Sermon Tone Analysis
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Jesus was here.
Imagine with me for a few moments, that you are a traveler and have been away from your home in Jerusalem but are now returning home.
Your hope is to arrive in time for passover.
Getting close to town, you see the fig tree you had seen when you left, it must have been diseased - because it is now totally barren.
As you enter the town, your travelling companion points out that there are palm branches along the side of the street.
You notice that there are pieces of cloth littering the center of the road.
Your companion suggests that there must have been someone special in town.
Up ahead a ways you hear the baying of a donkey, tied to a table - as you approach you see a sign that says “Sit where Jesus sat” along with a price that you could tell has been changed a few times recently.
Just someone trying to make some money.
No shame there.
But who is Jesus?
Why would anyone think he is important?
Your home is just a few blocks past the temple.
The closer you get, the louder it is.
Soon enough, you realize why.
The money changers have all set up out site the temple gates.
They have armed guards on either side of them, and they look like they mean business.
Finally you make it home, and your parents are heading out the door.
When you ask them where they are headed, they say that the governor is getting ready to release a prisoner - and we are just in time.
You travel with your family to the Governor's announcement.
The crowd is presented with a choice.
Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Barabbas.
Barabbas, you have heard of him.
Ruthless zealot.
Murderer.
Jesus of Nazareth - that might be the teacher you have heard about throughout the day.
They say he claimed to be messiah.
That isn’t where the story ends, but it is where I will stop telling it.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day that we celebrate with believers around the world this triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as King of peace.
This is the beginning of what we celebrate as Holy Week.
Historically, if Jesus would have entered the city today - he would be crucified on Friday, and resurrected on Sunday.
In that is our hope of eternal life, our salvation, our everything.
Let’s pray.
That visual I was trying to build there, comes from all of the circumstances of the Holy Week.
You can find that in your Bibles in four locations, and I want to encourage you to read through them often this week.
The Story starts in Matthew 21.
In Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12.
The story is repeated, with different details each time.
We have been studying the book of Hebrews the last couple of months, and will continue that study after Resurrection Sunday.
One of the primary focuses of the book of hebrews, we should know, is to establish who Jesus is.
We should know him as the way that God is speaking to us now, in these days.
And that He is greater than the messengers that came before Him - like the Angels who gave the Torah.
We should know him as our shepherd and leader out of the wilderness - and that He is greater than Moses.
We should know him as our great high priest, and that He is greater than any Priest from the line of Levi, because he never sinned.
From that perspective, lets go back to the story of Jesus in Jerusalem, that final week.
What is so incredible about that, is at the same time we answer those asking the crowd, we answer David in Psalm 24
In a lot of ways, we are the crowd.
We go from worship and adoration in one moment… in less than a week we have forgotten it all.
None of us would say “crucify him” with our mouths - but we saw this in Hebrews 6...
The crowd, was excited about the miracles that Jesus accomplished, but had their own expectations of who he would be
We expect our lives to be easy and fun and and and and… but that isn’t what life is.
That isn’t what Jesus promised, and so we fall into sin.
In a lot of ways - we are Barabbas.
We stand rightly convicted of our crimes.
Barabbas is due to die for his sins, and he deserves to.
Yet without doing anything to merit mercy, he discovers that Jesus is going to die instead.
Having awoken on Friday morning expecting nothing but a slow, horrible death, by evening he is home with his family to celebrate the Sabbath.
We are clearly intended to see ourselves in this man: destined for death but finding freedom and life through the death of another.
If we think about this - it becomes clear this is not merely an exchange, but a substitution.
Jesus doesn’t just die instead of Barabbas; he dies in his place as his substitute, his representative.
We know this because—and this is often missed—Barabbas and Jesus stand accused of the same crime: sedition, insurrection, treason.
Even though the crowd decided to save Barabbas instead of Jesus, it was Jesus who chose to save the crowd instead of himself.
Pilate, the religious leaders, the crowd, and humanity rejected Jesus, but it was Jesus who died for Pilate, the religious leaders, the crowd, and humanity
And God did all of that, because He wanted to.
What is our response to all of that?
What is the challenge in it.
First, that we would not become the crowd.
We should maintain our love, our adoration, our excitement for the Lord - throughout.
Knowing - it may not be what we expect it to be.
We should also make every effort to keep from crucifying him again.
David dealt with the Lord in this way:
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