Palm Sunday 2024

28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?” 34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on. 36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. 38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” 39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” 40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” 41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

The story these verses tell is pretty familiar to everyone. Even if the person doesn’t do to church, they have likely heard about them or seen them acted out in a play.

I want to take the verses and focus on 3 different things that are going on the these verses: The Reaction of the crowd, the Reality of the situation and the Reason for it all.

Let’s look at

1. The Reaction of the crowd.

This story begins early one Sunday morning as Jesus was walking towards Jerusalem.

He stops and sends two of his disciples to go ahead and get a donkey for him. Now those disciples were probably wondering what in the world Jesus needed a donkey for because he had always walked everywhere he traveled, except of the Sea of Galilee where he took a boat, except for one time he just walked across it without the boat. Being God has it’s benefits.

It must have been a confusing request because Jesus tells them what to say if anyone questions them as to why they are taking the donkey.

As Jesus is approaching Jerusalem he knows what’s ahead. He is past the point of no return.

If you have ever flown on a big jet, you know it seems to take forever to take off. At one point in the process, it’s too late to stop it and you are past the point of no return and have to take off.

That’s probably how Jesus felt as he approached Jerusalem. He knew that when He rides into Jerusalem on the donkey he is pas the point of no-return. He knows what he will face in Jerusalem and what it will lead to.

Jesus needed the donkey because riding a donkey into the city was to declare that he was their king. If a nations were at war, the conquering king would ride in on a Stallion. But in times of peace, the king would ride a donkey to symbolize that peace prevailed.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He was declaring that He was King.

The reaction of the crowd was based on what they thought Jesus was coming to do.

Remember, the Jews were being opposed and suppressed by the Romans and they were looking for a king to overthrow the Roman Rule so they would once again be free.

There were heavy taxes, horrible restrictions, numerous executions by means of crucifixion… horrible oppression.

Those who were all excited as Jesus rode into Jerusalem were looking for Jesus to conquer Rome and re-establish the throne of King David. They were ready to place the crown in his head. They were worshipping him, but not for the right reasons.

Some of the people in the crowd that day may have included some that Jesus healed. Blind Bartimaeus, who was no longer blind, was there… no longer wearing beggars clothes. Maybe Zacchaeus was there. He had paid back his debt to society and made peace with God. Maybe the lepers were there. Were they rejoicing for the healing that the Lord had given to them. Maybe Jairus’ daughter was there. After all, be raised her from the dead and gave her another chance at life. Lazarus, Mary and Martha were there along with Mary Magdalene… they all were there.

There were also some sinister faces in the crowd just waiting for him to say or do the wrong thing. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were there. They were the religious leaders and keepers of the LAW. Jesus had gained so much popularity that they felt threatened by him so they were watching his every move trying to catch him in something wrong. The Romans were also there keeping an eye on things. They were always afraid of a revolt so they watched very carefully for any sign of rebellion against Rome. And they were ready at the first sign of any uprising to snuff it out.

There were probably many in the crowd that Jesus had fed. Probably many who had seen one of his miracles and listened to his teachings and realized that He spoke with authority. There were probably many who had changed lives because of what Jesus had done fo them.

The crowd was reacting to Jesus as He came toward Jerusalem. The people saw Him as their King who would brig them relief from the Romans, but Jesus knew that His kingdom was much bigger than that.

2. The reality of the situation.

As Jesus gets closer to gate of Jerusalem, the crowds grow in number and in excitement. It was a loud festive event. People are excited and waiting to see what was gong to happen.

There were probably some in the crowd that had never heard of Jesus until this time. Maybe they were learning about his miracles from others in the crowd.

Time wise, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, so I imagine that His story was being told through out the crowd. After all, that was a huge miracle, so much so that the religious leaders wanted to find him and kill him.

There were probably some who just wondered, Who is this guy? They would have heard about his teaching, and miracles and definitely about him raising Lazarus from the dead.

As you can imagine, the excitement would be building.

