Jesus, the Spotless Lamb

Opening

Good Morning CV First! Today is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate as the beginning of Passion Week which contains all the events of Jesus leading up to the Cross and it all happens at his entry into Jerusalem.

Palm Sunday is somewhat an odd day. We celebrate it as this day of fanfare and celebration, as it was. The reality of that day was what was looming ahead for Jesus..... And even in that looming moment…the events that would follow, where that of hope and salvation.

But Imagine, for a moment if you would, Jesus riding into the city, the celebration taking place and knowing fully what awaited him within a weeks time.

Let’s think about our place in all of this…where do we fall. This is about our shepherd and we are just mere sheep.

Corrie ten Boom was once asked if it were difficult for her to remain humble. Her reply was simple. “When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on the back of a donkey, and everyone was waving palm branches and throwing garments onto the road, and singing praises, do you think that for one moment it ever entered the head of that donkey that any of that was for him?” She continued, “If I can be the donkey on which Jesus Christ rides in his glory, I give him all the praise and all the honor.”

This moment that was met with so much praise and adoration....and yet it wasn’t as much about Jesus as it was about what the people thought he was there to do…FOR THEM. They were partially right. He was there for them, but not in the way they thought and/or wanted.

In the same way we can very much make this about ourselves. The accolades, the pomp and circumstance....but the reality is that the glory and honor is all His.

Don’t fail to miss the point though, this is something to be joyful about, it is a moment of hope and triumph.

Our Good Shepherd knows us.

And in return, when we know Him, we know His voice, we know the difference between things of Him and not of Him.

And today we are reminded of his incredible intentionality in coming to save us. Nothing was done on a whim or a last minute decision but...

God saving us was planned, it was premeditated and it was intentional.

Read Matthew 21:1-11

Pray

Before we move forward let’s set the stage-

The Gospel accounts all bring a little different flare to the story but we see Jesus, after several years of intense ministry....he had his disciples, trained, taught, equipped, healing people, performing miracle after miracle, being accused of violating God’s law, having the pharisees conniving behind His back....and then Jesus comes to this moment. Truly the beginning of the end. He’s not only making this amazing moment happen, but he’s fulfilling prophecy all at the same time. and then He’s riding in on a donkey, people are going crazy, throwing clothing on the rode, which was customary for someone who is kingly, they are ripping branches off palm trees…waving them and throwing them down too. We are talking thousands and thousands and thousands of people in front of Jesus, behind Jesus, to the sides of Jesus. And I’m being conservative with those numbers. We have some historical documents that indicate there could have been a few million people in Jerusalem. We probably don’t have a good comparison today of what is happening. These thousands upon thousands of people are screaming Hosanna, Hosanna at the tops of their lungs. It had to have been such a monumental thing to witness.

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Have you ever watched a movie or tv show, where it starts with a desolate street where an obvious celebration took place, there is streamers and confetti and banners and balloons but yet there is no one in sight and it has that eerie feeling to it like something amazing was happening........and then things changed....something didn’t go right and then it pops on the screen, 1 week earlier or something like that.

That’s this moment....because with all the fanfare for Jesus, things changed and they changed pretty fast.

As we look at today’s passage, I want to break things down into three sections.

And the first one has to do with Jesus as he prepared to enter the city.

Preparations to Enter

This wasn’t Jesus’ first trip to Jerusalem, so it’s not as if he was someone unknown to them or even someone they had only heard about in stories.

Jesus being Jesus knew what was about to happen, there were going to be lots of people but Jesus being Jesus also knew that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it and with it prophecies that were made.

And so we see this moment where Jesus tells his disciples. Go to the village find a donkey with a colt. Take them and bring them back here. Oh, by the way, if anyone stops you, “Just tell them Jesus sent you and they will be ok with it.” Is that not the most Jesus thing to say?

Now, think about that for a minute......that’s kinda like me asking you right now to head on down the street to the neighbors and get a car and if someone stops you, tell them I sent you.

How many of you would be okay with just going and doing that?

Why?

Because you want more information. You are gonna ask some questions. Now at this point, the disciples are probably pretty used to this but we can learn something from them.

Sometimes the Lord is going to ask us to do things we don’t fully understand. Even small, menial tasks. Do we trust him enough to just do it? No questions asked.

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.

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And so they go and we see in verse 5 this call back right that’s usually attributed to just Zechariah, but it’s actually two O.T. references.

Read Verse 5

Isaiah 62:11 ESV

11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

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.

So, they went and did just like Jesus told them. They secured the donkey and colt. We don’t see it here in Matthew, but Luke tells us that the owners came out and questioned them. And they explained....Hey, it’s for Jesus. Luke actually doesn’t tell us the owners response to that but obviously they have the donkey and colt so it must have been cool.

They prep the animals and Jesus gets on to make His journey into the city.

Before we go any further we need to recognize something…This is really the second moment for Jesus that he should have been welcomed as a king. The first being His birth. Now, you can say here that the people are going crazy for him....., but it’s different. Because for a King, the stage would be even grander and we are talking the King of Kings.

But instead, here we have Jesus…riding in on a donkey…exhibiting for us again…this example of humility.

Jesus was always providing teaching moments based on humility and this moment is no different, because this moment wasn’t about pomp and circumstance but it was the prelude to the cross.

We like-wise need to keep humility at the forefront of our minds and hearts. Jesus knew why we needed it and why he exhibited constantly on our behalf.

-Mighty Ducks Story/Movies...

Humility helps keeps us focused on the cross and the mission of the Gospel.

Are you seeking humility in your life?

