Palm Sunday

Introduction:

I was at the library the other day with my family, and while the kids were picking out books, I sneaked off to find one for myself. I couldn’t find anything good in the religion section, but I did pick up a biography on Alexander the Great.

It turned out to be pretty timely—because today’s story includes a prophecy that references Alexander.

Alexander was from Macedonia, part of what we now call Greece. He was an incredible battle commander. He started leading armies at a young age and just never lost. He rolled through Europe and the Middle East like they’d never fought a war before. He’s still famous today as one of the greatest military minds in history. Even his horse was legendary—a massive beast named Bucephalas.

At one point, Alexander came to Tyre, just north of Israel on the Mediterranean coast. Tyre had been a historic enemy of Israel. They were so confident in their strength that they moved their royal center to an island half a mile offshore, surrounded by 150-foot-high walls. It was considered impossible to attack.

But Alexander laid siege for seven months. His army took rubble from the old city—stones, wood, anything they could find—and threw it into the sea, building a literal causeway out to the island. When they reached the gates, they sacked the city.

This terrified the region. And Alexander began moving south—toward Israel.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the high priest in Jerusalem was terrified. How could a small nation like theirs stand against a man like this? So when Alexander approached, Jerusalem adorned its walls with green laurels. The people went out to meet him. The priests dressed in white. They welcomed him—not with weapons, but with reverence.

Remarkably, it worked. Alexander didn’t destroy the city. He didn’t harm the temple.

In fact, Josephus says Alexander approached the high priest alone—and bowed down before him. The priest wore a golden plate on his head, bearing the holy name of God.

When Alexander’s generals, stunned, asked why he would bow before a priest, Alexander replied:

“It was not before him that I prostrated myself, but before the God of whom he has the honor to be high priest. For it was he whom I saw in my sleep—dressed exactly as he is now—when I was in Dion in Macedonia.”

According to this account, Alexander spared Jerusalem because he was confronted by a greater King; God.

God calls Himself the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

God’s track record is untouched- He always wins.

Today, Jesus, God in the flesh is going to ride toward Jerusalem as well. Except His aim isn’t conquer land, or people, or power since it is already His.

His goal in arriving today on a donkey is to announce peace for them, because later He will leave His city to conquer death for them.

Matthew 21:1–11 ESV

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 “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.’ ” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Pray

1. For His Glory

As I began really studying this small passage this week , I realized I have been making a huge mistake every time I read it. See, Jesus lives in the north, in Galillee, and would take pilgrimages several times a year into Jerusalem as would any Jewish man. I had assumed this was Jesus’ initial visit into the city, this trip.

What’s amazing is that John’s gospel account gives us extra insight. Jesus had already been back in town for a few weeks, maybe even months by the time we read about Palm Sunday.

Does that change how you understand this story? It does for me.

I assumed this was a little impromptu welcome party for Jesus as He came back. Instead it is much different than that.

See in John chapter 11, during this same trip, Jesus heard about Lazarus’ death. But He doesn’t go to Lazarus’ house in Bethany immediately. Instead He waits four days, until Lazarus is thoroughly, provable dead. Everyone in Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ hometown know it. Their hometown is in Bethany/Bethphage. People spoke of those villages in the same breath because they were next to each other. Bethany and Bethphage’s kids would play with each other.

After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead he escapes from the Jewish rulers into Ephraim.

A few days Jesus comes into Bethany again. On the screen you’ll see John 12:1

John 12:1 ESV

1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

The same village He just raised Lazarus from the dead maybe a few days prior. There Mary anoints Jesus’ head with oil. Andcrowds come to Bethany/bethphage to see Jesus.

So how does all this information change our story? As you might say in your head, “so what?”

Matthew 21:1–3 ESV

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

When the disciples do get push-back in Mark’s account of the story, all they have to say is “The Lord needs them” and it is okay. They’re not using a Jedi mind-trick, this little village knew both the disciples and who the Lord was.

Jesus had been here before, He knew the village. When Jesus says to the disciples to go get the donkey and colt, He knows those.

It may have even been that the people who owned the Donkey and Colt were followers of Jesus. The disciples saying “The Lord has need of it” makes much more sense if we understand that Jesus already has many friends and followers in Bethany.

All these details help us to understand something you may have missed before:

Jesus set this all up.

Tim Keller points out something amazing I never noticed. Jesus orchestrates His triumphal entry. 6 verses go to Jesus arranging His triumphal entry.

It seemed spontaneous. Tim Keller said “I’ve always seen this as Jesus being surprised by the crowds, as if Jesus were to say ‘aw shucks, all this for me’”. but no, He put this together.

We are going to get to the meaning of the Donkey in our next point, actually. For now, I want to focus on why Jesus went out of His way to arrange a triumphal entry for Himself.

The Big Truth I Want You to Hear:

God is for His Glory.

Isaiah 43:6–7 “...bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name...”

God is mysterious. His ways are above our ways. His thoughts are beyond our thoughts. But what He has made known to us—we can know. And in Scripture, God has revealed why He acts:

He acts for His glory.

