Courageous King

The Courageous King

Main idea: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey knowing full well he would trigger the religious and political authorities. Jesus’ mission required him to demonstrate incredible courage regardless of the reactions of others. He is Lord, the absolute authority over all things.

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11, Zechariah 9:9-10

(All scripture is taken from the NIV unless otherwise noted)

Introduction

Dear Church, we have arrived! Holy Week! Today is Palm Sunday. This marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent.

Pretend for a moment that you are standing in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago, a part of that first Palm Sunday parade. You might cheer or weep or simply watch silently.

Parades are usually stirring. They are a means of honoring heroes or celebrities, some parades are for people who don’t deserve them, while the deserving often go unrecognized. A parade, or the absence of one, can have a profound effect on one’s life.

A Preachers commentary tells the story:

Some years ago I heard about the homecoming of one of our great missionaries who had served more than forty years in a remote part of Africa. On the boat with him was a United Nations ambassador who had spent six weeks in Africa, visiting different venues.

As the ship came in to New York Harbor, fire boats appeared, spouting water festively. Tugboats tooted. Bands came alongside. There was great praise and celebration for this returning ambassador.

The missionary began to feel sorry for himself, saying, “Forty years for Jesus and nobody knows or cares that I’m coming home.”

At that moment he seemed to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Nevertheless, he later confessed that simply did not seem like enough.

He was as human as the rest of us. We want to hear Jesus say, “Well done,” but wouldn’t it be nice if someone planned a parade for us just once?

When we reflect on Palm Sunday..... We must think that Jesus planned His own parade? He didn’t wait for His loyal friends to give Him a gold watch.

Up to this point, He had maintained some degree of anonymity. He had been trying to keep a low profile, cautioning those who had been healed and helped, “Go and tell no one.” But now the time had come for some recognition.

He acted totally without conceit. He needed a parade and He knew that the world needed this particular parade. He planned His parade for the sake of the Gospel, but elevated beyond this, for the sake of His followers, then and now.

That’s true humility. Initiating your own parade.

Palm Sunday is the day in which we celebrate, and maybe with a heavy heart, Jesus’ courageous entrance into Jerusalem which kicked off the week when he was arrested, convicted, crucified, and most importantly, resurrected.

It’s a day to mark as vital in our church calendar…yet, the celebration in Jerusalem might be difficult for us, as we know what will happen to our beloved Jesus.

waving palm leaves one day-SAVE US, in a few days, cry OUT for His death

From a worldly perspective, Jesus is about to have a week of nothing but failures, but these failures were sufferings that contrasted God’s nature of love, with mankind’s nature to control and dominate.

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he washes his disciples feet, a close friend betrays him, he’s spat upon, abandoned, beaten, whipped, tried, and convicted of being King of the Jews, which is exactly what he was and is.

And finally, he was crucified, died, and buried. These events contrast God’s holiness with humanity’s sinfulness.

When something is put under force and trauma, you find out what it’s made of on the inside. What do you get when you squeeze a lemon? Lemon juice. What do you get when you squeeze an orange? Orange juice.

What happens when the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, rides into town on a donkey, stoops to wash his disciples feet, is betrayed by a trusted friend, is spat upon, abandoned, beaten, whipped, tried, convicted, and crucified, dead, and buried. What do you get when that happens?

You receive a crystal-clear picture of God’s core nature of self-giving love.

Jesus endured the Cross events in order to save humanity. There was no other alternative.

And in doing so he demonstrated that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Messiah, the Son of God who came into the world to save the world, not condemn it.

Today we’re going to focus on his courageous entrance into Jerusalem. Let’s go to the story.

Read Matthew 21:1-11

Main Teaching

The story begins with Jesus approaching Jerusalem. Before he enters, he sends two of his disciples into a village to return with a donkey or colt. The disciples do what they’re told, return with the donkey, and Jesus rides slowly into town.

The text says that this was done to fulfill a prophecy from Zechariah, who envisioned the Messiah would come “gentle and riding on a donkey” (21:5).

You may have noticed a theme in the last couple of months....Authority.......Authority in the way humankind perceives it-Authority in how God looks at it. What we know from so many events, that Jesus, who perfectly represents the Father, had authority on earth over all things…inlcuding death…

those who He raised from the dead, and greatest of all, the joy of Resurection Sunday!

A. Jesus has all authority

There are a couple of things going on here which are important.

