2019-04-14 – Luke 19:28-44 – Palm Sunday

Bible Text: Luke 19:28-44 | Preacher: Pastor Jerry Higdon | Series: Holy Week | 2019-04-14 – Luke 19:28-44 – Palm Sunday
Good morning everyone. It is so nice to be able to spend some time with you all in fellowship with the Lord. Thank you and God bless you for being with us today.
(Lottie Moon Missionary Offering; Easter Breakfast)

      (Wave the Palm Branches – Hosanna in the Highest!)

This week ahead is called Passion Week (also known as Holy Week) It is the time from Palm Sunday (Today) through Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday).
Also included within Passion Week are Maundy Thursday (The Last Supper), Good Friday (Christ died on the cross for us), Holy Saturday, and then Next Sunday being Easter (where we celebrate Christ rising from the grave). Passion Week is so named because of the passion with which Jesus willingly went to the cross in order to pay for the sins of His people. It’s a blessed time to be with family.. and it is a day where people actually consider going to church..  So consider Inviting somebody this Next Sunday especially.. We will not be having our Sunday School, but instead will have an Easter Morning Breakfast starting at 9 am, okay?

Again, our Holy week starts with today’s recognition of Palm Sunday, where people were waiving Palm branches to welcome Jesus into the city of Jerusalem.

“Everyone who lined the streets had a different reason for waving those palms. Some were political activists; they’d heard Jesus had supernatural power, and they wanted him to use it to free Israel from Roman rule. Others had loved ones who were sick or dying. They waved branches, hoping for physical healing. Some were onlookers merely looking for something to do, while others were genuine followers who wished Jesus would establish himself as an earthly king. Jesus was the only one in the parade who knew why he was going to Jerusalem – to die. He had a mission, while everyone else had an agenda.” (Bill Hybels)

Hold up your Bibles and turn if you will to Luke 19:28-44 – Triumphant Entry– PAGE 932 “The Inspired, Infallible, Living Word of God”  PRAY

In God’s HIS-story lesson today, Jesus had just left Jericho and a few days earlier, raised his dear friend Lazarus from the grave, healed several people, and performed many other miracles.. so news about him was spreading rapidly..

28 When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples 30 and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a young donkey tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”

 

Now Jesus was on his way to fulfill His life purpose and mission, to die on the cross. He was making public now His claim to be their Messiah and King of Israel in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The King was coming on the foal of a donkey; it was an exact fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy, Zechariah 9:9.
It says “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” That was prophesized some 500 years before Christ was born.. and oh what a privilege it would have been to be there that day, even for the Donkey’s owner. Could you imagine being just at that right spot, as was prophesized hundred’s of years earlier, that your donkey and colt would usher in King Jesus one day. But that is exactly what happened.

You ever wonder why a donkey was used and not a stallion? You would think that Jesus would ride in on a stallion, wouldn’t you? While horses are mentioned in the Bible, they are almost always in relation to kings of war. While donkeys are usually mentioned in relation the common man, and with peace. Jesus was truly the God-man King of Peace, and thus the donkey’s colt was called for.

 

32 So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the young donkey, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the donkey?” 34 “The Lord needs it,” they said. 35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the donkey, they helped Jesus get on it.

I wonder what the Disciples were thinking as they walked toward the village. Would there be a donkey colt waiting for them? And if so, would the owner just give it up for their needs? But then it all resulted in exactly as Jesus.. and Zachariah had prophesized it would happen. That must have been awesome to take part of and to witness.

36 As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. 37 Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:

38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!

In Matthew 21:9 it says the crowds shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” “Hosanna, Hosanna!” – But what does that Hosanna even mean?

You might know that the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew. The New Testament was first written in Gree.  Our English word “hosanna” comes from a Hebrew phrase hoshiya na. That Hebrew phrase is found in one solitary place in the whole Old Testament, Psalm 118:25, where it literally means, “Save, please!” It’s a cry to God for help. Like when somebody is drowning they may holler: “Help, save me.. Hoshiya na!”

