When Victory Walks In
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1 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.
3 “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold your King is coming to you,
Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,
7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats.
8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.
9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Pray
Context
Context
Recap promise of seed/calling upon the name of the Lord/origin of prayer.
They had been calling upon the name of the Lord for the savior to come (political and spiritual), but had yet to see Him.
Explain political and spiritual aspects of Jesus as savior (explain exiles/Rome)
But Jesus doesn’t come in as a warrior on a horse, he comes as a babe in a manger. His birth is celebrated by angels, shepherds, and wisemen, but overlooked by most of the world…
Most of his years growing up are not even mentioned in scripture and he doesn’t begin his ministry until he is 30 years old..
He’s a man nobody knows, born under circumstances that seem sketchy to most, and those from his hometown just see him as the kid they watched grow up in the carpenter’s house.
But something begins to happen after the wedding at Canna where he preformed his first miracle.
He began teaching and healing and calling disciples to follow him.
But it’s another three years before the triumphant entry we read about today.
This is not Jesus’ entry into the story or the beginning of his ministry, this is His announcement that it was time to finish what he started.
His ministry began three years before that point when he called his first disciples and began teaching publicly.
To this point he has healed many sick, cast out demons, gave sight to the blind, preached the sermon on the mount, been transfigured on the mountain, fed 5000, cleansed the lepers, and even raised Lazarus from the dead…
Raising Lazarus was the most significant event to this point, leading to the climax of Jesus’ ministry which happens at the end of this very week.
Found in all four gospels, which means it is significant to every aspect of the Gospel story…
Explain why different authors include different stories, and the significance of this being in all four
Each of the authors focus on a different perspective of this event, so I may mention details shared by each of them to highlight the point they are trying to make.
For example, Matthew doesn’t say much as to how or why the crowds gathered for Jesus, but John includes the detail that there was already a large crowd gathering for the feast of passover…
There were a few times every year when a large number of Jewish people would gather in Jerusalem and the passover was one.
This set the stage for Jesus to ride into the city on one of if not the most populous times of the year.
John also includes the fact that Jesus had just had dinner at Bethany with his friend Lazarus who he raised from the dead.
Lazarus had been dead for four days before Jesus raised him from the dead and John says in 12:9 that a large crowd came when they heard Jesus was there, but not just to see Jesus only but also that they might see Lazarus who was dead, yet lived.
So there was already a crowd coming to see Jesus and Lazarus, then there was a crowd gathered in Jerusalem, and these crowds were about to merge…
1 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
Bethphage is not mentioned by happenstance here… Jesus is setting up a picture. He is following a very specific pattern to fulfill the ministry of becoming our passover lamb…
The passover lamb would be walked to Jerusalem by way of Bethphage to be sacrificed for the people as a reminder of the lamb that was sacrificed during the first passover and the need for atonement…
Jesus comes down the way that the passover lamb would be walked, symbolizing that He is the final passover lamb.. He is the way of atonement..
He is the sacrifice for you and I! He came to Bethphage…
1 When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.
3 “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold your King is coming to you,
Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,
I find it significant that Matthew sees fit to mention the colt’s mother was with him. The other three gospels focus on the colt and don’t say anything about the mother, but we can see that she was there because Matthew mentions her in verse 2.
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.
Matthew also includes the note that Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to leave the mother behind…
Untie THEM and bring THEM to me… The other gospels are focused on the one Jesus rode, but Matthew points out that the older was there with the younger and Jesus had need of THEM.
3 “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
There are some churches who do not acknowledge the older donkey and there are some who think the younger donkey wasn’t ready for the responsibility of delivering the king to the people…
Explain our philosophy: Not lights and smoke, but not living in the past… Merging the generations
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold your King is coming to you,
Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
What people expected of the messiah is that he would come on a war horse, as a champion and judge who would liberate the people from their oppressors.
But Jesus comes with a different type of liberation in mind, riding on a donkey…
Traditionally, entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse.
Even his entry fulfilled prophecy, yet defied understanding.
He’s the king of peace, riding in on the symbol of peace… On a donkey which the prophet cals “a beast of burden”
In other words the picture of Jesus riding in is one of the burden bearer riding the burden bearer… The prince of peace riding the symbol of peace…
Matthew records that they were laying their coats down and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road…
John is more specific when he says,
13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”
The PALM tree.. This is where we get the title Palm Sunday… But was more significant to the culture then, than we can understand today.
The palm branch was significant because in the Roman and early greek culture, which ruled the area, the palm branch signified victory and triumph.
A roman lawyer who won his case would decorate his door with a palm branch…
It was a symbol of victory!
They would celebrate their champions by waving palm branches during a precessional much like this one…
The people were celebrating Jesus as the messiah who would hold victory over his opposition.
More significantly, they were laying their palm branches down, thus admitting that their own victory was in the hands of Jesus…
Jesus is the victor over death, hell, and the grave and the people were celebrating His return to Jerusalem because their champion had come to win the battle on their behalf…
In Jewish tradition, the palm leaf represented Jubilee…
In the Bible, the Year of Jubilee is an event that occurs every 50 years, after every seventh Sabbath year. It is a time of economic, cultural, environmental, and communal reset, when the land and people rest, and all those who are in slavery are set free to return to their communities. The year is also dedicated to releasing people from their debts, releasing all slaves, and returning property to those who owned it.
Not only did the people see Jesus as the victor riding in, but also the bringer of Jubilee… The provider of rest and rejuvenation.
He is your peace… He is your victory… He is your jubilee… He is your freedom… He is your release… He is your restorer.
This is what it looks like when victory walks in!
We often see the week to follow as a type of war waged, a battle won, but Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king already on the path of peace, as if the battle was already won!
This is what it looks like when Victory walks in!
When victory enters the room, the battle is over…
When light enters the darkness, the victory is eminent…
When victory enters, He brings peace and joy, freedom and liberation!
And when victory enters the room, we can shout with those who laid palm branches, HOSANNA!
The word Hosanna is a greek transliteration of a word in hebrew - hoshianna which means save now…
They were celebrating the victory and the fact they knew Jesus had come to finally save them, though in a way that was different than they expected.
I like how John mentions:
16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.
I may not know what the answer is now…
I may not understand why things are happening the way they are now…
I may not see it the way I want it now…
But make way! There’s a king riding in…
The prince of peace is come by way of salvation…
The burden bearer is standing strong on my behalf…
He is my victory and my song…
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN VICTORY WALKS IN!
He brings freedom to the captive, victory to the weak, safety to the troubled, joy to the downtrodden!
He restores sight to the blind, healing to the sick, strength to the weak!
He is my victory and my song! He’s the reigning King of Glory, the champion of all those who call on Him, the savior seed promised to Eve.
His name is above all names…
This is what it looks like when victory walks in the room!
His name is Jesus and He comes as your champion, if only you accept Him.
Altar Call: Do you need victory? Will you lay your palm branches down as He enters?
