Make Palm Sunday Great Again - Luke 19:28-40

Can you join me in Luke chapter 19?

Luke 19 · chapter mention

We're going to pick up in verse 28.

It says this. And when he had said these

things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

When he drew near to Bethpage and to Bethany at the Mount that

is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples saying, Go into

the village in front of you, where on entering you will find

a cult tied on which no one has ever sat.

Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you why are you

untying it, you shall say this. The Lord has need of it.

So those who were sent away and and found it, just as the Lord

had told them, and as they were untying the colt, its owner said

to them, Why are you untying the colt?

And they said, the Lord has need of it.

And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the

colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they

spread their cloaks on the ground.

And as he was drawing near already on the way down the

Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began

to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty

works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king, who

comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in

the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the

crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very

stones would cry out. Father, thank you again for this

time. Lord God, thank you for your

holy scriptures. God, your love letter to each

and everyone of us. Father, I just asked once again

that you would meet us in this place, that this would be a

special time between Papa and his children.

God, that we would have ears to hear and hearts ready to receive

everything you have for us. May this not just be a another

Sunday, not just another Palm Sunday service.

God, God move mightily amongst us today.

And all God's people said Amen, Amen.

So the title for today's message is Make Palm Sunday Great Again.

Thought you might like that one. It is the beginning of Holy

Week, right? And I'm really, really blessed

that I, I get to kick this off with you.

It's an important event in the life and ministry of Jesus.

The story that we just read, it's actually recorded in all

four of the gospels, which if you don't know that's, that's

pretty rare. Prior to this event, there's

only a couple other events. There's only a couple other

stories that all four gospels account for, right?

Which means that this day, this event, it is extremely

significant in the life of Christ.

Each gospel tells the same basic story.

You have Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

You have the large crowds which gather together and wave

branches and lay their clothes across the road.

And they shout praise and blessing, enthusiastically

celebrating the arrival of Jesus.

Each gospel, though, also has its own bent.

They each share different details and focus in on

different aspects of the story. Some focus on the acquisition of

the cult, while others on the fulfillment of prophecy.

Others lean into the resistance that Jesus comes across with the

religious leaders. But again, no matter which

account you read, the importance of the event is clear.

This is a very special occasion. It's really a turning point in

the life and ministry of Jesus. For 3 1/2 years, Jesus has

avoided the limelight, right? For 3 1/2 years, he's tried to

keep things on the down low. Even when he healed someone or

did something miraculous, he would often tell them, hey, keep

it quiet, don't tell anyone, right?

He avoided the crowds. But this is the first time in 3

1/2 years that Jesus embraces and even encourages the praise,

the shouting, the branches. This whole scene is set up like

a victory parade. It's like one of those

championship teams. You can put up that picture.

This one's for Tucker. It's it's like one of those

championship teams right after they've won the big game.

I thought you'd like that. That's an inside joke between me

and Tucker, but you can rasm about it later.

It's like the victory lap after the big game.

We refer to this as Palm Sunday because of the usage of palm

branches during his ride down into Jerusalem.

But most of your Bibles probably have the label Triumphal entry

somewhere over the text, right? Because this is a victory

parade. OK.

How many of you guys, however, have read this story a few times

before? How many of you read at least

five times throughout the course of your life?

10 times. Keep those hands up. 20 times.

I mean, depending how long you've been in church, there are

quite a few times that you have read this story.

How many of you guys have went to one of those churches where

they did the reenactments of, of Palm Sunday?

Usually it was the children's ministry, right?

Because kids are cute. You can dress them in the robes,

and, you know, they come marching down with the palm

branches, right? Anyone.

Anyone grow up in a church like that?

Yeah, thought so. Right.

How many of you have heard your fair share of Palm Sunday

sermons, sermons about the donkey and its significance or

sermons about the palm branches and their significance?

How many of you guys have heard it preached that the same people

that were there on Sunday are the same people that are there

on Friday yelling crucify him? Which I mean, that's a great

sermon point, especially if you want to talk about the the

fickleness of humanity. Probably not historically

accurate, but we preachers like to push the envelope a little

bit, right? My point is most of us have been

around the Easter block a few times.

