The Humble King (Palm Sunday)

We are currently in a sermon series in the book of Exodus, but as it is Palm Sunday,

we'll be taking a short break and we will be in Matthew chapter 21 today.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

So please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

For those of you who are new to your Bibles, Matthew is the first book in the New Testament.

It comes after the book of Malachi and before the book of Mark.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before your Word again.

We pray that you would strike us anew with a sense of wonder and awe before Christ the King.

We pray that you would remind us and assure us of his humility, meekness, gentleness, patience, and love.

That we might know him rightly and love him wholly with our whole heart.

As is fitting.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Matthew chapter 21, verses 1 to 11.

Matthew 21:1–11

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives,

then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,

Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.

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.

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 on them their cloaks,

and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road,

and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting,

Hosanna to the son of David!

Blessed is 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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

During the last two years,

the celebrations for the July 4th here at Boston was somewhat muted.

It was canceled one year,

and then I think last year they had the Boston Orchestra perform at a different location,

all because of COVID.

But normally it's a no expense spared affair.

It's a huge celebration where about half a million people gather,

many of them clad in red, white, and blue to celebrate the Independence Day.

And the air, if you've been there,

I've only been there once and have never dared to go back since.

And if you've been there,

the air is filled with sweat and energy.

It's loud everywhere.

It's great fun for the crowd that's there.

But it's all work for the governing officials and law enforcement officials.

And that's because it's difficult to maintain order in such a crowd.

And like dry kindling that instantly catches on fire with a single spark,

a large energetic crowd like that can quickly spiral out of control

with the right set of conditions.

And as we see later in Matthew 26, verse 2,

Matthew 26:2

Jesus is here entering Jerusalem on the week of Passover.

Jerusalem's normal population around this time is estimated to be around 30,000.

But during Passover, which was the most enthusiastically and widely observed holiday,

a Jewish feast,

the number of people in Jerusalem swelled to around 200,000.

Much like the modern-day Hajj,

where Muslims from all over the world make pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia,

Jews back in the day made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover

from all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean region.

Jerusalem, obviously, as a city,

could not properly accommodate all of these pilgrims.

And so they pitched, tens of thousands of people pitched tents

all around Jerusalem, the city proper,

and camped out.

It's bustling season and bustling life for the first century Jew at this time.

And remember also the meaning of the Passover,

that this is something that Jews had been celebrating for 1,400 years by this time.

And it was a celebration of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt,

as we've been looking at in the book of Exodus.

It's pretty much like the Jewish Independence Day.

Except the Jews were not independent anymore.

The Jews were not independent anymore.

They were occupied and oppressed by the Roman Empire.

And they had been waiting for God to send another deliverer,

like Moses or David, to free them from Roman rule.

And so imagine celebrating Independence Day under the noses of your occupiers.

There's cause for these governing officials to be nervous,

for the rulers to be put on notice.

Imagine a scene with the family,

a Jewish family gathering around the hearth,

eating the Passover meal.

They recount their slavery for 300 years in Egypt,

and of how God brought 10 disasters upon the nation,

and upon Pharaoh,

and delivered Israel with a mighty hand.

And then they whisper to their children,

hey, God can do it again.

He promised to send another prophet like Moses,

in Deuteronomy 18.

So you can imagine the nationalistic fervor,

and the religious zeal that filled the Passover celebrations.

This is why Pontius Pilate,

who was the Roman governor,

the procurator of Judea,

is in Jerusalem at this time,

as we find out later in Matthew 27.

He normally resided in Caesarea,

but during the Passover,

he was in Jerusalem proper,

because of its deep religious and national significance.

So that's the mood.

It's rife with religious fervor and political tension,

and it's in this climate

that we see King Jesus riding into the city of Jerusalem.

This glorious scene teaches us

that Jesus is the humble messianic king

who saves us from our slavery to sin.

So we're going to examine first five evidences of Jesus' kingship,

and then we're going to see three responses to Jesus' kingship.

It says in verse one,

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem

and came to Bethphagia, to the Mount of Olives,

then Jesus sent two disciples.

Each of the three locations named here is significant.