1. Riding a donkey signified peace

First, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey is a highly intentional move by Jesus. In the ancient world, if a king rode into town on a horse he intended war and aggression; but if he rode into town on a donkey, he intended peace.

Jesus rode into town on a donkey to demonstrate his kingship will be one of peace!

The passage from Zechariah continues: “I will take the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from seas to sea” (Zechariah 9:10).

This is a Messianic prophecy that Jesus is fulfilling. He is the anointed one, the messiah, the king coming into town proclaiming peace instead of conflict. What wonderful words to hear in a world that can’t seem to find peace anywhere.....

The war is over. There will be no more violence-OR MAYBE IT WOULD BE A TAKEOVER BY THE NEWLY INSTALLED KING.

I don’t think the disciples nor the crowds fully understood what Jesus was doing right before their eyes.

The gospel of John says, “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him” (John 12:16).

I have preached and taught this over and over....Jesus did not come on a war horse, fully displaying his intentions…He came on a donkey, indicating PEACE....

I think the past two years, and what we see on the horizon in the arena of “rumours of war,” Peace is something we are aching for! I often hear, O that God of the Old Testament....wow!

Well, He has not changed, except, know that His plan of infinite love was always been His intention, since The Fall, since the Flood. He knew what His Son would have to do.

Can you imagine after WW2, and all we should have learned about racism, hatred and the cruelty of war, we now have an enormous rise in antisemitism....

We have major wars in different parts of the globe....Israel is in a battle for their existence…the Holy Land....The Chosen Land-they are losing popularity because of their treatment of this war-I think we understand the upset.…We pray for the protection of the innocence, and that Hamas terrorists are the only ones rooted out-innocent Palestinians protected…But Israel, once again, under the gun! How long can they endure? When they look at their history, and read the Torah, of course they are defiant over the October event; they have been under attack perpetually.

If I listed all the events going on globally, it would be highly depressing, but this is what places Jesus in the spotlight....HE CAME IN PEACE, AND WHEN THE NOT YET BEGINS, PEACE WILL BE FOREVER IN A WORLD ON THE BRINK. How exciting, a new heaven and earth....ISN’T THAT WORTH THE RISK OF A PARADE!

There is an unrest, or an uneasyness all over the world…So! I’m thrilled to once again, reinforce that the mission of Christ, was written as peaceful.

He demonstrated it visually, by humbly entering Jerusalem on the lowly donkey. The God Man, The Son of God, riding on a donkey to ANNOUNCE His reign!

This should encourage us…it should uplift us....it should FIRE US UP!....JESUS CAME IN PEACE AND HIS MISSION WAS LOVE. NO SWORDS, NO ARMIES. Regardless of what we see all over the world, God knew it would happen, yet His message still remains the same.....PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TO ALL MEN!

Church, again, I say with urgency, I will say it often, “Is the plumbline of God coming to an end.?” He has kept extending and extending, but just maybe the chalk has run out....a time will come where there is no REFILL!

He is God of Justice....Jesus proclaimed God’s love during this Holy Week....Jesus demonstrated His love and HIs Father’s love by dying on a cross.

2. Jesus proclaims himself King

Secondly, Jesus is proclaiming himself to be king. And this is no small thing! The crowds declared Jesus to be “the prophet from Nazareth” (21:11), but that’s not what Jesus claimed for himself.

He was more than a moral teacher and more than a prophet. He was —and is— the King and Messiah.

Imagine one of us going to Parliament....get a big motorcade together, and simply declaring…I am now the King....,Prime Minister….Many people reinforcing it, thousands walking with you…Would that start a riot.....? Well, there is enough modern history where this has happened...

(Maybe)Being a little cheeky, it might fly south of the border. In saying that, “Please pray for our American friends. Whether Republican or Democrate, I don’t do politics in worship, but they are in a dangerous place. They are a superpower and the infighting will not do well for the sake of our world. We must pray for those in authority!

During Jesus’ life and ministry Jesus consistently demonstrated true authority. Jesus had —and still has— all authority over nature, the dark side, sickness, and death. He spoke with authority and not like someone who memorized all the right answers (Mark 1:22). He protected people from storms and waves (Mark 4:39); healed them from blindness (John 9:7), leprosy (Matthew 8:3), and fevers (Mark 1:31); set them free from so much more.(Matthew 8:32), Luke 4:41) (Matthew 4:10). fevers disappeared, and paralysis went away because JESUS had authority over them ALL.