We often ask, “What is the meaning of life?” But that question—though common—is actually a category mistake.

It’s like asking,

“What does the color blue smell like?”

Or like the story told by philosopher Gilbert Ryle: A visitor is shown around Oxford University. They see the library, the lecture halls, the dormitories, and then ask:

“But where is the university?”

They’ve misunderstood what kind of thing a university is. In the same way, when we ask, “What is the meaning of life?”—we’re asking the wrong category of question.

Life isn’t a puzzle we were randomly dropped into.

Life is a creation of God.

So the better question is:

“Why did God create life?”

And the answer He gives is clear:

For His glory.

Matthew 21:6–10 ESV

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

J.I. Packer

"The ultimate purpose of God in history is the manifestation of His own glory."

God is about His glory.

2. For our Good

Matthew 21:8–10 ESV

8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

Matthew 21:8 “8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.”

Other accounts say that cloaks were also spread on the donkey and colt as well. Jesus receives a Kingly Entry.

How did this large crowd get here? Well, Jesus raised a man several days dead from the grave. Then He spent a week in town, gathering presumably a huge crowd (enough to line a mile long road with their cloaks), and then He called for a donkey, fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 about the Messiah.

Listen- these people are likely followers of Jesus from Bethany/Bethphage, not the crowds from Jerusalem calling for His death.

Jesus does all of this for His Glory, for God’s glory.

The big question we all have, is why is God so glory-centric?

Let’s make this clear- in a person who isn’t God. Glory-seeking is a bad trait....

In an ideal person we want to see humility and modesty.

“Jesus is the most humble person who has ever lived, yet He is not modest. - Tim Keller

Why? Because modesty is knowing your limits. A modest basketball player always know MJ was better. A modest guitar player remembers Jimmi Hendrix at 27.

But God isn’t modest, because He does not have limits. And He doesn’t hide it. In fact, His glory advertises His abilities.

Modesty Unhelpful

See sometimes modesty is helpful, and sometimes it isn’t. Imagine there was a doctor taking a plane ride. Now, as the plane is flying one of the passengers goes starts having a seizure. No one on the flight knows what to do. Everyone stands up to look over their seat. The flight attendants don’t have the training so they’re flipping through the manual. Finally someone calls out “is there a doctor onboard?!”

Except the doctor in our story is modest. I mean he is an ER doctor, but he doesn’t mean to brag about it. Instead, he waits for another doctor who isn’t so modest to handle this.

Is modesty in this story a useful attribute? Would anyone here commend the doctor for not bragging about his degrees? No?

Why? Because if you can help, you need to let people know. Yelling “I’m a doctor!” at that moment means saving a dying man.

Isaiah 45:5 “5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,”

God’s glory advertises His worth and ability.

Exalting Jesus in Matthew Attributes of the King (Matthew 21:1–22)

This is why the crowds were crying “Hosanna” (

Hosanna is glorifying the God- who saves.

Hosanna became a praise for God’s salvation- so in essence they are saying “We lift your name, because you save!”

Jesus is the most humble person who ever walked the planet.

But He was not modest. If Jesus were modest, we wouldn’t know who He was or what He can do for us:

We wouldn’t know He is:

The Son of God.

God in flesh.

The way the truth the life.

Salvation.

Jesus stands up to tell us, He is a doctor. He can save us. He can save anyone who calls on Him.

In our story today, Jesus fulfills Zechariah 9:9-10 which we will get to in a moment.

But lets first look at what God has to say to the gentile, pagan nations living around Israel.

Zechariah 9:1–8 ESV

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place. For the Lord has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel, 2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. 3 Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. 4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire. 5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; 6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia. 7 I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. 8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.

James Montgomery Boice says “the remarkable thing [about this passage] is that it accurately foretells the conquest of the Mediterranean coastlands… [by] Alexander the Great. Alexander… crossed the Hellespont into Turkey shortly after the death of his Father. He defeated the armies of the frontier governors of King Darius at Granicus and later overwhelmed the armies of Daries himself at the battle of Issus. After that he marched south against Damascus, Tyre, Sidon and Philistia, precisely as Zechariah foretells.”

This prophecy is so accurate, atheist scholars believe it is proof that it couldn’t have been written so long beforehand because it is too accurate. No, it is prophecy.

The next verse skips ahead in time. No longer is Zechariah talking about Alexander, he is talking about the Messiah who is to come.

Zechariah 9:9–10 ESV

9 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. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Rejoice, your king is coming to you. Not Alexander, the conqueror or so many lands, neither Caesar, but your true King. As the crowds said- Son of David. David who was promised a king on the throne forever. Jesus is coming, righteous and having salvation.

Jesus coming toward the eastern gate of Jerusalem, isn’t coming to conquer the city. Zechariah 9:9 says the King is coming, it is already His.

Jesus came to Jerusalem to teach for one last time who He was. He organized glory for Himself, so that for all those who believe in Him, He would save.