothing about them was real! Oh, from a distance, someone might say – “wow, they sure are vibrant. They sure are doing what God wants them to do.
But in the end, the fig tree was fruitless; the Temple was fraudulent; and the Palm Sunday worshippers were faithless.
Listen to Mark 11:11 one more time: Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
I wonder what Jesus would think if he stopped and peaked in at Lance Creek Community Church this morning.
What would Jesus find if he “looked around at everything”?
Would it be “fruitless, fraudulent and faithless” or would He find us walking by faith, living by truth and bearing fruit for His glory?
We cannot go on being Palm Sunday believers forever . . . where we worship Him on Sunday, and crucify Him on Friday.
The fact is, we have to make a full, whole-hearted decision. Either He is my Lord and Savior Monday through Saturday, or He is just a nice little distraction on Sunday!
Something to think about this Easter season.
Let’s pray.