Jerusalem is the largest and most significant city in Israel.

The temple of the Lord stood there,

so it was the religious center.

Matthew 4, 5 calls it the holy city.

Faithful Jews were expected to celebrate the major festivals in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was also where King David had his court.

That was the capital.

So Matthew 5, 35 calls it the city of the great king.

It was the political center.

So even though it was under the rule of the Roman Empire at the time,

the Jewish king historically ruled from there.

So it was also the political center, as I said.

So Jerusalem is important.

Bethphagia was a town on the outer fringe of Jerusalem,

and its Aramaic name means house of unripe figs,

or house of green figs.

Just a few verses later, in Matthew 21, 18 to 22,

Matthew tells a story of how Jesus comes upon a fig tree,

and he looks to eat a fruit from it,

but it has no fruit, only leaves,

and so he curses it.

And the fig tree serves as a metaphor for the house of Israel.

Jesus came to Jerusalem to inspect the fruit of God's people,

but there is no fruit, only leaves.

And so the name Bethphagia is ironic.

Israel should be in a house full of green figs, fresh figs,

but instead it is a house of no figs, only leaves.

Even more specifically, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives.

Political leaders often have to be mindful

of the symbolic significance, implications of their actions,

and where they hold their rallies, for example,

or what song they will play when they're coming up to the stage,

and so on.

So to give you one example,

during the 2016 presidential election,

Hillary Clinton often mentioned during her campaigns

that she intends to make history

by breaking through the last glass ceiling standing in the U.S.

If you remember,

she chose, as the location for the election party,

the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan,

which is almost entirely made of glass.

Very intentionally, she was making a political statement.

So political leaders have to choose those things carefully.

So in a similar way, Jesus has very deliberately chosen the Mount of Olives.

That's the location from which he will approach and enter Jerusalem.

Because it was prophesied in Zechariah 14

that the Messiah, the prophesied king,

the promised king and representative of the Lord,

would come to Jerusalem and stand on the Mount of Olives,

and that he would fight the decisive battle against the enemies of God's people

and deliver them, save them.

So Mount of Olives is the beginning point of King Jesus' inaugural parade.

These specific locations heighten the messianic expectations,

and these expectations are heightened even further

by the use of the verb draw near in verse 1.

It says,

Jesus and his followers drew near to Jerusalem.

Matthew has used that word carefully only three times up to this point in his gospel,

and all three of those times he used the verb to proclaim

that the kingdom of heaven is near.

So as Jesus is now set to draw near to Jerusalem

and arrives on the Mount of Olives,

there's the expectation for the Messiah reaches a fever pitch.

The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is finally at hand.

It's here.

This is the first evidence of Jesus' kingship,

the geographical setting.

And the second evidence is what Jesus does in verses 2 to 3.

It says that Jesus sent two disciples saying to them,

go into the village in front of you,

and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.

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.

Jesus here is displaying supernatural knowledge

and sovereign control in his instructions to his disciples

to secure a colt for him to ride on.

And if anyone objects to them,

untying the donkey in her colt,

they are to respond,

the Lord needs them.

Since the Lord,

the title is most often used throughout the gospel of Matthew

to refer to the Lord God, Yahweh.

The fact that Jesus appropriates this title for himself is incredible.

And notice that the disciples are not instructed

to tell the owner of the colt that,

hey, we'll take good care of it

and we'll return it very soon after.

No, there's no such assurance.

Their simple answer is,

the Lord needs them.

And Jesus expects the owner of the colt to comply at once.

This situation conveys Jesus' kingly authority.

In the ancient world,

it was understood that a king had the right

to impress the property of his subjects into his service.

So Jesus is acting as royalty here.

We have something similar even in our own context.

We call it eminent domain, right?

Got some lawyers who know that about far more than I do.

That gives the government the power

to take property, private property,

and convert it into public use,

as long as they provide fair compensation for it.

So for example, in the 1930s,

the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

appropriated all private property

in the towns of Dana, Infield, Greenwich, and Prescott.

They relocated all of its residents

and then filled the towns with water

to create the Quabbin Reservoir

in order to ensure that

there's plenty of safe drinking water

for the Boston metropolitan area.

