kSermon by Pastor Robert Green, Palm Sunday, No. 869, April 17, 2011, Ascension Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, Grace Through Christ, Lewisburg, PA, W.E.L.S. based on Matthew 21:1-11
The Lenten Season is a time of reflection on the suffering of our Savior he endured to save us from sin, death and the devil. The season deliberately builds to the crescendo when Jesus is nailed to the Cross to sufferthe greatest suffering as the world has ever seen for he suffered the penalty for sin, damnation. Palm Sunday brings us to the start of the final week of our Savior’s life and his suffering that was so necessary to save us.
Palm Sunday gets its name as the Apostle John tells us, from the crowds carrying palm branches as they went out to welcome Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on his triumphant ride. In ancient times the palm branch symbolized victory and was often used to welcome the victorious general home. Palm branches are used in Scripture to glorify God. Solomon had his artisans carve palm trees on the walls of the Temple. The Apostle John tells us in his vision of heaven from Revelation Seven, “I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”
Palm Sunday sets the stage for the week of suffering for it celebrates Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem as our King and Savior. This day marked the beginning of the most important week in world history. Palm Sunday and the week that followed marked the fulfillment of many prophesiesthe greatest being the fulfillment of the promise God gave to Adam and Eve after the fall into sin that God would send the single male offspring of Eve to crush the head of Satan. The male seed was regarded as the “One who was to Come” whom Scripture promised would be the descendant and son of King David who would seat on his throne forever.
May Matthew’s account of Jesus’ Triumphant Ride into Jerusalem prepare you and me for Holy Week by leading us to evershout hosannas to our King who rode gently as our King to his great battle; to fulfillprophesy so we can believe and be saved!
Shout Hosannas to our King
- Who rode gently as our King to his great battle;
Matthew tells us that “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,“saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.”
Jesus, the King of Glory, could have commanded any horse be brought to him, but not just any horse would do, it had to be the foal or colt of a donkey. Jesus carefully chose a donkey because it was the ride of King David and he was coming as the promised descendent of David who would ascend the throne of David. Recall that the Angel Gabriel told Mary when he announced she would give birth to a son, Luke 1:32–33 (NIV84), “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The ride also had to be on a donkey to fulfill the Scripture Matthew quotes from the reading from Zechariah saying, “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”Jesus chose the donkey to make it clear to one and all he came to lay claim to the throne of David.His gentleness had nothing to do with his choice of riding on a donkey instead of a war stallion, rather it had to his coming to do battle with our greatest enemies, sin, death and the devil, but not with human or divine powers but with his simple obedience to God.
Paul captures that obedience so beautifully in the reading from Philippians for today saying, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Jesus victory came by his passive obedience as he went to the Cross to suffer for us.
The point of the donkey as the chosen mountof King David was not lost on the crowd which cried out “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”With these shouts, the people welcomed and herald Christ as King and Savior for“Hosanna” means “save us, please.”
The people were looking for a king and Savior who would reestablish the Davidic Kingdom and the glory of Israel. The people shouted “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The words “he who comes” formed a technical religious term referring to the Messiah to Come. They believed the Messiah would save them from their earthly enemies. David was the first king to unite the Twelve Tribes of Israel into a kingdom. Under David’s ruleIsrael became one of the strongest world powers of the day, for Egypt and Assyria both were both weak at the time.At the time of Jesus’ Triumphant Ride into Jerusalem Rome had ruled over Israel with a strong hand for nearly a hundred years and so the people were expecting a king and Savior who would oust Rome.
Thus, on that first Palm Sunday the people, many of whom had witnessed Jesus’ miracles, especially the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead, were all to glad to welcome this miracle working king into Jerusalem. The time seemed at hand when the Romans would be driven from their land. But by Friday, seeing Jesus under arrest and looking nothing like a victorious king, but rather like a common criminal, they rejected him as their king and by Friday cried out “Crucify, crucify him! We have no king except Casear!”
The crowd rejected Christ not understanding that he came gently to engage in the greatest battle the world would ever see. Jesus rode into Jerusalem knowing full well the battle and its horrific suffering that lay before him. He entered into that battle not with an army, but all alone, to battle not against Rome, but against our greatest enemies of sin, death and the devil. He won the battle not by miracle and might, but by his simple, humble, passive, obedient death on the Cross. Let us remember this so we can go into this most holy of weeks, well prepared to once more follow our Lord’s suffering, so that we can be strengthened in faith to believe in Jesus came as our King to be our Savior.
- To fulfill prophesy so we can believe and be saved!
God has the greatest understanding of the difficulties and challenges we experience with matters of faith, especially with his saving us by Jesus’ suffering and death, therefore he gives prophecies to help us believe all he says. He gives us this little prophecy that the disciples would find a donkey and colt tied up. Jesus knew beforehand that the owners would ask what they were doing and Jesus told his disciples to tell them“the Lord needs them” and just as Jesus said, “he will send them right away.” It happened just that way as both Mark and Luke tell us.
The Triumphant Ride happened according to prophecy made hundreds of years before by the prophet Zechariah. Listen to how Matthew understood that prophecy and its fulfillment as he tells us in this reading, “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”No wonder the crowds cried out “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!””This saying can be traced to both the reading from Zechariah and also fromIsaiah 62:11 (NIV84) where Isaiah tells us, “The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’” Each prophecy God gives to us is a building block of faith. Each prophecy fulfilled gives us one more reason to believe in the greatest promise that the world will ever hear, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved!”
The little prophecies give us reason to believe Jesus really did save us. It gives us reason to believe that his triumphant ride into Jerusalem was no accident, no mere coincidence, but was done to fulfill prophecy so that we could believe all that God says to us. It means we can believe that Jesus did ride into Jerusalem as our King, who came gently to save us. It gives us reason to shout “Hosanna in the highest” forevermore for he really did save us on Good Friday!
Matthew went on to tell us, “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”Was Jesus the one to come? Was he the descendent of David who would be their king? Was he the Messiah? Some of the crowd knew and believed, most did not. Had they listened to Scripture they would have known who Jesus was from the fulfillment of the prophecies.But if the people had truly believed and understood who Jesus was they may well have done anything to prevent his arrest and crucifixion. The crowd was not ready yet to understand and neither where the disciples.
Indeed, the Apostle John tells us immediately after the Triumphant Ride, “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.” After the Resurrection the disciples and followers of Jesus would understand the meaning of Palm Sunday and that his ride gently on the donkey was a victorious ride as he proclaimed himself King and Savior.Understanding this helps us then to understand Holy Week.
You and I can use this glorious occasion of Christ’s Triumphant Ride to prepare for his great battle as this week we worship once again reviewing the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, culminating with the most joyous celebration that though he died for us, he rose victorious! One day we will rejoice with those in heaven who John told us were holding palm branches. John tells us he heard them cry“out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” They are singing not hosanna, please save us, but praises to him for having saved them! Indeed, our salvation belongs to him for he rode into Jerusalem gently to suffer and die but rose triumphantly and so saved them and us! To God be all glory, amen!