It was the Passover celebration so the city of Jerusalem was filled with thousands of extra people who had come to the city to celebrate. Picture Mardi Gras. That’s what it was like. The Passover was the greatest of the Jewish Holidays so it was crowded. It was one giant party.

When I think of the scene in Jerusalem, I picture Mardi Gras or Maybe the Saints Super Bowl parade.

The crowd in Jerusalem was excited. Just think about the excitement the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead created. I am sure the people were positive that this was their new King; the king who would deliver them from the rule of Rome.

Some in the crowd were most likely sure that only the Messiah could raise anyone from the dead after being dead for so long.

So the crowds was reacting to many things that day. But the big thing they were reacting to was their renewed hope that Jesus was the one that they were waiting on for so long.

The crowd had a lot of things right about Jesus except they had the wrong view of about what the Messiah’s role.

People today often see Jesus in the right position, but they expect that once they serve him, then everything in their lives should go perfectly. They almost view Jesus as a Jeanie in a Bottle. It’s where you tell Jesus what you want and poof… He gives it to you.

Jesus appeared to be entering Jerusalem as a triumphal King, but he was really coming as a suffering servant.

He had to suffer because of our sins; and he had to die to remove the punishment that we were going to receive because of OUR sins. Thats radically different from a King that came to overthrow Rome by force.

Jesus knew, even as he heard the cries of Hosanna, that the crowd would soon turn against him.

Those who were crying for Him to be their King would soon be crying to have Him crucified.

Think about HOW the disciples might have been reacting to the REALITY of what was going on.

Remember, the disciples did not understand everything that Jesus talked about when referring to His kingdom. Some of them might have been strutting and going, “Yea buddy…”

Can you imagine the crowd?

They were so excited about Jesus because they thought that their hopes were now a REALITY.

So that’s the Reaction and the Reality. Let’s look at…

3. The Reason for His mission.

Luke 19:41 NLT

41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep.

Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. With all of the excitement, why does he begin to weep? Only two times in the Bible do we Jesus weep. He wept at the grave of Lazarus just before He raised him from the dead.

Luke 19:42–44 NLT

42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

The people of Jerusalem did not recognize that God had visited them.

The people had missed the whole point of the message God had given to them.

Here are some of what Jesus taught. He taught them to

turn the other cheek.

Love their enemies as much as they loved themselves.

If someone wants your coat, give them your shirt…

If someone orders you to carry their stuff for a mile, go 2 miles.

Most who heard these teachings of Jesus did not believe they applied to the Romans.

Israel had the opportunity to show Rome something new and different but because they didn’t understand Jesus; because they didn’t understand His mission

And because they didn’t understand, Jesus wept over them. Jesus knew that the opportunity would be taken away from them and they would never have it again.

These were God’s chosen people. God had lead them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. But they did not understand the Messiah, even when He walked among them. Because of that, Jesus wept.

He knew what their future held.

He knew about the destruction of Jerusalem that was in their future. And it was all because they dod not recognize the Messiah when he had come.

How different their lives could have been. how different the history of Israel would have been if they had only recognized the ONE who came into their midst… riding on a donkey.

Let me ask.

What does the Lord see when He looks at New Orleans?

I hope that He sees the people of River Church hungering and thirsting for Him because he wants to pour out His Spirit on us.

He also sees others. Others who have rejected Him… others who have never heard the name of Jesus… others who have a very warped idea of who Jesus really is and why He cam eto this earth… others who have decided what they believe not based on the Bible, but just on how they think God should act.

We live in a culture that wants to redefine God into something they just feel like he should be…

We also have a culture that more and more looks to God to be the conquering Messiah for our corrupt and immoral America.

Kind of sounds like Israel. They had their own idea of what the Messiah was going to do when He came, and that was to deliver them from the Romans. There are some who believe He will deliver them from the Dems; and there are others who believe He will deliver them from the Republicans. Listen, he is way bigger than that. He came to deliver us from Hell and He wants us to take as many as we can to heaven with us.

We need to seek His Face… His presence. We need to seek Him for what He wants us to do, not try to have him bless what we want.