Here we are coming together on what is celebrated as the first day of Holy week. We called today Palm Sunday.
The church attendance on Palm Sunday is usually not as numerous as the attendance will be on Easter Sunday. And yet today is the day that began the week of Jesus's final journey while here on earth. Today is the day that began our quest in the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ conquering death. Shouldn't this be an important day to focus upon?
And today is the day that many go to church and expect to hear a message about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey while His supporters laid down their cloaks and palm leaves in front of Jesus as he made his way into the city of Jerusalem. And yes, that will be mentioned. But that’s not our primary focus.
Yeah, this is the week that images and depictions of Easter come into our minds and into our churches. Images of the cross and the tomb and the hands with holes in them and sermons about crucifixion and resurrection and salvation.
But in many churches the major focus is on Easter, and Palm Sunday seems to be sometimes left on the back burner. But this was an important Sunday. This was the Sunday that began Jesus's journey to the cross and to the tomb. So, I feel very obligated to take this day and celebrate it for what it is - the beginning of what Jesus did so that we might have the hope of eternal life.
This was a phenomenal week and many things occurred during that Holy week. But I'll say more about that in a moment.
As I think about the participants that were there on that Palm Sunday, I think about the people who were strong in their support for this coming Messiah. But we're saddened to know that those that waved the palm branches and shouted, "Hosanna. blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," on that Sunday would turn their backs and be shouting, "Crucify Him," by Friday.
Then you have the Apostles that traveled with Jesus, heard Him preach, saw Him perform miracles, but probably most of all were His friends. This group made promises to Jesus but then turned their backs on Him. I can relate to that.
But I think out of all of the participants that first Palm Sunday, I think I would like to be more like the donkey. I know that sounds funny. But think about it. The donkey was commissioned by Christ to complete a specific task of carrying the Messiah into the city of Jerusalem. I would like to be known as someone who carried Christ into every area of my life.
Shouldn't we all be more like the donkey carrying Christ to our workplaces, into our schools, into our homes. Wouldn't this be a good week for us to make a commitment to carry Christ with us into areas of our lives and introduce Him to people that we know? This would be a good week to do just that.
As I said, many occurrences happened this Holy week. Jesus cleansed the temple. He told many parables. So much more that I'll get to in a minute.
Most Christians have heard about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey while participants waved palm branches. But what is the significance of this day? Why did it happen? Why was it so special?
As we open our story, we see that for the past several weeks Jesus and His disciples have been making their way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration like thousands of other Jews were doing. Along the way Jesus would heal the blind man, cleanse the ten lepers, He met Zacchaeus, and told many parables. He was attracting a lot of people's attention.
His last stop was at the home of his friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. They lived in a small town called Bethany a few miles away from Jerusalem. Jesus didn't go all the way into Jerusalem that day because He knew that the Pharisees were seeking to kill Him and it was not yet His time.
As great as it was for Jesus to be able to hang out with some of His closest friends, there were still huge crowds that followed. They came to Lazarus's house that day, too. They wanted to see this man that Jesus had raised from the dead. Wouldn't we be just as curious as they were?
But Jesus had prophecy to fulfill so the next morning, Sunday morning, Jesus made plans to ride into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. This would fulfill a prophecy that was spoken by the angel Gabriel in the book of Daniel several hundred years earlier.
But how Jesus traveled the last few miles to Jerusalem was a fulfillment of a second prophecy. Instead of walking there, Jesus sent two of His disciples to a nearby village to retrieve a young colt. Matthew records that there was also a mare there, perhaps the colt's mother, so they took her as well so that the colt would be more cooperative.
But then the mystical phenomenon occurs. Jesus somehow knew that the owner of the colt would ask about them taking the colt and that they were to answer him. "The Lord has need of it." That indeed happened and when the disciples made that statement to the owner, he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to the village. The colt fulfills a prophecy of:
Zechariah 9:9 – “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Let's mention that donkey again. Now there's two interesting points about the donkey. First, Jesus asked for a colt that had never been sat on.
Luke 19:30 – “. . , “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.”
The Jews regarded a colt that had never been sat upon to be used for Holy purposes. So, this matches Jesus's deity.
Another significant fact about Jesus choosing a donkey is that it is such a humble animal, not big and majestic like a horse. Royalty and the military rode horses. Jesus, as a humble servant of the Father, chose a donkey that matched His attitude and Spirit. You can be sure that the symbolism of Jesus's choice of animal was clearly seen by the people of that day. It spoke volumes.
