Palm Sunday: He Comes in the Name of the Lord Sunday, April 9, 2017
This is the beginning of “Holy Week,” commemorating the last full week of Jesus’ life. We start today focusing on His entry into Jerusalem. Friday evening at 7:00 we will give attention to His crucifixion. Next Sunday morning we celebrate His victory over sin and death, Sunrise at 7:00 a.m. and services at 9:00 and 10:30. Everything we know about Palm Sunday or Triumphant Sunday comes from Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12. I read through all four accounts this week and made a few notes. Some I’d made thirty times before; others, just this once. But before we get to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of His last week of life, we ought to set some background and context. In John 11, we read that Lazarus was sick and eventually died. Jesus told Mary and Martha that Lazarus would rise again. Raising someone from death was not a new feature of Jesus’s ministry. He had raised Jairus’s daughter, and He had raised the widow’s son from Nain. Here in John 11, Jesus is clearly affected by the death of His friend, weeping at the tomb. “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” I can’t help but think that Jesus was looking ahead to His own death and resurrection. Martha believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come. Mary was promised that she would see the glory of God if she believed. Lots of Jews had come from Jerusalem to Bethany to visit this family rocked by Jesus’ miraculous power, and when they came and saw and heard, they believed. The Jewish leaders—the Pharisees and the chief priests—looked for a way to get rid of Jesus permanently. The high priest Caiaphas had prophesied earlier that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and people, uniting them again. Jesus and His disciples withdrew to an area called Ephraim, near the wilderness, leaving the Jews to wonder if and when He would appear in Jerusalem for the Passover. Many wondered if Jesus would attend, including the Jewish leaders who had given orders to report any sightings so He could be arrested. Six days before the Passover, a Saturday, Jesus came back to Bethany to spend an evening with Lazarus and his sisters. Martha served. Lazarus enjoyed the meal with Jesus. And Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with ridiculously expensive perfume. Once again, many people came out from Jerusalem to see Jesus and Lazarus, too. Jewish leaders had decided that they would not only kill Jesus, but Lazarus as well. Lazarus was the greatest evidence of Jesus’ inexplicable, miraculous power, and many Jews were believing in Jesus.
Page 1 of 4 On Sunday morning, a lot of believing people lined the road between Bethany and Jerusalem, just a couple of miles between the two. From the river, through the roundabouts, all the way up 4400 South to the church is just about the distance Jesus traveled that morning along a road lined with crowds of people. Jesus sent the disciples ahead to find specific transportation—a donkey colt (Mark), a donkey and her colt (Matthew), donkey colt (Luke), a young donkey (John)—a portrayal of the coming king from Zechariah 9:9. Those who had been witnesses of the resurrection of Lazarus a few days back had spread the word in Jerusalem, and the crowds of festival-goers spilled out from the city all along the way. They came to see Jesus with their own eyes, and when they saw Him riding the donkey toward the city, they shouted with their own mouths . . . Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Hosanna! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Blessed is the king of Israel! Hosanna! They shouted and chanted about blessing and action. The word “Hosanna” is akin to “Please rescue us! Won’t you save us, please!” All the shouts focused on His power and authority. Whether they really understood everything about Jesus, there is at least some understanding that He had the capacity to bring salvation and rescue. The people shouted praise to Jesus for being a rescuer, a savior. They had covered the road with palm fronds, tree branches, and various articles of clothing. Crowds went ahead of Him and behind Him all the way to the city—a big, bold parade of politics and patriotism. It looked like the whole world was welcoming the Messiah Jesus to take His throne in Jerusalem and to restore God’s Kingdom on Earth. Salvation had finally arrived! The Messiah was here! But Jesus was not riding high on a wave of popular opinion and approval. His mood and attitude and behavior are not what you might expect. Luke records something special in 19:41-44.
Page 2 of 4 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
We may imagine Jesus smiling and waving to cheering crowds as He happily accepts this glowing acceptance. But in the middle of His “victory parade,” Jesus weeps over the city of God, packed full of God’s people. If only they had been able to see what would bring real peace—that He Himself was the Almighty Prince of Peace—but they missed it. Jesus saw that that failure would ultimately bring pain and destruction, a hopeless future. We may have this stoic, robotic view of Jesus approaching the end, unflappable. The apostle John, one of those closest to Jesus, gives us this insight into the Teacher’s mental and emotional state, that Jesus is unsettled at best. John 12:27-28, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Jesus says His soul is troubled, a word that is also translated “in turmoil,” “gripped with fear,” and “terrified.” But just days from the end, Jesus asks, “What shall I say, ‘Father, get me out of here’? No! This is what I came to do. Father, glorify Your name!” And from Heaven, the Father accentuated Jesus’ identity and mission: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again!” With a burden for God’s people and humble obedience to His Father, Jesus enters Jerusalem. He comes in the name of the glorified Lord for an exalted purpose, the saving of souls, not the re-establishment of a Jewish nation-state. Here’s how we should respond:
Because He comes in the name of the Lord, we will worship. The crowds could not contain their joy and hope in Jesus. In Luke 19, some leaders asked Jesus to rebuke the crowds along the road and in the city. “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Before this moment, Jesus had quieted potential worshippers and evangelists. In Matthew 12:16, after healing a man with a withered hand and many others, Jesus warned the people not to tell others. Peter received a blessing from Jesus for correctly identifying Jesus as the
Page 3 of 4 Messiah in Matthew 16:20, but the disciples were ordered not to tell anyone the same truth. But now, as He enters Jerusalem, hailed as the Messiah, He declares that this truth WILL be told. The joy that comes from Jesus as the coming King cannot be silenced; there’s no point in trying to hold it in.
Because He comes in the name of the Lord, we will yield. He came to be king of you. Seated on a much smaller throne. Ruling the kingdom of you. Jesus didn’t come for those people over there. Or for that nation. For those who almost had it right. Jesus came for you—worn-out, broken, sad, angry, confused, unworthy, embarrassed, ashamed, guilty. He came for you, not when you were able to put it all together or when everything was going just perfectly. He came in your chaos, your crisis, your disaster. Accept the identity of this king and allow Him to rule over you, to provide for you, to protect you, to bring you His peace.
Because He comes in the name of the Lord, we will be rescued. Delivered. Saved. The crowds shouted for a Savior. According to Luke’s gospel, not long before this triumphant entry into His last week of life, Jesus Himself said to Zacchaeus, “The Son of Man has come to seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). The only One who could bring rescue and salvation was Jesus. Not the rescue of a lost nation, but the rescue of God’s lost people. Jesus did not come to make bad people good; He came to make dead people live! Won’t you accept the beautiful and free gift that He graciously offers to you?
Allow this King to reign in your life today!
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