Not just any humility though, the kind that only comes from Jesus.

Now let’s pause for a moment here. Jesus in this moment of humility knows what awaits Him, He knows the pain and agony that will come, He knows eventually that the Father, who He has served faithfully will turn all of His wrath upon Him and forsake Him. He knows this.

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And unlike the crowd and unlike....really us.... Jesus remains, calm and steadfast. He doesn’t turn and run. He doesn’t waiver in devotion. He is not flippant in staying the course. He does what the Father requires of Him for each of us..........this is the definition of sacrifice.

Matthew 16:24–25 ESV

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

How willing are we to sacrifice for Him?

Are you sacrificing for Him?

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Entering the City

And so he is approaching the city and the crowds are closing in around Him, throwing their clothes and palm branches, yelling Hosanna.

This word Hosanna is often defined as a call of adoration, joy or praise. But it’s true meaning is that it’s a Hebrew exclamatory plea meaning to save us now.

It’s a reference to:

Psalm 118:25–26 ESV

25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

And the reality is that they weren’t calling out to Jesus to save their souls but the hope was that He was there to save them from the oppression of Rome. They all knew of Jesus’ miraculous works and the hope was he was going to liberate them and become their earthly king.

But instead of a triumphal earthly king coming in riding on a chariot back by this massive army to free the physical needs of a people. Jesus, humble and meek, came riding in on a donkey, coming in as a king of peace. Not a political figure ready to overthrow Rome. He came to conquer sin and death.

And then we come to verse 10

And we see how people tend to act.......

Bandwagon fans

And we see that to a certain degree here. Many of the people who were just cheering for Jesus were now asking, “Jesus WHO?”..... Along with the other people who didn’t know one way or the other.

They literally were just cheering His name, but when hard pressed for who he was.....they didn’t know.

Knowing of Him being the Son of David or being this great deliverer and all they could muster was Jesus......the prophet.

If there ever was a moment that shows us how you can know Jesus but not know Jesus, this is it.

You can be fan of Jesus but have absolutely no idea who he actually is. To be merely a fan is to not know Him.

Because fans cry out for what they want from Him, even wave the banner.....but never bow before him.

Church, the gate is narrow.

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus precluded this moment by telling about how many will walk this wide road and be “fans” but the gate to salvation is narrow. You must know who Jesus is.

Jesus had entered the gate into the city to great acclaim by many who had no real idea who he was.

The perfect, flawless, spotless lamb of God was ushered into Jerusalem, found blameless to eventually die for you and me because we couldn’t do it on our own.

Jesus the Spotless Lamb

This whole moment....this whole parade of celebration had taken place to reflect who Jesus truly was.

From the very beginning, God was on redeeming mission to bring His people back to him.

God has always been on a rescue mission for His people and Jesus is the execution of that mission.

God had set this tone for Israel of sacrifice. From the first Passover of putting blood on the door to the continual sacrifice of lambs....it all pointed to Jesus.

And as Jesus and the disciples were venturing to Jerusalem, the city was also preparing for the festivities that awaited with Passover by welcoming the multitude of pilgrims from all over. This word festival in Hebrew means anointed time. So, this moment as Jesus rides into Jerusalem is literally for an anointed time. Passover was approaching.

And for this celebration, the Israelites would usher the sacrificial lambs along the rode, through the narrow sheep gate into the city to be inspected as spotless and without blemish.

We see how Jesus fulfills this....

In Exodus chapter 12, the Torah gives the instructions for the celebration of Passover. Israel were to choose a lamb for the sacrifice on the 10th day of the 1st month, 4 days before the actual slaughtering was to be done. According to John's chronology, it is the 10th day of the 1st month as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and as the cries go out to be saved, the people are making their choice.

Like the lambs who are looked over for flaws we see in Matthew 22 how Jesus proceeds to the temple and is immediately questioned by the religious leaders trying to snare him in a contradiction and trap him with his words. They are looking for a theological blemish that they can accuse him of but Jesus meets this barrage of questions with perfection and no fault can be found in Him.

Jesus had come for a purpose and even with the best of attempts, under much scrutiny nothing was going to stand in the way of God fulfilling what He had started from the beginning and redeeming His people.

Closing

In light of Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice......the spotless lamb of God that was to give payment of shed blood. But He was more than just the sacrificial lamb. He is our shepherd. We must be reminded of Jesus’s words in John 10.

John 10:9–11 CSB

9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Church, the gate is narrow because there is only one way..... Jesus is that gate. There are going to be plenty of “gates” that are wide and easy, but those will lead straight to destruction but Jesus, the narrow gate, the sacrificial lamb is exclusive- it’s not easy because of what He represents- truth, forgiveness, mercy and sacrifice.

Jesus is who He is and we have to know Him for that, not what we hope or want him to be. That is what the people did here and they truly had no clue who He was.

Are you secure in who Jesus is? Not who you think he is or want him to be.

Because the truth is Jesus is not this way for you and this way for my friend and this way for the person across town.

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

He doesn’t change. He is who he is.

Jesus would go on to be tried for crimes he didn’t commit, tortured for his claims and crucified because of the payment for sin we could not afford. He took that on for you so that you could be reconciled to God by believing that he is the way, the truth and the life. You just need to believe.

On this Palm Sunday, we must remember that in all it’s fanfare, Jesus came with a plan. He is who He is and He has always been......He is our King, our Messiah, our Great High Priest that laid down His life for humanities sake.

That is our hope. That is our joy. That is what we are to celebrate. Jesus, the spotless lamb of God!