Turn if you would, to Matthew chapter 21.
Matthew 21 is where we will primarily be this morning for
our text. Around the year 198 BC the the
Greeks Seleucid Kingdom had gained a stronghold in Judea.
Antiochus the 4th Epiphanes that is the illustrious 1 is what
that means. Was the ruler of the empire and
persecuted the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
He was an evil man and he had usurped the throne of the Greeks
as was common in their day. Josephus informs us that
Antiochus the 4th would execute anyone performing Jewish
practices or or who had possession of Jewish texts on
the temple altar. He set up his own altar to Zeus
and desecrated the Temple by sacrificing the pig on it.
This act in 167 BC was viewed as at least a partial fulfillment
of Daniel's desolation of abomination of desolation.
This led to the Maccabee in revolts, which was led by
Matthias and Judas Maccabees. As they entered Jerusalem after
their victory, they were greeted by by a crowd of people.
They were greeted with a hero's welcome.
They've won the freedom to safely continue practicing their
Jewish faith. And the crowds roared in
wonderful praise. Many of those in attendance,
both warriors and those welcoming them, took palm
branches and they waved them in triumph.
And after that moment, the palm branch was stamped into coins
and the Maccabean army's return to Jerusalem became the
blueprints that the crowds would use to welcome Jesus nearly 200
years later. This morning, of course, is the
beginning of what we call Holy Week.
This is the week that marks Jesus final days before his
crucifixion and resurrection. It begins with his triumphal
entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and then works through
the various occasions that churches recognize.
There's Maundy Thursday, which is which is the day that marks
Jesus Last Supper, his his commemorating the Passover with
his disciples. And Mondi comes from the Latin
mandatum meaning mandate or command because Jesus had given
his disciples a command to love one another on that occasion.
And then of course Good Friday, marking the occasion of his
death. And then of course it all
culminating in Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday.
Now in some sense Holy Week almost began about 8 weeks
before this moment. 8 weeks before that first Palm Sunday,
Mary and Martha had sent word to Jesus telling him that their
their brother Lazarus was sick. Jesus loved Lazarus and his
sisters very very much so, so they fully expected him to
immediately come and heal Lazarus.
However, when Jesus was told of Lazarus illness, he chose not to
go to Bethany. At that time he was in Perea and
Priya is on the other side of the Jordan River.
So it was some 15 or 20 miles away.
You can see it there on the right side of the Jordan River,
the east side of the Jordan River there Jesus said Lazarus
illness wouldn't lead to death his and so his disciples
understood that to mean that Lazarus wasn't going to die,
right. Jesus in fact stayed two more
days in pariah before deciding, OK, it's time to head back into
Judea. Now his disciples were concerned
because you see the Pharisees were looking to stone Jesus so
it could be dangerous to head towards Jerusalem.
Nonetheless, Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had
fallen asleep and that he would go to wake him up, of course.
Well, yes, if if he's sleeping, then you're going to wake him
up, then that means everything is fine.
Lazarus is fine and doing well. It was then that Jesus told them
in in plain Arabic, Arabic, Aramaic.
In plain Aramaic, he said Lazarus has died and I'm glad I
wasn't there. Kind of probably catching them
off guard a little bit. Hold on.
Why? By the time they got to Bethany,
it had already been four days since Lazarus had died.
Jesus asked to have the stone rolled away from the tomb and
Martha responded it has been four days.
Four days. That means by now his body
stinks. We don't want to do this.
The stone was removed. Jesus gave them a quick lesson
and then he said, Lazarus come out and he came out.
Word of this miracle began to spread all throughout the region
and some went and told the Pharisees what had happened.
The Pharisees gathered their counsel together and at Caiaphas
suggestion, they began planning to put Jesus to death.
They issued a statement, If you know where Jesus is, let us know
so that we can arrest him. With all this going on, the
question remained, Would Jesus even come up to Jerusalem for
Passover? After this moment, Jesus retired
back NA bit to the little town of Ephraim.
And Ephraim is up there. You see it there in the north
and Bethany is down there near Jerusalem.
So Bethany is where Lazarus and Mary and Martha lived.
And so Jesus heads N to Ephraim. There he waited for for the
right time to to head towards Jerusalem.
He knew he needed to go up to Jerusalem for Passover and and
hung out in a quiet little spot, kind of out of sight until the
right time. This was important because his
time hadn't quite yet arrived. As the time drew closer, Jesus
and his disciples actually headed back north towards
Galilee, and then they crossed over the Jordan to join a large
contingency of pilgrims all headed to Jerusalem for
Passover. This doesn't make sense when
he's already in the southern half of of the area he decides
to head. Ephraim would be basically under
where above where it says Judea is where Ephraim would be.