And so with that, I, I think it's, it's hard sometimes to

engage with this text and for it to feel new, right?

Can I confess something to you? And please don't judge me,

right? I, I, I love this season.

I love Holy Week, but as a pastor, sometimes it's, it's a

tough one. It, it may not be my favorite as

a pastor. And before you go throwing

stones at me, let me clarify what I mean, right.

What I mean is as a pastor, as a preacher, developing this text

year after year and trying to, you know, encourage you with

something new. It, it can be a, a challenge,

right? Developing something new for

Palm Sunday, developing something new for Good Friday,

developing new Easter sermons year after year.

It's the same story, it's the same text, right?

And for those of you who have grown up in the church, or for

those of you who have been going to church for a long time, maybe

you feel something similar. You know that Easter is

important. You love Jesus deeply and as

best as you can, you try and engage and enter in this week

with full faith and and religious fervor.

But it might also feel like kind of been there, done that, heard

these stories before. I kind of know where you're

going to go with the sermon and the illustrations.

You know, of course we would. We would never say this out

loud. We'd never admit it to a friend.

We don't want to look like bad Christians, right?

But perhaps when it comes to this week, you're more excited

about the Easter activities and the Easter meal than you are the

Easter sermon. Again, we know it's important.

We have a heart's desire to want to engage.

But I've kind of heard it all before.

Can I encourage you to do something this Holy Week?

And I love what you're doing. You're already setting up nicely

for this. But I encourage you to take some

time and simply just sit with Jesus, find a quiet place and

just enter into His presence and ask him sincerely Ask him, Lord,

what is it that you want to speak to me this year?

What is it that you have for me this year, right?

Do that all this week and watch as he speaks to you.

It'll still be the same stories. It'll still be, you know, the,

the, the same illustrations, right?

But I guarantee you he's going to blow you away with something

fresh and new, new insights and new wisdom, new corrections and

new challenges, new edifications and encouragements.

Friends, what you cannot do this week is go through the religious

motions of Easter, walking around it as you always have.

Guys, the God of Palm Sunday, the God of Good Friday, the God

of Easter wants to meet with you in a fresh and new and dynamic

way. My prayer, my hope is that you

quiet yourself and you give Him the space and the time in the

midst of your busy week, in the midst of all your Easter

activities, just to listen and to receive that word that He

wants to speak to you this year. And I'm hoping for the rest of

the time that I have that we'll be able to do that a little bit

today, that he would speak something fresh and new or

perhaps something old that you need to be reminded of this Palm

Sunday. Amen.

All right, so we're going to look at three things that Palm

Sunday should remind us of. We're going to do a little

medley of the Palm Sunday texts. OK, so here's number one.

If you're a note taker, Palm Sunday should remind us of the

amazing care of Christ. The amazing care of Christ.

Join me in Mark Mark's gospel Chapter 11.

We're going to look at verse one says this.

It says now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethpage and to

Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples

and said to them, go into the village in front of you and

immediately as you enter you will find a colt on which no one

has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.

If anyone says to you, why are you doing this, say the Lord has

need of it and he will send it back here immediately.

Now, maybe you guys are Bible scholars or maybe you just read

a lot more attentively than I do, but this is the first time

that I noticed that Jesus gave instructions to do what?

To return the donkey, to return the donkey, right?

Again, I've, I've heard tons of sermons about this donkey caper,

but this was the first time that it, that really stuck out to me

and it left off the page that Jesus gave instructions to

return the donkey right? Now, Marlon, what's, what's the

big deal here? Think about this, right?

Did Jesus need to return the donkey?

I mean, not, not necessarily. This is Jesus, the Lord of the

universe, the creator of all donkeys, right?

He he doesn't need, he's not obligated to return anything.

But we also know that this is Jesus.

So it would definitely be in his character to want to return the

donkey. Jesus is a good guy.

He does the right thing. But also imagine all the

surrounding circumstances that are going on in his life right

now. He's going to Jerusalem.

He's going to face these religious leaders that hate him

and want to kill him. He knows his time is short.

