The Coming King

Every year millions of people in the Christian religion observe Lent. The word Lent is derived
from the Old English word “Lencten” which means Spring. The season of Lent begins forty days prior to Easter, not counting Sundays, and ends on Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday. The fortydays are a reminder of the forty days Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness.
 
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and for the forty-day period believers often fast, or
abstain from certain foods, vices or activities (i.e. alcohol, smoking, chocolate, carbonated drinks, sweets, Social Media, etc.). It is intended as a time to spend reflecting on our human sinfulcondition, prayer and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
 
The forty days do not include Sundays as they are considered “mini-Easters” and are set aside
for joy and celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and not for abstaining and
fasting. As I stated already Lent ends on Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday (the night before Good Friday) but fasting and abstaining from certain foods or activities is still in effect through Good Friday and Saturday. The true celebration and breaking of fast happens on Easter morning when Jesus’ resurrection is observed and celebrated.
 
Today is Palm Sunday and this day is the beginning of what is called holy week.   We will be looking at a few accounts in the Gospels that are referred as Jesus’ triumphal entry or more commonly known as Palm Sunday.  This is one of a relatively few occurrences that is recorded in the life of Jesus in all four Gospel accounts.  While all four are similar in subject there are some differences in the way the accounts are re-told.  Today we will look at these accounts and see and celebrate the significance of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry.
 
The Story
John 12: 1 - 8
Six days before Passover Jesus goes to Lazarus’s house. This is the same man who Jesus resurrected from the dead.  At his home a meal is prepared, and Jesus is anointed with very expensive perfume by Mary Magdalene.  She uses her hair to wipe his feet.  This is an act of worship on Mary’s part.  In this act of worship, she is declaring the true value of Christ to her.  This was a very costly act of worship.  We are told that the cost of the perfume was a year’s wage.  In this act Mary was declaring that there is nothing, absolutely nothing more valuable to her than Jesus.
 
Judas questions the “wastefulness” of this expensive oil.  In reality, Judas had no care for the poor he was just a greedy thief.  He tried to spiritualize his narrow sightedness by stating they could use the funds to give to the poor, but John tells us he had zero concern for the poor.  Jesus rebukes Judas.  He tells him to leave Mary alone because what she is doing is a good thing.  There will always be opportunities to serve the poor and meet their needs, but what Mary is doing now super cedes the needs of the poor. 
 
Mark 11:1 -11
After the meal Jesus prepares for his royal entry. Jesus and his Disciples went to Bethpage, which was near Bethany (approximately 2 miles east of Jerusalem) to the Mount of Olives. A great crowd of people followed him, and they were probably people making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. According to the historian Josephus, there was one Passover where over two million people participated in Jerusalem. We are not sure if this was the normal crowd or not, but there was certainly a large gathering of people present at this time. 
 
Matthew 21:1 - 7
Once Jesus drew near the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples to go into town and get a colt/donkey and bring it to him. The Gospel of Matthew states that this all takes place to fulfill the words of the prophet Zechariah 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.”  This passage is believed to be a prophecy about the coming King of Zion or the Messiah. In the prophecy the people of Israel are told to rejoice and shout because the King is coming soon. They are called to rejoice because He is a righteous king who brings salvation. This king will be a gentle and humble king and it will be evident because he will be riding on a colt’s donkey. Jesus is the TRUE king, and He could have ridden in as a warrior on a war horse, but instead he came as the King of peace and humility. 
 
Matthew 21:8 -11
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey the people began shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”   The word Hosanna in the Greek transliteration is “Save us!” Their shouts were an exclamation of exaltation, praise, and rulership. The praises of the people were reflected by the words of Psalm 118:25, 26 “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”  This Psalm is one of many Egyptian Hallel or praise psalms to remember God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. These Psalms were chanted, recited, and sung during Passover and other major festivals and feasts. 
 
The people shouted and rejoiced and put their cloaks and palm branches on the ground for Jesus to walk on. This was a sign of honor and the palm branches symbolized victory. According to theologian N.T. Wright, “They waved branches they’d cut from the trees to make a celebratory procession for him. This carried royal implications. In the long folk memory of Jerusalem and its surrounding villages, stories were still told, and some of them by this stage were written down, about the famous Judas Maccabaeus who, 200 years before, had arrived in Jerusalem after conquering the pagan armies that had oppressed Israel. He, too, was welcomed into the city by a crowd waving palm branches.  And he was the start of a royal dynasty that lasted for over a hundred years.”[1]
 
According to the Gospel of Luke 19:39 – 40 the religious leaders approached Jesus and told him to rebuke his disciples.  
“And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 
The Pharisees knew Jesus was accepting the praise of the people as the Messiah. They would have opposed the excitement of the crowds cheering on Jesus and they absolutely did not want to see Jesus proclaimed as Messiah. They did not support the use of force unless the practice of their religion was directly involved, and they would have resisted anything that might intensify Roman intervention. There was no hope of calming the commotion by engaging the people, so they tell Jesus to quiet them down. Jesus responds by affirming that the shouting is inevitable. He says that if he were to silence them then the stones would cry out in praise to him.  This was His time!  This was a fore ordained moment in history.  There was absolutely nothing that could silence the praise of the Messiah.  It was foretold, it had to be.  The Pharisee’s tell Jesus to rebuke his disciples, but Jesus rebukes the Pharisee’s for failing to see that this moment is a God ordained moment.  
 
