Life of Christ: Palm Sunday
Notes
Transcript
Where are we so far?
Where are we so far?
Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah
He has gained a group of loyal followers
Disciples
Women
He has also experienced a few instances of gaining and losing large amounts of followers
He is also hunted by the religious leaders
they want Jesus dead
they are jealous of His fame
As a result Jesus spent the last portion of His ministry with only His close associates
Jesus in Bethphage
Jesus in Bethphage
Jesus has made his way toward Jerusalem for the Passover
John tells of Jesus being in Ephraim
He goes to Bethany where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live
Matthew moves the Bethany feast to the Last Supper
discussed Wednesday night
Picks up the narrative on the way to Jerusalem
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two 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.”
Mount of Olives becomes a staging area for Jesus’ final week
Bethphage and Bethany are both very close
Jesus sends two Disciples to gather a colt
Probably pre arranged by Jesus
Other events were already arranged
And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,
Jesus is fulfilling the final prophecies
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 and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
Quoting Zechariah 9:9
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 foal of a donkey.
Triumphal Entry
Triumphal Entry
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd 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.”
The crowds greet Jesus with anticipation
Shouting “Hossana”
like our “Amen” or “Hallelujah”
Means “God save us!”
The Triumphal Entry was a Roman Tradition
meant for victorious Roman Generals
They would lead a procession through their capitol or major city
This is the first of three Jesus will participate in
first on a donkey coming in peace
second up to Calvary
third when He returns
John tells us why the crowds are really there
The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
All the crowds did was put a big bullseye on Jesus’ back
the whole city was in an uproar
He is still only a “prophet”
But Jesus uses the opportunity to reclaim His true throne
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Matthew intentionally takes Jesus straight to the temple
Mark puts a night in between the entry and cleansing
Luke adds an account of Jesus weeping
But Matthew takes the triumphant king straight to his throne
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
The Jews have placed another obstacle to reaching YHWH
The court of the Gentiles was reserved for certain people to come worship
They had turned this spot into a market
sold animals for sacrifice
imagine going to pray and having an animal stall next to you
true worship was impossible with the leaders misdirecting the people
So Jesus restored the direct access to God
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
With the path clear, the people that need God most come to Jesus
And it is the people that were previously too impure to enter the Temple
But it is the neglected that were able to truly see Jesus for who He is.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We currently exist between two worlds:
One side turns their nose up at “those people”
The other side affirms the sins and vices of the sick
Both have placed obstacles to the Gospel
Both need to be turned over and cleaned out
And when he drew near and saw the city, 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 around 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.”