Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last Week of Lent: Grant God Space to Move

It is Palm Sunday today, and what this means is that we are headed into the final week of Lent, and as we trace the life of Jesus we are headed into the final days of Christ’s life.

As Pastor’s it is always our hope that Lent does not pass us by without creating a precious opportunity for God’s people to pause, to slow down, to reflect on goodness of Christ, and the reality of his Supremacy over our lives.

For many of you I suspect that perhaps this Lenten season has passed by as quickly and as anxiety-filled as any other season of your life.

And if that’s you I want to invite you today to not let this last week pass you by in that same way.

Jesus has something to form in you as you head into Easter, grant Him the space in your life and in your heart, to move.

Context

Today we’ll be studying a classic Palm Sunday passage from Luke 19.

Up until this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus has been fairly discreet about his ministry.

You recall that very often after he heals somebody, he instructs them to be quiet about what took place.

And he doesn’t seem to stay in one place for too long.

But recently Jesus has done what many would have considered to be his greatest miracle yet, and that was raising Lazarus from the dead.

Since then, a true buzz is circulating about the ministry.

Could he be the long awaited messiah, the savior of the Jewish people.

The problem of course, and the reason why Jesus was so conspicuous about his ministry is that there was a great disconnect between the kind of messiah the public expected him to be, and the kind of messiah he actually was and is.

But in our passage today, by entering into Jerusalem, Jesus forces the issue.

He’s going to put the political and religious leaders of his day into the position of needing to make a decision about who he was.

So turn with me to Luke 19:28-47.

What I’ll try to do today is demonstrate three vital lessons from Palm Sunday from our text.

Palm Sunday Reveals Our False Expectations

First, Jesus changes our false expectations.

Let’s begin with the Triumphal Entry in Luke 19:28-40:

Luke 19:28-40 “28 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat.

Untie it and bring it here.

31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’

you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’

” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.

33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”

35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.

37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works …”

The Lowliness of Bethany

We are told first that Jesus "drew near” to Bethany and Bethpage.

We are told in the other gospel records that he stopped in Bethany at this point and rested at the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.

Lazarus was the one whom Jesus had previously raised from the dead.

Why is this an important detail?

The name Bethany is a Hebrew name which literally means “house of the poor (Bayit ani).”

Historically when Kings make a public appearance during some kind of triumph, the public appearance is done in a way that is surrounded by important people.

Kings don’t go to the House of the Poor.

Kings are like Caesar, they’re powerful.

They surround themselves military might.

This gesture, of stopping in Bethany, might be something like a newly elected president choosing to celebrate his inaugural meal with folks staying at Pacific Garden Mission on the Near South Side.

That’s the thing about Jesus isn’t it?

Jesus had no preference for the poor or the rich.

In fact he was quite infamous for regularly associating with the poor, the weak, the needy, the sinners, and the outcast of society.

Here at the start of the Passion that would lead to His death and resurrection, Jesus makes his way through the House of the Poor.

The Symbolism of Mount of Olives

Next we’re told that he ascended the Mount of Olives.

The Mount of Olives is a beautiful hill that overlooks the city of Jerusalem from the East.

This ridge played an important part in many moments of Biblical history.

David Wept on the Mount of Olives

Many hundreds of years prior to this moment, King David would flee Jerusalem through the Mount of Olives when his Son Absolom usurped the throne.

2 Samuel 15:30 “30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.

And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went.”

The Glory of the Lord Departed the Temple on the Mount of Olives

Secondly, the Mount of Olives played a very important part in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.

One of the tragic moments in Israel’s history was when the glory of the Lord departed from the temple in Ezekiel 11:23 This was hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, but this moment is so important in Jewish history that Jews would have remembered it.

Ezekiel 11:23 “23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city.”

And so when the glory of the Lord left Jerusalem, it stopped on the Mount of Olives.

Then later in that same book of Ezekiel, the glory of the Lord returns and fills the temple, he comes from that same East side.

Think about this incredible symbolism of this moment when Jesus (who is the glory of the Lord in the flesh) stands on that same Mount of Olives and approaches the temple.

Zechariah Predicted the Messiah Would Stand on the Mount of Olives

Thirdly, in Zechariah 14:4, we learn of the Jewish messiah standing on the Mount of Olives.

Zechariah 14:4 “4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east...

You can almost imagine Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives at the beginning of our passage today, preparing for his triumphal entry, and the week ahead.

As he does so his mind goes back through to King David and how important this mountain ridge was in history.

The Symbolic Imagery

Jesus then sends two of his diciples ahead of him into the city to get a donkey to ride on into the city.

And a number of things happen here.

First, Jesus sits on top of the donkey and rides into Jerusalem.

As he does so, the crowds lay their garments down underneath him and other gospel writers tell us that they waved Palm Branches and laid those down underneath him.

All of these symbols (the donkey, the laying of the cloaks, and the laying of the Palm Branches) are each incredibly symbolic and also reveal the dissonance between what the people expected, and what Jesus actually was.

The Donkey

First, we are told that he rode in on a donkey.

This is the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, a messianic prophecy that stated when the Jewish messiah came he would arrive at Jerusalem on a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9 “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.”

The donkey is humble in the sense that it is not a military animal.

There is actual a slight play on words here with this text, as the word in Hebrew that is used in the name of that town Bethany “house of the poor.”

A donkey is humble and lowly in a unique sense.

All throughout Old Testament history kings and judges rode on donkeys.

When David was dying he instructed his son Solomon to be inaugurated and ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.

What makes the donkey unique is not that royalty doesn’t ride on a donkey.

The donkey’s humble nature is that its not a war horse.

The Clothes & The Palm Branches

The people also laid their cloaks and palm branches down underneath Jesus as he rode in.

Laying cloacks down was a common thing to do for a dignitary or someone of royalty.

And so the people are acknowledging Jesus is a King.

But the Palm Branches have a very unique meaning in Jewish history.

During the intertestamental period, the Palm Branch had become associated with the idea of Jewish Independence from nations ruling over them.

In fact in the extra-biblical book of 1 Maccabees the people celebrate the removing of one of Israel’s enemies from Israel by laying Palm Branches down.

The Singing

Lastly, the words the crowds are singing is startling.

The crowds of these Jewish men and women who knew their Old Testament and knew the promises of scripture, recognize the significance of what is taking place.

It says they, “began rejoicing for all the mighty works they had seen.”

They begin shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Psalm 118 a classic Psalm in historic Judaism.

Psalm 113-118 are called the Egyptian Praise Psalms because they recorded praise for God’s delivering the Jews in the Old Testament from Egypt, and praise for the Passover when God passed over all the Jewish households and spared their lives.

Psalm 118 as the final Psalm in that collection, in a sense the ultimate song in that collection, is a fitting psalm to pull from.