That's still the largest inland body of water

in Massachusetts.

Can you imagine just coming to you one day

and saying,

hey, you guys are all moving out of here.

They have the power to do that.

We gave them that kind of power to do that.

Now, this was the prerogative of the government,

the rulers of the state of Massachusetts,

and Jesus demonstrates a similar power here.

He impresses into his personal service

a private property of one of his subjects.

And the fulfillment of Jesus' command

is proof that he actually has this kind of authority.

It says in verses six to seven,

the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the donkey and the colt

and put on them their cloaks,

and he sat on them.

In biblical narratives,

this is called the command fulfillment formula.

The person in authority issues a command,

and the command is fulfilled exactly as he has said.

This highlights Jesus' kingly authority.

If I ask some of you,

hey, can you go and ask one of the neighbors

to give me the keys to their car

and bring their car over to me

because I need a ride somewhere?

First of all, none of you would do it.

Secondly, even if you were to try to do it,

you would face all kinds of resistance.

You would not succeed.

You'd probably end up in jail.

Why?

Because I don't have that kind of authority.

But Jesus does because he's the king.

It's the second evidence of his kingship.

The third evidence of Jesus' kingship

is the way he is honored by the crowds

following him in verses seven to eight.

It says they brought the donkey and the colt

and put on them their cloaks,

and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road,

and others cut branches from the trees

and spread them on the road.

Spreading garments on the ground

so that a person does not have to walk on the bare earth

is a gesture of honor and respect to the king,

similar to the practice of rolling out the red carpet

for presidents and other heads of state

when they visit on formal occasions.

It's a practice that dates to at least the fifth century B.C.

You can see an example of this in 2 Kings 9.13,

where people lay their garments underneath

the newly anointed king Jehu.

And so this is yet another evidence of Jesus' kingship.

And that's why what the crowd shouts in verse nine

is so appropriate.

They shout,

Hosanna to the son of David.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Hosanna in the highest.

The title Son of David is a messianic title

because the Messiah, the king,

was expected to come from the line of King David.

And so this is yet another evidence of his kingship,

the fourth evidence.

And throughout Jesus' ministry up to this point,

Jesus has been very guarded about his true identity

as the messianic king and as the son of God.

However, from this point on,

the veil comes off.

He is hailed as the son of David.

They cry out,

Hosanna,

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Both of those expressions are taken from Psalm 118.

Hosanna is a Hebrew phrase that means save us.

And in that Psalm,

there's an expectation that the blessed one,

the one who comes in the name of the Lord,

will save them.

And the phrase,

in the highest,

is a reverent way of referring to the Lord of heaven himself,

the most high God.

So there's a remarkable parallel

between Hosanna to the son of David

and Hosanna in the highest.

The son of David is being associated with

as a representative of the most high God.

The crowd doesn't really fully understand

the significance of what they're saying here

because Jesus is not only God's chosen king,

but he's also God's only son.

And so this cry for help,

Hosanna,

is very appropriate.

And the fifth and central evidence

of Jesus' kingship in this passage

is his fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9,

riding a donkey into Jerusalem.

He says in verses 4 to 5,

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 first phrase,

say to the daughter of Zion,

is taken from Isaiah 62,

which is a prophecy of how the Lord will save,

bring salvation to his people.

But most of the citation is taken from Zechariah 9.9,

which says,

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.

It's a prophecy concerning the arrival of the Messiah,

and amazingly,

it predicts that the king who is righteous

and having salvation

will come mounted on a donkey,

more specifically on a colt,

on a young donkey.

Mark 11.2 and Luke 19.30

mention more specifically

that Jesus was riding on a colt

that no one had previously ridden on.

And this helps make sense of why

Jesus instructs the disciples

to bring the colt's mother with it.

The donkey and the colt come together.

Because an unbroken colt,

a colt that had never been ridden,

was customarily introduced to service

in the presence of its mother.

Because the presence of the mother

ensured that the colt kept calm,

especially in a stressful environment

like large crowds and noisy places.