Then there is a Shift in the Meaning – “Save, please!” when it was translated from Hebrew to Greek, and it became to mean Salvation or “Salvation has come!” The Jews were looking for a Savior.. and the Messiah/Christ/Savior was finally here!

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were to keep silent, the stones would shout out.”

Now when the creator of the universe, The God/man that walks on water and controls the weather and the seas, says that even “the stones would cry out”..  could you imagine?   I am not going to go there.. but I wonder what would a stone would say.. lol

These people wanted salvation, they wanted the Messiah to march into the city and free them from Roman control. They wanted to be free from the Roman oppression, even if by force. They really wanted another exodus, but this time one that would expel the Romans from their lives. Sadly, what they got by just the next Friday morning was instead a beaten and exhausted man Jesus in Roman custody, rejected by most everyone, standing next to an infamous criminal called Barabbas. They wanted a hero king, but they would instead see a bloodied blasphemer, or so they thought. The jubilant sounds of the crowd that Palm Sunday, would later be betrayed by the sounds of their stony hearts. “Blessed is he!” would soon become “crucify him!” So, so Sad Indeed.. Forgive us dear Jesus Christ.

41 As [Jesus] approached and saw the city, he wept for it, 42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”

He wept over it; by Enrique Simonet, 1892.

Jesus was weeping for Israel. He knew what was coming in the few days ahead. Jesus was fully God.. yet fully Man..  and he wept.

Interesting thing is just before this event.. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the tomb.. Lazarus was dead..  and Jesus’s loved ones, his friends Martha and Mary were crying..  and the shortest verse in the New testament conveys at that point.. that “Jesus wept.”.   These were emotional times for Jesus and His followers..  Here Jesus wept because He knew what was going to happen.. His beloved city of Jerusalem was going to reject Him as their Messiah Savior.. And shortly after that they would be destined for ruin.  And just as Jesus posed in this passage.. it was only in A.D. 70 that Jerusalem was then destroyed.
QUOTE: eyewitnesstohistory.com “In victory, the Romans slaughtered thousands. Of those sparred from death: thousands more were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt, others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public. The Temple’s sacred relics were taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory.”

Jesus knew all that would happen.. This text is later proof of it..  and so He wept.

This morning, we acted out what happened that day when Christ entered into Jerusalem.. We waved Palm Branches and sang “Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest!”.  The Bible says that one day EVERYONE will bow down and declare Jesus Christ as Lord..

The apostle John wrote about this (our future) in Revelation 7 verse 9, it reads:
9 After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:  “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!”

Don’t you just love the Bibles consistency..

Jesus came into Jerusalem that day with Palm Branches waving, and we will stand before Him again in heaven, one day soon, waving those same Palm Branches. Finally everyone will see Jesus for who He really is, know Him and praise Him, honor Him as their Lord and Savior forever more. Amen?

Jesus Loves you.. He weeps for you.. and shortly after He went through that Jerusalem city gate.. He died for you and me.. How grateful we all should be.

This story of the triumphal entry is one of the few incidents in the life of Jesus which appears in all four Gospel accounts (Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19). Putting the four accounts together, it becomes clear that the triumphal entry was a significant event, not only to the people of Jesus’ day, but to Christians throughout history. We celebrate Palm Sunday to remember that momentous occasion.

Again, this week ahead is called Holy Week or Passion Week. Maundy Thursday celebrates The Last Supper. Good Friday is when Christ died on the cross for us. We should want to be good knowing what He did for us. And then Next Sunday being Easter where we celebrate Christ rising from the grave. As a Christian, this should all mean something special for you. It is a time of reflection, and a time for us to get ourselves more in-line with God’s Will. Jesus loves you so much. He put himself upon the cross at Calvary for you. We can now have eternal peace knowing that we get to go to heaven because we have accepted Jesus Christ’s payment for our sins.

I pray your week ahead is special. I pray you feel the love of Christ as you go forward, and that you share that love, reflect that love to others, for it is God’s will that you do. Wave your palm branches brothers and sisters, and show your love for Jesus to the world.

Would you please stand with me now, as we close with an invitation
Let us sing: Amazing Grace.. “A FRIENDLY CHURCH IN A FRIENDLY TOWN”