Today is Palm Sunday. It’s the Sunday in the year when we remember that a week before Jesus was crucified, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. People took palm branches and shouted out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ It seems like a very happy occasion. But in reality, a tragedy is about to take place. As Jesus, riding on the donkey, approaches Jerusalem, we read that,
‘…HE WEPT OVER IT, 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. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade round you and surround you and hem you in on every side 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”’ [Luke 19:41b-44].
What Jesus said would happen happened. In 70 A.D. the Roman army besieged Jerusalem, captured it and razed it to the ground.
When I was a child, I used some Bible reading notes. At the front of the notes, they suggested, when you read the Bible, look out for examples, promises, commands and warnings. I think that’s a good approach for us today. This passage contains a massive and obvious warning. It also contains a wonderful promise, although that’s a bit harder to spot.
THE WARNING
Let’s start with the warning.
Jesus wept because he could see that a tragedy was about to happen.
Many years ago, I read some books about business ethics. The author of one of the books talked about ethical mistakes people make in business and described them as ‘career-ending moments.’ This was a career-ending moment for the people of Jerusalem. As a result of Jerusalem’s actions in the coming week, Jerusalem would be destroyed. Jesus could see it coming.
What was the cause? What is the warning for us?
Jesus foresaw that the Roman army would come to Jerusalem. ‘And’, he said, ‘they will not leave one stone upon another in you, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.’
This was the critical mistake. This was the career-ending moment. The people of Jerusalem did not know the time of their ‘visitation’. What was Jesus talking about?
Early in my working life I worked as an engineer in a design office in Manchester. One day, one of the bosses came into our office and told us that we would have a new manager to run our department. After the boss left the people in the office chatted about it. They didn’t think the man who had been appointed would do a very good job. But when he came, they accepted that he was the manager. But suppose some of them had said to him, ‘We don’t accept you as manager!’ They would have been out of a job very quickly!
There are some situations in life in which you might question whether someone is the rightful boss or perhaps the rightful president. Wikipedia has a VERY long article on ‘Controversial elections.’ There have been lots of dodgy elections over the years. If you lost a dodgy election, would you accept that the other person has won?
But when it came to Jesus being king, it shouldn’t have been controversial. The magi, the wise men, who visited Jesus after he was born came to Jerusalem looking for the KING OF THE JEWS’ [Matthew 2:2]. But not many people had grasped who Jesus was at that time.
But then, Jesus started to teach. He started to work miracles. Lots and lots of miracles. Outstanding miracles. He told his disciples, ‘But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me’ [John 5:36].
Jesus did miracles all over Judea. He raised Lazarus from the dead on the outskirts of Jerusalem and THEN rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people of Jerusalem SHOULD have been able to put two and two together.
On the Day of Pentecost Peter preaches and says, ‘Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man ATTESTED to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know…’ [Acts 2:22].
Some Bibles say ‘attested’. Some say ‘accredited’ or ‘authenticated’. The point is that Jesus had given proof. His miracles couldn’t be ignored. He must have been sent by God. Therefore, to reject Jesus – indeed to put him to death – was a HUGE mistake. And there was a huge consequence. About 40 years later, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army. It disappeared off the face of the map. The Jewish historian Josephus commented that apart from one part of the city wall which was left, the rest of the wall was so thoroughly knocked down that people visiting the city later wouldn’t believe it had ever been inhabited.
There is a solemn warning here for people who knowingly reject Jesus. If they do that, then they had better look out.
Of course, we think, this applies to people of the world. It doesn’t apply to Christians. It couldn’t possibly apply to ME!
But some people who call themselves Christians effectively reject Jesus as king. Jesus warned his disciples:
‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’ [Matthew 7:21]. For ‘Jesus is Lord’ to be a reality we must DO what Jesus asks us to. Many people who call themselves Christians struggle to do that because they’ve never bothered to read the Bible. They don’t know what Jesus wants them to do. People can say ‘Lord, Lord’ to Jesus but it doesn’t mean they truly accept him as king.
There’s another warning.
THE PROMISE
Let’s go on to the promise. I said at the start of this talk that it’s a bit harder to spot.
Let me give another example from early in my working life. I said I worked as an engineer in a design office in Manchester. We designed power stations. Later, the company sent me to work on power station construction. One of the people in our team would usually be a planning engineer. He would have a great big flow chart on his wall or a plan on his computer to show how the construction should go. One activity would be followed by another activity, and a third activity would be done in parallel and finally, if hundreds and hundreds of activities went according to plan, we would hand over a working power station to the client. The planning engineer could put his finger on an activity on the plan and say, ‘We’re here.’
Jesus got on a donkey and rode into Jerusalem. But in a sense, he put his finger on a plan.
Jesus placed himself on a prophesy that was made by the prophet Zechariah about 500 years before Jesus lived.
Zechariah is one of the most remarkable prophets who looked forward to Jesus.
Let’s look at some of the things he prophesied.
One, in chapter 9, Zechariah prophesies that a king will enter Jerusalem on a donkey [9:9].
Two, in chapter 11, Zechariah prophesies about a shepherd being paid for his work. He is paid thirty pieces of silver [11:12-13]. This was, of course, the price Judas received for betraying Jesus.
Three, in chapter 12, Zechariah prophesies: ‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, SO THAT, WHEN THEY LOOK ON ME, ON HIM WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, they shall mourn for him…’ [12:10]. On the cross, Jesus was pierced by a spear.
Four, in chapter 13, Zechariah prophesies: ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’ [13:7]. Jesus, the shepherd, was struck, and his disciples, the sheep, were scattered.
These prophecies of Zechariah’s were fulfilled EXACTLY. That takes us up to Jesus’ time. But then Zechariah continues! He moves on to what we call ‘End Times.’
Five, in the last part of chapter 13 there is a time of tribulation. Revelation refers to ‘The Great Tribulation.’
Six, in chapter 14, there is a terrible battle, centred on Jerusalem. Zechariah tells us, ‘Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle’ [14:3]. He will stand on the Mount of Olives. God’s people will flee.
Seven, then Zechariah writes, ‘Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him’ [14:5].
When Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey he fulfilled one prophecy in Zechariah. But more than that, he placed himself on God’s timeline. All that Zechariah prophesied in connection with Jesus coming into Jerusalem and being put to death came to pass.
The fact that Zechariah’s promises have come to pass so far isn’t exactly a promise. But it gives us confidence that God has a plan and that he’s following it. Because we know what God is like, we trust that he will see it to the end. In this plan, there will be tough times. But the end, the result, is wonderful.
The Old Testament looks forward to the messiah coming as a conquering king. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey he came as king, but not yet as the conquering king. But that will happen. The prophet Isaiah wrote:
‘…with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked’ [Isaiah 11:1,4].
CONCLUSION
So, Palm Sunday gives us a warning. Reject Jesus at your peril! And it gives us a promise. Jesus’ getting on a donkey was one step on a plan. That step, and many others, were fulfilled. God has a plan, he’s working it out, and he will bring it to conclusion. Jesus will come again. He will overthrow the powers of evil. He will take up his reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The dwelling place of God will be with man and we will be his people. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! [Revelation 19:16; 21:3; 22:20].
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, Palm Sunday, 24 March 2024, 10.30 a.m. service