So even though the prophecy only says

that the king will come riding on a colt,

because both the donkey and a colt

is mentioned in Zechariah 9.9,

Matthew is just pointing out

that just if you happen to be

the very legalistic literalist

who will argue to Matthew and say,

well, no, that was not fulfilled by Jesus

because it says donkey and a colt.

He only came riding on a colt.

Here Matthew is telling us,

yes, actually, colt and a donkey was present.

Even when you're insisting on that,

the prophecy is fulfilled by Jesus.

And it says in verse 5 that Jesus

sat on the cloaks that people put on the colt

and rode on it into Jerusalem.

This is a remarkable scene.

I love this scene.

This is the only time that Jesus is seen

riding any animal in the gospel accounts.

He and his disciples are always on foot,

walking everywhere.

Moreover, according to the Jewish oral tradition,

the oral commentary on the Torah,

it was Jews specifically were instructed

to arrive in Jerusalem for their pilgrimage on foot.

So why does Jesus ride a donkey

on his last mile into Jerusalem?

There's a widespread misunderstanding

that riding on a donkey is a lowly, humble thing,

something reserved for common village folk.

But that's not true.

In fact, riding on a donkey is a sign of royalty.

To give you some examples,

Judges 10, 3 to 4 says,

Jair of Gilead, a judge of Israel for 22 years,

had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys

and controlled 30 towns.

Why are they riding donkeys?

Because they're the kings.

They're the rulers of these 30 towns.

Similarly, in 1 Kings 1, 32 to 35,

King David commands Zadok the priest

and Nathan the prophet

to have Solomon his son ride on his own mule

in order to declare him king,

to show without a shadow of doubt,

Solomon is the person I've chosen to succeed me.

So he rides on David's own donkey.

Finally, there's a letter that archaeologists found

in Mari, which was an ancient Sumerian city

around 1760 BC in the same geographic area.

It says there,

Verily, you are the king of the Hainians,

but secondly, you are the king of the Akkadians.

My lord should not ride on a horse.

Let my lord ride in a chariot or on a mule,

and he will thereby honor his royal head.

Because chariots back then were pulled by mules.

A military general seeking to conquer a city

that doesn't belong to him

would come riding, galloping on a stallion.

But a king who comes in peace

would trot in on a mule.

Jesus knew this full well,

and that is precisely why he chose

to ride a colt into Jerusalem.

It's an unmistakable claim to messianic kingship.

No wonder it says in verse 4

that the whole city was stirred up.

The verb stirred up is later used

to describe an earthquake,

how the earth shook later in Matthew 27, 51.

Literally, the city is shaken by what is happening.

They're agitated.

They're thrown into commotion

because here is someone

who is claiming to be king,

who is being hailed by the crowds as king,

coming into Jerusalem on a donkey.

And Jerusalem, remember at this time,

is ruled directly by a Roman prefect,

Pontius Pilate.

So any claim, any suggestion

of Jewish kingship is trouble.

So the city is shaken.

And Jesus riding a donkey

down Mount of Olives into Jerusalem

would have been an awe-inspiring sight.

I so wish I could have seen it.

When he returns,

it would have been even more,

it will be even more glorious.

But remember that there are hundreds

of thousands of pilgrims

in and around Jerusalem.

Hundreds of thousands.

Every single one of them on foot.

Mount of Olives dominates the horizon.

Everyone turns to look.

And there they is,

from the mountain,

coming down,

one man sitting on a donkey.

It's glorious.

The long-awaited king

is coming for us.

He's putting the city on notice.

The king has come.

That raises a question.

What does it say in verse 5?

Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt,

the foal of a beast of burden.

Doesn't that mean Jesus is being humble

by riding a donkey?

If Jesus is declaring his kingship

by riding a donkey,

then how is that humble?

The description of Jesus as humble

does not stem from the lowliness of a donkey,

but in the fact that this king comes in peace.

King Jesus coming into hostile territory,

to Jerusalem,

where his detractors will frame him

with trumped-up charges

and crucify him.

But even though he's coming into this rebellious city,

instead of coming on a stallion to wage war,

to subdue them,

no, this king comes on a colt,

sauntering down the mountain in peace.