The disciples threw their clothes on the back of the donkey before Jesus sat on it. Other people threw their garments of clothing on the road before the donkey. Putting clothes on the ground was a very old custom of that time that was reserved for kings and royalty. This tells us that the people were already recognizing Jesus as the King of the Jews. Of course, they're recognition of Jesus as the Messiah is evident from their shouts in:
Matthew 21:9 – “Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The people were simply quoting Scripture that they knew that came from:
Psalm 118:26 – “He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of the Lord we bless you.”
The phrase was sung regularly at Jewish religious festivals so it was well known. Of course, all of this made the Pharisees only angrier.
If you were a Jew, at this point, you were thinking that God had finally answered your prayers. God had finally sent the one man who was promised that would deliver the Israelites from the clutches of evil. Well, they were sort of right, but not really.
God had come to deliver the Israelites, but not from what they thought. They were expecting a king who would overthrow the Roman Empire and re-establish the autonomy of their nation, which is why they were yelling "hosanna" because it means "save us."
They got a king, but not the kind of king they had in mind. In those days, kings were usually highly ranked in the military. And so, the Jews were expecting someone who would wage war and overcome the evil Romans. What they didn't realize is that Jesus had come to overcome an even greater enemy than the Roman Empire. That enemy was sin and death. That's what Jesus came to overcome.
Maybe that's why some in the crowd turned against Jesus at the end of the week and chose Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus. The military general that they were expecting never showed up. So, Jesus wasn't the guy they had been waiting for. Maybe they viewed Him as a fraud that had let them down.
But on that Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the last time, those that had been following Jesus all the way from Galilee knew that He was someone special. He was someone that would change the world forever. And a few of them believed in Him enough that they would follow Him all the way to the cross.
There's a lot that we can learn about Jesus's last days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. I mentioned a little bit ago that there were many things that happened during this week. Things like:
-The giving of the greatest commandment occurred this week.
Matthew 22:37-39 – “He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
So that happened this week.
-And then there was the cleansing of the temple.
Matthew 21:12-13 – “Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”
-The washing of the disciples’ feet occurred this week.
-This week was the week that Jesus gave the warning to watch for the signs of the last days and Jesus's second coming.
-Judas Iscariot will betray Jesus this week that will lead to His arrest.
And then there were the prophecies. Several prophecies were fulfilled this week, mostly when Jesus was hanging on the cross.
-When the Roman soldiers gave Jesus sour wine to drink to prolong his suffering, it was a fulfillment of a prophecy.
Psalm 69:21 – “Instead, they gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
-And then there was the fulfillment of the prophecy that said that none of His bones would be broken.
John 19:36 – “For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: Not one of his bones will be broken.”
-There was a prophecy that Jesus would be pierced with a spear.
Zechariah 12:10 – “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced.”
-The prophecy was also fulfilled that His garments would not be torn apart.
Psalm 22:18 – “They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.”
-And then there was the complete fulfillment of the prophecy given to us in Isaiah 53. Read that whole chapter and you’ll see that prophecy foretold how Jesus would be pierced and wounded. It also foretold His ministry and His endurance on the cross.
-Of course, this day, Palm Sunday, leads to the fulfillment of a prophecy that we are all aware of. That is the prophecy that Jesus rose from the grave.
Psalm 16:10 – “For you will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful one to see decay.”
-Today is also the beginning of the week that leads to the prophecy of the giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
And what this day started, would end on Friday when Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. I invite you to join us this Friday evening at 8pm for a very solemn candlelight service, a funeral for Jesus, if you will, as we take a journey to the tomb, one step at a time. It will be a service that will make your Easter morning more meaningful than perhaps it has ever been.
So you see, it was a very busy and anxious week, for sure. And it all began on this day in history that we now celebrate as Palm Sunday. I hope that you can see why this day should be celebrated as much as Easter Sunday.
Yes, it was a busy week, but Jesus was faithful to His mission to redeem the lost and give His body as an atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we can experience the power of His grace.
So, as you prepare for Easter this week, even more so than coloring eggs and stuffing Easter baskets, try to remember the significance of Jesus's final days on earth and how it all began on Palm Sunday. Make an effort to remember your Lord, Jesus Christ, because He certainly was thinking of you on that day.
And the best part is that He is still thinking of you today.
If you don't know Jesus in a personal way, I plead with you to make that decision before it's too late. Jesus is waiting for you, why don't you come to Him?
