Psalm Sunday Significance

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Dad, why do you have that palm branch?" His dad said, "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today." The little boy replied, "Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!"

Well Jesus sure showed up on the Sunday we call Palm Sunday! And what an eventful day it was. The account is recorded for us in all 4 Gospels. Today I want us to look at Matthew’s account of that glorious day…Matt. 21:1-11 …read…

Matthew 21:1–11 NASB95

When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

As we look at this passage this morning, I want you to notice 3 things. 1st I want you to notice that…

1. JESUS SHOWED UP.

- We’re told of the events that led to Jesus making His way to Jerusalem as the Passover Festival was approaching.

- Jesus had been predicting and seeking to prepare His disciples for 6 months with this message: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” (Matthew 20:18-20 )

Matthew 20:18–20 NASB95

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

- And now Jesus was showing up – to fulfill the plan – the mission – the Father had sent Him to fulfill.

- And here we see prophecy fulfilled in these events. The prophet Zechariah some 500 years earlier had prophesied of this day: (Matt. 21:4-5 )

Matthew 21:4–5 NASB95

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

- Jesus didn’t back down from the plan God the Father established before the foundations of the world! All the way back at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry (Matt. 4), the devil had sought to tempt Him to avert the plan God the Father had sent Him to accomplish. It’s pretty clear: Satan knew the mission – which is why he sought frantically to tempt Jesus then – and over the course of His 3 year ministry – to avert it.

- Here we see Jesus showed up – ready, fixed and resolute to carry it out.

TS – 2nd I want you to notice that…

2. THE PEOPLE LIFTED UP.

- As was the case with every Passover, the Messianic fervor ran at an unbelievable high pitch!

- The people were looking for a conquering king Messiah who would come with great military power to throw off the brutal yoke of Rome and re-establish the Israel back to greatness it had experienced in the reign of King David. So every Passover many were looking – longing for the Messiah to reveal Himself.

- As Jesus approached Jerusalem, the Jericho road was flooded with pilgrims coming from Galilee and other parts of the world – many pilgrims from the Greco-Roman world would save for a life time to be able to make the trip for Passover – Jerusalem would swell to some 2 million people during the festival time.

- As Jesus rode on the colt making His way, news had spread rapidly to Jerusalem that Jesus was coming and riding on a colt and approaching from the Mount of Olives – people began to flood out of the eastern gate heading up the Mount as Jesus and the massive crowd were making their way down the Mount.

- And the disciples and the people began taking their coats and laying them down on the road as a sign of tribute and honor and worship – and many were cutting from leafy branches and waving as they shouted “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

- Can you even begin to imagine what that scene must’ve been like in those deafening moments as the multitude shouted and praised and worshiped and wave the palm branches!

- The quote was from Psalm 118:26 which came from a collection of Psalms called the Hallel – it was used in worship at the Temple and synagogues – and it was clearly Messianic = which is why the multitude were shouting it that day.

Psalm 118:26 NASB95

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

- Hosanna is from the Hebrew meaning to save we pray or save now – and Son of David was a Messianic title.

- The problem was the crowd wasn’t interested in Jesus saving their souls – they were only interested in His saving their nation!

- And when the Pharisees (as Luke reports) pleaded with Jesus to rebuke His disciples – the people – Jesus said: (Luke 19:40 )

Luke 19:40 NASB95

But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

- As great as a moment this was, Jesus knew that the vast majority of the people’s hearts were fickle – for by Thursday they would be shouting “Crucify Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar!

TS – And this leads to the 3rd thing I want you to see…

3. GOD’S PLAN MOVED UP.

- The time for God’s long-awaited plan for His Son Jesus to fulfill was now moved up to the 12 o’clock striking hour!

- Jesus’ Passion week – His week of suffering had finally come – the week for Him to become the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world!

- And Jesus’ triumphal entry on Palm Sunday began His walk to Calvary!

Conclusion

Yes the multitude shouted that day: “Save us now, Son of David!

And do you think Jesus thought as He heard them shout: “That’s exactly what I’m here to do. How right you are, but how little you understand.”

It's Palm Sunday, and so begins our journey with Jesus from Jerusalem’s gate to Golgotha’s cross to Easter’s triumph! That is exactly what Jesus came to do!