The Greek word translated,

humble here in verse 5,

the same word that's translated as meek

in Matthew 5, 5,

where it says,

blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

The world thinks that it's the aggressive

and the assertive who will inherit the earth.

But Jesus taught that it's the meek

who will inherit the earth.

The same word is translated as gentle

in Matthew 11, 29,

where Jesus says,

come to me all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me,

for I am gentle

and lowly in heart

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

That's why Jesus is the humble king.

King Jesus comes in gentleness,

in humility,

not to lay a heavy burden on his people,

but to lift up their burdens,

to bear their burdens himself

upon his shoulders.

King Jesus comes to a city

full of his enemies

who are waiting for him

with proverbial pitchforks in their hands

and yet he comes riding on a donkey

rather than a war horse.

Not to kill,

but to be killed

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

Jesus is humble

because even though he is king,

he is fully submitted

to the will of his heavenly father

and he willingly draws near

where he will be crucified.

And we see two responses

to Jesus' kingship in this passage,

both of which are inadequate.

First, notice the distinction

between the crowds that went before

and after Jesus

in verse 9 and 11

and the city in verse 10.

The crowds were shouting,

Hosanna to the Son of David,

hailing Jesus as the Messiah.

But it says in verse 10,

the whole city was stirred up saying,

who is this?

The city people are unaware

of who Jesus is.

Who is this man

making such a grand claim

to messianic kingship?

We already know from Matthew 20, 29

that a great crowd

was following Jesus

all the way from Jericho.

Jericho is the last settlement

that the Galilean pilgrim

would pass through

on their way to Jerusalem.

So most likely,

this crowd that's going before

and after Jesus

and hailing him as king

is probably made up largely

of Jesus' followers from Galilee

because that's where Jesus

had most of his ministry.

And he was wildly popular there.

But Galilee was a rural area.

It was a country

compared to the city of Jerusalem.

And these urbanites

are clueless about Jesus.

So the Galilean crowd

proudly explains to them

in verse 11,

this is the prophet Jesus.

And they're careful to note

where he came from.

From Nazareth of Galilee.

Calling Jesus prophet here

is not a denial of his kingship.

They just called him

the son of David.

Rather, it's just another way

to try to explain

to the city folk

so they can understand

who this Jesus is.

They're saying to them,

hey, he is the great prophet

who has turned Galilee upside down.

Haven't you heard of him?

He has been doing signs and wonders.

His teaching has authority

and power unlike you teachers

here in Jerusalem.

In fact,

we think he is the Messiah.

And guess what?

He's one of us.

He's from Galilee.

So there's an urban

versus rural contrast here.

And it's often the case

that folks in the city

are less religious.

It's not true even today.

A survey conducted

by the Pew Research Center

several years ago

found that major

U.S. metropolitan areas

generally had significantly

lower percentages of Christians

than the national average

and a disproportionately

higher percentage

of what they call

the nuns,

people who subscribe

to no religion.

A city is where there is

a high density of people

and for that reason

there is a concentration

and synergy

of human ingenuity

and intellect

and wealth.

However,

it also means

that there is a concentration

of human pride

and sin.

The pace of life

is faster in the cities.

There are more distractions

in the cities.

So often urbanites

are busy hearted,

preoccupied people.

As Jesus taught

in Luke 8,

when the seeds

of the gospel

are scattered,

some of them

fall among thorns

and the thorns

grow up with it

and choke it.

And Jesus explains

this parable in this way

that the seed

that fell among the thorns

represent those

who hear the gospel

but as they go on their way

they are choked

by the cares

and riches

and pleasures

of life

and their fruit

does not mature.

There are many cares

and riches

and pleasures

of life

in the city

that choke

the seeds

of the gospel,

isn't there?

Is this you?

Are you running

from one meeting

to the next?

From one project

to the next?

From one job

to the next?

From one city

to the next?

From one school

to the next?

Do you lack

awareness

of Jesus

because you have

been too busy

and distracted

with important things

going on

in your own life?

Have you succumbed

to the tyranny

of the urgent

and neglected

what is most important

and necessary

in your life?

Have you reflected

on the questions

of eternal significance?

Where did I come from?

Where am I headed?

What's my purpose?

