Palm Sunday

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

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Good Friday

Good friday - april 15th @ 10:30am

The United church will be joining us for this service on friday - and we have been invited to their Maundy Thursday service, the previous day (April 14th @ 5:30pm)

Easter sunday - april 17th at 11am

Mens and Ladies Coffee’s

Mens, Tuesdays at 11am, Ladies, Wednesdays at 1:30pm

Volunteer Need - Pic Mobert

We are still continuing our work in Pic Mobert. We’re looking for people to commit to a specific need - to provide some snack food that we can bring down.

What is Palm Sunday?

Luke 19:29–40 NIV

As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Matthew and John point out that

This was a fulfillment of prophesy

Zechariah 9:9 NIV

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

This prophesy wasn’t just for Jerusalem - it was against Israel’s enemies

The message wasn’t just ‘Rejoice Zion, your king is coming!’ It’s not like a visit from the Queen.

In Zechariah, the people had just returned from Babylonian captivity. Their city, their temple sat in ruins. They were sitting in rubble, in these broken cities, putting back together their lives.

And trouble wasn’t just a forgotten memory read in a book - some of them had lived through the exile. They had sat in the foreign lands. They remembered the way it was before.

And in that context, Zechariah makes a prophecy, and much of the prophesy is woe to Israel’s enemies. But then he pivots, and says, NOW Israel, NOW you have a reason to rejoice - because your king is coming to fight on your behalf.

The earth QUAKES when He speaks. It was a celebration that the all powerful God of the universe had entered the ring.

And this was a big deal. A HUGE deal. Jesus says, if the people don’t praise, the rocks will. Creation itself is waiting for this moment, when God Himself suits up and steps up to fight

The trouble was, even as they celebrated Him, even as they lay their palms and their cloaks down and cried out hosanna, they missed something.

The people rejoiced. They celebrated. But Jesus? He wept.

Luke 19:41–44 NIV

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Remember, this prophesy is about how badly Jerusalem had been treated, how they had been conquered, and that the Lord Almighty Himself was entering the ring. But then, Jesus follows up that prophesy and says-

They didn’t know what God was actually doing

They knew what God wanted. He wanted people to be free. He wanted the nation to follow Him again. But they couldn’t see HOW God was going to bring that out. They had their own ideas - kick out the Romans, get rid of these foreign powers, give us our nation and identity back. But God was doing something different, something new.

And so - they missed that protection that God brought with Him.

Around AD 70, Jerusalem fell. The temple was destroyed. In 136, the jews were exiled from Judea. And Israel didn’t regain it’s status as a sovereign nation until 1948.

So, Palm Sunday reminds us of three things.

One, it reminds us that

God acted powerfully in history

That He was living, breathing, walking around.

But two, it reminds us that God acted powerfully in history

Through the Cross

That the goal wasn’t political supremacy. It wasn’t a military victory. He didn’t come to sit on a throne - he came to hang on a cross.

And three - That God acted powerfully in history through the cross

In a better way than anyone could have imagined

See, that’s the thing about Him riding on a donkey. It’s a contradiction the image that the jews had in mind - they wanted this king, this conquering messiah, this person to come in and violently overthrow their enemies. But scriptures say, He was going to come in on a donkey - a slow, stupid, meandering beast of burden.

Maybe they were expecting like, a war donkey. One that was big, and strong, and fast, and could maybe kick people really hard.

But here’s the thing - His way of doing things was way, way better than anything else we ever could have possibly DREAMED of. Israel asked for temporary relief - He gave eternal joy. They asked for political power, He gave power over death itself. They asked for chump change, but God gave them real treasure.

But He had to start by taking them in the opposite direction, away from all those things they begged for.

Because, see, at the end of the day - on Palm Sunday, the Israelites celebrated their God coming to give them their country back.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus came to face death to give us eternity

THIS is the message of the gospel. We preach a God who fought death itself on our behalf, and won.

The israelites wanted what they THOUGHT they deserved - but Jesus came to face what they REALLY deserved - death. And He won so that we could have what we have never deserved or earned - eternal life.

So on Palm Sunday, we’re here to recognize the fact that Jesus, in the flesh, walking around in the world, came to beat death on our behalf through the cross.

He did something we never expected to give us something we never deserved.

And that’s what’s so exciting to me about serving God. Is that He’s always doing new things, great things. He’s winning bigger victories than we ever thought to ask him to fight to begin with. And we get to join in on that.