Passion Week: Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1-11)

You are listening to When We Understand the Text. Welcome to Passion Week. Each day we'll be hearing a sermon about an event that happened in the life of Christ during the week leading up to His death on the cross and the resurrection from the grave.

These short sermons are delivered by our elders at First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Here's today's message from David Pleasner.

Matthew 21:1-11 and the Meaning of Palm Sunday

This evening's text will be in Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. As I read this verse or these verses over and over and over again, knowing that I had the task to preach on Palm Sunday, a pastor in the past had said that a good deal, a smart thing to do is go ahead and read scripture over and over again.

Years ago, he tasked us as a congregation to read 1 John all the way through. Very short books, but very, very strong spiritual words within that scripture. And as I had read these scriptures, I had noticed that my mind started to meditate and float a little bit because of my flesh moving back and forth and wondering what else was going on when Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey.

If Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was so triumphal on Palm Sunday, then what went seemingly wrong in less than a week later? Why did the crowds who adored Jesus on Sunday turn on Him by Friday of that week?

And what does Palm Sunday present to us today? In this sermon, I'll try to answer those questions and explore the reasons the Roman Empire, the Jewish religious leaders, and the common people turned on Jesus after the glorious Sunday.

What kind of king did they expect? What kind of king do you expect? I expect the kind of king that gave his life for me forever. I want that king that comes with total service, not to be served, but to serve.

That's a king I want to see come in my life on a donkey. Starting in 21 .1, This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put them their cloaks and set them on the donkey. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the ground and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him that follow him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed be as he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, Who is this?

And the crowd said, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Today is Palm Sunday. You couldn't have missed that. That was today. If you were in this church this morning. The day in which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey.

You know, it's interesting that the donkey came with its mother because it still needed it was so young. It still needed its mother to wean. That this donkey was never ridden. Jesus was the first to ride on it.

This day has been described by Christians for generations. The triumphal, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Some may think that if it was so triumphal, then why did they crucify Jesus at the end of the week?

What goes wrong by Friday that Jesus will find himself betrayed by one of his own disciples? Arrested by the high priest's guard, accused by coalition of religious leaders. Tried by the Roman governor and sentenced to die the death of a common criminal.

Death by crucifixion. What kind of king did they expect? You might not know that Jesus' procession into Jerusalem was not the only one, possibly. There was another procession that was coming into Jerusalem.

In the year of 30 AD, Roman historians record that the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, led a procession of Roman Calvary and centurions into the city of Jerusalem. Imagine the spectacle of that entry from the western side of the city.

The opposite side in which Jesus enters, Pontius Pilate leads Roman soldiers on horseback and on foot. Each soldier was clad in leather, armored polish to a high gloss. On each centurion's head, hammered helmets gleamed in the bright sunlight.

As their sides sheathed in their scabards were swords crafted from the hardest steel. And in their hands, each centurion carried a spear. Or, if he was an archer, a bow with a sling or an arrow across the back.

Imagine drums beating in cadence for the march of an ordinary entry into the Jerusalem. Pilates, as governor of the region, which included not only Judea but Samaria, knew it was a standard practice for the Roman government for a foreign territory to be in the capital for religious celebrations.

It was the beginning of Passover, as they thought, a strange Jewish festival that the Romans allowed. However, the Romans must have been aware that this festival celebrated the liberation of the Jews from another empire, the empire of Egypt.

So Pilate had to be in Jerusalem, since the Romans had occupied this land by defeating the Jews and disposing of their king about 80 years before, uprisings were always in the air. The last major uprising, long before Pilate's time, had been after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC.

The uprising started in Sepphoris, about five miles from Jesus' boyhood home of Nazareth. Before it was over, the city of Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee, and the town of Emos had been destroyed by the Roman army.

After putting down the rebellion there, the rebellious people, the Romans marched on Jerusalem. After pacifying the city, they crucified over 2 ,000 Jews who were accused of being part of the rebellion.

The Romans had made their intolerance for rebellion well known, and so on this occasion, Pilate had traveled with a contingent of Rome's finest from his preferred headquarters in Caesarea by the sea to the stuffy, crowded, provincial capital of the Jews, Jerusalem.

The temple would be the center of Passover activity. Antonio's fortress, the Roman garrison built adjacent to the temple compound, would serve as a good vantage point from which to keep an eye on the Jews.