Nature had to obey him because nature is under his authority. The dark side had to obey him because they also are under his authority. The same with sickness and disease: they are fully under his authority.

Just as God spoke the cosmos into existence in Genesis, everything under Jesus’ authority must comply with whatever he speaks because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The early Christians understood. Their creed was, “Jesus is Lord.” The word Lord meant absolute authority.

It was not a fancy way to say Mister, as in Mr. Jesus.

When they confessed, “Jesus is Lord!” ....they were proclaiming his complete authority over everything in this world: nature, sickness, evil, death, and themselves!

This proclamation was a brave staement for the early believers, because Caesar was the only lord. The Christians’ proclamation was punishable as an act of treason; by proclaiming God’s truth, death was the result. Think about the martyr we learned about last week, the lady at the well, she was thrown into a well by Nero to mock her relationship with Christ. She died for the faith.

While Jesus was brutal against severe weather, sickness and all the events we read Him dealing with.... HE was loving, welcoming, and direct with people. This is the Jesus who ate with tax collectors, sat with sinners, and let women of poor reputation wet his feet with their tears.

He touched the untouchable. He loved those who were oppressed AND loved their oppressors!

It’s not easy is it? I think of those being trafficked…I love them and ache for them, but I really struggle with the gangsters abusing them. I must pray and love them. This is where we see how incredible our Jesus was and is....We need His help to even get close to loving those who are brutally unjust.... Jesus even asked His Father to forgive those who took part in his execution.

Why? Because “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17). Jesus used his authority to make people whole.

He never used it for selfish purposes or gratuitous displays of power. He used his authority humbly as a way to demonstrate God’s self-giving love in ways that matched his mission.

Here’s the question though:

Jesus has all authority over nature, sickness, demons, and death, but does he have all authority over us?

Meaning, are we truly his disciple? I don’t mean have you accepted some creed “about him,” but do you trust “in him” as the Lord of your life?

Dear church as you begin the weeklong journey with Jesus-from His welcome today on Palm Sunday, to His crucifixion in a few days.....May we reflect on how Jesus’ loving authority impacted your life?

As the week begins to darken approaching Good Friday-think on Him…reflect on how dearly He loves you....think how how difficult this week would be for HIm. Looking at HIs dear friends....”Oh Father, I’m going to miss my friends....Oh Father, is there another way we can do this?”

Oh Father, my beloved flock at Lakefield Baptist, who will set up church later, and all the believing churches ...can we skip this part? Can’t we change prophecies to make my mission different? Same result, but not the cross....?

Jesus knew His disciples, friends, family, and people of the day, but also knew of you today-

IF THE FATHER KNEW YOUR NAME BEFORE BIRTH, JESUS KNEW THE SAME.....We know the decision JESUS made....He prayed and cried out to God so strongly, it’s believed blood vessels broke in his forehead....

Human form, Jesus was enjoying His Mission....He was still a very young man…33 years of age…the prime of His life.....But He followed through to fullfill the will of His Father, and because of His deep love for all humankind....

THIS WEEK, VISUALIZE HIS WALK-HOW HE FELT-WHAT HE FELT LOOKING AT HIS DISCIPLES, HIS FAMILY, AS HE LIKELY REMEMBERED THE CRUCIFIXIONS OF OTHERS HE HAD SEEN IN PAST YEARS.... WHAT A WEEK HE ENDURED.....

I often think of Jesus sitting with me in that front pew…When I can’t pray or am plain tired, or I just need to sit, I think of Him right there with me....BECAUSE HE IS!

B. Let’s move on in the story- Jesus is courageous

Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem: had it been planned or it was it on a whim?

Before Jesus rode into town, he needed a donkey and a colt, so he sent the disciples to fetch the ones he had in mind. He gave them instructions that if anyone questioned why they wanted them, they were simply to say “The Lord needs them” (21:3).

Mark tells us that the village was Bethany, where Jesus recently raised Lazarus from the dead (see John 11).

No doubt Jesus knew a lot of people in Bethany, and maybe the code phrase to get things going was“The Lord needs them”....it could have been established in advance with someone.

Jesus had been planning his entrance for a while: that planning may have been a supernatural one…

Jesus would have walked by that spot often-maybe knew the donkey and colt, and that it was unridden…it had to be pure and not been used by anyone if the donkey was to carry royalty or our ambassador of peace…

Donkeys and horses were expensive so often several people in a town would gather their money and split the cost for such a needed animal. Maybe this donkey was bought just for him…unblemished and noone knew why?…or it was all this preplanned by Jesus.

