"What Happens When The Cheering Stops?”

In Jesus Holy Name April 10, 2022

Text: Matthew 21:1-3,10 Palm Sunday Redeemer

“What Happens When The Cheering Stops?”

Corrie Ten Boom was a famous Christian whose testimony of suffering in Nazi concentration camps and God’s grace through it all touched millions of lives. A few years ago, in a press conference following a ceremony in which Corrie Ten Boom was given an honorary degree, one of the reporters asked her if it was difficult remaining humble while hearing so much acclaim.

She replied immediately, “Young man, when Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments in the road and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?” She continued. “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in His glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”

The Palm Sunday parade has color and spectacle, cheering and singing, festive voices and joyful exuberance. It was a happy day. You can almost hear the sheer drama of the parade, the brass drum beating. No miracles break in, no supernatural rescue to save Jesus from the tragedy about to come. The most sophisticated religious system of its time is allied with the most powerful political empire. They were arrayed against a solitary figure, the only perfect man who has ever lived. Jesus is about to fulfill God’s eternal plan of redemption in Jerusalem.

This was the week of the festival of the Passover, millions of pilgrims had arrived in Jerusalem. Through the centuries, empires rose and then fell into the dust bin of history. Through those same countless centuries, the Jewish people paused as a nation to remember God’s great feat of deliverance from slavery in Egypt. God’s eternal plan to rescue His creation and free His people, whose lives have been held in the slavery of the fear of death, will soon end at the cross and empty tomb of Jesus.

Crowds have been following Jesus. More than a million pilgrims are filling the streets and hotels. Just south of Jerusalem in Jericho Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He healed two men who were blind, and the crowds grew. It did not take long for the word to spread. Jesus is coming to Jerusalem. The streets were already crowded. There was a buzz throughout the city about Lazarus who had been raised from the dead by Jesus. People were hearing amazing stories about this man feeding thousands of people, healing the lame, the blind. Religious expectations were running high.

Jesus enters the ancient city on a donkey. The crowds went wild with their cheering. “Hosanna to the Son of David”. People grabbed anything they could get their hands on. They tore palm branches from trees. They took the clothes off their backs to throw them in his path. Visitors to the city were asking… Who is this? This is Jesus, the prophet, from Galilee.

Singing, shouting, the crowd, sweeps through the city gates and finally stopped on the plaza in front of the Temple. There Jesus dismounted and entered the temple.

Mark tells us what happened next. “Jesus entered Jerusalem ……… He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve” to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

The crowd must have been stunned. Disappointment. Was this the end of the singing and shouting, the hosannas, the waving of palms. You and I know why. There is no salvation, no forgiveness from God for His people on Palm Sunday. What happened when the cheering stopped? Jesus returns to Bethany for a night of rest. In His heart Jesus knew how the week would end. God’s eternal plan for the salvation of humanity was nearing its climax.

On Monday, Jesus returns to the temple. He overturns the tables of the money changers and drives out those selling animals. This was God’s house of prayer and it was being mis used. Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus taught the people in parables in the temple each day….

On Tuesday, the Pharisees and teachers of the law kept looking for a way to arrest Him. They argued with him about paying taxes to Caesar. They challenged him on marriage in the resurrection. Jesus tells them the parable of the father with two prodigal sons and the “Nobel owner of the vineyard and His son”. Matthew writes: “when the chief priest and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables they knew he was talking about their disbelief. The religious authorities resented Jesus. They looked for a way to arrest Him but they were afraid of the crowds. (Matt. 21:45)