Pilate's entry into Jerusalem was meant to send a message to the Jews, and that those who might be plotting against the empire of Rome. The spectacle was meant to remind the Jews of what had happened the last time a wide-scale uprising, and it was meant to intimidate the citizens of Jerusalem themselves, who might think twice about joining such a rebellion if it was slated to fail.

Two Kings, Two Processions, and Two Kingdoms

But I said this was a day of two processions, and the main procession that we want to focus on is Jesus' arrival into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey which signified a warrior, a king, coming in peace, coming in love, coming into Jerusalem knowing that he was going to die for the very people that are hailing him, and then later going to be yelling, crucify him.

Those are the people that Jesus was going to give his life for. If Pilate's procession was meant to show a military might and strength, Jesus' procession was meant to show the opposite. Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus' own words as he instructs his disciples to go into the city and find a donkey tied up.

They are to untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. From Zechariah, the ninth chapter. But there is more to this passage than just a description of Jesus' means of transportation for that day.

The prophet Zechariah is speaking to the nation. In Zechariah 9, the prophet reassures the people of Judah, called Judea in the New Testament, that God has not forgotten them. This was a prophecy. This was Zechariah's prophecy.

It was fulfilled by Christ. Then in chapter 8, or verse 8, No oppressor shall again march over them. For now I see with my own eyes. 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. In verse 10, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall be cut off.

And he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Jesus' quote from the prophet Zechariah reminded those who heard him of the entire passage.

The message they heard was God will deliver the nation from the oppressor. In this case, Rome. Do we have an oppressor? Do we have, at times, a government that oppresses us? Do we live in a country where we're allowed to worship our Christ, our Lord?

Do we sometimes get wrapped up, though, in speaking of our government, speaking of things that we are overtaxed, that we are oppressed by some of the laws that are given, and even some that are now given voices within our nation of smaller factions, of things that we're dealing with that, quite frankly, my grandparents would be turning over in their grave if they knew the things that we were fighting over.

They would probably turn over in their grave just by the fact that we're buying water. Who would think that we would ever think that we were going to pay $1 .50 out of a soda machine for a bottle of water?

But the king they seek come to them humbly, not on a steed of war, but on a slow-moving donkey, the symbol of a king who comes in peace, according to Zechariah. As Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, and they were hailing him as a king, I wonder what sort of king were they hailing?

What did they want from this king? Some things that we may even also be the same kind of people. What do we want from this king? We want a better life. We want less taxes. Did they perhaps think that Jesus was going to take the throne, then and there as he entered into Jerusalem, to be the king, to abolish taxes, to give them a better life?

I'm sure that many of them thought that. The two processions could not be more different in the messages they convey. Pilate, leading Roman centurions, asserts the power and might of an empire, of Rome, which trusts all who opposes it.

Jesus, riding on a donkey, embodied the peace and the tranquility that the shalom that God brings to his people. Those who watch that day will stand and observe one of those processions. Which one would you, if you were there, which one would you be observing as the entering of Jerusalem would be from two different kings?

Those who watch that day had to make a choice. They will either serve the God of the world, might and power, or they will choose to serve the king of a very different kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God.

Jesus' followers and others who get caught up into this entry into Jerusalem think that they are choosing to follow Jesus. But by the end of the week, Jesus will have disappointed the crowd at a faster rate than they can stand.

They will turn on him. Even those closest to Jesus, the 12 disciples, will either betray him outright or abandon him in confusion and fear. Yet Jesus knew why he came to earth. He knew why he came to us, to die for our sins, even though he had even some of the closest to him turn.

It is interesting to note that the crowd on that Sunday proclaimed, Hosanna, the son of David. They were placing their faith in Jesus, that he would restore the glory of the nation to its splendor when David and his son Solomon ruled the United Kingdom.

That's what the Jews wanted, after all, to be ruled by a man like David, a man so committed to God that the Old Testament prophets had proclaimed that the coming Messiah would sit on the throne of his father David.

The Messiah would bring back the glory of Israel, would rid the nation of oppressors, would rule, and would be kind to the common people. Jesus had challenged the rulers of Judea already, but not the Roman rulers, but the local rulers.

He had said to them that the temple was not the only way to find God's forgiveness, and further, that the temple would be destroyed, with not one stone left on another. Of course, those who made their living from the temple, like the scribes, the chief priest and his priests, the ruling council of the Sanhedrin, and the rulers or the religious parties, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, would all lose the power and prestige if there was no temple, or even if the temple was no longer the only place where you could get forgiveness from God.