Were those words ‘The Lord needs them” to trigger the involved parties to move into action.

REGARDLESS, The timing was perfect. Jesus knew Jerusalem would be crowded with pilgrims for Passover. The law required all adult Jewish males who lived within 20 miles of Jerusalem come to the Passover.

And not JUST these pilgrims attended, but Jews from all over the known world traveled to Jerusalem for this festival.

Jerusalem would be jam-packed with tens of thousands of expectant visitors focused on the Passover.

This was the time for Jesus to make a statement for all to see.

The Jewish leaders were already plotting to kill Jesus. The most dangerous way Jesus could enter the city was in broad daylight with a lot of attention and noise from the thousands of spectators. And that’s exactly what he did.

Jesus courageously made himself the sacrificial lamb entering the city. He knew those who hated him and wanted him dead would be triggered, but his actions and decisions were based on doing God’s will rather than on how the men in power would react.

Jesus was courageous and he calls us to be courageous also.

That leads to another question. How courageous am I…How courageous are all of us together?

Let’s be specific, if we are courageous:

And I can say that I am a work in progress on all these, but I think on them.....and do my best, by God’s grace to push through.

BEING COURAGEOUS

• WE will do the right thing regardless of the consequences.

• We will feel fear but do it anyway.

• We will not stop at failure.

• We will risk being criticized.

• We will pursue purpose over comfort.

When we are discouraged working through these: I’m uplifted because I’m reminded of the courage of Jesus who knew what and where He was headed into on Palm Sunday.

To be courageous is to be Christlike! Too many of us are stopped by fear, avoid failure and criticism, and are stuck in routine, or maybe a zone of dulldrome where there is little meaning or purpose in our daily lives.

• Pastor: You can rise above this in such a beautiful way. I can tell you from experience, that during my times of lament, upset, frustrations, I must practice courage. So please take this to heart.

To be courageous in your faithwalk, is to follow in the steps of Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to empower you…and when He does, simply thank HIM.

Start taking notes of all the God events that will pop up in your life.

They will encourage you until the next one....

Christianity is not for the faint of heart. And is so exciting when we see God in the middle of our story! Right in the middle of our lives.

C. Who do you say that Jesus is?

The very large crowd “spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road” (21:8) as Jesus entered. This was a reception reserved only for a king.

THAT IS THE WORLD PERSPECTIVE. HOW DID JESUS SEE THIS?. Jesus, had no intention of taking political power like most kings. Jesus was only interested in becoming king in the hearts of each and every person, for his kingdom was not of this world.

They shouted, “Hosanna!” which means “Save now!” and comes from Psalm 118:25. That’s exactly what Jesus came to do! Remember, he did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it! (John 3:17).

“When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’” (21:10). There were tens of thousands of visitors in the city for the Passover and they had yet to be exposed to Jesus, so this is why so many were asking who he was.

“The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’” (21:11).

The crowds called Jesus a prophet because they did not fully understand him.

But those closest to Jesus, those who spent time with him, listened to him, engaged with him, and learned to obey him, knew exactly who he was.

He was not a prophet or just a great moral teacher, he was more than that.

He was not an earthly king, he was beyond an earthly king. Those who knew him called him the Messiah, the Son of God, who came into the world to save it, not condemn it!

Listen to these few verses....

• “You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is come into the world.” -Jesus’ friend, Martha, in John 11:27.

• “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” - Jesus’ disciple, Peter, in Matthew 16:16.

• “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” -the entire town of Sychar, after spending two days with Jesus, in John 4:42.

Conclusion

SO AS WE WRAP UP, WHY A PARADE....?????

First of all, it fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that the Messiah would come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy, but He isn’t locked into that prophecy.

The prophecy was locked into the event. There’s a difference.

The parade had political and personal dimensions, which is usually true for most parades. Jesus was making His move, saying to the authorities,

“Now is the time. Do what you will. This is the moment of opportunity.” (This makes me sad actually, how he entered the city, knowing, the end is near)

And for each person in that crowd and each one of us today there was a political dimension to this event.

It has something to say about our life, about our time. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He knew the crowd would reject the King and His kingdom.

The whole world MIGHT READ ABOUT A FAMOUS PERSON WHO IS THE STAR OF A PARADE...and then promptly forgets THEM.

