Jesus is worthy of praise: A Palm Sunday message.
Today in the Christian Calendar is an important day, the Sunday prior to Easter, Palm Sunday, not because of all the palm branches on the way in here or on the platform. It’s called Palm Sunday because as Jesus entered Jerusalem prior to his crucifixion there was a massive celebration of his entering as King, the people were waving palm branches for their new King, well that is who many of the people of the city hoped he would be. They hoped he would be the one who set them free from Roman oppression, they hoped he would be the one who King Herod, the King Herod who killed all those infants when Jesus was a baby was afraid he would be. Living as we do in this age, we know that Jesus was not either of these things, but he was a king, he is in fact now the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.
The Jewish people had known that the Messiah was coming, they were aware that the prophets and I will soon read here Zechariah’s prophecy, well part of it, about the Christ’s arrival. It was known that from Abraham’s lineage would come one who would bring freedom to God’s people. In part this why we have been doing or deep dive into scripture. So, we develop an idea of Jesus, and who he is as God but also who he was forecast to be. We as Christians have this understanding why God coming into the world was necessary as a man, who was also divine. In fact, one of the persons of the Triune God we worship, the other two persons being The Father and The Holy Spirit.
So Zechariah who lived in the sixth century BC prophecies this:
Zechariah 9:9-12.
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River[a] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
So that is one of around 456 prophecies about the Messiah.
As I said earlier the Jewish people had known that the Messiah was coming, they were aware that the prophets and I’ve only mentioned here Zechariah’s prophecy well part of it about the Christ’s arrival. It was known that from Abraham’s lineage would come one who would bring freedom to God’s people.
Alfred Edershiem, a Jewish convert to Christianity and a Biblical scholar known especially for his book ‘The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah’ (1883) found 456 prophecies that related to the coming of the Messiah. Three hundred were fulfilled in Jesus’ lifetime. The mathematical probability of this occurring is 1-10 to the power of 17. Apparently if you got that many US silver dollars and spread them over the state of Texas, they would be 2 feet deep. References to the Messiah, and who and how Messiah would be, are spread throughout the Old Testament.
Here is the fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy as recorded by Luke, remember here that Luke’s is a record of eye-witness accounts of Jesus life, death and resurrection.
Here is Luke 19:28-40:
28 After he [Jesus] had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,
30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out!”
The Pharisees had to know they were powerless to stop the excitement of the people, so they called on Jesus to stop what they believed to be blasphemy.
Jesus replied, “I tell you, . . . if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). What did Jesus mean by this statement? Did He mean that the rocks would literally start shouting praises to the Lord?
Some would say that the stones crying out was not necessarily a literal thing and that the stones crying out meant:
"That the people’s acclamations should be encouraged, not suppressed. The people of Jerusalem are expressing great joy, and that joy is so appropriate, so necessary, that, if they did not express praise, it would be appropriate for inanimate objects to fill the void. Colossians 1:16 says that all creation was made for God’s glory. Everything in creation declares His praise. However, humans are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), so we are the ones who should be praising God.
Throughout Scripture are similar poetic passages that present inanimate objects praising God. For example, in Psalm 114:6, the mountains leap. Isaiah 55:12 says, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Throughout Psalm 148, there are numerous examples of created things praising their Creator—the sun, moon, stars, heavens, water, sky, animals, and people. Everyone and everything was created for the pleasure of the sovereign Lord.'(What does it mean that “the rocks will cry out” in Luke 19:40? | GotQuestions.org) I have quoted this online reference from Got Questions in part.
Well as you may have picked in relation to my faith in God, I am a believer that God as creator is capable of many things, good things, I have had some interesting and I would say miraculous things happen in my life. I have seen trees clap their hands. However, stones crying out, shouting is another thing. But and this is where it gets interesting. A few years ago a friend of mine was in Israel in Jerusalem, and she mentioned that she was to be going to Bethlehem, if the security forces allowed it, because there was some tumultuous happening at the time. So, thinking that this might give me an opportunity for a sermon illustration I asked if she was able to pick up a stone from the road below the Mount of Olives, the ones that would have cried out if the disciples had remained silent. Her answer was?
Well, here I have two of the stones that would have shouted out. Thanks Belinda. When she sent them to me she told me of what a thrill it was to be sitting on the Mount of olives with them in her hand knowing they would soon be on their way to the ends of the earth.
The point I want to emphasise today is not about the stones but that is ‘Jesus is worthy of praise, God is worthy of praise. All glory belongs to God.’ Jesus is our Saviour and Redeemer, nothing has been made without him, without the events of Easter we would be lost. As we see Jesus approaching what would be his last week prior to his death and resurrection he is praised by his disciples. Their words: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” This rocked the Pharisees, yip pun intended, as they pressed him to correct the disciple’s declaration. His reply was one of ‘no,’ and not just a plain no, one I believe pointed to his divinity again. “I tell you, if these [disciples] were silent, the stones would shout out!” The stones would cry out. We know that through Jesus all things are made. John at the beginning of his gospel says it this way:
“He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:2-5). My sermon big idea here is this, Jesus is worthy of praise! Not only worthy of praise but deserving of praise, without his coming into the world we all of us would be living lives much different to those we lead. In the week ahead, give him praise.
Here are a few other biblical verses that declare just how worthy of praise Jesus is:
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11).
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians :15-16)
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:9-10)
“Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna in the highest!'” (Matthew 21:9)
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Palm Sunday might be a celebration for the disciples but for us it is an opportunity to know that, to remember that the disciples’ words; “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” are as true now as they were then. That if the disciples had been silent these stones or some similar to them would have cried out similar words. All of creation declares the glory of God. In his Revelation to the Church John tells us “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11).
Today we enter the Holy Week leading up to Easter, to a week that should have ended in death and the decay of broken body left in a borrowed tomb. However, the week full of its events that started with shouts of praise to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, resulted in Christ’s resurrection from the dead, that massive stone in front of the tomb could not hold him, and with it came our release, from the bondage of sin and death if we will accept that freedom, I’ve said it and I will continue to say it, “Jesus is worthy of our praise.” Let us sing his praise!
