Palm Sunday (2)
Palm Sunday 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
good morning everyone. It is such a joy to be with you on this palm Sunday
Whether you are here downtown or at cove I’m really excited about this week.
Big spring park plug
If you have your bibles go ahead and be turing to Luke 19 and in a moment we will start in verse 28
we are taking a break for the next two Sundays from our normal study of Matthew as we look at the last week of Jesus life
This morning we will look at the parade of Jesus truimphient entry into Jeruslam
then at our good friday service we will spend time worship and reflecting on the death of Jesus
and then Next sudnay at 7:30/9 and 10:30 we will celebreate the resurecction of Jesus
this truly is a specail time to be at rivertree
Let’s read together
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and 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 colt tied, on which no one has ever yet 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 went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners 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 road. 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.”
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! 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 in 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.”
verse 28 tells us after a few more teachings on the kingdom Jesus turns towards Jeruslem and he goes up to it
this is the moment the gospel writers have been building towards
The king is about to enter the kinlgy city
but before he enters the city he comissions his disicples again to get the animal he would ride into this most awesome city on.
He tells them he will find a colt or a donkey no one has ever sat on and the are to bring it to him
by this point the disciples do exactly what Jesus tells them to do.
they’ve learned by this point it is better to as Jesus commands then question him.
but it would be a quesiton was is Jesus doing this?
why is he telling them to go find this colt?
why has no one ever riding on it? and why is he arrive on a donkey anyway?
If I was going to go into a city and annouce my kingdom this might not be the animal I would chooose to do it on.
most rulers or kings want a festival. They want a paradage and they want the strongest army and animal they could enter a city to show their power, the leadership and their rule
but not this king
even in these words Luke is reminding us Jesus is a different kind of King.
He is not the one the people had come to expect. while they wanted a king who would overthrow the roman opression as we’ve been reminded by time and time again this king was going to overthrow a greater opression
the opression sin and death were causing in peoples heart
but this is not the only reason Jesus rides in on a donkey. He also does this becasue Jesus wants to submit his life to scripture
in the OT there is a prophecy about the messiah that all the people knew well.
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.
The word of God is fulfilling the word is a beautiful sighti.
Jesus even as he is moving towards the greatest moment of suffering of his life is faith to the word
which is so encouraging for me.
the discples find the colt exactly whre Jesus said it would be
and they brought it to the Jesus.
and it’s here that Jesus mounts his colt.
if you know anything about animals you know the first time they are ever rode they need to be broke in but not with this colt
in the midst of an exicted crowd a parade of sorts the animal remains complete calm
remind us of Jesus divinity once again.
the one who calms the seas calms the animal. He is a different kind of king
even this shows us the peace which the kingdom of God brings
and as the prince of peace rides into the city we also are reminded of his humilty
this is a humble king
and king who has come to save and serve
in marks gospel right before this truipmt entry Jesus reminds his dispcles the son of man did not come to be serve but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many
and it’s in his humilty, in his peace, in his willingness to give his life away
he IS worshiped
this is no small crowd. We are told from Johns gospel that this is the group of people who have been followwng Jesus since he raised Lazurus from the dead
they know if he has power to raise the dead surely he can free them from their opression
it was a great parade. and maybe it’s something you understand
Just recently for spring break my family and I went to savannah Ga. we stayed in the historic idstoric and had a great time. During our time in Savannah we had no idea until my friend sent me an articale about st patricks day in savannah that we were in store for a HUGE influx of people into the city
from wednesday-saturday the city was buzzing. People dressed in green everwhere. It wasn’t about being Irsih really at somepoint it just became about being part of the crowd
and the fanfare the crowd borught. One group of people I meet had their own flag they camped out for days they were in the primse spot for parades
and that’s something we probably have in common with the people of Jesus day.
we enjoy a good parade
and at this parade at this truimmphent entry the people WOrship Jesus. They beging to rejocie and praise God with a loud and mighty voice.