What am I here for?

What about after death?

How can I be saved

from sin

and death?

If so,

the fact that you are here

is a welcome break

from the norm

and this is a prime

opportunity for you

to consider the claims

of Jesus.

If Jesus really is

the chosen king

of the creator

of the universe

then you owe him

your allegiance.

Do you believe him?

Do you pledge

your allegiance

to him?

Everyone in this world

serves one thing

or another,

one king

or another.

They worship

some kind of thing.

The award winning

novelist

David Foster Wallace,

he was not a Christian

but he was an astute

observer of culture

and society

and not long before

taking his own life

he said this

in his commencement address

at Kenyon College.

Quote,

here's something else

that's weird but true.

In the day-to-day

trenches of adult life

there's actually

no such thing

as atheism.

There's no such thing

as not worshiping.

Everybody worships.

The only choice we get

is what to worship

and the compelling reason

for maybe choosing

some sort of God

or spiritual type thing

to worship

is that pretty much

anything else you worship

will eat you alive.

If you worship money

and things

if they are where

you tap real meaning

in life

then you will never

have enough

never feel you have enough.

It's the truth.

Worship your body

and beauty

and sexual allure

and you will always

feel ugly

and when time

and age start showing

you will die

a million deaths

before they finally

grieve you.

Worship power

you will end up

feeling weak

and afraid

and you will need

ever more power

over others

to numb you

to your own fear.

Worship your intellect

being seen as smart

you will end up

feeling stupid

a fraud

always on the verge

of being found out.

But the insidious thing

about these forms

of worship

is they're unconscious.

They are default settings.

your default setting

is to worship

something

or someone.

Who is your king?

Who rules

your life?

What occupies

your mind

and heart?