He's thinking what's going to happen to his disciples and to

his family? What about the big parade that

he's about to enter into? With all these things swirling

around his mind, it's easy to overlook something like this.

Returning the donkey. How many of you guys forget the

little details in the midst of something really important going

on in your life? You have a dinner party and you

forget to buy the napkins, Right.

My parents, we'd never had napkins, so I was always using

the paper towels. Story for another day.

How about you? You have a one of your kids

birthday parties. How many of you guys forget the

candles or the matches for the birthday cake?

Parents. Yeah.

How many of you forgot something important on your wedding day?

Weddings can be extremely chaotic.

Do you want to know what we forgot on our wedding day?

The bread. The bread for communion.

So we wanted to as our first act as man and wife, as a married

couple, we wanted to take communion together even before

the big kiss, right? But in the the circus of that

day and we forgot to have bread for communion.

Now we, we had our wedding in the backyard of my in laws

house. And them being the wonderful

Mexican American parents that they they are, they had no bread

in the house, but they did have tortillas.

So I don't know if we're the first, but we we took communion

with tortillas and grape juice, right?

Whether intentional or unintentional, this could have

been something that was easily overlooked.

But Jesus didn't. He made this a priority, which

speaks volumes of his level of care.

Friends, Jesus deeply cares about every little detail of

your life, even the ones that may seem insignificant.

He cares about the big life decisions.

Where should I go to college? Should I find a new job?

Should I move to a new city? Is this relationship the

relationship for me? When should I retire?

But he also cares about the little things.

He cares about kids and the nightmares that they have as

they go to sleep. He cares about teenage acne and

high school drama. He cares about the way that you

feel after a breakup. He cares about your babies, and

yes, he cares about your fur babies.

People, this is not a detail. There isn't, excuse me?

There's not a detail in the span of your entire life that doesn't

matter to Jesus. Psalm 139 says this.

He says You have searched me, O Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise.

You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out, my lying down.

You are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue, You, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind, and before you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to

obtain. Because Jesus knows us

intimately. Jesus cares about us deeply.

He cares about every detail, every aspect of your life.

I'm guessing that some of you guys brought some baggage in

here this morning, things that you're worrying about, things

that concern you. Maybe they're big things, but

maybe they're small things, things that you have deemed

insignificant, things that you think I don't need to bother God

with this. This thing doesn't really merit

his time. I mean, after all, he's trying

to run the universe. That's the problem, guys.

The problem isn't that Jesus doesn't care.

The problem is often times our hesitation to actually give Him

an invitation to come in and show His care.

Revelation 320 tells us that He's standing at the door of our

heart and knocking, just waiting for us to open.

Friends, open the door to Jesus today.

Let him come in, big or small, and help.

He's not here to judge you. He's not looking at that as

though it's insignificant. He cares about you and He wants

to help you. Amen.

Second thing, Palm Sunday reminds us of our need for King

Jesus. Palm Sunday reminds us of our

need for King Jesus. John chapter 12 and in verse 12

John 12 · chapter mention

says this. The next day the great crowd

that had come from the festival heard that Jesus was on his way

to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went

out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna.

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

Blessed is the king of Israel. And Jesus found a young donkey

and sat on it as it is written. Do not be afraid, daughter of

Zion, see, your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt.

So much of what is done and written here speaks of the

kingship of Jesus, the parade itself.

Was usually something thrown for a king or a leader after a

victorious battle all Although horses were usually ridden

during this parade. A donkey still conveys the

kingship. But as we know the humble

kingship of Jesus palm branches were often used in the

celebration as well. Again, it's not just what people

did, but it's also what they say here that portrays Jesus as King

John chapter 12 and in verse 13 it says blessed is he who comes

John 12 · chapter mention

in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.

Mark 1110 says blessed is the coming Kingdom of our Father

David Hosanna in the highest. Now you might be thinking again,

Marlon, Palm Sunday. I already know that one, but I

know that this speaks of Jesus as King.

True, I get that. That's not new.

But what is new, or perhaps something that you need to hear

anew, is that you desperately need Jesus as king.