So they believed these things. So when Jesus miraculously saves the lame man by first saying, your sins are forgiven, and then healing him, he challenged the authority of the temple system. And when Jesus drove the money changers from the temple, proclaiming that the temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations, but that the religious leaders had made it a den of thieves.

Jesus exposed the corruption of the temple tax, the scandalous monetary exchange rate, and the dishonesty of those who sold animals for sacrifice. Later, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. The pastor alluded to this this morning.

And when he drew near, and this is found in Luke 19, starting in verse 41. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.

Explanation point. But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, and surround you, and hem you, and on every side, and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. Because you did not know the time of your visitation, Jesus had disappointed and alienated powerful people.

He did so because the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests, the scribes, and others that ruled on the Romans' behalf were actually part of the same system of the oppression and the domination that Pilate was a part of.

The Crowd's False Expectations and Jesus' Rejected Kingship

A contrast of kingdoms. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem may or may not have been planned to occur on the same day as Pilate's procession. Not to confuse that with, God has a plan, God has the perfect timing, God does it His way.

Whether it was planned or not, the two processions provided a contrast that was unmistakable. A contrast between kings and kingdoms was on display that day in Rome. And although many of the common people thought they sided with Jesus, they did so for the same reasons the Pharisees and others sided with Rome.

They thought Jesus could do for them what Rome had done for their rulers, make their lives better, deliver them from the oppressive system under which they lived and worked, and turn the tables on the Romans.

That's why the crowd turns on Jesus by the end of the week. They don't think that He's going to do any of those things. And in addition, Jesus is going to make life worse for them, not better. Their religious leaders, all of them, who never agree on anything, agree that Jesus is going to attract the attention of the Roman Empire, especially during Passover, and Rome will come down fast and hard on the entire nation.

Caiaphas' speech in John 11, verses 45 to 50, talks about that very thing, that one man should die. So when Jesus is accused, when He is brought by Pilate before the angry mobs, what do you suppose they did?

They wanted to rid Him. Jesus, in their minds, never did what they wanted Him to do. He never defeated the Romans. He never dissolved the unfair tax system. He never put common people in charge of the government, and furthermore, He never would.

To appease the crowds that swelled the city of Jerusalem, Pilate had the custom of releasing prisoners, many of whom were political prisoners. But on this last week in the life of Jesus, Pilate offers the crowd a choice between Barabbas, a known robber, and Jesus, as they seen it, a failed Messiah.

How ridiculous is that? Fearing that if Jesus were released, He would start all over again, and the crowd begged for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be executed. And not just by any means. Crucify Him was the cry.

Because crucifixion was the one form of capital punishment that would show Rome the Jews were completely loyal and would humiliate Jesus even in death. But we know better. His humility was in power. His humility was to obey His Father.

After all, that's why He was sent. To die for us. But I'm getting ahead of the story this week, a story which will be concluded next Sunday by Pastor Gabe. But for one moment, ask yourself, if I had been in Jerusalem that day and had seen both processions passing by, which one would I have chosen to follow?

Because that choice, that decision, that is already deep in your heart, to go for power and might is what the world has to offer, or would you go for the love, the selfless service, the Messiah, the King, who's willing to die for you?

After all, He died in the face of all that were standing at the base of Him. What did He say? He said, God, forgive. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. They're caught up in this world, as many of us may also be caught up.

In Mark 11, 11, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem, He then entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and this is verse 11 in Mark 11. And when He had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the 12.

You will find that He returns to that same temple and finds that it's being treated other than a house of prayer. This time, He looked around and went home. I expect the King of kings who saves me, saves me by grace through faith.

Salvation by Grace Through Faith in the King of Kings

Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 9, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our body and our mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Verse 7, so that in the coming ages, He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. What kind of king do you worship?

Is it the king that came in on a donkey, or is it a pilot that shows worldly false power and might? Please, if you do not know who Christ is, do not leave tonight. Talk with one of us. Talk with Pastor Gabe.

Talk with Chris. Talk with myself. We serve a risen God. Even though we're going to celebrate that Sunday, He is risen today. Amen.

Thank you for joining us during Passion Week as we studied the events leading up to Christ's death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the grave. On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again tomorrow.