Welcome to Palm Sunday here at SRC. In our Christians faith Palm Sunday, is the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem for His final week on the earth…a week later He would rise from the dead. We see this moment in our sermon verse today

They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 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!” —Matthew 21:7-9

Jesus has been on the way to Jerusalem for a few weeks. Of significance in that journey, we see Jesus for the THIRD time tell of His coming death

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” —Matthew 20:17-19

He arrives on the last possible day to be involved in the full celebration of Passover. The place is packed, some historians say that there could have been 110,000 people in Jerusalem that week.

This was the week before Passover, the most important festival of the year. Passover celebrated an action of God and we see it in Exodus 12

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. —Exodus 12:12-13

So, Jesus is coming to town for the celebration of this great feast. He books a room outside of town by a few miles. Then he says,

Then Jesus sent two disciples, 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. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” —Matthew 21:1-3

To give us some context, It is like He is asking these followers, “go into town to the car dealer and you will find a new 4 wheel drive pickup truck. It will be brand new, now one has ever driven it will still have a sticker on the front window.

The key will be in the ignition. If the salesman or security guards ask you a question, tell them that the Lord needs it and will send it back in just a little while.

Jesus in His mission here on earth, is using the donkey to fulfill an OT prophecy concerning the Messiah. The prophecy Jesus is going to fulfill comes from

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. —Zechariah 9:9

As Jesus enters the town, we see the people start taking off their coats and collecting palm branches, waving them and throwing them in the road in front of the donkey.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 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!” —Matthew 21:8-9*

Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna- in Hebrew means “please save or save now” It is used in Jewish and Christian worship to give adoration and praise to God. It was part of the crowd proclaiming… Jesus was the Messiah.

Do you think that some of the people involved in the parade on Palm Sunday were also in the crowd outside of Pilot’s residence on Friday morning?

We see a different crowd a few days later

And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. —Mark 15:12-14

Today on Palm Sunday it is easy to be caught up in the excitement of the crowd. It is easy to celebrate as the parade is passing by and easy to look forward to Easter morning.

From here it is easy to leap from This Sunday to Next Sunday and to skip that dark Friday. During this week will you prepare yourselves for a full celebration of the proof of our faith demonstrated on Resurrection Sunday?

It is a day to leave what the world wants and a willingness to break out of secular expectations and work toward God’s desires for you.

His direction and plan offer you eternal promises not just the worldly love of now.