So he heads back north and then crosses over the river and joins
a large contingency of pilgrims who are all headed to Jerusalem
for the Passover. Now, along the way, Jesus does
some more teaching. He, he performs some miracles.
And on the Friday before Palm Sunday, Jesus stops short of
Jerusalem. He wanted to see Mary and Martha
and and Lazarus and Bethany. So.
So he stopped there as the crowd of people continue on to
Jerusalem. This move of course, not only
got him more time with with his friends, but it was also
strategic and helping build the excitement and anticipation as
everyone was wondering if Jesus would actually arrive in
Jerusalem. So that sets the scene.
If you're able, would you stand as we read from this passage?
Matthew chapter 21 verses one through 11.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage
to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent 2 disciples saying to
them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately
you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you,
you shall say the Lord needs them, and he will send them at
once. This took place to fulfill what
was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of
Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted
on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
They brought the donkey in the colt and put on them their
cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowds spread their
cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and
spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before
him and that followed him were shouting Hosanna to the Son of
David. Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up,
saying, Who is this? And the crowds said This is the
prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.
You may be seated. So the king we see here is
preparing to go to Jerusalem at this point.
It was it was Friday, 2 days before Palm Sunday.
And the majority of the group had had gone into Jerusalem
already be because you see, you wanted to get into Jerusalem by
6:00 on Friday evening because at Friday evening, on Friday
evening at 6:00 is when the Sabbath started.
So the crowd, the majority of the people had gone up into
Jerusalem. So here in the first few verses
we see Jesus foreknowledge and authority.
This demons he's demonstrating his foreknowledge and authority
in this passage. Jesus and his disciples had had
arrived to the Mount of Olives and from there he sent out two
disciples. He told them to go in the
village, go to the village there in front of them, which was
probably Beth Phage and grab the donkey in the Colts that they
would find tied up there. He knew someone would say
something, say hold, hold on, why are you grabbing these?
Why are you taking these? He knew someone would say
something so, so he just he said, hey, just say the Lord
needs them. They would know exactly what
this meant apparently or or something and then the person
would send the donkey in and it's Colts with them.
Now it's important for us to understand what's happening
here. Not only was Jesus foretelling
what was going to happen that the men would go into Bethpage
and find these two animals tied up together, be confronted about
them, and then be sent on their way with the animals, but Jesus
is also tapping into an Old Testament prophecy in the book
of Zechariah Chapter 9. This this chapter contains a
pronouncement of judgment on Israel's enemies.
And then verse 9 reads, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion,
shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is
coming to you righteous and having salvation.
Is he humble and mounted on a donkey?
On a colt? The full of a donkey?
Somewhere around the year 500 BC, the prophet Zechariah wrote
those words. And here Jesus was some 500
years later, more than 500 years later, fulfilling the prophecy.
In just a short couple days he would enter the city of Zion,
accompanied by loud shouts and rejoicing of the people.
They would welcome Him as their King.
This wasn't happenstance. It was intentional, and it
demonstrated God's sovereignty over all aspects of life.
He was orchestrating the coming moment when Jesus would be
revealed to the people. He had known all along how this
was going to go down. In Luke 13, there were some
Pharisees who who seemed to sympathize with Jesus a bit.
And they, they told him, they said, they said leave because
Herod, Herod wants to kill you. And as Jesus discusses the time
frame with them, he lamented over those who didn't understand
what he was doing. Luke 13, verses 34 through 35
read O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets,
and stones those who are sent to it.
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings?
And you were not willing. Behold, your house is forsaken,
and I tell you, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Jesus knew that when he came to Jerusalem at the right time to
reveal himself, the people would proclaim him as the one sent by
God. He had all authority and
foreknowledge here. Now some critics of the gospel
accounts have suggested that Jesus didn't really know what he
was doing. He he got caught up in the
emotion and in the excitement of the moment and, and the crowd,
he didn't really know what he was doing.
He didn't actually intend to be king.
They suggest no Jesus knew exactly what was happening.
And we can see his foreknowledge here as he as he says, when,
when I come, you're going to say blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord. He says this long before this
moment. So in this next section we look
at Sunday, that is Palm Sunday, and the crowds expectations and
their misunderstanding of the King.
The disciples had done what Jesus had asked them to do.
They brought the mother and her her young Colts and then put
their cloaks on them so that Jesus could sit on them.
Jesus and the disciples then headed towards the city and on
the way they were met by crowds of people, perhaps some
accompanied who were behind them, as well as some who had
come out of the city to meet the king.