But for one week famous. Parades serve another important function.

Sometimes are the prelude to being discarded. Jesus was soon to be discarded. Judas was already in the process of doing that to Him.

Peter was about to discard Him in a brief conversation with a servant girl. Even those beloved brothers, James and John, thought about discarding him. The crowd, now cheering “Hosannah, Hosannah,” would soon be yelling, “Barabbas, Barabbas,” in Pilate’s court.

The parade might have a way of letting you down. Often we are being eased out at the very same time that we are being honored.

At retirement, a gold watch and a banquet prepare you for SOMETIMES MAKING YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE being discarded…OR I HAVE REACHED MY END....

NO>>>maybe for another message(THE HARDEST THING FOR EXCOPS I KNOW…WALKING INTO THE STATION AFTER LEAVING AND NO ONE CARES TO ENGAGE THEM…MAYBE A BRIEF HELLO, BUT THE STATION AND CITY DIDN’T FALL APART WHEN THEY RETIRED OR MOVED ON”. QUITE OFTEN MY COLLEAGUES NEVER GO BACK TO A PLACE THEY COMMITTED 25 PLUS YEARS TOO.

A PARADE COULD BE part of a group farewell.

But the parades are for those who watch as much as for the heroes. The original Palm Sunday parade was primarily for Jesus, but it was also for the disciples.

It was for the crowd, offering them one more chance to respond to the King. The parade was for you and me because Jesus is still passing by in your life and mine, giving us one more chance to say, “Yes, I want what You offer.” Or, “No, deal me out.”

In that original crowd was Bartimaeus, who was once blind and now could see. There was Lazarus, once dead and now alive. The parade began in his home town of Bethany. Nicodemus was in the crowd, a secret disciple who ultimately stood up to be counted. We are all those people and many more. The parade, then and now, gives us one more chance to respond to the King.

The question is, who do you say that Jesus is? Is he a prophet? Is he a moral teacher? Or is he your Lord, your absolute authority?

C.S. Lewis said, “Let us not say, ‘I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.’ That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg-- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[1]

Who is Jesus?

What does it matter to your life today?

This week, as I keep saying....with urgency like no other time, ensure you know Him personally. He is the Son of God. God made it clear when He spoke from the heavens, “This is my SON, with whom I am well pleased....

If you follow HIm, Palm Sunday and every parade you watch from here on in, should remind you of Jesus on a donkey, an ambassador for peace, and a mission to save the world in the most difficult ways.

Walk each day with Him this week-how quickly His smile turned to tears as He cried over Jerusalem and I’m sure cried over the world today.....

embrace Him with joy and tears everyday, and on Good Friday we will gather to remember what He did for us....

enduring the most corrupt and fitlhy trial I wlll never forget…How all these people who yelled “Hossana” and in days yelled....Kill HIM...

lament and appreciate our Redeemer in this short journey, who by the way made the cover of Time Magazine, National Geographic, and others, as Ambassador of Peace.....but so quickly to the court docket, reading, .....condemned to death on the trumped up charged of Blasphemy. labelled, KING OF THE JEWS.

People today talk about corrupt justice systems etc…and yes we have some problems at time, but study the arrest, trial and conviction of Jesus, and you will see one of the biggest setups of all time.

The arrest was illegal, the trial was illegal in so many ways....it included false witnesses....So corruption in justice systems just added to the humility of our Lord who endured even that.

Yet, He said nothing to stop it…He did nothing to stop. Like our innocent lamb…He just took it…for you and me.

We all love a parade, may we never forget how incredible this one was! Walk with me this week in your home studies, prayers, Alpha, work, other responsibilites as we prepare for a special Easter Weekend. Holy Week has begun. Let’s embrace it together as a church family and as a global church family.

Let’s pray together.

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, as we enter Holy Week we give you praise. We praise you for who you are and how you courageously faced incredible opposition and hardships, but you always overcame with self-giving love. You are the Son of God, our Messiah, the savior of the world! Amen.