Not just the simple fact that he is king and fulfilling the

prophecy, but you and I, we need Jesus as King.

For most of us, the idea of a king it's not relatable unless

you grew up in England or you watch The Crown on Netflix.

Right? But even monarchy in its current

state, like it's, it's mainly symbolic and ceremonial.

Who really needs a king today? But think it through, so much of

your hopes and your dreams revolve around the right person

being in power. This isn't a political

statement, so please don't get all antsy.

I don't care who you voted for or whatever election, but every

four years our country goes crazy.

People lose their minds investing time and energy and

money and getting their person elected.

Because if if your person wins all my problems are over.

Everything in the world will be made right again.

But it's not just politics. How many of you have ever

thought or complained to a Co worker?

Man if if we just had a better boss if he or she were no longer

in charge. I mean this dummy can barely

manage tying a tie let alone our company right?

Or family? What kid hasn't thought that

their parent was the problem? And if you just had a different

parent it who has teenagers? OK, I have 6 in my house right

now. Right.

How many of your teenagers are geniuses?

Meaning every time you tell them something, what do they say?

I know, I know, I know that they must be the smartest human

beings on the planet. They question your leadership at

every turn of the corner, everything that comes out of

your mouth. Now, this is church, so I don't

want to start a a marital spout, right?

But I can guarantee you at some point this week, or perhaps even

on your way to church, there was an argument or disagreement

about the leadership in your home, right?

Better leadership and the need for better leadership.

It's always running across our minds and we think that it's

going to fix all of our problems.

Now, while we long for and dream for new leadership at work or at

home, it's actually not the root of our problem.

Do you know who is the root of your problem?

You. You, the reason your life and my

life is the way that it is, is because of our bad leadership.

It's not because of him, it's not because of her.

It's not because of them. It's because it's under our own

management. Guys, that stress, that anxiety

that you feel over your finances, that stress, that

anxiety that you feel over, you know, the markets, inflation,

taxes, whatever, it's not because of bad leadership.

It's because you're trying to manage all of those things on

your own. You want to blame all the issues

in your life on that relationship, what he said, what

she did, and maybe some of those things are valid, but they're

not the problem. The problem is, rarely in that

relationship do you stop and pray.

Rarely in that relationship are you welcoming Jesus in to have a

say. The problem is, Jesus is only a

part of that relationship on Sunday, but Monday through

Saturday, you're doing everything on your own.

Because we can run through all the countless examples, but all

the craziness, all the stress, all the pain, all the sadness,

it's because of your management. It's a me problem, not a them

problem. Proverbs 3 five and six

encourages us to trust in the Lord with all our heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways.

Acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Friends, it isn't isn't enough enough?

Have you not got tired of the way things are?

Don't be so prideful that you can't see that you're the one

actually standing in the way of all the things that you want to

see happen. You need a king in your life.

You need to crown Jesus King over your money and over your

family. You need to crown him king over

Sunday, but you also need to crown him over Tuesday.

You need to crown him king over your fears and over your dreams.

Friends, we need to crown Jesus, Lord of everything, of

absolutely everything. OK, let's wrap it up.

The last thing Palm Sunday reminds us that we are in the

greatest love story of all time. As you read the triumphal entry,

whatever version that you read, do you kind of have this Deja Vu

feeling? Like I feel like I've read

something like this similar somewhere else in the Bible.

Revelation 19 says, Then I saw heaven open and behold a White

Horse. And the one sitting on it is

called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges

and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of

fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name

written that no one knows but himself.

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which

he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven,

arrayed in fine linen, were white and pure.

We're following him on white horses.

From his mouth came a sharp sword with which to shrug down

the nation's, and he ruled them with a rod of iron.

He will tread the wine presses of the fury of the wrath of God

the Almighty on his robe and on his thigh.

He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

While many of the details in Revelation 19 aren't necessarily

completely aligned with what we read in the Gospels and the

triumphant entry, both features or both explain and both

foreshadow the return of the King.

Revelation 19 is eschatological, right?

