The donkey, the cloak, the branch and the savior

Matthew 21:1–11 (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.”

Introduction

Today is the first day of passion week.

This week we will both remember and celebrate the work that Jesus did for us

the work that brought salvation to all humanity.

around 2,000 years ago, it was this week that changed everything when it came to relationship with god.

and it was was because of this week, that we can now know him as father..

Today

Today, Palm Sunday, Marks the Begining of this amazing week.

The day that Jesus would enter the city, and the people of the city would unknowingly and prophetically celebrate the greatest victory in history

Victory over sin.

I want us to look at this story today

and as we look I want us to notice that this story is not simply what it seems to be at first glance.

its not just a man riding a donkey in a city on any given day

but within its lines we find great signifigance that helps us to greater understand what is and is abou to happen.

Deeper look

So I want us to look deeper than the surface today..

and as we do i want us to explore the signifigance of four major aspecs of this story..

Those being the donkey, the cloak, the branch and the savior…

The Story

as we come into matthew 21 we find Jesus with the disicples and he is approaching the city of Jerusalem.

they have come to uphold the feast of passover

Passover

Passover was the celebration of the day that the angel of death passedover those whose door posts were covered by the blood of a lamb when the children of israel were in slavery in egpyt..

this was the final plague and final straw for pharoh..

which forced him to release the people of israel from bondage

and allowed them to leave free..

and it was celebrated yearly..

Unknowingly

interestingly enough, the disicples, in the moment, did not understand that this week that they were about to witness an even greater passover.

Where the messiah, Jesus, would lay his live down on the cross..

would shed his blood..

and all who would believe in him

would be covered and freed from sin and eternal death..

Forshadow

But Jesus did..

And ironically this is what the crowds will prophetically, and unwittingly, celebrate as they wave their branches and shout there praised..

Deeper story

this story had deeper meaning than what it seems at the sruface..

and while it may look like just another day where Jesus is entering the city

while it may look like Jesus has just come to celebrate the passover

What is really happening here is that Jesus is arriving not to celebrate, but to fulfill, an even great passover

and the crowds are unknowingly celebrating and declaring him as the victorious king..

Story Continued

Bethphage

Matthew tells us that when they get to bethphage, estimated to be about a mile from the city..

Jesus tells the disciples..

Listen, go into town.. and there you will find a female donkey and her new colt.

bring it to me.

and tell the owner the lord requires it..

and so they do.

they find the donkey

and they bring the donkey back to Jesus

and they put their coats on it

and Jesus sits on the donkey

and continues his journey to the city

now riding on a donkey..

The Donkey

Favorite

if you know me at all

you know that the donkey is my favorite charactor in the bible..

we find the donkey in many stories about Jesus

from balaam to Palm sunday and everywhere in between

The donkey intrigues and fasinates me

and If Im going to be honest, i resignate with the donkey a lot..

why

but you might be asking

pastor why is the donkey so important

its just a donkey

Jesus is simply riding it

but I want to point out to you that the donkey is one of the most signifigant peieces of the story..

and let me tell you why..

1. Prophetic

First of all, jesus entry into the city on a donkey was a fulfillment of prophecy..

Matthew tells us that here in his account.

He tells partically quotes zechariah 9:9

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

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.

You see zechariah correctly prophesised centuries before of this very day..

where Jesus would come and ride into town on the donkey

and the people would celebrate and shout..

and zechariah even prophesied down to the type of donkey..

a colt of a donkey..

meaning a young donkey that had never been riden..

So the donkey for one is a fulfillment of messianic expectation and prophecy..

This was a widely known prophetici scripture

and for people to see this with their own eyes signals to them further evidence that Jesus was who he said he was..

the messiah..

2.Kings Welcome

But This entrance was not just a fulfillment of prophecy

it was also a prophetic proclomation of what was to come..

its a foreshadow

of what Jesus was about to do..

and futher declaration of who he was..

Kings

you see in acient days, when the king went out to battle and were victorious

they would return riding in on his horse

and the people would cut down braches and wave them.. and celebrate

and shout hosaana like they

Jesus

Jesus riding the donkey into the city was signaling he was the victorious king..

And again zechariah tells us this in his prophecy..

“the king having salvation”

and the people are celebrating his a such..

well talk about that more in a moment..

But Notice, Jesus doesnt come riding on a war horse..

its the donkey..

why?

why not a horse?

3. sign of Humility

the war horse was a symbol of pride authority

Thats why kings rode them..

the donkey was the symbol of humility and submission.

Jesus has not come to be a prideful and authratative king..

but rather he came in humility..

look at zechariah 9:9 again

Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)

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.

Jesus came in humily

He came to submit himselve to others..

just a few verses prior in matthew 20:28

Jesus tells us this..

Matthew 20:28 ESV

even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

and paul will riterate this in philippians 2:8

Philippians 2:8 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

You see where other kings were marked by pride authority..

Even david and solomon..