BENEDICTION:

Loving God may the words of Your Son resonate in our hearts. May the depth of His sacrifice inspire us to live lives of love, forgiveness, and surrender to Your will. May the grace of this upcoming Good Friday lead us to the joy of Easter Sunday. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

[1] C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

Commentary: The preachers commentary Luke

Pretend for a moment that you are standing in Jerusalem about 2,000 years ago, a part of that first Palm Sunday parade. You might cheer or weep or simply watch silently. Parades are usually stirring. They are a means of honoring heroes or celebrities, sometimes all too transitory. The poignant thing is that some parades are for people who don’t deserve them, while the deserving often go unrecognized. A parade, or the absence of one, can have a profound effect on one’s life. Some years ago I heard about the homecoming of one of our great missionaries who had served more than forty years in a remote part of Africa. On the boat with him was a United Nations ambassador who had spent six weeks in Africa jaunting about here and there. As the ship came in to New York Harbor, fire boats appeared, spouting water festively. Tugboats tooted. Bands came alongside. There was a great tumult of praise and celebration for this returning ambassador. The missionary began to feel sorry for himself, saying, “Forty years for Jesus and nobody knows or cares that I’m coming home.” At that moment he seemed to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Nevertheless, he later confessed that simply did not seem like enough. He was as human as the rest of us. We want to hear Jesus say, “Well done,” but wouldn’t it be nice if someone planned a parade for us just once? Let’s review some of the exciting and dramatic events of that first Palm Sunday. First of all, are you aware that Jesus planned His own parade? He didn’t wait for His loyal friends to give Him a gold watch. Up to this point, He had maintained some degree of anonymity. He had been trying to keep a low profile, cautioning those who had been healed and helped, “Go and tell no one.” But now the time had come for some recognition. I think He acted totally without conceit. He needed a parade and He knew that the world needed this particular parade. He planned His parade unashamedly for His own sake, as well as for the sake of His followers, then and now. That’s true humility, and I’m so far from that. Most of my life I have been so hungry for appreciation that if I received it, I somehow minimized it. For years I couldn’t handle a simple compliment on a sermon. If someone made an appreciative comment, Isay, “It was nothing.” Or, I’d put the person on the defensive by asking, “What are you going to do about it?” Finally, my wife said, “Why can’t you just say ‘thank you’ and let it go at that?” I’m learning to do just that. If God really was the author of the sermon and the Spirit gave me freedom and authority to deliver it, I should be able to enjoy it as much as my hearers. Wives have a way of keeping us humble. I heard about a man who was receiving an honorary degree at some great university. In introducing him, the president said, “The man we are honoring today is a great man. You might say he’s a very great man. I would even say he is a very, very great man.” Driving home after the ceremony, the man turned to his wife and said, “Dear, how many very, very great men do you think there are in the world?” She said, “One less than you think there are, dear.” Jesus decided to have a parade to make a statement about His greatness. As a boy I was always amazed that He knew exactly where the donkey was. I used to think that somehow He had telepathic powers like Superman. Now I realize that He had walked up and down those streets daily. I’m sure He had often noticed this little donkey colt and decided to use it eventually for the parade. You might wonder about the symbolism of an unused donkey. Anything offered to God had to be pure and perfect. So Jesus chose an unused, unbroken animal. The donkey was a symbol of peace in those days. Horses were symbols of military might. Conquering generals came on horses. An ambassador coming on a peaceful mission rode a donkey. Jesus was an ambassador of peace from the ultimate kingdom. He tells His disciples what to say to the owners of the colt: “The Lord has need of it” (v. 31). They must have known who Jesus was and therefore that explanation was enough. Many people were so poor that a single family could not afford a donkey. A group might chip in and corporately buy one to share. And yet when these owners are told that the Master needs their donkey, they do not even protest. They don’t ask, “Where are you taking him and for how long? Will he be sacrificed?” They gave the colt gladly. As I read these verses, I couldn’t help wondering if I could give up something precious in my life simply because Jesus asked me to. Of course, if we know what that one thing is, we at least know where the growing edge is in our lives. Is it money, home, position, family? Could we give Him that one thing if we were not sure of getting it back again? It’s interesting that we in the church have always commemorated this parade on what is called Palm Sunday. Luke records no palms. I think we should speak of Parade Sunday. The parade is the central event. There may or may not have been palm branches. Palm branches were often used on such occasions, but Luke doesn’t mention that. He tells us that the crowd spread their garments on the road, which was traditionally done for famous military or civic leaders, and they cheered. The religious leaders dared not prevent them from doing so. They complained to Jesus, and again, in true humility, He told them that if the crowd were silenced the very stones of the streets and the walls would cry out. He was not embarrassed by the cheers. When He