The Trustworthy Word: Palm Sunday: Passion Week Part 1

The final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry began with a unique entrance and a warm welcome to Jerusalem on Sunday. In just a few short days, he would be treated very differently. After our Lord raised Lazarus from the grave, many Jewish leaders wanted to see both of them dead. They could feel their grip over the people slipping as they turned their eyes toward Jesus. For this reason, Jesus and the disciples went East for a while until the time of Passover approached. On the way back to Jerusalem, he ministered in Jericho. After restoring sight to two blind men and enjoying a meal in the home of a short tax collector named Zacchaeus, Jesus and his disciples continued traveling toward Jerusalem but first they returned to Bethany, where they stayed with their friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

The following events are recorded in Matthew 21:1-17, Luke 19:29-44, John 12:12-19 and Mark 11:1-11, which I have quoted below:

1. Jesus Stayed Among Friends

When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say “the Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.”

Bethany, which means house of dates, is a village located along the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, about two miles outside of the city. Bethphage, meaning house of unripe figs, is a little over a mile south of Bethany. This is where Jesus and the disciples slept each night during the last week of his life. He would minister and teach in Jerusalem during the day and then seek refuge and rest among friends in the evening. Jesus is also called Emmanuel which means God with Us. Our Lord chose to spend time with people who loved him and to value those relationships during the last week of his earthly life. Our Creator is a relational God. We were created for a purpose which was deep fellowship and a loving relationship with Him. Jesus would soon redeem that purpose, restoring our relationship, and the manner in which he chose to spend the week of the Passion reminds us of the essence of that mission. I have to think that spending time with those he loved so much and those who had been his close companions helped him remember what all this was for and gave him strength to endure the trial that awaited him.

2. Jesus Used An Anticipated Means of Travel

Upon their arrival at Bethany, Jesus sent two disciples over to Bethphage to retrieve a donkey and bring it to him. Jesus had the men promise to return the colt when he was finished with it. Matthew’s Gospel adds that the colt was with its mother and they delivered both back to Jesus.

So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt? They answered them just as Jesus had said: so they let them go. They brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it and He sat on it.

Having displayed his power over death by raising Lazarus from the grave, and his power over creation by giving sight to the blind, Jesus now displayed his omniscience, giving specific instructions about the future. Matthew adds an important explanation as to why this is so important:

This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Tell Daughter Zion, See your King is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

Some of these words are recorded in Isaiah 62:11 and then again in more detail in Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you, he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Many Jews expected a worldly deliverance from subjugation to Roman rule, but Jesus had a much more important mission. He came to liberate us from the grip of Satan. He came to redeem us from the dominion of darkness. He came to free us from bondage and slavery to sin. Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem that day, not on a large, fully grown, well-trained and intimidating battle horse, but on a young donkey. He did not come that day to conquer the physical city of Jerusalem through force. He entered humbly, to bring us forgiveness. If an ancient King was on a mission of peace, he would not ride a war horse, but rather a donkey. King Jesus was on a mission of peace that day. He came to inaugurate a Kingdom that is not of this world. Luke informs us that as Jesus approached the city he wept, if only they knew what would bring them peace.

3. Jesus Hears the People Cry For Salvation

Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the trees. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

John clarifies that the leafy branches were Palm fronds. This is why we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry on Palm Sunday one week before Resurrection Sunday. Some speculate as to who was in the crowd and why they were there. John also answers these questions. The people who gathered to greet Jesus were those who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When they heard that Jesus was coming, the came out specifically for the purpose of greeting Him. They recognized that he was their Messiah and that he was bringing David’s Kingdom, though they didn’t realize it was a spiritual Kingdom. Luke notes that they shouted loudly and joyfully. The word Hosanna is a cry, asking God for salvation. Some translate it as save us, or save now. It’s like crying out to God Please save us. They were basically quoting from Psalm 118: 25-26 in which Hosanna is translated this way:

Save us, we pray, O LORD!

O LORD, we pray, give us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

The word Hosanna cries out for atonement. It wouldn’t be long before Jesus would provide such propitiation. Jesus had indeed come to save. It was his mission.

Matthew continues the story with more detail. On that day, or perhaps the next:

4. Jesus Responds to the Cries of the People

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying “Who is this?” And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee!” Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. he said to them, "It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but your are making it a den of thieves."

The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children in the temple complex cheering “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?” Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Herod, along with corrupt religious leaders, had basically monetized religion. They were living high on the 'something other than' hog at the expense of the poor. They had placed themselves in between the people and God, creating barriers to worship by adding to God's word and by profiting from selling the things people needed to make sacrifices to atone for their sin. Jesus came to tear the system down and replace it. He would be the last sacrifice ever needed to atone for sin. They were all obsolete. He would provide what the people needed for their spiritual lives at great cost to himself and at no cost to us. He started by literally removing them from his house. Then he went about the business of his kingdom.

Faith was great on this day and Jesus healed many people. The religious leaders were displeased that the children were praising the Lord. Jesus quoted to them from Psalm 8:2

From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.

There is power in praise and while people cried out for salvation and the children praised Jesus, the religious leaders were powerless to act. There is a special purity in the prayers and worship of young children. Jesus had previously said to let the little children come to him, that we must receive him the way a child would, that their angels always see the Father’s face and that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as them. God ordained that their praise would create a stronghold. A stronghold is a place of safety, protection and strength. Ancient Kings would build mighty fortress castles to protect themselves. That day, through the praise of precious children, a spiritual stronghold was constructed to give us a foretaste of what the Kingdom of God is like.

That day people received miraculous physical healing. Soon, they would be able to receive miraculous spiritual healing as well. When we praise God, we enter into His stronghold. When we cry out to Him, asking for salvation, He encloses us and keeps us safely within his love.

Conclusion

What is so remarkable is that the religious leaders saw Jesus performing these miracles, and yet they still wanted to kill him. They saw the proof that he was the Messiah but they either did not believe, or they did not want to relinquish power. Perhaps it was a little bit of both. Within a few days, they would seize their opportunity to end his life...or so they thought.

Many prophecies were fulfilled those days in Jerusalem. The secret was out. Jesus was the Messiah. Some rejoiced over this. Some doubted. Others resisted, as they still do today. The crowds cried out to him for salvation. Within a few days they would see that salvation, but it would come in a much different manner than what they expected.

Just as the people cried out to Jesus for salvation, the Bible assures us that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. When we cry out to God for salvation, we are rescued, forgiven of our sins, redeemed, made new and restored into a right relationship with Him. Have you cried out to Him?