In ancient times there would often be a delegation that was
sent out of a city to go out to to meet the king.
Out on the road. The king who was arriving go
out, meet the king, welcome the king and and join him on the way
back into the city. John writes in his Gospel John
1213 So they took branches of palm trees, and they went out to
meet him, crying out, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.
As these people went out to meet Jesus, they laid down palm
branches and even their own cloaks in the road in honor of
the King of Israel. Jesus literally received the
royal treatment. It was like the red carpet had
been rolled out for him. The shouts of the people weren't
empty words in that brief moments.
They were a proclamation of hope.
This was the one who would sit on David's throne and as they
proclaimed hosanna they were saying God save us.
The crowds proclamations referred to Jesus as both the
Son of David and the Son of God. The Son of David and the Son of
God. In Psalm 1/18/19 David, David
wrote open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter
through them and give thanks to the Lord.
And then in verse 26 of that Psalm he wrote, Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord.
The people understood what was happening here.
Jesus was entering the gates just as David had done as king.
And they ascribed David's words. Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord. They ascribed those words to
this new king. This new king was someone in the
line of David and sent by God. So surely this was a strong
king. They were looking for a strong
king, someone to cast off the Roman authorities, perhaps even
another David like warrior passages like Psalm 24 surely
influence their perspective on this exact moment.
Psalm 24, verses 7 through 10 read Lift up your heads, O
gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of
glory may come in. Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the king of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts.
He is the King of glory. This Psalm outlined precisely
the type of person they've been waiting for.
A King of glory, someone strong, someone who was mighty in
battle. Now here Jesus was entering
those ancient doors, so he must be the one to bring deliverance.
I can only imagine how excited Jesus disciples were to witness
this historic moment. They they were looking for a
revolutionary, a a Liberator, someone to kick out the Roman
occupiers and restore the the golden age of King David's
reign. And so for three years his
disciples had been looking for this moment.
Things are going to change and Jesus was going to stick it to
the man, right? But it's important that we
understand a significant factor about Jesus ride into Jerusalem.
He rode in on a donkey. This was important for a couple
reasons. First of all, yes, it was a
fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy.
But second, a king wouldn't ride into town on a donkey.
Kings rode horses because horses signified power and strength and
military might. A donkey on the other hand
represented humility, servanthood and peace, all
qualities of Jesus life and ministry.
You didn't take a donkey into war, you took a horse.
But they had the wrong expectations.
Something I'll address more on Friday.
Jesus didn't live the way people wanted him to, but but rather he
subverted the societal and political expectations of him.
The manner in which Jesus entered Jerusalem was a sign
that he hadn't come to bring the sword, but rather that he'd come
to bring peace and overthrow sin and death.
His Kingdom isn't like other kingdoms and they had yet to
fully grasp that truth. So then they ask, who is this
King? Even as they shouted out the
proclamation of praise, it was lost on them who Jesus was.
It was as though they didn't really know what they were
saying. Perhaps they got caught up in
the emotions of the moments and all the excitements.
Surely some of the people knew who Jesus was.
Some had witnessed his miracles. Some were part of the large
group of travellers that that he'd accompanied on the journey
from the north and Galilee all the way down to the South.
Many had heard about how Jesus had had raised Lazarus back from
the dead. But who Jesus actually was, most
of them didn't know. Verses 10 through 11 read.
And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up
saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the
prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.
This was the best they could come up with.
They labeled Jesus a prophet. They simply called him a
prophet. This put him at the same level
with Moses and and Elijah, which of course is good company, but
he was more than a prophet. And they said, oh, from
Nazareth. Well, nothing good can come out
of Nazareth, but nonetheless this is how they labeled him, a
prophet from Nazareth. They clearly didn't get it. 8
weeks earlier Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and John
11 tells us some of the responses to that miracle.
Many of the Jews, therefore, who would come with Mary and had
seen what He did, believed in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what
Jesus had done. They're not saying, oh, look how
awesome Jesus is. They're telling the Pharisees,
giving them fuel, feeding this fire that they had to, to
capture Jesus. It was like Isaiah had
prophesied hundreds of years earlier.
Isaiah 6 verses 9 through 10. Isaiah wrote and he said, Go and
say to this people that as God said, go and say to this people,
keep on hearing, but do not understand.
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.
Make the heart of this people dull in their ears, heavy and
blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with
their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be
healed. The forefathers of Jesus
contemporaries had had witnessed the things of God, but they did
nothing in response to God's working.
They couldn't see the work of God right in front of them
because their hearts were dull and they'd become insensitive to
the things of God. The question then before us this
morning is how will you, how will we respond to the King?