Meaning that it speaks of future things, things to come, end

times events, the triumphal entry that we celebrate today

for Palm Sunday. It's a foreshadow of the return

of the King, guys. So there's so much that we could

say about this topic. We could talk about the hope

that it reminds us of. Guys, we live in very, very dark

times. Amen.

But yet, even as dark as our times are, the hope of His

return, the hope that He is coming back to make all things

right. It gives us hope for each day.

We could talk about how this event speaks of justice right

upon His return. Jesus will judge this world, all

the hurt, all the pain, all the evil that we think is being

overlooked. He's going to come back and

execute perfect justice, making right all things.

We could talk about hope, we could talk about justice.

But I want to land the plane here with perhaps one of the

most important things that Palm Sunday reminds us of.

And it reminds us of his deep, deep love.

It reminds us that we are in one of the greatest love stories of

all time. Directly after Jesus rides into

Jerusalem, where does he go? You can say it.

It's OK. Tell me, where does he go?

He goes to the temple, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, they all

tell us he goes to the temple. And what does he do there?

He goes kind of crazy. He starts turning over tables

and he he gets a whip and he's driving out the merchants and

the money changers. This is a different side of

Jesus than we're used to seeing. This isn't the meek and mild

Jesus, right? Why?

Well, Marlon, because they're, you know, they're money changers

there and they're merchants and they're ripping people off.

They're misusing the temple, yes, but it's actually bigger

than that. Our church has been going

through the the book of Genesis for over a year now.

And the more I I read Genesis, the more I'm just, I'm falling

in love with it all over again. And one of the reasons why,

right is because it's not just a, a book about the creation of

the stars and of the planets or the creation of man and of

beast. It's about the foundation of the

greatest love story of all time. Genesis chapter 3, verse 8 says,

Genesis 3:8

and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden

in the cool of the day. I, I, I wish we had time to

develop this more. I'm already over on time, right?

But Eden was a very special place.

It's a sacred space. It's not just a garden, right?

This was a place where heaven met earth.

This was a place where God could come and dwell with man.

And we, we know the story, right?

We know that Adam and Eve, they forfeited it.

They send and they, they ruined it.

But as you track throughout the rest of the Bible, it's a

complete story of God trying to once again create a new Eden, to

create the sacred spaces where God can be with mankind.

Right from Noah's ark to Abraham moving into the land, to the

Tabernacle, and then to today, what we're reading our story to

the temple. The temple was this intersection

between heaven and earth, a permanent structure, a special

place where God can be with mankind.

Now you might be thinking, cool, Marlon, what does this have to

do with Palm Sunday? Do you have a a romantic place,

a special place for you? Maybe it's a restaurant where

you proposed. Maybe it's where you found out

you were going to have your first child somewhere here that

is really, really special for you.

For me, that place is 2625 N Christine St.

It was our first home that that we had when we moved here to

Boise. And anytime I'm in town, I love

passing by there because I have so many great memories there,

even memories of Pastor Tucker coming and stealing my shoes and

giving them to Tom over there. But if if I came back a year

from now and that place was torn down, I would be absolutely

devastated because it holds such a special place for me.

And that's what it was like for Jesus as he enters into the

temple and he sees this special place, this place where God was

supposed to meet with man and how it had been misused and

abused. We can see and understand his

anger a bit more. But praise God, guys, that's not

where the story ends. Jesus is coming again.

Remember, this first Palm Sunday was only a foreshadowing of what

was to come. Jesus is coming again.

He's coming to finish our love story.

He's coming to establish a new Eden, a sacred space, and that

is what Palm Sunday reminds us of.

Revelation 21 says this. Then I saw a new heaven and a

new earth for the 1st heaven and the first earth that passed

away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new

Jerusalem coming down, coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the

dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God

himself will be with them as their God.

Guys, from cover to cover, from beginning to end, this is a love

story. And that is what Palm Sunday

reminds us of. It reminds us of we have a God

that loves us so much that he will move heaven and earth to

come down and to be with us, that he's coming again to dwell

with us forever. That that dream like ending,

that fairy tale like ending, it's a reality for us and it is

coming soon and very soon. Amen.