It is sad to see throughout the Bible how often the religiously pious miss out on or oppose those moments that God appointed.  It is in these moments they are so objected to change or seeing the moment to be outside of their tradition that they convince themselves and try to convince others that God is not blessing the moment, when in fact the moment is the time that God is in fact blessing and ordaining.  May we never be so blind or set in our ways and traditions that we too, miss out in the moments where God is moving, blessing, and ordaining. 
 
Conclusion 
Palm Sunday is a beautiful Segway into Holy week.  Today, we proclaim with the people of Israel and say, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!”  We acknowledge and worship the true King of kings and Lord of Lords.  But as we have looked at this account, we are left to answer a few questions and consider some truths regarding Jesus and Palm Sunday.  
 

1. Is Jesus savior AND Lord of your life?  The Bible is very clear in telling us that in order for one to be saved, one must be born again or as Romans 10:8 – 10 says, “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. This is boiled down to confession and faith.  You must confess and believe in Jesus as your Savior AND Lord.  Most people have no problem confessing Jesus as Savior.  I would venture to say that most people I meet would say, SAY they are Christians, but the way they talk, act, and live speaks contrary to their claim.  It is not enough to just say you are Christian, you must believe in your heart.  Jesus is not only the savior, but he is also Lord.  This means that Jesus is the one you bend your knee and submit allegiance to.  When Jesus is Lord, he has dominion over your life.  When Jesus is Lord of your life, you are submitting yourself to him and allowing Him to have rule and reign in your life.  
   
   
2. The value of Christ. In the Gospel of John Mary Magdalene gives her best and most expensive gift or possession to Jesus; she does not give her leftovers, she does not give  out of her abundance, she  gives he best because Jesus is worthy of the best.  Jesus is worth the 300 denarii to Mary (1 year’s wages).  Mary knows Jesus is worthy of her best perfume, she does not see it as wasteful but worshipful.  When you value something you invest in it, care for it, save it, protect it, and maybe even give your life for it.  Jesus was more valuable to Mary than money.  She knew Jesus was worth the investment.
      
3. Is He worth it to you?  Are you committed to being a full-on disciple of Jesus Christ?  Are you willing to praise him in the glorious sunshine of the morning as well as the darkness of the night?  Are you willing to put your cloak on the ground to praise and worship the King for your salvation?  Are you determined to follow the Lord during the good times and also during the tough times?  This is the challenge for us daily and weekly.  Are you able to say with a genuine heart, “Praise the King for he has come!  Praise the King for he has died a death so we might live.  Praise the King for he is alive today and among us.  Praise the King for he is worth more than wealth, power, prestige, intellect etc.”  Is following Jesus worth it for you?
   
   
4. What is hindering you from worshiping Jesus fully? We saw in the Pharisee’s that they were blind to the work of God through Jesus.  They could not for the life of them understand the plan God had through Jesus Christ.  In their hard-heartedness and stubbornness, they refused to embrace God’s plan, and instead chose to resist what God was doing because what He was doing did not fit in the box that they put him in.  They were unwilling to give up their power, their intellect, and their beliefs in exchange for the freedom to worship God freely through Jesus Christ. They were not willing to unlearn everything they were taught about God, religion, and culture. They refused to see Jesus for who He truly was, the King Messiah.  How about you?  Is there anything in your life that is hindering you from worshiping God and getting on board with his plans and purposes?  Is it money?  Is it comfort?  Is it power?  Is it intellect?  Is it prestige?  Is it a relationship?   Whatever it may be, are you willing to determine if following Jesus is worth it and are you willing to give this hindrance up at the cross of Jesus Christ?   Take some time today or at the conclusion of our service and determine, is there anything hindering you from fully worship God. 
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So, today we celebrate the King!  The Messiah has come.  But we all know what comes next.  Many of the people who were emphatically proclaiming Jesus as Messiah on this day will eventually turn on him and will join the riotous mobs who scream “Crucify him!”  “Kill the blasphemer!”  “He is not our king!”
 
To be continued…
 


[1] Wright, N.T. (2004) Matthew For Everyone Part Two p. 67 Westminster John Knox Press