drew near to Jerusalem, He wept. There is a dramatic view of Jerusalem from the top of the Mount of Olives looking across the Kidron Valley. And Jesus, catching sight of that beautiful city, wept because He understood the real tragedy of the moment. In one sense, all parades are sad. Their heroes fade, their purposes are short-lived. I think Jesus understood that this moment of glory was not to last. Then He prophesied the fall of Jerusalem. He said, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side” (v. 43). Incredible as that must have sounded then, it’s exactly what happened in the years that followed. That great walled city came under siege and was surrounded by a huge earthen ramp. The walls were scaled and those inside were destroyed. Parades have both a joyful and a poignant quality. Crowds were cheering, and yet, what was there to cheer, actually? A few clothes in the road, a borrowed donkey, a King who would not live the week out. It makes me think of the final scenes in the Wizard of Oz, when the Wizard is exposed as all sound and fury with no substance. The parade was permanent in that we live with its effects, but within a week’s time, it was as if the parade had never happened. I think this particular parade had several important purposes. First of all, it fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that the Messiah would come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy, but He isn’t locked into that prophecy. The prophecy was locked into the event. There’s a difference. The parade had political and personal dimensions, which is usually true for most parades. Jesus was making His move, saying to the authorities, “Now is the time. Do what you will. This is the moment of opportunity.” And for each person in that crowd and each one of us today there was a political dimension to this event. It has something to say about our life, about our time. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He knew the crowd would reject the King and His kingdom. It’s like a parent who sees his or her child on a collision course and can do nothing to prevent it. Some years ago I took that exact walk with my friend Lloyd Ogilvie. We were leading a tour of pilgrims, and one day we broke away from the group and took a taxi to Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We visited the tomb where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Then we started our walk following the steps of our Lord until we came to the top of the Mount of Olives where Jesus looked over the valley and wept. Along the way, a few miles back, some little boys had joined us. We were delighted and thought there ought to be some children in this re-creation of that earlier parade. Just as we were standing there in awe, one little boy tugged on my coat, “Mister, would you like to have my sister? She lives right over there.” We were aware how little had changed in two thousand years. In this place where God established a beachhead of love, people are still being bartered and degraded. We continued on our way with a new understanding of why Jesus might have wept. Jerusalem is symbolic of all of our hometowns and cities. We could weep for all our neighbors who know not the things that make for peace, for the unredeemed loneliness which results in destructive patterns. If we were really aware of the heartbreak in any average town, we would weep more than we do. Finally, why a parade? Because Jesus needed one. We all do. I hope that there will be at least one parade for you in this life, even if you have to plan it yourself. Thinking about all this, I asked a friend recently if there had been any parades in his life (meaning recognition and honors). “Yes,” he said, “I’ve had parades. And mostly they helped me see beyond the parades.” If you’ve never had a parade, a time of being honored, of course you want that. If the honors are withheld, we live with regrets and bitterness and “if onlys.” Someone has said that one of the marks of our time is the desire for instant fame. It’s everybody’s ambition to appear just once in People magazine. The whole world reads about us and then promptly forgets us. But for one week we’re famous. Parades serve another important function. They are the prelude to being discarded. Jesus was soon to be discarded. Judas was already in the process of discarding Him. Peter was about to discard Him in a brief conversation with a servant girl. Even those beloved brothers, James and John, thought about discarding him. The crowd, now cheering “Hosannah, Hosannah,” would soon be yelling, “Barabbas, Barabbas,” in Pilate’s court. The parade has a way of letting you down. Often we are being eased out at the very same time that we are being honored. At retirement, a gold watch and a banquet prepare you for being discarded. Even the celebration of a golden wedding anniversary or an eightieth birthday has its somber side. Your family and friends realize you are about to move on, and the party is part of a group farewell. But the parades are for those who watch as much as for the heroes. The original Palm Sunday parade was primarily for Jesus, but it was also for the disciples. It was for the crowd, offering them one more chance to respond to the King. The parade was for you and me because Jesus is still passing by in your life and mine, giving us one more chance to say, “Yes, I want what You offer.” Or, “No, deal me out.” In that original crowd was Bartimaeus, who was once blind and now could see. There was Lazarus, once dead and now alive. The parade began in his home town of Bethany. Nicodemus was in the crowd, a secret disciple who ultimately stood up to be counted. We’re all those people and many more. The parade, then and now, gives us one more chance to respond to the King.

Bruce Larson and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Luke, vol. 26, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1983), 290–294.