Palm Sunday: Expectations of a Coming King

Today I have the privilege of sharing this Palm Sunday message with believers in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala.

Matthew 21:1-11;

21:1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Parallels in  Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-15

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When Jesus walked this earth, it was a difficult time in Israel. The Jewish people lived as captives in their own country. They lived under the constant oppression of the Roman Empire. For the Jewish people, this was the worst possible situation. God had given them the Holy Land, and made them into His holy people. To have an unclean, idol worshipping, group of foreigners ruling over them was like blasphemy. They tried very hard to rebel and take back their country, but mostly they failed. So many had befoer come saying “I am the Messiah” only to fail.

The leadership of Israel was corrupt, the priesthood was purchased with bribery, their spiritual leaders were divided, constantly fighting and forming new groups.

All in all, the people were oppressed, divided, living in a state of war. They would have had a constant mental tension, that “we are God’s people, he has promised this to us, why will he not deliver us?”. They were desperately looking forward to the day the Messiah, the saviour king would come and deliver them from their enemies, bring them their freedom, make the land holy and people holy again.

Jesus enters the world at this time. He preaches with power, he prophesies, he casts out demons, heals the blind and lame, feeds the hungry and even raises the dead. Not just his disciples, but many of the people believed that Jesus was THE Messiah that they had been waiting for.

With this background in our minds, let us read the story from John’s point of view.

John 12:12-15

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

There are five important points that we will look at from John’s Gospel.

1. John tells us that this event took place around the time of the most important Jewish feast, called the Passover. If you will remember, the Passover was a celebration of when God delivered the Israelites from 400 years of slavery under the Egyptians with a great many miracles. It is the time when people gathered from all over Israel, and the world, to celebrate together. Do you think that maybe, remembering their past slavery and deliverance, they had a hope that Jesus would bring them deliverance?
2. The people held up the branches of palm trees. For the Jewish people, this was a symbol of victory and triumph. By covering the path with them, they showed Jesus the honour of a king. What do you think that the crowd thought about Jesus as they did this? What did they expect of him.
3. The people cried out “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Matthew says they said “Hosanna to the Son of David!.” Hosanna literally means “pray, save”. The word came to be an expression of praise. The people were saying in a way, “Praise the Lord for his salvation that has come!”. Did they expect Jesus to bring salvation?
4. Jesus came riding on a donkey. At that time, when a king came in peace to a city, he rode a donkey, not a horse. In a way, this is another symbol that he comes as a victorious king to his city. Jesus fulfilled a prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 by entering the city in this way. The Jewish people knew that this prophecy was about the deliverance of Israel from their enemies, when God would destroy all those other nations around them who had oppressed them. Do you think the people recognised this.
5. We are told that this event took place just after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, and that everyone was talking about it. Verse 18 says that they had heard this sign. It was not just a miracle, but a sign to the people confirming that Jesus was a true prophet. If they had a prophet with them who raises the dead, who could stop them from getting their freedom?

Jesus’ disciples, and the crowd that greeted him as he entered Jerusalem, were sure that he was the promised Messiah. They were expecting him to deliver them in the physical sense. The disciples were fighting amongst themselves over who would have the positions of honour in this new kingdom. Who would get to sit on the left or right of the new king. They thought that they would have worldly glory and benefits. But their expectations about what God would do were wrong. They did not know that the plan of God was to bring spiritual salvation to the whole world.

You know, it is possible for us to be like this as Christians, we too can have false expectations about the way in which God will work in our lives. We can take a hold of the promises and prophecies of God, and we start to make plans, we start to think about how we can make things happen ourselves. This has been the sinful nature of man since the fall, trying to do things our own way, without reference to the will of God. We can try and make things happen in our own strength, and we will fall down. We must remember that God will do the work, in His way and in His time.

And we are like the people of Israel in the time of Jesus. We have this gap between what we believe, and what our lives are. We see that Jesus has been victorious over Satan, sin, sickness and death. But still we have to struggle and fight every day of our Christian lives with these things. Still Satan fights with us as he controls so much of this earth. But we must not lose our hope or our faith. Things are not as they seem. When we look around, it may appear that we are losing the fight, that God is not in control. But we know that God has his plan, he will work it out in His way, in His time, not ours. Who would have thought that God would send his Son to die in shame on a cross as the way to save the world, but He did. Who would have thought that God would want to work through such weak creatures like us, but He does.

What should we expect our earthly Christian lives to be? Will we live as earthly kings and princes? Will we have a life free of hardship, of challenges and suffering? Look at the life of Jesus, king of the Jews and the universe. He said that he had no place to lay his head. He wandered around the country serving the people, not as a king. He faced temptations and trials, he suffered, and he died.

Each of us should check our expectations of what it is to live a victorious Christian life. How do we look at life around us, and at the promises of God?

Yes God will deliver us, yes Christ is preparing a place for us. But we must remember that God will work out His plan, in His way, in His time, not as we will expect.

Let us be humble before God, and live with whatever God will bring us, remembering the fulfillment of the victory, the glory and honour, does not come in this life, but in Heaven with our Lord.