The Daily Messages of Holy Week:

Palm Sunday’s Triumphant Entry!

First Sunday in Lent

Sermon Notes

February 25, 2007

Rev. Jim O’Neal, Senior Pastor

Sun Lakes United Methodist Church, 9248 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248

(480) 895-8766

Matthew 21:1-9 NRSV

1When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.  3If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’  And he will send them immediately.”

4This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.  8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed 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!”

 

A.  Introduction

    1.  Family Circus

        a.  One December in the Family Circus comic strip, Dolly is explaining to PJ the Christmas Story.  She says, “Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded by eight tiny reindeer and the Virgin Mary.  Then Santa Claus showed up with lots of toys and stuff and some swaddling clothes.  The three Wise Men and the elves all sang carols while the Little Drummer Boy and Scrooge helped Joseph trim the tree.  In the meantime Frosty the Snowman saw this star.”

        b.  Dolly certainly did not get the Christmas Story right.  Today, I expect some folks are wondering if Rev. Jim O’Neal has not got Lent muddled up.  After all this is the First Sunday in Lent, so why am I preaching on the events of Palm Sunday?

    2.  Lent 2007:  The Daily Messages of Holy Week. 

        a.  The answer is this:  Most years during Lent in my messages I talk about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and the events leading up to Holy Week.  Then on Palm Sunday I talk about the events of that day.  On Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday I remind us of the Last Supper.  Good Friday focuses on the crucifixion.  And Easter Sunday, of course deals with the resurrection!

        b.  However, it is hard to cover all the events of Holy Week in just two Sunday sermons and two special worship services on Thursday and Friday.  So this year for Lent, I will be speaking on The Daily Messages of Holy Week.  The messages will focus on specific days and the events that took place on each of those days during Holy Week.  So, come join us this Lent as we walk through the days of the greatest of all weeks in the history of the world!  Grow in faith and love, as you walk with Jesus through His passion and suffering, and then experience anew His glorious triumph on Easter morning!

 

B.  On Palm Sunday, the crowd proclaimed Him King.

    1.  Super Bowl, Pepsi Advertisement

        a.  One of the Super Bowl ads several years back was for Pepsi Cola.  A movie star was driving his fancy convertible and it broke down.  A kindly fellow driving a Pepsi truck gave him a lift.  The star was off to the Academy Awards.  When he got out of the truck, someone said, “Wow, I didn’t know he drove a Pepsi truck!”  It became a fad.  Everyone was now driving a Pepsi truck.  Teens were driving a modified version full of sound equipment and huge speakers instead of soft drinks.  The SUV and out door crowd now had a high-rise model with plenty of space for people or gear!  A senior adult couple was shown driving a motor home version of the Pepsi truck.

        b.  The ad was fun and certainly got the company’s name repeatedly featured in every part of the advertisement.  However, to me there is a sad side to the story.  Too many people seek the glitzy and superficial.  Too many folks chase after the easy or self-serving answers to life.  And too many people mindlessly just go with the crowd.  This is true today, and it was true in Jesus’ day. 

    2.  Today’s Scripture:  Matthew 21:1-9

        a.  It was a festive occasion when Jesus entered Jerusalem.  Sort of like a “pep rally,” or even more like a political rally.  The crowd shouted, “Hosanna!” which means “save us now!”  Originally this phrase had been used as a prayer requesting God’s help.  It later became associated with the hope for a Messiah.  However, in Jesus day it had come to be associated with Jewish hopes for deliverance by a political hero from the bondage of Rome.  These were the shouts of joy and the words of welcome to the one they hoped would defeat the Romans!  Many thought of the Messiah as a military leader who would lead their armies to war and victory over their enemies.  Others thought of the Messiah as an angry prophet who would reign down God’s fire on all the enemies of the Jews.  Either way, it is clear:  They wanted a military King.  They wanted a King who would make them now the masters of the world and allow them to do with other people as they pleased.

        b.  The actions of the people showed this, too.  They spread cloaks in front of Jesus.  This is what they did when Jehu was proclaimed King of Israel. (II Kings 9:13)  They waved palm branches.  This is what the people did when the priest and military leader Simon Maccabeus liberated Judah from the Syrian Greeks. (I Maccabees 13:51)  They misunderstood what God sent Jesus to do.  The Messiah did not come to replace one oppressor with another.  He did not come to be a political King or the General of some nation’s army.  Jesus came as a spiritual deliverer.  He came to die on the cross as our Savior.  And that’s because the real human problem is sin, and that’s what Jesus came to deal with.

 

 

C.  On Palm Sunday, Jesus declared Himself as the Messiah.

    1.  The Li’l Rascals

        a.  Young or old, most of us know of the characters from the OUR GANG, LI’L RASCALS TV show and movie.  In the most recent movie the boys all belong to THE HE-MAN WOMUN HATER’S CLUB!  As the plot unfolds we quickly discern two things:  First, the boys have a go-cart called THE BLUR that has never been beat, and they confidently enter it into a race.  Secondly, Alfalfa discovers that he is starting to have feelings for girls, and falls in love with Darla.  This romantic diversion causes the Our Gang crowd to be inattentive and their beloved racecar gets stolen!  Things look bleak, but of course in the end Spanky and Alfalfa win the race, and Alfalfa gets his girl back!  Then they get to receive the winning trophy from a famous sports car driver named A. J. Ferguson.  And to their surprise the driver is a woman!  Not what they were expecting!  This naturally enlightens the boys and they open up their club to girls!

        b.  Jesus was not what the people expected.  They wanted a leader more like King David, and instead they got the Suffering Servant.  Jesus courageously came to Jerusalem knowing that He would be tortured and put to death as an expiation for our sins.

