When you arrived at church this morning, you might have wondered if you had entered the Richwood First Baptist Arboretum. Because we have these lovely palm fronds distributed around the sanctuary. But of course, the reason for all the greenery is that this is Palm Sunday, the first Sunday of Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, when great crowds of people came out to welcome him into the city, laying palm branches in his path, which represented victory and celebration. As a reminder, here are the remaining days of Holy Week:
• Holy Monday, when Jesus drove the money changers and merchants out of the temple,
• Holy Tuesday, when Jesus delivered the Olivet Discourse, which contains important teachings on the end times,
• Holy Wednesday, also called Spy Wednesday, because it is the day that Judas agreed to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver,
• Maundy Thursday, when Jesus observed the Last Supper with his disciples and washed their feet, before going out to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was arrested. This day is called “Maundy”, from the Latin word for “commandment”, mandatum, because of Jesus’ words to his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another”. Think “mandate” Thursday.
• Good Friday, the day of Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate and of his crucifixion and death,
• Holy Saturday, the day that Jesus’ body lay in the tomb, and
• Easter Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection
I went through that sequence in some detail, because the Bible treats this week as being of supreme importance. In fact, nearly half of the entire gospel of John covers just these seven days. This is the climax of Jesus’ life and ministry. And so I think it is appropriate that we be familiar with the main events of that week.
But this morning, we observe the first day of Holy Week, Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem. And although the narratives of that day in the Bible are relatively short, this is an event that is full of significance for us as followers of Christ. Not only historically, but also spiritually. Because it reveals several important things about who Christ is. I’m going to cover just two of them this morning. Let’s begin by reading the account in the gospel of Mark, chapter 11, verses 1-10:
1 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?’ say, ‘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 heaven!”
The first thing I would like you to note is that Jesus is not a passive participant in these events. When the crowd gathers, and they lay down their cloaks and branches in the road for him to pass over; when they cry out in joy, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!”, it is not something that just happens spontaneously. It is something that Jesus not only welcomed, but actively encouraged. For example, Matthew’s account says that when he chose to ride on the colt of a donkey, this was an explicit reference to prophecy, Zechariah 9:9:
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:4-5)
This is a prophecy which Jesus is now intentionally fulfilling. And by doing this, Jesus is identifying himself as the king who was foretold in the Old Testament. And so he is knowingly and purposefully stirring up the crowd. He wants them to rejoice. He wants them to hail him as king. He wants them to exalt him, to glorify him. This offended the Pharisees, by the way. Luke tells us that they objected to all of the adulation that Jesus was receiving, and they wanted him to rebuke his disciples for praising him so extravagantly. But Jesus replied that if they were to keep quiet, then the very stones would cry out. Because not just the people, but all of Creation, was rejoicing (Romans 8:19-22).
And this principle—that Jesus was actively driving events forward, rather than being passively carried along by them—this principle that Jesus was in control of his own destiny, applies not only to Palm Sunday, but to all of the events of Holy Week. For example, John’s gospel tells us that Jesus knew that Judas had agreed with the chief priests to betray him. Do you remember what Jesus told Judas at the Last Supper?, “What you are about to do, do quickly”. And Judas immediately left the meal and went out. Jesus wasn’t trying to escape. On the contrary, he was prompting Judas to carry out the evil that he had planned to do.
Not only that, but during Holy Week, over and over again, Jesus directly attacked the Pharisees. He called them blind guides and fools, snakes and vipers. He said they were like whitewashed tombs, full of hypocrisy and wickedness. He accused them of being murderers, and implied that they would be condemned to hell. He did all that, knowing that they hated him and wanted to kill him. Why? Because that’s what he wanted. Jesus was actively provoking them into doing the evil which they had already decided to do.
He was intentionally goading them into action. Yes, they acted out of free will; they freely chose to do evil. But Jesus knew that his words of condemnation would arouse their murderous rage. And he did it intentionally, fully aware of how they would respond.
The clearest statement regarding this is from Jesus himself:
“17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 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.” (John 10:17-18)
Jesus freely chose to lay down his life. And he also chose the time and the manner of this death. He was in control from beginning to end. Likewise, in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, Peter said this to the crowds:
“23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (Acts 2:23)
It was “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge” that Jesus was arrested and taken before Pilate to be condemned to death. It was all a part of God’s plan.
• Now, the chief priests and the Pharisees thought they were in control. They sent the temple guards, along with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, to arrest Jesus. And by the way, Jesus didn’t resist arrest, but went willingly. They brought him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, where they passed judgment on him. But they were not in control. Jesus told them that all he had to do was ask his father, and God would send twelve legions of angels to defend him, 72,000 angels. Each one of those angels a fearsome divine warrior. That pathetic mob and their puny weapons would have been no match for even one of them. And so Jesus was arrested only because God permitted it.
