Passion Sunday or Palm Sunday, Liturgy of the Passion 2025

Scripture

Luke 19:28–40 NIV

After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Sermon

The scriptures are full of what I might call “funny images”. And I don’t mean any disrespect, but there are times when I read a passage and it strikes me as humorous. For instance, in the Old Testament, who doesn’t laugh at the idea of a talking donkey? I mean, when’s the last time you had an animal talk to you? And this is one of those funny images to me. I mean think about it. Jesus tells two of His disciples, go on into town and find a donkey that’s never been ridden and bring it back here and if anyone asks what you are doing, just tell them the Lord has need of it. Now, let’s think about this a little bit. If Jesus were alive today, this would be the equivalent of Him telling His disciples, go over to Diepholz and find a 2025 Ram 1500 Laramie, in black, that’s never been driven. Go get that for me and if anyone asks you what you are doing, simply say, “the Lord needs it.” Maybe I’ll try that myself. Want me to let you know how that goes for me?

You know how that would go for me, don’t you? Front page of the newspaper, “Pastor arrested for attempted auto theft.” But what we read here is the disciples do what Jesus has told them. They go and find the donkey, just as He had said, and they begin to untie it. These disciples are questioned by the “owners”, “just what do you think you are doing?” And they respond, “It’s okay. The Lord needs it.” And they come back to Jesus with the donkey. Why? Because God had prepared the hearts of those “owners” and made them ready to give away that which they believed belonged to them. Who really owned the donkey? Who really owns everything? God does. The Lord does.

But as you know, that’s not really the point of this passage. Jesus is heading into Jerusalem. This is His last week on earth. His time has come. He had been preparing His disciples for some time that He would be going to Jerusalem and dying on the cross. Not a very popular message and certainly not the image of a Messiah they had expected. Some of Jesus’ followers expected to receive the keys to the Kingdom. They expected, as all Jews did, the Messiah would come in power and with force. But with so many other things, they did not understand that Jesus’ goal was to redeem the world and not just Israel.

And as familiar as they were with the Old Testament scriptures, they didn’t recall the prophetic images that were being fulfilled on this day.

They didn’t recall, Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” If they had, perhaps they would have realized that the king didn’t come as a conquering ruler or as a warrior to place Israel at the top of the world but as a peaceful king. 

They didn’t remember Genesis 49:10–11 “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.”

Now, we might be able to forgive them these oversights but when they saw the people as they reacted to Jesus riding into Jerusalem, you’d wonder why verses like these didn’t come to mind.

From Psalm 118:25–26 “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.”  which is a Messianic Psalm frequently used during the great Jewish festivals, including Passover. As Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the people were crying out, ““Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Or in 2 Kings 9:13 “They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”” What did the disciples think when they saw the people surround Jesus and throw their cloaks down in front of Him, waving palm branches? The very act of laying cloaks before someone was a symbolic act of honoring a king.

And quite possibly they heard the complaints coming from the Pharisees when they told Jesus to “rebuke His disciples” and Jesus’ response, ““I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” alludes to Habakkuk 2:11 “The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”

6. In this very simple act of riding a donkey into the gates of Jerusalem, Jesus is fulfilling Old Testament prophecies connecting Him to the Messiah. Demonstrating that He is not simply a man but that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, yet His disciples and even the religious leaders, miss it. But before we throw too many stones ourselves, we need to stop and ask ourselves, how many times have we missed seeing Christ at work in our lives? How many times have we questioned what He was doing—or wondered if He was doing anything at all? How many times have we quietly removed Him from the throne of our hearts, replacing Him with comfort, control, or convenience?

7. We’re not so different from the crowd in Jerusalem. They wanted a king who would fix their world on their terms. But Jesus came to fix their hearts. He came to fix ours too. He comes not with military might, but with mercy. Not to conquer others, but to conquer sin. He comes not just as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world—but as the Lion of Judah, the victorious King who reigns forever. He is the Lion and the Lamb!