The Coming King

Welcome

Today we are going to be walking through Palm Sunday. Maybe some of you are familiar with it, maybe some are not. We are going to try to understand what it would have been like to be there.

What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is the start of what is referred to in the church as Holy Week.

Today is the day of what is called the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

This event is recorded in all four Gospel accounts and it goes like this:

Matthew 21:1–11 NRSVue

1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Johns account adds in some more detail that gives us background:

John 12:12–19 NRSVue

12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord— the King of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. 17 So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. 18 It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. 19 The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

So let’s put this together in context.

It is great to read this but stand alone it will not make much sense.

So what is the story so far?

Remember at this point Jesus has been going around for a couple of years, mostly up in the region of Galilee but remember that Jerusalem is the seat of power.

Also this is the time of Passover, which means that everyone is gathering in Jerusalem. Jews from far and wide. Passover was one of the festivals where Jews had to gather to celebrate:

What were they celebrating?

As we know Passover is the celebration of when God rescued Israel from Pharaoh in Egypt…by destroying Egypt basically. This is the ten plagues which the tenth and final was the taking of the firstborn, turning Pharaohs evil back on him.

Israel was rescued from the destroyer by the sacrifice of a pure lamb and it’s blood covering the door of the household.

So, remember that at the time of Jesus, the Israelites are under the military occupation of the Roman empire. Now Rome had given the jews the freedom to continue to practice their religion, mostly because the jews just kept revolting. Violently revolting.

They would typically do this around a leader who proclaimed themselves as the Messiah. This happened before Jesus got on the scene and after. Jesus was not the first nor the last person to proclaim to be the Messiah.

So you have to understand that the land of Judea was a very important strategic piece of land, it was the transport route for grain from Egypt to make it to Rome. So Rome had a vested interest in the location of the land, Rome just hated the people inhabiting that land…namely the Jews.

So imagine this, the Jews who already hate Rome and by extension Caesar who proclaims himself to be the son of god, are having a festival about when the Jewish God liberated the Jews from an oppressive regime by use of nation destroying signs and wonders.

How much tension do you think was in the air at this point?

It is safe to say that everyone had a lot of expectations!

Now let’s add into the mix Jesus. Remember Jesus has been going around for a while now performing signs and wonders, He has been making God claims in both word and deed.

This is the recipe for an absolute clash.

Rome is worried about the Jews revolting

The Jews want to revolt and be free from Roman rule but not only that, they want what has been promised to them by their God and they want it how they want it.

Let’s take a look at some of these promises.

What would this have meant to the People?

Remember the book of Psalms were the songs that Israel sung and many promises have come via Psalms:

Psalm 2 NRSVue

1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear; with trembling 12 kiss his feet, or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are all who take refuge in him.

Here we see the expectation that the King will not just rule Israel but by extension, Israel will rule the whole of the world with this King at their helm.

Psalm 93 NRSVue

1 The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; 2 your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. 3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. 4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord! 5 Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.

Do you see here how the Psalmist refers to the floods, he is talking about that Primordial Chaos that we have been talking about in the last couple of weeks

Psalm 89 NRSVue

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. 1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. 2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. 3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to my servant David: 4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah 5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome above all who are around him? 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it—you founded them. 12 The north and the south—you created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; 16 they exult in your name all day long and extol your righteousness. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 19 Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one and said, “I have set the crown on one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. 20 I have found my servant David; with my holy oil I have anointed him; 21 my hand shall always remain with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. 23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 24 My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name his horn shall be exalted. 25 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’ 27 I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him, and my covenant with him will stand firm. 29 I will establish his line forever and his throne as long as the heavens endure. 30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my ordinances, 31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, 32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with scourges, 33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. 35 Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His line shall continue forever, and his throne endure before me like the sun. 37 It shall be established forever like the moon, an enduring witness in the skies.” Selah 38 But now you have spurned and rejected him; you are full of wrath against your anointed. 39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. 40 You have broken through all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins. 41 All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. 42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. 43 Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not supported him in battle. 44 You have removed the scepter from his hand and hurled his throne to the ground. 45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah 46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is— for what vanity you have created all mortals! 48 Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol? Selah 49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted, how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples, 51 with which your enemies taunt, O Lord, with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed. 52 Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and Amen.

As we can see the Jews had this massive expectation for this King, He was going to rescue them from their current pitiful state and exalt them to the dominant kingdom of all the land.

So when they have a prophecy like this:

Zechariah 9:9–17 NRSVue

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will arouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword. 14 Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. 15 The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall consume and conquer the slingers; they shall drink their blood like wine and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day the Lord their God will save them, for they are the flock of his people, for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. 17 For what goodness and beauty are his! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

So can you imagine what it would have been like to be there, for your whole life you have been told that God one day was going to rescue you from every issue that you ever had. The Jews blamed Rome for everything.

Remember everything bad with the Jews from the jewish perspective was the Romans.

The Jews were perfect, in their own eyes.

Remember what we talked about last week, about self-reflection, sin, who is responsible for that.

If we always say it is some other people’s fault, it will stop us from seeing the real issue.

So all the Jews thought that Jesus coming, fulfilling all of these prophesies and finally coming to Jerusalem just like Zechariah said he would, no wonder people responded the way they did, everyone was out welcoming Him, yelling out Hosanna, Hosanna.

Because everyone thought that Jesus’s next action would be making a whip and flipping over Pilates seat and begin casting Rome out of Judea in might and power like God did to Egypt.

The problem with that story is that Jesus did make a whip, but instead of overthrowing Rome, He overthrew His own people in the temple and then began a week of publicly shaming the Priests, Scribes, Pharisees and the other religious leaders in front of everyone. He revealed the corruption running through the heart of the leaders and the nation.

So not even a full week later, on Good Friday, the same people who were shouting Hosanna were screaming crucify Him.

What does this mean for us?

Who has ever heard of mismanaged expectations?

That certainly happened here. We know Jesus fulfils all of these prophesies, the Jews wanted God to fulfil these prophesies…their way.

How often do we want something from God, but we want it our way?

How often when God doesn’t answer or respond they way we want Him to, do we throw temper tantrums?

I do.

How often do we resist what God has planned for us because it will disrupt the ways things are in my life?

In everyone of these issues, we are invited to have faith. Remember faith means trust, we are invited to trust God.

If the Jews had just trusted Jesus, but they were too embroiled in everything else. They were too certain that their interpretation of things were exactly right, when evidence was mounting to the contrary.

I am not saying do not be solid in your beliefs, but allow God to show you more, allow God to teach you, allow God to show you that you can be wrong.

This story should be an annual reminder that God does not always behave and do what we thing He should. He is God not us.

This story also shows us the praise of people can be fickle and therefore should not be followed.

This story also shows us that God is faithful even when we really do not understand what is going on around.

This week and this story tells us that God was dealing with issues that Israel did not even consider.

Israel wanted to deal with Rome, Jesus wanted to deal with Death. Israel wanted no more taxes, Jesus wanted no more Sin.

Israel wanted the good life, but all they got was destroyed by Rome decades later.

Jesus actually made the way, less than 3 centuries later Rome had it’s first Christian Emperor.

Palm Sunday shows us that Jesus is King, His Kingdom has no end. All the prophesies are true, all nations will bow down. We can rightly proclaim Hosanna, the King has come and it is good news for all people!