I hate to say it, but it's entirely possible for us to be
in some ways like those same people who joyfully welcomed
Jesus and then days later called for his death.
You see, we can come into this place on Sunday morning, we can
proclaim Him as King, but then we walk out the door and deny
him with the way we live. So how do we guard against this?
First of all, maintain sensitivity to the Holy
Spirit's. We maintain sensitivity to the
Holy Spirit. In order to see Jesus working,
we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to have the eyes to
see what He's doing. When we've distanced ourselves
from God, then we become dull or numb like Isaiah said, and we
can't see what's right in front of us.
All the signs were right there for the people of Israel to
place their faith in Jesus. They couldn't see it.
Matthew 11 records Jesus frustration with the Jews of his
time. Then he began to denounce the
cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because
they did not repent. Woe to you, Korres, and woe to
you, Beseda, for if the mighty works done in you had been done
in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you it will be more
bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon.
These were locations that that were known for their pride.
You'll be more bearable for them.
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven, You will be
brought down to Hades. If the mighty works done in you
had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Jesus chastised these cities where where He performed his
miracles because their hearts had grown dull.
If the city of of Sodom, he says, had had seen the same
miracles that Jesus had performed, the city of Sodom may
not have been destroyed, but these cities had no sensitivity
to the Spirit. Next, follow Jesus in a Christ
like manner. Follow Jesus in a Christ like
manner. I know this should be obvious
right? Like how else do you follow
Jesus? Right, You follow him in a
Christ like manner. But it needs to be said.
Our praise on Sunday morning is great, but if our praise isn't
followed by lives of repentance and and faith, then our praise
is worthless. Brendan Manning made that famous
statements. The greatest single cause of
atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus
with their lips and then walk out the door and deny him by
their lifestyle. That, he says, is what an
unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
So follow Jesus in a way that resembles how he lived.
Live in humility and servanthood, skewing our
culture's obsessions with status and power.
Live in peace with others, showing love to those we might
even disagree with. Model Christ's character to all
that we come in contact with now.
As we grow then our lives will be characterized by the fruit of
the Spirit. Lovejoy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. When we walk in the Spirit, then
we will exhibit Christlikeness in our behavior.
Some of those who followed Jesus only wanted what they can
receive from Him. They wanted the blessings, They
wanted the healings. They wanted to witness the
miracles, the novelty, but they didn't want the change.
It's all too easy for someone to just say I believe the harder.
The harder thing is saying I surrender.
Jesus is my Lord. He's the one who calls the
shots. He transforms me and I'm
different today because of Jesus working in my life.
It was easy for them to say, Jesus, come, come, liberate us,
set us free from Rome. Instead, Jesus was calling them
to say, I surrender, to lay it all down.
Has the gospel transformed you? That's why it was given to
transform us to to create in us something new.
When we place our faith in Jesus, we have become a new
creation. We are a completely new type of
thing, that old thing. We're not even related to that
old thing. We are a completely new
creation. Jesus died so that we could die
to our sin, and He lived so that we could live for him.
So I love that you're here this morning.
I love that you're here to sing his praise.
But it cannot stop here in this building.
We have to take it out those doors lest we to become like the
crowd. Oh, praise Jesus and then go out
and deny Him all the rest of the week.
Let's bow our heads and close our eyes
as we close our time this morning.
My encouragement to you is to pray a simple prayer this
morning and say, Holy Spirit, help me to be sensitive to you.
Holy Spirit, help me to be sensitive to you to to be able
to see your working in front of me.
Jesus is still doing miracles around us, bringing lives that
had, that had been dead to sin, bringing lives, resurrecting
lives from that grave, setting them free in him, free to live
for Jesus. Maybe we'd be diligent to see
those miracles around us. May we also be sensitive to the
Holy Spirit's promptings, the Holy Spirit's moving in our
hearts conviction when it's conviction prompting us to reach
out to somebody who might be in need of Jesus.
May we have that sensitivity to respond to the Holy Spirit and
do whatever the Spirit calls us to do.
God, we come to you this morning.
Not only do we sing and proclaim praise Jesus, blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord, but we also surrender ourselves
to you this morning. We receive your grace, we
receive your mercy, and we say, God, I need your strength to
surrender all I am to you. Would you take it?
Whether it's wholeness that you sense you're walking in, or
whether it's brokenness that you feel in your spirit this
morning, surrender it all to Him.
He's the savior, He's the one who can make you whole, He's the
one who empowers us to live the new life because of the cross
and resurrection of Jesus. Thank you Jesus for coming into
this world, for being the King, for bringing salvation.
It's in Jesus name we pray, Amen.