But Jesus life was marked by humility and submission

Making less of himself, for the good of all others..

and the bible says that what he did..

He humbled himself to give his live for us..

John 6:38 ESV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus left the throne of glory

to become flesh

so he could give his life for us..

in humility..

4. the donkey cross

did you know the donkey still bears the mark of these signifigances today?

If you look at a donkey today

running down thier back is the cross..

a reminder of the humble rider the donkey of the triumphant entry carried into the city..

Storie continued

Jesus gets on the donkey

and something unexpected begins to happen..

The bible says the crowd, who had seen or heard about the raising of lazerous

heard he was coming and ran out ot meet him..

and took their cloaks and spread them before him

and they cut branches and began to wave them..

what a curious thing

whats going on here?

Cloaks and the branches

Cloaks

In Jesus days the spreading of cloaks before a person had great meaning

1. Kingship

First it symbolized Kingship..

It was something reserved and done for kings..

2 Kings 9:13 ESV

Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

The crowd laying their cloaks before Jesus

was an expression of thier desire to make him king..

Wanted

The crowd wanted Jesus to save them from rome..

to be the next david that would route the roman empire and restore the sovrenty of israel.

and so they wanted to make him king..

Unknowingly

and there desires would come to pass.

it just wasnt in the way they had expected

Jesus would be king..

but his kingdom would not be of this world..

He would be king and deliever.

but it would not be of jerusalem as a phycial city…

2. Submission

Secondly the laying of cloaks was symbolic of submission.

Jehu

in the story of Jehu

the people were telling Jehu, you are king and we are your subjects.

THEY WERE SAVING.. WE NEED SALVATION..

Jesus

In the story of Jesus

the people were telling Jesus

you will be king and we will be your subjects..

AND WE NEED YOUR SALVATION...

again unbeknown to them what that would really mean..

Palm Branches

Furthering this narative of the victorious king we see the poeple waving branches..

and the other gospel accounts tell us these were paklkm branches

Symbolic..

palm branches symbolized jewish nationalism and victory in Jesus day..

when kings would return from battle victoriously the people would wave palms..

and so as Jesus enters the city

the people are prophetically declaring that Jesus is alreay the victorious king

and they express this desire as they wave the branches and cry our with a loud voice..

Hosanna

Hosanna

Hosanna is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew phrase that means, “Please save!” (see Ps 118:25).

its the cry of Psalm 118:25

Psalm 118:25 ESV

Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

The people were crying out to Jesus ..

Please save us..

please deliver us..

Calling on him as savior..

The People knew Jesus was a savior but didnt understand what kind..

they had heard the stories..

they knew the prophecies..

and they received him with gladness..

but their glad reception and cheers were not ones of sincerity..

they were loaded with agenda and personal and corperate desire..

The Crowd wanted one thing and needed another..

You see I told you the crowd was looking for freedom from rome.

In fact many of the religous leaders of the day had interpreted the messianic prophecies as ones of liberation from from..

so the people wanted political liberation

They wanted Jesus to reign as david..

they wanted israel to be soverien..

so they submitted.

and they cheered.

and they cried our hosanna..

turned

but in just a few short days..

many of these save poeple would change their cries from hosanna

to crucify..crucify.. crucify..

because Jesus did not do what they wanted him to do..

He was not who they wanted him to be..

Who they Needed

I want to point out one important fact though..

Though Jesus was not the person they wanted him to be..

though their cries for salvation were of the physical kind..

though thier worship was insincere..

Jesus was exzactly who they needed him to be..

You see israel needed spiriual liberation more than physical liberation..

they needed salvation from their sin

not from rome..

Us

You see up to this point..

we have looked this story from the perspective of an observer..

We have looked at the details and the whys of this story..

but the biggest point I want to make this morning is that we could very easily place our selves in the place of the crowd..

want

We have a tendancy to want Jesus to be only what we want him to be

We want him to bless us..

we want him to make us happy

we want him to make us comfortable..

to liberation us from our bills..

and all of these personal agendas..

TO SAVE US ON OUR OWN TERMS..

NEED

But who do we really need go to be..

do we want that?

What we really need Jesus to be..

is exactly who he was to the crowd 2000 years ago..

the savior of the world..

the savior of our soul..

to liberator of our sin..

The restorer of our relationship with him..

the final sacrificial lamb whos blood freed us from spiritual death..

Paul wrote of a more important hosanan in romans 10

Romans 10:9–13 (ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Altar

You see palm sunday tells us the story of the crowd..

but it also teaches us the story of our salvation..

It was in humility that Jesus came, to be the final passover for us..

Our job is to cast our cloaks before him..

to submit ourselves to him..

and to cry hosanna, save please, and we will be saved..

and we will have what we really need..

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Have you done that?

Have you submited yourself to what HE wants for your life?

Have yoou cried out for the salvation you truely need?

or are you just like the crowd..

expecting Jesus to do what you want..

and then wishing to crucify him when you dont get it..