As the winner

of the Nobel Prize

in literature

I don't think

you'd expect me

to say this name

Bob Dylan

wrote in his

one of his songs

you may be

an ambassador

to England

or France

you may like

to gamble

you might like

to dance

you may be

the heavyweight

champion of the world

you may be

a socialite

with a long

string of pearls

you might be

a rock and roll

addict

prancing on the stage

you might have

drugs at your command

woman in a cage

you may be

a businessman

or some high degree

thief

they may call you

doctor

or they may call you

chief

but you're gonna

have to serve

somebody

yes you are

you're gonna

have to serve

somebody

well it may be

the devil

or it may be

the Lord

but you're gonna

have to

serve

somebody

Jesus

is the humble

messianic

king

who saves us

from our slavery

to sin

is there anyone

more worthy

than him

to serve

is there anyone

more worthy

of worship

than king

Jesus

but it's not

only the

urban

Jerusalemites

who are ignorant

in this passage

the crowds

that are

following

Jesus

are also

missing

the point

look at what

they do

in verse 8

after they

spread

their cloaks

on the road

it says

others cut

branches

from the trees

and spread

them on the road

John 12

13

provides more

detail

namely that

these branches

from the trees

were not any

old tree branches

but they were

palm branches

which is an

important historical

backdrop

in the second

century BC

during the time

of the Seleucid

Empire

when they

were occupying

Israel

these rulers

desecrated

the temple

of the Jews

they forbade

Jews from

worshipping

and in response

the Jews

revolted

and successively

through using

guerrilla warfare

overthrew the

Seleucid Empire

from their region

and this is known

as the

Maccabean revolt

and Jews

celebrate that

still to this

day during

Hanukkah

and it's written

in the first

book of Maccabee

chapter 13

verse 51

that following

their victory

Simon Maccabee

their leader

and his men

triumphantly

entered the

temple

and rededicated

carrying

palm branches

so then

in their

symbolic act

that's why

it's called

Palm Sunday

in their

symbolic act

of cutting off

and laying down

palm branches

we see the

true nature

of their

messianic

expectation

they want

Jesus to be

another

Simon Maccabee

they want

Jesus to

lead them

in military

victory

and political

liberation

from the

Roman Empire

but Jesus

is not

a second

Maccabee

he's the

first and

only Christ

the Messiah

and he is a

king like

no other

Maccabee

came on a

war horse

to defeat

his enemies

but Jesus

came on a

donkey

to save

his enemies

Maccabee

was a

violent

revolutionary

but Jesus

was the

prince

of peace

that's

because

Jesus

knew

that

Israel's

political

subjugation

was ultimately

due to their

sin

due to their

rebellion

against God

and freeing

them from

their political

slavery

while leaving

them to

their spiritual

slavery

is like

mowing the

weeds

in the lawn

without pulling

out their

roots

it'll just

grow right

back

so Jesus

goes right

for the

kill

right for

the root

to deal

with sin

once and

for all

so that

we might

be forgiven

of our

sins

and have

eternal

life

perhaps

you're

like these

Galilean

followers

you're

following

Jesus

to fulfill

your own

ends

maybe you

identify as

a Christian

but mostly

for political

reasons

maybe you

want to

defeat

liberalism

and see

the Christian

worldview

in ascendancy

again

maybe you

want to

storm the

capital

and take

back

America

maybe what

you really

want is not

Christ

but power

maybe what

you really

want is not

to submit

to Christ

but to

co-opt

Christ

for your

purposes

that's not

the way

of Christ

Charlemagne

the 8th

century king

of the

Carolingian

empire

is remembered

for taking

his conquered

peoples

and lining

them up

at a

beach

and forcing

them to

choose

between

baptism

in the

water

to become

a Christian

or the

sword

death

by the

sword

that is

exactly

the opposite

of what

Jesus

is like

Jesus

is gentle

and lowly

in heart

he's not

harsh

and haughty

in heart

he's the

humble king

so both

the Jerusalemite

and the

Galilean

responses

are inadequate

we need

a third

response

and here

is the

response

that God

calls us

to

we have

all sinned

against God

by rebelling

against his

rule

and seeking

to be

masters

of our

own

faith

have we

not

we're

living

not to

please

our

creator

but to

please

ourselves

and to

please

other

people

in our

lives

King

Jesus

could have

called upon

his heavenly

army

to descend

upon Jerusalem

with hordes

of fiery

chariots

and legions

of warrior

angels

King

Jesus

would have

been fully

justified

in crushing

our rebellion

and wiping

us clean

off the face

of the earth

but no

our king

came to

us

in

gentleness

he came

to us

in humility

and shortly

before this

passage

Jesus

explained

to his

disciples

the pattern

that he

had set

for them

in Matthew

20

25

to 28

this is

what he

said

you know

that the

rulers

of the

Gentiles

lorded

over them

and their

great ones

exercise

authority

over them

it shall

not be

so among

you

but whoever

would be

great among

you must

be your

servant

and whoever

would be

first among

you must

be your

slave

even as

the son

of man

that's

Jesus

came

not to

be served

but to

serve

and to

give his

life as a

ransom for

many

instead of

executing

rebellious

sinners on

the cross

Jesus gave

his life

on the

cross

as payment

for our

sins

to save

sinners

like us

the most

high king

came to

serve his

lowly

subjects

for his

crown

he took

the crown

of thorns

for his

throne

he ascended

to the

cross

the ancient

equivalent

of the

electric

chair

but on

the third

day

Jesus

was raised

victoriously

from the

dead

Jesus

is the

humble

messianic

king

who saves

us from

our

slavery

to sin

the

appropriate

response

for us

then

to yield

to the

humble

king

receive

freely

the gift

of salvation

to despair

of our

own efforts

to save

ourselves

and cling

to Jesus

alone

for salvation

are you

this morning

laboring

and heavy

laden

do you

seek rest

for your

souls

are you

breathing

with labored

breath

under the

heavy burden

of sin

and guilt

do you

feel

your moral

depravity

your weakness

your sinfulness

and your

desperate need

for a savior

come to

Jesus

the humble

king

he beckons

you

let's

pray

Lord

Jesus

what can

we say

to such

mercy

how can

we stop

from praising

your name

you

are the

king

of kings

the lord

of lords

and yet

you are

our

king

you came

to dwell

among us

to lift

our burdens

to save

us

God

we thank

you

we ask

that you

would help

us

to bring

our lives

more fully

in submission

to your

lordship

and your

will

for your

glory

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen