Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

The final week of the life of Abraham Lincoln has an amazing parallel to that of the final week of Jesus.

From Palm Sunday to Good Friday is only 5 days, yet in that 5 days we go from the scene of the triumphal entry of the King to the scene of the tragic exit of the King on the cross.

Listen to the parallel of Lincoln's final week.

General Grant was surrounding the Confederate Army of General Lee in the capital city of Richmond.

Lee realized the war was over, and the South was defeated, and on Palm Sunday of 1865 he surrendered.

What a day of victory!

People flocked to the White House clamoring for a celebration.

Lincoln addressed the people and said, "Fellow citizens, I am very greatly rejoiced to find that an occasion has occurred so pleasurable that the people cannot restrain themselves."

He called for the band to play his favorite tunes of "Dixie" and "Yankee Doodle."

The crowds were led in cheers for General Grant and the Army and Navy.

When Lincoln went into the White House they cheered him as their hero.

That holy week was one of the best Lincoln ever enjoyed.

He worked long hours, but was very relaxed and at peace.

On Good Friday he had an early cabinet meeting.

In the afternoon he and his wife went for a long carriage ride, and that evening they went to the theatre.

On Palm Sunday he was a victor.

On Good Friday he was a victim, as he was assassinated.

Here was a man so loved he was praised by the masses, but here was also a man so hated that he was murdered.

Love and hate are never far apart, and that is what we see in holy week, the last week of the life of Jesus.

It begins with the wildest expression of mass affection that Jesus ever received.

When the Jewish leaders complained to Jesus about this excessive display of emotion, Jesus said it cannot be helped, for it is impossible to suppress the explosion of praise.

If you silence the people, the very stones will take up where they left off, and continue this cry of rejoicing.

Jesus knew He would soon be on a cross, for that was an essential in God's plan to save man, but He says, not only is Good Friday a necessity, and not only is Easter Sunday a necessity, but Palm Sunday is also a necessity.

It is one of the pieces of the puzzle, and it could not be complete without this day of triumphal entry.

It was not enough that Jesus died for us, He had to die as our King.

He did not die as a carpenter, or as an itinerant preacher.

He died as the King of the Jews, who was long promised, and who would be the king of God's people forever.

The sign Pilate put on the cross said, "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."

The leaders of Israel would not acknowledge He was their king.

In verse 42 Jesus says the truth was hidden from their eyes.

On the night of May 14, 1912, a well dressed man collapsed on the street in the center of Hamburg, Germany.

A doctor passing by helped a policeman get him into a cab.

He died on the way to the hospital, and since he had no identification on him, he was taken to the morgue until someone could identify him.

It was 2:00 in the morning when the valet of King Fredrick VIII of Denmark realized that the king had not returned from his walk.

He called the hotel manager who in turn called the police.

After several hours of investigation it was determined that the man who had died in the cab was the Danish king, brother of Queen Alexandra of England, and Uncle of the Czar of Russia.

He was a great king, but he died unrecognized.

So it was with Jesus.

He was the promised king, the Son of David, but He was unrecognized, and died in the eyes of the Jewish leaders as a mere criminal, rather than the Royal Redeemer that He was.

Jesus said in verse 42, if they had only known He was their king, they could have had the peace of God, but because they could not see He was the king, they had to suffer the judgment of God.

One of the lessons of Palm Sunday is that we need to listen to the perspectives of the little people, and those outside the circles of influence.

From the day Jesus was born until the day He died, the people who saw who He really was were the little people and outsiders.

The wise men came seeking Him asking where is He who is born the King of the Jews.

The pagan ruler Pilate put up a sign on the cross, "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews."

Now on Palm Sunday Dr. Luke tells us the multitudes were shouting with a loud voice, "Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Jesus was recognized as king by many, but the leaders of Israel refused to recognize His royalty.

They had their own self-centered agenda, and Jesus just did not fit in.

Palm Sunday teaches us that it is possible that a little child may have more insight into the will of God than those who are the official leaders.

Leaders can be so full of their own agenda they are not open to the leading of God.