the palm branches they laid down was connected to thier desire to be delivered. The palm was a symbol and hosanna was acry which meant save us
the poeple had been saying this for years and NOW the time seems like it had come but maybe not in the way they had thought
Praise and worship is always the right response to the work of Jesus
this isn’t just fanfare anymore
what theyv’e hped for their entire lives. What thier parents/grandparents and generations had prayed for
what the prophets had spoke of
what God had promised adam and even in geneiss chapter 3 was finally happening!
the KING had come
this brought REAL joy!
and it’s what still happens today. Church isn’t just a place you learn about God. It’s not just a lecture hall or a school room.
no church is a place where Jesus is worshiped. Where his name is lifited up
where people who were lost and dead in their sins and trespasses come togehter and they wroship Jesus.
hopefully joy will fill our hearts once again. This week as we reflect on the life, the death and the resurecction of Jesus that our response would be Joyful praise to God
as they praise they echo what the angles said at the birth of Christ. the angles asked for peace on earth, the people said peace in heaven and glory in the highest
they are showing peace on earth is dependt on peace in heaven
and the fact that Jesus has come from heaven allows us to have peace with God on earth and in heaven
As pepole worshiped him The pharisees once again try to conteract their worship
they try to trap Jesus
they tell him to rebuike those who follow him
but Jesus teaches a pretty amazing truth in this passage
if people refuse to worship me. If people are silent creation itself will cry out
it’s what Paul reminds us of in Romans 8:22
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
not only had the people been longing for the salvaiton of their souls all creation had been longing for this also
When we meditate upon Jesus’ deliberate march into Jerusalem, a march that would seal his fate on the cross as the atonement for our sins, our hearts should praise him!
But there is more to the picture, for as the little donkey bore Jesus down toward Jerusalem amidst the repeated cheers, no one knew that amidst the cheers would come tears—the King’s tears.
He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
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! 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 in 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.”
Even as much joy as thier was this day as Jesus sees Jerusalms there are tears
in the middle of the road with this great, anciet city in full view the multide worshiped is stopped as the Savior weeps over the city
and this is something we CANNOT miss. When the writer of hebrews tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus he is encourage us to see what Jesus is doing here
and I belive when we fix our eyes and our hearts on this picture of Jesus in the gospel it will do us great good
Jesus knows something that we know by looking back at this passage.
Jeruslam needed a new king
he has compassion over them.
He has the heart of God for the city
while Jesus body was fully human his heart was divine.
and it’s here in his tears knowing he is about to pay the ultimate price for these people his heart is burded
he makes a prophecy which terribley comes true
He says this holy city which wouldn’t repent would come to be torn down to it’s very core
and it’s exactly what happens years later
years later the historian Jospehus told us how Jesus prophecy would come true
Luke, Vol. 2—That You May Know the Truth The King’s Tears (vv. 41–44)
Caesar had already commanded the entire city and the temple to be razed to the ground, leaving only the towers which projected higher than the others to stand, Phasel, Hippicus, and Mariamme, and that part of the wall which enclosed the city on the west. This was to be an encampment for the troops which would be left behind, and the towers were to reveal to posterity how great a city Jerusalem had been and what sort of fortifications Roman prowess had dominated. All the rest of the wall which encompassed the city the demolition teams leveled so that no one who would come there in the future would ever believe that the spot had been inhabited.
in other words the desturciton was terrible The city was destroyed.
and knowing this Jesus weeps. because he wants something different for them
He wants them to repent and put their faith in Him
his tears show us the value of our soul.
you often weep over what matters to you and the reality that God in flesh weeps over people reminds us of why he came
HIs march to jerusalm. His last week on earth and him going to the cross reminds us of Just how loved we are.
Just how much we matter to Jesus. And maybe that’s something you need to be reminded of Today.
he did all those so you could know him.