• And Pilate wasn’t in control of Jesus’ fate either, despite all the power of Rome behind him. When Jesus refused to answer his questions, Pilate was amazed, and he asked Jesus, “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” But Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 19:10-11). Pilate thought he was in control, but he was not. He condemned Jesus only because God gave him the power to do so.
And so everything that happened to Jesus during Holy Week, including his condemnation, crucifixion, and death, happened because God had planned it. And the question is why. Why would God allow his beloved Son to be mistreated, and mocked, and tortured to death on a cross? And why would Jesus willingly go to the cross, and even drive forward the events that would lead to his arrest and crucifixion, knowing what would be the result? The answer is both simple and profound. Because he loved us. The apostle John puts it this way:
“16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16)
Everything that Jesus did, including the events of Holy Week leading up to his crucifixion and death, he did because he loved us. Not just loved “mankind” as an abstract concept, but loved you and I, people whose names he knows. He loved us.
But why did Jesus’ love for us require that he die on a cross? The answer will be familiar to many of you, but it bears repeating. Because we couldn’t save ourselves. We owed a debt we couldn’t pay. We were separated from God because of our sin, and there was nothing we could do to atone for that sin, to appease the wrath of God toward us, to escape the terrible punishment that we deserved. Nothing whatsoever. We could not do even the tiniest little thing that would somehow lessen our guilt. We could not, in the slightest, make amends: for our pride and rebellion, for our shameful acts of disobedience, for our casual everyday dishonoring of our Creator. We were utterly and completely helpless.
Listen to what Paul writes in Romans:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)
What does Paul say was our spiritual condition? We were “powerless”. We were “ungodly”. We were “sinners”. We had done nothing to merit forgiveness for our sins, and we could do nothing to obtain forgiveness for our sins. But because God loved us, he sent Christ to die for us, to pay the penalty that we owed for our sins and to appease God’s wrath against us.
And again, in Ephesians:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:1-5)
What was our spiritual condition before we came to faith? Verse 1: We were “dead” in our “transgressions and sins”. Verse 3 tells us that we were “deserving of wrath”. And who does that description apply to? Verse 3 again: “All of us”. You and I, and every person who has ever lived, deserved to have God pour out his terrible wrath on us. And what could we do to save ourselves? What can a dead person do to save themselves? Absolutely nothing. It is only because of God’s grace—his undeserved, unearned, unmerited favor—that we can be saved, through faith in Jesus Christ. Because God sent him to be the atonement, the payment, for our sins.
I want to be very clear on this. There are no exceptions. Every one of us deserved to suffer God’s wrath and his punishment for our sins. We were completely powerless and helpless, we were dead in our sins. But God loved us. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on a cross, to take upon himself the punishment that we deserved, so that we could be forgiven. And that forgiveness is a gift of God’s grace, to every person who confesses their sins and places their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. No one can earn forgiveness, or even lessen their guilt. But anyone can receive forgiveness, as a gift, through faith in Christ.
That’s the essence of the gospel. And if there is anyone here this morning who has not yet placed their trust in Christ for salvation, or who is unsure about their spiritual state, there will never be a better time to do it. The Bible tells us that “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Why wait any longer? Place your trust in Christ today. And then tell someone about it, as soon as possible.
For those of us who have trusted in Christ, we need to remind ourselves, every day, that God owed us nothing. And we deserved nothing but condemnation, and wrath, and punishment. But although we deserved nothing, God gave us everything in Christ. Because he loved us. And so we owe him everything: all that we have, all that we are, and all that we can do. We owe him everything. Therefore, let us seek to love him and to serve him, as our Lord taught us, with all of our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).
That’s the first thing that we can learn from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, that he was in control; that this event and all of the events of Holy Week, including his crucifixion and death, took place because he freely chose to give his life for us, in love. Here’s the second thing that we can learn from Palm Sunday: that Jesus is a king. And not only “a” king, but “the” king. As we saw before, Jesus’ choice to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey was an explicit fulfillment of a prophecy, in Zechariah 9:9, concerning Israel’s coming king. Again, as Matthew notes in his telling of the story:
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:4-5)
Throughout the Old Testament, there are promises from God that he would establish an eternal kingdom, ruled over by a king whose reign would never end. And that king is Jesus. He is the king over all Creation: As we read in Revelation 11:15-16,
“15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”” (Revelation 11:15-16)
What does that mean to us? It means that we owe Christ our absolute loyalty and our complete obedience, without any compromise with sin. In other words, what Jesus says, we must do, without excuses or exceptions. It is not up to us to decide which of Jesus’ commands we need to obey, and which we can ignore, or perhaps comply with only partially. That’s what it means to have a king.
