Not a Normal Sunday

,

Not a Normal Sunday

I will give thanks to you

because you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

22 The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

23 This came from the Lord;

it is wondrous in our sight.

24 This is the day the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 Lord, save us!

Lord, please grant us success!

Intro: Hosanna means please save us and we are waiting for doctors and scientists to create a cure from the coronavirus. We are asking people to please save us. And God has equipped people with the skills to do so. While the doctors and nurses take care of our physical needs, there is only one that can save us from our spiritual needs and save us from God’s wrath. And that is God. The people of Israel knows that God will send his messiah to earth to do the work. And so on the Sunday before Passover, Jesus arrives for his final week on earth and the people pick up on the fact that he is the messiah.

Read Verses: 21 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

5 Tell Daughter Zion,

“See, your King is coming to you,

gentle, and mounted on a donkey,

and on a colt,

the foal of a donkey.”[a][b]

6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the name

of the Lord![c]

Hosanna in the highest heaven!

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Main Point: The Events of Palm Sunday are not Normal, but they were planned

I. Predicting where a Donkey would be was not Normal (1-7)

Finding a donkey in first century Jerusalem is probably not all that abnormal. It would be like finding a car or truck in any other city today. But On this day Jesus instructs the two That when they come to the village of bethphage, “they will at once find a donkey tied there with her foal.”

That is a bit specific. Jesus did not say go look for and bring back the first donkey you find and if it is tied together with foal that would be even better.

Jesus knows what is coming. He has alluded it to his end purpose in his ministry Matthew points out that this event is at least partial fulfillment of which he quotes. The significance behind the prophecy is that the messiah is not riding a donkey because he is poor, but “the whole world shall be in his power, but from humility he will ride upon an ass: and further, to show that Israel shall not want horse nor chariot,”. They will have no need of a war horse because The King does not fight in a normal manner. He does not need to conduct war in the sense that we humans do.

Jesus comes into His capital city to conquer. But he is not concerned with taking the city or the country, he is concerned with destroying death, which was caused by the curse, And in God’s way of a twist, the only way to do that is to arrive in the location of the final battle.

And on that Sunday Morning, as the disciples placed their cloaks on the donkey and Jesus sat on the Donkey and he began to ride in They sense that a Prophecy is being fulfilled in front of them

TS: And on that way to the entrance people want to be a part of it and so they start a kind of parade.

II. The People Holding a Makeshift Parade was not Normal (8-11)

Matthew describes the situation for us.

8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted:

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the name

of the Lord!

Hosanna In the highest heaven!

It was the start of the Passover week, so the city would swell to millions of people. Passover is probably the biggest festival of the Jewish calendar. It was one of the three festivals that all males were required to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but Passover had larger ramifications. It was also celebrated by whole families, which would explain the large swell of people here during the week.

They all came to celebrate the Lord’s salvation and escape from Egypt. The Seder meal, the unleavened bread, the questions by children and the Answers given by adults. This was to remember and to pass on the origins of the nation of Israel.

The people get the concept that Jesus is the Messiah and they proclaim him as the Son of David. That was a messianic title, like the son of man.In the blind man along the road also proclaims that Jesus is the Son of David when they asked to be healed.

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Mathew’s Gospel and really all of the Gospels are explaining that Jesus is not a normal prophet or a good teacher. They are explaining and proclaiming that Jesus is the Long Awaited Messiah.

Matthew is explaining and recounting just like it is done at Passover the birth of Christianity. And we repeat it and encourage the children to ask questions about it and hopefully the adults can answer them. `

TS: In verse 10 the people get it, they understand at least on some level, that what started out as a normal Passover celebration has turned into something completely unexpected. They know that prophecies are being fulfilled But the people who should have been really paying attention to the prophecies should have known something was up.

III. The Religious Reaction to Jesus should not have been Normal (15-17)

Skipping over the side story of Jesus clearing the temple, and things calm down, the chef forests and teachers of the law saw all the wonderful things Jesus did and the children were continuing to shout hosanna to the Son of David .

But instead of being overjoyed like the crowd, that the Messiah had come they are indignant. And in verse 16 the scribes said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read:

You have prepared praise

from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?”

Look at the comparison Matthew uses, The children are overjoyed at realizing and proclaiming who Jesus is, but the religious leaders are annoyed.

Jesus commends the children’s praise to the chief priests and scribes by paraphrasing . And Jesus is saying they get it, they understand, why sdon’t you?

This reaction by the priests is par for the course all through the Gospels. The priest class are the ones that should be the watchmen on the walls, telling everyone else the Messiah has arrived, but stead they fought Jesus every step of the way.

John puts it best in his gospel in 11 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

This was the normal and expected by God. describes the suffering servant as

3 He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from;[b]

he was despised, and we didn’t value him.

This was part of his humiliation that Jesus endured on earth. He is the one whom all things were created, but the creation is rejecting the creator.

Jesus took on the form of a man. The King became a servant. He was born in a small town, to a common family. A lot of the surface stuff about Jesus the man seemed normal. He was born under the Law and he was subject to God’s law. And as Paul says in :1-7

Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements[a] of the world. 4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our[b] hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

That is good news indeed. That God sent his son to pay for our sins, and not love ya that to sign the adoption papers for a countless number of people to be brought into his kingdom. And we are no longer Slaves to the law. AMEN!

Conclusion:

The events of Holy Week were all meticulously planned and put into place by the almighty, Omnipotent God.

God plays the Long game because he is infinite. That is why the Geneology at the beginning of Matthew is important to show the length of time God took arranging the Incarnation of Jesus, God the Son here on Earth. It’s not that he had to wait around, but he had a plan for the whole time frame.

Christ’s work on Earth and particularly on the cross is the only work that is effective for your salvation.

John Calvin is quoted saying, “Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.”

Normally, the sea is calm but there are storms and shipwrecks, those are also normal, they just don’t go on all the time and from time to time you get the storm of the century or a Perfect storm. It’s a lot bigger and last a little longer but the one thing you can do is react to Jesus showing up in your life.

But do you act like the crowd and throw a parade that the messiah has come to save you and bring you into the Kingdom or do you act like the Priests and the teachers who get indignant, angry or annoyed that Jesus has shown up in your life to change it. When you have. a good thing going because you are a good person.