Matthew tells us the children were crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," and the chief priest and scribes were indignant at this corruption of the youth.

Jesus said to them in Matt.

21:16, "Did you never read, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise."

The Word of God was coming to the people, not through the religious leaders who should have been the channel open for God to speak through, but through little children.

In the fourth century a great crowd gathered in the city of Milan, Italy to decide on who was to be their religious leader.

Ambrose, the governor of the city, was there to keep order.

There was great uncertainty as to who to choose until a child shouted out, "Ambrose for bishop!"

He was a layman, and not a trained clergyman.

But he was of such exalted character that the idea was like a spark igniting powder.

The shout spread through the crowd, "Ambrose for bishop!"

Ambrose did not feel qualified, and resisted, but the crowd insisted and forced him to be ordained, and to become their religious leader.

He became one of the greatest leaders of all history, and was a major influence in the church for a thousand years.

The implication is not to let the juniors run the church, but to be open to listen to the insights of children and the non-professional.

Palm Sunday is a revelation that God often gives greater light and insight through the child on the things that matter most.

The pros were totally blind to the evidence that others could see.

They were so envious of Jesus, and so anxious to get Him out of the picture, they broke every law in their own book to get Him to the cross.

Their law forbid a trial at night, but they had to try Jesus at night to avoid the crowds who would protest.

Their law forbid trials during Passover, but they had to get Jesus while He was present in Jerusalem for the Passover, so they set that law aside.

The death penalty was not to be cared out until a night had passed, but they did not wait, but went straight from the trial to the place of execution.

They had to break their own laws because they were going against the insights of the common people.

If they would have followed their own rules, the masses would have prevented their evil plot.

History reveals that the majority is not always right, but the fact is, it is still the wise way to go.

The last week of the life of Jesus makes this so clear.

The majority could see Jesus was a man of wisdom and loving compassion, and just the kind of man the Messiah was to be.

The leaders could only see He was going change their legalistic religion and introduce one of love and grace, and they would lose their power over people.

Jesus knew these leaders were clever, and that they would get around the will of the majority, and kill Him.

But He had to give us this scene of Palm Sunday so that all through history we would be reminded: If you give the masses of people a chance to see Jesus as He really is, the commonplace people and children will recognize Him as the one they can acknowledge as their king.

Palm Sunday is a day of great paradox, for it was a day of such contrasting emotions.

Jesus was such a glad king; such a sad king, and such a mad king.

Many feel it was the single most happy day of His life as Jesus saw the supportive crowds acknowledging His kingship.

But it was also a day Jesus felt so sad that He had to weep over Jerusalem, for He knew the leaders were determined to kill Him.

He was so upset that day by the corruption of the temple by their greed that, in anger, as never before displayed, He chased them out with a whip.

This was the most emotional day in the life of Jesus that we have revealed in the Gospels.

We have been looking at the determined and steadfast face of Jesus as He set His face to go to the cross.

Palm Sunday was a major event in His plan to get there.

We want to focus on the emotions of Jesus on this special day, and look at His sad face and glad face.

We will look at the negative first and focus on-

I. THE KING'S SAD FACE.

In verse 41 Dr. Luke says Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.

It was the city of God's people, and the place where God's temple was, and where God met with man.

It was the center of true worship from which God's light was to go into a dark world.

Jesus would make it that yet by His death, and the Gospel of light and life would go from Jerusalem into the whole world.

But the sad fact Jesus was facing was that these people who had the chance to be in on the ground floor of God's plan were going to miss it, and not only stay in the dark, but suffer the judgment of God.

They would reject the king God sent them, and in 70 A. D. they would be totally destroyed for this blind choice.

It is sad when people suffer judgment, for judgment is never God's chosen will.

The whole point of God's plan of salvation is to prevent judgment.

God hates judgment, and does everything possible to avoid it.

That is why it is so sad, for judgment is always preventable.

There are a lot of things sad in a fallen world, but the saddest of all is preventable suffering.

It is sad to see people die of lung cancer because they smoke cigarettes for years.