He did this because he lvoed you
he went to the cross and demstrate Gods lvoe for us while we were sitll sinners
this brings great hope
and the good news is even though Jesus dies on the cross it’s in his death that we find life
when he said it is finished he meant it and he invites us to rest in his finished work
because three days later her would rise from the dead showing he conqured both sin and death.
after he rose fromt he dead he ascend into heaven and one day he will establish his kingdom again on earth.
and that’s the day we are looking forward to. That’s where our hope is found.
and picture in Lukes gospel shows us the very nature of the christian life
On one side of the christian life there is joy.
This joy comes from realize what Jesus has done for us and living for him
but on the other side there is sorrow
it’s what Jesus expirenced when he looke at jerusalme
sorrow comes from the pain of living in a fallen world
there is a song we sing that was made popular by chris tomlin but written by andrew petereson that reflects this well
it’s one of those call and response songs
and he has a lyric where he ask a question it a quesition we often asked when things don’t go well. When the dunnes are touched by suffering and sorrow
when we witness the pain and devisation sin brings
do we feel the world is broken ?
and the response is we do
and it’s in that confession that we are acknowleding once again the part of the christian life that even Jesus himself expierenced
that to be human is to expirence both the joys and sorrow of life
I expirenced this pretty profoundly in my own life over the last year.
almost a year ago I got a phone call no one wants to get
my dad had died. it was shocking and hard to hear
my wife and I were heading out of town to clebrate our 18th wedding anniversiry and as we were driving towards that time away(joy) sorrow touched my life
If you have lost a parent you know how difficult it is
we drove home and then the next week I went on a mission trip with my daughter Anna to share the gospel in guatamela(joy)
yet I wished I could have told my dad about it(sorrow)
we planned his service a few months later on Long Island New York so his borthers/sisters/ friends and family could come
I had the chance to share the gospel with my family(joy and sorrow)
and in a suprising way God started working in one of my cousins hearts
that weekend He, Elizabeth and myself got to share the hope we had in Jesus.
It was suprsining that in the middle of reflecting on my dads death I was able to share with my cousin the life I have in christ
it helped the pain
about a month later he texted me and asked if he could come to church with me....My response was sure but you realize my chruch is in alabama right?
he said yes but he would fly to nashville and I could pick him up becasue of how cloase it was
so I wwent novermber 11th picked him up in nashville
and as we are driving on interstate 65 I ask him
“why are you here?”
he told me he had read 25% of the bible and was learning more about God
and just wanted to come to church with us.
It was AWESOME!
He came to church, I got to preach that morning, then he went to lunch with my friend ben and his family then that night he went to our grow group
and got to see this shared life we talked about
one member of our grow gorup gave him his own copy of reason for God by tim keller
he told me it was really cool to see what a grow group was, how we shared a meal, talked about the sermon and prayed for each other
mondzy he got on a plan and went home.
a little while later we set up a phone call and it was fun! in tha tphone call he shared with me he belived in Jesus.
JOY
and after I got off the phone I was driving to our cove campus. It was a rainy day I was right by the hampton in and I remembered
without death there is no ersurection
and while I miss my dad so much the pain of his death was made lighter, given purpose that day by the salviont of my cousin!
and that’s the beutiful thing abou tthis passage Jesus is showing us abou tthe joy and the sorrow of the christian life
and it’s in that space we live today
but the aawesome thing we see later in the passage is Jesus doesn’t just leave his discples hopeless as the expirence the rest of the week
he would be beaten, he would be spit on, he would expiernce another parade
one that mockd him made fun of him and lead to his death
but in between the parade of palm Sunday and the parade of good friday Jesus gives his dispcoles hope with a meal
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
and it’s this meal that the church continues to celbrate today
it continues to remind us that Jesus invites us to the table in the midst of our Joy and our sorrow
and it’s this meal we will take in a moment together
as we conclude know tha tthis meal is for those of us who have turned from there sin and beleived the gospel
if you never have done so know Jesus weeps for you. He longs for you to come to him andn you can do so today
ask him to save you
and over the next few moments if you have done this reflect
on what hes done. Pour your heart out to him.
Praise him with Joy
confess the sorrow your life feels
and see yourself at the table with him
pray
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