4/2 Family Prayer Sermonette

Palm Sunday

Good afternoon, South Congregation! Thank y’all so much for making it back over to Paredes this afternoon to pray as a church family. As Josh said this morning, the topic and theme for tonight is Palm Sunday, or, the “Triumphal entry of Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a colt, royally yet humbly, to the rejoicing of his followers, but provoking opposition from the Jewish religious leaders.”

This day begins what is known in Christianity today as “Holy Week”, in which each day represents a part of the movement of Jesus to the cross, in preparation to take on the wrath that all of humanity deserves for our sin.

My goal for tonight is pretty simple, family. One, I hope that we’re able to drink in the importance of Palm Sunday. This day, this event should cultivate a hopeful expectancy in us as Christ followers because in the passage we’re about to read, we see Jesus, on a donkey and by the waving of a large crowd of people with Palm branches in their hands, arriving to complete the most important work in human history. The imagery came to my mind of every single Rocky movie, where someone tells Rocky he can’t win, but then he completes the trademark Rocky training montage, pushing his body to its limits to prepare for the big event of his boxing match.

But Jesus, seated on this donkey, creates excitement for a much bigger event. The triumphal entry ushers redemption into motion. And where over and over again, after doing some INCREDIBLE miracle, we hear Jesus say, “don’t tell anyone” or “Keep this to yourself” or “only tell the priest after you cleanse yourself”…NOW we are getting to see that the time IS here. The moment HAS come. Then, the other goal is that we pray. I believe that Jesus has so much to show us about himself and the work that he came to do in this passage, and that creates fertile ground for fervent prayer.

If you have your Bibles turn with me to Matthew 21 and we’ll be quickly covering the first 11 verses, making some observations of the text, and then spending the remainder of our time praying together. Sound good?

Okay, starting up top in verse 1,

Matthew 21 (ESV)

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.” 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. 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.”

4 quick things to observe and then we pray.

Christ’s Humility - we see in this passage that Jesus had the wisdom and the humility to devote himself fully to the Father’s plan for our redemption. This is what made his triumphal entry so pivotal. He came, not riding on a strong steed, an elephant, or a lion, but on a donkey…seen in that time as a symbol of peace, not power. Jesus entered Jerusalem with the humility of a servant, although he was a king. Up next...

Christ’s Facilitation - Though it may not seem like it in this story, Jesus wasn’t haphazardly standing by, shocked by the people coming and watching his entry. He, in his power, orchestrated everything that happened in this event, including those who were watching. And what was true of him then is also true of him now. Jesus is the one that holds all things together and in him everything is preeminent. Number 3...

Christ’s Redemption - As I referenced a couple minutes ago, this day, this event, ushers in the most important week in human history. This is the first act in a drama that culminates in Jesus dying the death that we deserve and rising from the dead, granting us new life in Him. And Finally,

Christ’s Reign - This first coming of Christ, although beautiful, is meant to point us to an even more glorious event when Jesus will come, not on a donkey, but on a white horse. We will see Jesus, high and lifted up at the right hand of the Father. At that moment, it will be clear that Jesus came not just to upset a government system or a corrupt empire, but to uproot the terror of our broken world and restore every gospel-believing heart to His Father. Jesus’ entry here in Matthew 21 serves as a foretaste for the incredible beauty of his second return in Revelation 1. In this passage, we see onlookers with palm branches in their hands, but all of this foreshadows a day when we will see the keys of Death and Hades in His.

Alright now we’re going to pray. You will be given 4 cards by several staff members that offer guided prayer prompts, each one themed around the 4 observations in this Matthew passage. The order will reflect that as well!

Humility, Facilitation, Redemption, Reign.

We’ll give everyone several minutes to read, process and pray using each card. When it’s time t flip to the next card, I’ll come back up to introduce that topic. Then, at the end, Alex will come up and lead us in a song and we’ll dismiss.