The scene that surrounds the last week of Jesus life is nothing short of remarkable. Here Jesus is on his way to die at Calvary. He had told his disciples this but they wouldn't believe him, or couldn't understand what he was talking about. But they are pressing toward Jerusalem and as they approach an expectant crowd has gathered. They gathered to see if Jesus of Nazareth was coming to the Feast of Passover. No doubt they were all well aware of the hostility of the Jewish rulers and so they gathered to see what would happen next.

Was Jesus going to prove himself king, and lead them against the Roman occupation army?
Would the Jewish people get rid of Jesus because he had reached beneath the protective layer of respectability?
Was he the son of God?

People waited and they watched, and they wondered.
I don't think people today are much different. We don't know what to do with Jesus. Can he really change my life? Or his responsible for making it a mess? And as a result we just sit, wait, and watch expectantly to see what others will do. Who will Jesus be to us.
But here we have Jesus coming down the road in an event that could only be a fulfillment of prophetic writings.
Here comes Jesus of Nazareth riding on a young donkey. 500 years earlier, Zechariah wrote these words - Zech 9:9.
They identify Jesus, not because He was the Teacher that had been telling them about the love of God, and how to live lives that would please God; or because of the many miracles that He had done, releasing people from years of sickness and sorrow, and even raising Lazarus from teh dead; but because it was Scripture jumping off the pages as Zechariah wrote.
These people knew their Scriptures, they knew their Scripture and knew what it meant - or so they thought.

Knowing the Words does not Equal Knowing the Scriptures

It does not impress me if you can quoted every vers of the Bible, yet live your life as if none of them applied to you. If you are sitting here this morning and you know that tomorrow you will have an argument with someone you don't like, or that you will be getting drunk sometime this week or next weekend, then I really don't care if you know the words of the Bible - they mean nothing to you.
The people gathered knew the words on the pages. Matthew tells us, vv. 4-5. All the people gathered would have known these words. They are the words from Zech. 9:9.
You see the people knew that Jesus would come in on a lowly donkey, yet they were still looking for a king riding a war-horse, brandishing armor and weapons. Jesus was not what they expected.
Maybe you think that you know who Jesus is, because you have read some Scriptures, but if Jesus is not controlling your life, if Jesus is not the most important thing in your life, it doesn't matter what you think you know, Scripture is not real to you.
This becomes the problem when we only know the words, we tend to do the following.

They Interpreted The Scriptures To Suit Themselves

How easy it is for us to twist the 'Word of God' into the 'word of self'. We read a verse and find it appealing, then without trying to undertand the context we call it a 'word from the Lord'. This can be very foolish, causing only disappointment. Yes, God does speak to us through His word, but we must learn to really listen and understand what He is telling us.

Have you heard the story of the man who opened his Bible and read Matt. 27:5 - Judas went out and hanged himself. He said this isn't appropriate so he flipped again landing on Luke 10:37 - Go and do likewise. Flipping again he landed on John 13:27 - What you do, do quickly. Do you see the folly in just looking at the words on the page and not letting them come to life in your life?

The people shouted - v. 9. But they didn't want the true king that came, they wanted their own version of a king. How aout you, do you look for your own interpretation of Jesus, or do you want to get to know the one in Scripture?
The people wanted a puppet dictator. Someone they could tell how to tell them what to do. But that's not Jesus. Jesus is not your puppet nor is he going to dictate your life. He will rule, but only if you let him. A few days later he'll tell Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world.
When you determine your aim in life, is it in the temporal sense (as they wanted Jesus to be) or is it on the eternal (as Jesus truly came)?
The crowd shows us that when we don't understand the Word of God we fall into a very dangerous trap...

In this crowd were those who had witnessed a majority of Jesus' miracles and his teachings. There were those who had seen him just raise Lazarus from the dead, and they broadcast the news. They were shouting from the rooftops who this was - v. 9. But look how quickly the song changes. John 19:15
Everytime I read the story of the triumphal entry this part makes me the saddest - how changeable our attitudes can be! One minute they shouted their priase and laid their finest cloaks on the ground, the next they cried "crucify him - we have no king but ceasar!"
But is our way of thinking any better? Do we still recognize him as King of our lives, even when others around us are rejecting Him?

V. 9 - the shout of the crowd - was meaningless. This was simply an emotional response to the events of the day. Does that characterize your response to Jesus. Are your words hollow? Because shouting does nothing if your heart does not believe!
Rom 10:9-10. 9 does not say that if you confess with your mouth you will be saved, but if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. v. 10.
What does all this mean for you? As you contemplate the events of Palm Sunday and the subsequent days, let us again honor the Lord Jesus Christ by bowing our hearts before Him and owning Him as King of our lives, acknowledging His Lordship over our lives, and really begin to experience a life lived with and for the true king.