The King Who Rides a Donkey

Introduction

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, We come before You today with hearts full of gratitude and wonder. As we remember the day Your Son rode into Jerusalem, we ask that You open our eyes to see the depth of His love and the breadth of His mission. Help us to understand what it means to truly cry,“Hosanna! Save us!” May Your Word speak to us in fresh ways today. We thank You for Jesus, the King who came not to conquer with power but to save with humility. In His name, we pray. Amen.

Can you imagine what it would have looked like? A dusty Rd. into Jerusalem and crowds of people shouting around Jesus branches crushed under feet and the air is electrified with anticipation people. People are shouting Hosanna save us waving palm branches laying down the coast creating a a red carpet for Jesus to walk on for the king that they've been waiting for.

They know what it's like to have bad leaders and untrustworthy rulers. They've got so much hope for us behavior who can save them. Who can kick out the Romans.

But here is the kick here's the twist the king isn't on a stallion or in a chariot. In our world would be someone who's walking instead of taking a limo or riding a tank.

Jesus is riding on a donkey one of the more awkward of the riding animals. This is 100% not what anyone was expecting for a Messiah but this is precisely how Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem. Because Jesus is

The one who defies expectations. He's not the king we want he's the king we need.

So today let's take a look at 3 truths about this king who rides a donkey.

He is a King Who Defies Expectations

Zechariah 9:9 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.

Can you imagine being Peter? Seen Jesus coming in on a donkey. You would probably think he needs a stallion a War Horse something really worthy of the king that you knew who was.new paragraph I mean isn't that how we are? We'd like to see Jesus come through and demolish the sinners in the world. We'd like to see him destroy the bad rulers and bad organizations. To be honest we want the quick fixes. The big displays of his power that makes everyone stop and stare period.

But that's not how Jesus works. His Kingdom is not about his power right now he rides a donkey.

Think of a time when God didn't meet your expectations. Maybe you prayed for healing and instead of a miraculous recovery he gave you the strength to endure.

We prayed that Isabel wouldn't have leukemia. And God gave us the strength to endure the five years of treatment.

Maybe one of you have prayed for success and God gave you the humility you needed.

Maybe you wanted an open door to do what you thought God wanted you to do. And instead God gave you the patients to wait in the hallway.

God does not always give us what we want but he always gives us what we need. The donkey reminds us that God's ways are not our ways. His Kingdom isn't about power and prestige it's about humility and service.

So today for you where can you remind yourself to be patient waiting on God?  Where do you need to trust God in your life?

He is the King Who Came to Save.

Matthew 21:9 ESV

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!”

Hosanna as many of you know literally means save us. The people were crying out for a savior.

Israel during that. Was an occupied country. That means another country Rome had conquered her. That means the beliefs and traditions of what the Jews wanted to do in their country were under the thumb of another country. And to be honest it wasn't like they hadn't tried to kick the Romans out. Before Jesus there were multiple revolts and rebellions. All of which Rome destroyed. In a sense, living in Israel was similar to living in Ukraine. Only it's after Russia wins.  And then Jesus comes along doing miracles teaching wonderful things. He was massively popular. And the people needed someone they could believe in. They wanted someone who could save them. But Jesus was different then what they thought they needed.

Can we relate in our lives?

Perhaps you're frustrated at a lot of things that are happening in Washington and you would love for Jesus to just make a dramatic move to change people and change leaders.?

Perhaps in your friendships or your marriage there's an intolerable person that you want Jesus to just fix.

Perhaps at work they want Jesus to just smack your boss upside the head and make him actually make the right decisions.

Perhaps with your children you're flabbergasted but how to get them to act the way they need to act.

Throughout history and men and women have always looked to Jesus for him to solve the big fat problem in front of them when in reality Jesus came to solve the problem in our hearts.  imagine a child trapped in a burning building. A firefighter doesn't come in in a Cape in and a crown he crawls through the smoke he gets dirty any risks his life to save the child. That's what Jesus did for us he didn't come to impress us he came to rescue us. And the cross is that rescue.

Have you ever cried out asking God to save you? And you expect him to fix everything immediately? Sometimes he makes the dramatic save. Sometimes he pulls us out of the storm. But most often he gives us peace in the middle of it and he doesn't change our circumstances but he changes our hearts.  We might want Jesus to roll in on a White Horse or a tank to solve the problems we see around us. But in reality the most profound thing he can do is change our hearts and those of our loved ones. Because if he transforms us we can be the change we're looking for.

He is the King Who Invites Us to Trust

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

In the video Peter admits I just wasn't getting it he wanted to be Jesus coordinator and plan the perfect entry. But Jesus didn't need a coordinator. He didn't need people to manage his political career. The followers who could trust him.

John turns to beer and says maybe we should just trust him that's the lesson we all need to learn trust Jesus even when his plans don't make sense.

Think of a time when you tried to take control of the situation but you just made it worse. Maybe a relationship a job or a dream you're chasing how differently would that situation have been if you had trusted God?

Jesus doesn't need our help to be king good he needs our trust. When we surrender our plans to him we find that his ways are always better.

Now faith in God does not mean inaction or hiding. As Christians we are part of a multi 1000 year old tradition of people taking action because of their faith in God.

Jesus came to save our world to save us. Trusting in him and following him means first of all walking with him every day. And then following how he leads us to take action in the world around us.

Conclusion

Legend has it that Sir Walter Raleigh noticed that the queen was approaching a muddy patch of water and in a a gesture of chivalry he removes his luxurious velvet coat and throws it over the puddle allowing the queen to pass without getting her feet or her gown dirty.

This act of chivalry cemented his place as one of her favorites at court.

On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into town to the cheers of a crowd. And much like Sir Walter Raleigh laying his coat before the queen the crowd's actions showed their allegiance and how much they honored Jesus. But queen Elizabeth's favor towards Walter Raleigh was temporary but Jesus victory jesus's entry into town on Palm Sunday pointed towards a greater victory. It pointed towards a win that he would secure for everyone that was not temporary.

So on this Palm Sunday how can we honor and celebrate our king who defies explanations came to save and invites us to trust him? How can we trust him in the middle of all that we're going through? How can we take time to honor him in the noise of the world we live in.?

It would have been awesome to line the streets with that crowd but we are reminded by an older and wiser Peter that we have an even greater joy than they had.

1 Peter 1:8–9 ESV

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Closing Community Prayer

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.