Palm Sunday Message 2015
Rob Miller, Pastor
Monologue in Character
It was an exciting week in Jerusalem. Rumors had been circulating for days that Jesus was coming. We had heard about him —about his miracles, his teachings, and his love of people. Nobody was a stranger to him.
Many of the people in town believedthat he was a prophet;somepeople believed that he was the promised Messiah. I didn't know what to think about Jesus. I was excited to hear that he was coming. Like many people, I wanted to see this man that everybody was talking about.
I remember the day Jesus came riding into town on a donkey. Like the conquering kings of old. It was the Sunday before Passover. I was working in my shop when I began to hear all kinds of commotion outside. Hundreds of people began flocking to the streets. They were shouting, "Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!"
People began to break palm branches from the trees, and threw them on the road as Jesus passed by. Some people took off their robes and laid them down for him – giving him the red carpet treatment.
Excitement was in the air. People were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" Hosanna means “save us!” People were shouting –“Jesus is a descendant of David who has come to save us!”
The children were really excited about Jesus too. Up and down the street, children waving palm branches and crying out, "Hosanna! Hosanna!"
Finally, Jesus passed right by my shop. I only got a glance of him. But he looked right at me, and he smiled, at me. I thought now here is someone who is going to change the world. But things aren’t always what they appear to be.
Everything changed!
I'll never forget what happened that week. Everywhere I went people were talking about Jesus. Change was in the air. The mood was changing. Instead of praising Jesus, people began to criticize him.
I don't know the details, but Jesus got into some kind of trouble with the authorities, and they put him on trial. On Friday, Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd. He wanted to release Jesus to them, but the people didn’t want Jesus. They wanted him killed.
I couldn't understand it. Just five days earlier, people were shouting, “Save us! Jesus. Save us!”But now, those same people were shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
And that's exactly what they did. The solders beat him, mocked him, stripped him of his clothes, made a crown of thorns and shoved it on his head. Theymade him carry his cross outside of the city, andthere they killed him.
Jesus died willingly –as if he was on a mission or something. Things aren’t always what they appear to be. There’s got to be more to this story…