Palm Sunday

This week, as we come together to worship, many of us are focused on preparing holiday meals, organizing games, and getting Easter baskets ready for the kids or grandkids. While these activities are enjoyable, and we should enjoy them, we must also remember to take time to prepare our hearts. It is a time of celebration for sure, but Holy week is also a time for deep reverence. We are fast approaching one of the most significant events in history: the capture, suffering, crucifixion, and glorious resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Palm Sunday is an opportunity to pause and remember that before the crowd shouted "Crucify him," they had proclaimed "Hosanna," which translates from Hebrew as "Save us." In one week, that we call Holy week, the same crowd that shouted and declared: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’ would turn on him and instead ask for Barabbas, the murderer to be set free. A dramatic shift to say the least.

Scripture tells us that the people of Jerusalem gathered and threw their coats and palm branches down on the ground as he passed. They cheered and praised God. Here’s how Matthew described the scene:

Matthew 21:6-11

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.”

That day, the day we remember as Palm Sunday, was a celebration of a long-awaited King, the Messiah they had long hoped for. A warrior who would come and set them free from oppression, one who would conquer Rome and reclaim the throne of David. A Messiah, who would fulfill the prophecies as they understood them. Little did they know at the time that the Messiah they were receiving would not free them from Roman rule, but was the one who would forever deliver them from sin and death.

As Jesus rode into the city that day on the back of a colt, he was aware of what was to come. Yes, Resurrection Sunday was quickly approaching, the glorious day of celebration when Jesus would emerge from the tomb victorious. But before that, he would suffer. He would suffer from the weight of what he was about to do, and he would suffer under the hands of Rome.

I don’t think we can lose sight of that even in the celebration of the triumphant entry, because I am sure Jesus didn’t. He is God, and yet in Luke 22:39-44 we see Him asking the Father if this cup, the cup of wrath, can be taken from Him.

Luke 22:39-44 39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Palm Sunday is often seen as a day celebration, but I think really it should be seen as a day of preparation. A time when we reflect of the on the events of Holy week, and what it means for us.

So, back to where we began, “Hosanna, hosanna, Save us, Save us.” Those in the first century shouting this needed saving from a physical oppressor. Rome was everywhere, Jerusalem was under the direct authority of Pontius Pilate, and the heirs of Herod the Great, like Herod Antipas who ruled over Galilee, were little more than puppets for their Roman overseers. Jews, like all who sought to keep their culture and religion under Roman rule, were heavily taxed. They groaned under the weight of their oppression and longed for the Messiah who would set them free.

Today, Rome is not oppressing us. We don’t have Roman legions lining our streets striking fear and resentment into our hearts. But we are still crying out just as they did 2,000 years ago “Hosanna, Hosanna, Save us, save us!” But what do we need saving from?

Some of us need saving from addictions, or pride. Maybe it’s anger, or gossip. Maybe it’s shame and guilt. Maybe it is brokenness, or the image or identity we have created for ourselves that really isn’t true. There are a litany of things I could call out but ultimately it is all summed up in one word: sin. In Romans 3:23, the Apostle Paul reminds us that none of us have escaped that trap. It reads:

Romans 3:23

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

All here translated out of the original language, means ALL. You, me, Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, and John Wesley. None of us has been capable of resisting sin 100% of the time. We all need a savior, a messiah, to rescue us.

And praise be to the Father, from the moment of the fall, the mission to save humanity was put into motion.

Genesis 3:14–15 “Then Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you will be cursed more than any domesticated animal and more than any wild animal. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And I will put hostility between you and between the woman, and between your offspring and between her offspring; he will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.””

(Lexham English Bible)

From the beginning of time, from the moment it all went wrong. God knew how He would fix it. And over generations he would share that plan with His chosen people, the Israelites, through prophets, like Isaiah, who shared this:

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,     because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;     he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,     and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.

If that passage sounds familiar, it is because this is the one that Jesus read in his hometown and they would kick Him out of the temple for declaring that the scripture had been fulfilled in their hearing. It enraged them, but He spoke truth, and of Himself. Later, John, son of Zebedee, would write to us from the point of having seen the fulfillment of that promise and he would write this:

John 3:16–18 “For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged, but the one who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”

We know we can not fix our mess on our own. So, like those present in Jerusalem for that Passover 2,000 years ago, we shout ‘Save us, Save us’ as we run from one mess to another. But unlike them, the Conquering King has finished His work and is now seated at the right hand of God.

We have been saved, the veil has been torn and the separation between man and God is no more. The holy of holies, the resting place of God’s Spirit is now you; if you have called upon the name of Jesus and made Him Lord over your life. Christ has finished His work, and the atonement for mankind has been made. All we have to do is accept this free gift, this precious new life. The Messiah came to save, but not just the Jews, and not from Rome. He came to save us from death itself.

Final couple of verses to think about today, from the Apostle Paul:

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

O’ death were is your sting? No more do you hold dominion on man and beast, but freedom reigns, for our debt was paid. By Holy blood our guilt was slain. Washed clean, made new, we declare this day, no more shame, our Messiah came, and today He reigns.

If you need rescuing today, I encourage you to cry out ‘Hosanna’ because your Savior is near. His work was finished, and He has opened the the door to set you free, call out to Him, make Him Lord over your life, and leave your prison behind.