    2.  Today’s Scripture:  Matthew 21:1-9

        a.  The crowd wanted a King.  They wanted a military leader.  Jesus knew this.  So he carefully planned his entry into Jerusalem.  Like prophets before, Jesus chose to do something dramatic to make His point.  If He had wanted to be the King of the Empire of Israel, He would have entered Jerusalem wearing armor, carrying sword and shield, and riding on a noble horse.  Instead, he enters riding on a lowly donkey.  He enters riding on the back of a beast of burden.  There is symbolism in this.  In the ancient world, if a King planned to go to war, he rode on his best horse accompanied by his troops ready for battle.  However, if a King came riding on a donkey it was a sign that he came in peace.  Jesus came in peace.  He is a King, but not like earthly Kings.  He is the King of Peace.  He came not to destroy, but to save.  He came not to condemn, but to forgive.  Jesus came not with the might of arms, but in the strength of love!

        b.  He is the Christ, the “Anointed One of God.”  To make His claim clear, the Lord invokes two dramatic images from the past.  First, there is the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 predicting the coming of the Messiah:  “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.” (Zechariah 9:9 NIV) In entering Jerusalem in this way, Jesus makes a deliberate claim as the Messiah!

        c.  The second image is the cleansing of the Temple.  In that time between the Testaments, the Syrian Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Jerusalem in 175 B.C.  Antiochus and his followers wanted to stamp out Judaism and introduce the people of Israel to the Greek way of life.  They profaned the Temple with a statue of Zeus, and by offering pigs in sacrifice to Zeus right there where God’s altar had stood.  They turned part of the Temple complex into a house of prostitution.  Under the leadership of the Maccabees the Jews rose up and threw out the oppressors.  Under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus they cleansed and rededicated the Temple.  It was a great day of rejoicing.  This is what the people did:  “Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to Him who had given success to the purifying of His own holy place.” (II Maccabees 10:7 NRSVA)  This is, also, what the crowd did when Jesus entered Jerusalem.  Jesus came to cleanse the Temple of abuses that defiled it.  And on Monday of Holy Week the Rabbi Jesus does clean house by chasing out the moneychangers!  But even more importantly, Jesus came to cleanse the human heart.  He came to take away the destructive sinfulness within each of us, and to fill us instead with God’s love.  As a further illustration of this, Jesus chose to ride an animal that Mark tells us had never been ridden or harnessed before.  This is symbolic of the animal of sacrifice. (Numbers 19:2 & Deuteronomy 21:3)  It would not be the animal’s sacrifice, but by Jesus’ sacrifice that redemption is bought.  We are saved by His sacrifice.

 

D.  You must ask yourself, “Where will I be on Friday at 9 a.m.?”

    1.  Two boys at the Dentist’s Office

        a.  Two small boys marched into the Dentist’s office.  The older one said, “I want to see the Dentist.”  This seemed so cute that the receptionist asked the dentist to come out.  The dentist said, “What can I do for you, boys?”  The older lad replied, “I want a tooth taken out.  I don’t want any gas or any of that Nova-K stuff either.  Just pull it.  We’re in a hurry!”  The dentist said, “My, you’re quite the brave young man.  Which tooth is it?”  The boy turned to his smaller companion and said, “Show him which tooth it is, Tommy.”

        b.  It’s easy to be brave at the dentist’s office when someone else is having his or her tooth pulled.  Likewise, it’s easy to talk about commitment at a pep rally, or even in a Church sanctuary.  It’s a little harder in some of the everyday places of real life.

    2.  When it is no longer Palm Sunday, but Good Friday

        a.  It was easy for folks to proclaim Jesus as their King on Palm Sunday.  It was far harder to do so at 9 a.m. on Friday morning as they crucified Jesus.  The only ones staying with him till the end were His mother, a few other women (exact count unknown), and the young disciple John.  All the rest had fled in fear of their own lives.

        b.  One of the tough questions that we are asked in this season of inward reflection that we call Lent is this:  “How loyal are you to Jesus?”  He gave His life to save you from your sins.  He fought the negative powers and defeated sin and death.  He opened the way for you to go to Heaven.  He opened the way to abundant life right here and now.  On that Friday of the crucifixion, most of His followers ran away.  Later His disciples would believe and follow Him to the end.  Tradition tells how they were martyred for their faith.  How loyal are you?  Would you still proclaim His name with a gun to your head?  In some lands they daily face such hard propositions.  Today, in America few are ever asked to deny our Lord and live, or proclaim Him and die.  And we are thankful for that.  And we all pray to be spared such a test.  But nonetheless we must answer the question, “Where will you be on Friday at 9 a.m.?”  At that moment of your greatest testing, will you be scampering away or standing with Jesus?  My prayer and yours is this:  “God give me the courage no matter what to stand by Him, who has always stood by me and never ever forsaken me.”

 

E.  Conclusion:  Recap

    1.  On Palm Sunday, the crowd proclaimed Him King.

    2.  On Palm Sunday, Jesus declared Himself as the Messiah.

    3.  You must ask yourself, “Where will I be on Friday at 9 a.m.?”

 

 

The Daily Messages of Holy Week:

Palm Sunday’s Triumphant Entry!

 

1.  On Palm Sunday, the crowd proclaimed Him King.

 

2.  On Palm Sunday, Jesus declared Himself as the Messiah.

 

3.  You must ask yourself, “Where will I be on Friday at 9 a.m.?”

 

Matthew 21:1-9 NRSV

1When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.  3If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’  And he will send them immediately.”

4This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.  8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed 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!”