Palm Sunday 22

In Matt 21:1-10, Jesus instructs two disciples to go into the village, find an ass tied up, and a colt with her, loose them, and bring them to me. They bring the ass and colt, place their clothes on both of them and sat Jesus on them. As Jesus approaches, a great multitude assembles, cut down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way. There were multitudes going before crying “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” When Jesus enters into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved saying “who is this?” and the multitude said “this is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”

In Luke 19:28 When Jesus is coming down mount olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Jesus comes near and weeps over the city of Jerusalem.

Luke 19:42–44 AV

Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

All 4 accounts seem to reference Zach 9

Thought:

Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem was anti-climatic for a king that would ride into his ruling city and rule. Ideally it was thought that a king would ride in on a colt or war-horse, projecting an image of strength, power, and rule. Yet Jesus rode on a foal of an ass, he didn’t ride in exalted, but he rode in humble. He didn’t ride in to conqueror and rule the Romans, he rode in to conqueror and defeat sin. The only way sin can be defeated is through humility! Jesus humbled himself and became obedient even unto death.

Jesus has provided a way for sin to be defeated in our life, we just have to humble ourself and believe the gospel! We need to humble ourself and submit to God....only then, can sin be conquered in our life!

Jesus took on our sins! Our sins was upon him and he payed with his life, to deliver us, he paid with his life to free us, he paid with his life so that we could be healed.

Thought: It is a common mistake to think that the same crowd that honored and glorified Jesus is the same crowd that disowned him, denied him, and esteemed Barrabas over Jesus. No, because the gospels record that many in the crowd believed Jesus, they were disciples of Jesus. Yet, Luke records that within this same crowd are also pharisees, who pretended to be disciples but really were not. So now the question becomes, why did this crowd not go to bat when it came to Jesus having an opportunity to be released? The answer is simple, they allowed the outcry of the sinful to outweigh their voice! Oh yes, it is the same thing that is occuring again today. The psuedo-church has allowed the world to govern and dictate what can and cannot not be said. They don’t want to hear Jesus preached, they don’t want you to talk about that name, that don’t want you to make disciples, they don’t want you to celebrate Jesus. The true church, however, is the church that will not back down. The true church is the church that declares like the apostles “for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thought: Parallelism of the two animals. Why does Matthew record two animals while the other gospels record only one? Notice what Matthew writes about the colt, it had never been used for service. The ass that was with the colt is the mother. It is quite possible that the ass is there to assist in keeping the new colt calm as he carries out his new duties, besides he had never carried anything. This colt or some translate donkey was carrying a new burden......Jesus. There was the ass which was the colt’s mother (Old) then there was the colt (New). Jesus would ride on both according to Matthew’s gospel, and then finally transfer to just the colt. Symbolically you could say that Jesus was bridging the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Question: How could Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem by triumphant considering the fact that several days later, he would be arrested, tried, and then crucified?

ANS: 3 reasons it would be triumphant.

According to the religious authorities of Jesus’ time, Jesus’ ministry would end in complete failure after they had Jesus’ arrested, tried, and executed. They thought, everyone would forget about Jesus, they thought that all of the followers that they lost would return back to them and things would go back to normal. BUT WHEN YOU HAVE HAD AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS.....THINGS WILL NEVER GO BACK TO NORMAL!

The Sanhedrin plotted to dispel the notion that Jesus was the Messiah. They schemed, they lied, they had false witnesses, they turned him over to the Roman soldiers, they mocked him, they spat on him, they stripped him, they whipped him, they slapped him, they placed a crown of thorns on his head and then they made him carry an ole rugged cross several miles to the place where he was going to die!

How can Jesus enter into Jerusalem triumphantly? Well.....he entered in humble the scriptures says. Be reminded that the scriptures declare that “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

Paul wrote concerning Jesus:

Philippians 2:8–11 AV

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So here is Christ, riding in on a donkey.....riding in a victory procession, riding humbly. But preacher I still don’t understand how this is a victory procession......didn’t Jesus die? Wasn’t Jesus rejected? Yes Jesus died and yes Jesus was rejected of men. But the good news and the reason why we call it a victory procession is because his earthly ministry was coming to a close, he died.....but he came back to life on the 3rd day. He was rejected of men......but God exalted him!!!

It was a victory march.....because Jesus was human and divine. Jesus is the Son of God (humanly) meaning that he was human just like us.....but because God is the Father and because God was in Christ he was divine and without sin.

It was a victory march because the night that Jesus was betrayed, he struggled with his human nature. He knew what lied ahead, he knew the suffering and the pain that he was going to endure, he knew the rejection that he was going to felt. But Jesus.....riding in humbly on a donkey....rode in victory, because he knew that if he humbled himself and became obedient that God would give him victory!

Let me assure you today, that if you want victory in your life you’ve got to learn to humble yourself! There will be situations that you will find yourself in that from a fleshly human standpoint, you don’t want to go through. There will be times that your walk with God will get down right uncomfortable.

There will be times where you’ll be tested and pushed to your limits. There will be times when you pray and say “Lord I don’t want to go though this.” But if you humble yourself.....if you put your trust in the LORD.......GOD WILL BRING YOU THROUGH AND I GUARANTEE YOU’LL COME OUT VICTORIOUS!!!