It’s a bit more difficult for us, living in 21st-century America, to understand and accept this, because we don’t live in a monarchy or a dictatorship, as did the people of Biblical times. We live in a representative democracy, under a Constitution. In our form of government, the people are the ultimate source of authority and power, and those whom we elect to govern us are actually subject to us, and answer to us, rather than us being subject to them, as we would be in a monarchy. That’s how it’s supposed to work, at least. That’s what we learned in Civics class.
You will recall that this principle is clearly stated in our Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
A fundamental principle of our form of government is that those who govern must do so with the permission, or consent, of the people. That’s why the preamble to the U.S. Constitution states this: that, “We, the people of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution”. It is the people, and not a king or a sovereign, who make the rules in America, through their elected representatives.
The great benefit of this form of political government is that it limits the damage that can be done by any one person. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1820, “I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves.” (Letter to William Charles Jarvis, 28 September 1820) And this attitude toward authority; this principle that rulers require our consent, is deeply ingrained in our minds. It makes us suspicious of any kind of unilateral power. However, the kingdom of God is not a democracy, of any kind. Nor does it need to be. Because God is not human or fallible. He is not sinful or wicked. On the contrary, he is completely wise, and good, and loving. And so it is entirely proper and just for him to rule over us as a king, as an absolute sovereign.
The problem is that many people, and even many professing Christians, relate to God as if he were just another elected official; as if they were the authority and he were accountable to them. And so we evaluate his commandments and subject them to our approval. If his commands make sense to us, and if we deem them conducive to our life, and liberty and happiness, then we consent to follow them. If not, then we put them aside. We have reasons, of course. We say that they aren’t applicable in our day and age, that times have changed, that we live in a more enlightened age than the Biblical authors, and that we should follow our society’s lead in determining how to live. We think of ourselves as having, not only the freedom but the right, to determine which of God’s commands we will follow. But this is a very dangerous attitude, from a spiritual point of view. Because God expects, and demands, obedience, and he is not impressed with our rationalizations. Listen to what Jesus said:
“23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” (John 14:23-24)
Likewise, the apostle John writes this:
“1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6)
Let me read that again: “Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar”. I didn’t write that, the apostle John did, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so it couldn’t be more clear. If someone knows Christ, and loves Christ, they will obey him. If they do not obey him, then they do not know him or love him. And if they claim otherwise, they are lying. Not intentionally, perhaps; they may actually believe that they know Christ because of some experience they had years ago. But the fact that they believe it doesn’t make it true. The Scriptures are clear: those who know Christ and love Christ will obey him.
Now, having said that, I need to clarify a couple of things. Does this mean that Christians never sin? No. As John states explicitly in verses 1-2, although his intention is that we not sin, we have an advocate with the Father when we do, someone who made atonement for those sins, and that is Jesus Christ. So Christians do sin, and when that happens, Christ goes to the Father on our behalf, and pleads his own death as the reason that we should be forgiven. He is our advocate, our “attorney”, so to speak. So John isn’t saying that Christians never sin. But what he is saying is that a Christian person is somehow who does not excuse their sin, or make rationalizations for it, with the intention of continuing in it. A Christian person is not someone who ignores or disregards God’s law. A Christian person is someone who seeks to obey Christ in every respect, and who goes to Christ for forgiveness when they fail, and who then resolves to do better, by God’s power, in the future. So the criteria is not sinless perfection; it is a heart that desires to obey Christ as our King, whatever it is that he commands us to do, and which seeks to do so.
Second clarification: God gave us these verses so that we would be vigilant concerning our own conduct and heart attitudes, so that we would examine ourselves. He did not give us these verses so that we could judge others, or pass judgment on someone else’s salvation. That’s between them and God. We can urge them to abandon their sin, and we can warn them of the danger that they are in if they refuse to do so. But we are not to pass judgment on the genuineness of another person’s faith. Why? Because, first of all, we are not equipped to do so. We don’t have the ability to see into their heart; only God does. Second, it’s not our job. Only God is the judge, not us. And perhaps most importantly, focusing on the faults and deficiencies of others risks committing the sin of spiritual pride. Jonathan Edwards, the preacher of the First Great Awakening in America, wrote this: ,
“The spiritually proud person is apt to find fault with other saints, that they are low in grace; and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are; and being quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies. But the eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home, and sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned about it, that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts” (In “Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England”)
In other words, all of us have more than enough to do in identifying and repenting of our own sin; and we don’t need to busy ourselves trying to find and diagnose the sin in other people’s lives. So let’s apply these passages on Jesus’ kingship as they were intended, by recommitting ourselves to walking with Christ in faithfulness, and obedience, and love, recognizing him not only as our Savior who loved us and gave his life for us, but also as our King, to whom we owe our complete and total obedience, in love. And may we ask God for the grace to do that every day, by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Amen.
