Excitement and Sadness (Palm Sunday)
(Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11:7-10; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19)
Intro
It was June 13, 1927 when Charles Lindbergh was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City in honor of his solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. 750,000 lbs. of ticker tape poured onto the streets.
But the biggest ticker-tape parade was on March 1, 1962, for astronaut John Glenn after he became the first American to orbit the earth in a spacecraft. The sanitation department cleaned up 3,474 tons of ticker tape, confetti and other paper along a 7-mile route of jubilation.
Everybody loves a parade. And it was no different when Jesus came to town. According to Flavius Josephus (first century Jewish historian) it was estimated about 3 million people were in Jerusalem especially in preparation for the Passover feast.
Daniel’s Prophecy of Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday was a day and a date prophesied by Daniel the prophet.
Daniel 9:24-26, “Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.”
7 X 7 = 49 years to complete the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
7 X 62 = 434 years which took the Jews down through the so-called “silent centuries of the inter-testamental period, to the time when Messiah would come and then be cut off.
-On March 14, 445 B.C. Artaxerxes (ruler of Babylon) issued a decree permitting Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city (Neh. 2:1-8).
-And for a period of 69 sevens (483 years) the presentation of Messiah as Prince would occur in April 6, 32 A.D. This was the exact date of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The Procession
-On Sunday of the Passion Week Jesus was leaving Bethany a village about 3 kilometers from Jerusalem on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives and He went into Jerusalem, hailed on a donkey.
-The Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem was at once a marvel of mingled glory and humility.
-Christ entered as King of peace, not as a military conqueror.
The People
-Among the crowds were 2 distinct groups:
1/ The pilgrims, coming to the holy week feast, followed Jesus down the Mount of
Olives.
2/ The local residents who had witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.
-These people escorted Jesus into the city of Jerusalem.
The Praise
The word Hosanna, which means “Save now”, or “save we pray” was a Messianic cry (Psalm 118:25).
-It is significant in John 12:13 this quotation has the added words, “even the King of Israel.”
This was an indication that the crowds who came to greet Jesus viewed Him as King of Israel.
Since the days of Maccabees, palm branches were always regarded as a symbol of Jewish independence – an indication that their thought was probably of a political Messiah.
-You see, a hundred years earlier, the Jews had hailed Judas Maccabeus with the same Hosanna of Psalm 118 after he delivered his people from Syrian domination.
It was customary for a king who was embarking on a war to ride on a magnificent white horse. So our Lord’s entry into the city of David, mounted on a beast of burden (donkey), eloquently defined the nature of His Kingship – that of humility.
The Pity
-The cries of jubilation reflected the appreciation of Christ’s miracles and the hope of a military-political deliverance from Roman oppressors.
-But praise from the crowd was short lived; even the disciples did not understand the event that transpired (John 12:16).
-Jesus did not come to conquer Rome but to make peace with God for humanity.
-Although the shouts of the multitude were entirely appropriate and were, in fact, fulfillment of prophecy, the people had no idea of the true significance of what they were doing, much less of what Jesus would soon do on the cross in their behalf.
-As the crowd was shouting Hosanna they were quoting from Psalm 118:25-26 which says, “O LORD , save us; O LORD , grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you.”
-Jesus intentionally did not enter Jerusalem with a powerful army of soldiers who would fight for Him to the death, like the time of Judas Maccabeus.
-He entered instead with a ragtag crowd of ordinary people, most of whom, despite their loud proclamation of His greatness, would soon turn against Him, and none of whom would stand by Him.
-The crowd did not know the significance of this action. A few days later the crowd cried, “Crucify Him!”
Also Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they did not recognize fully who He was and came to do.
Luke 19:41-44, “41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They 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."
Conclusion
-The people were caught up in the excitement of the moment not realizing the time of God’s coming to them.
-They wanted a Messiah who would liberate them from the political stronghold of the Romans. In a way they were very selfish. Only thinking of their own well-being.
-Many people today are open to a Jesus who they think will give them wealth, health, success, happiness, and the other worldly things they want.
-Like the multitude at the triumphal entry, they will loudly acclaim Jesus as long as they believe He will satisfy their selfish desires.
-But like the same multitude a few days later, they will reject and denounce Him when He does not deliver as expected.
-Look at Mary in the earlier part of John12:3-8 how she worshiped at Jesus’ feet.
This is the true worship and recognition that Christ deserves.
Isaiah 29:13, The Lord says: “These peoplecome near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
-God is looking for true worshippers who worship in truth and in spirit (John 4:23).
2