Palm Sunday Triumph (1)
Holy Week 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Mark 11:1-10]
1 As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, 2 and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. 3 “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” 4 They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. 5 Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. 8 And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. 9 Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] The Hebrew calendar is different from our Gregorian calendar. We have January, February, March, April, and so on. The Hebrews had Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, and so on. The first month of the Hebrew calendar is Nisan, which falls between March and April in our year.
Just before the end of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, God told His people, “On the tenth of (Nisan)… take a lamb for (your)selves… (a) lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old… You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of (Nisan), then… kill it at twilight… take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses… For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt… against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord,” (Exod. 12:3-7, 12).
That was the first Passover, and ever since that first one, God’s people were to select their lambs for Passover sacrifice on Nisan 10, actually sacrifice them on Nisan 14, and observe the Passover beginning at twilight (i.e., sundown) on Nisan 15.
I tell you all this because John 12 tells us that Jesus was in Bethany, the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, “six days before the Passover,” (John 12:1).
Six days before the Passover observance Nisan 15 would’ve been Nisan 9.
Then John tells us that “on the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him,” (John 12:12).
The next day after Nisan 9 would’ve been Nisan 10, the day God’s people were to select their unblemished lambs for sacrifice on Nisan 14.
While there are always debates about dates when it comes to events in the Bible, I believe that Jesus—the Lamb of God who would be sacrificed to cover our sin—rode into Jerusalem on Nisan 10.
As one writer put it, “The stage was set for the events of the final week of His life, leading to his suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Just a few days later on Nisan 14, as upwards of 250,000 lambs were being sacrificed in the temple courts according to God’s instruction in Exodus 12, Jesus would be nailed to a cross,” (Karen Engle).
That’s why the NT calls Jesus “Christ our Passover,” (1 Cor. 5:7).
[CIT] In the passage we read in Mark, Jesus entered Jerusalem on Nisan 10, the first day of the last week of His life and was hailed as the triumphant King of Israel.
But the people who hailed Him as King, didn’t understand Him.
Do we understand Him any better?
[PROP] We need to embrace Jesus as King, but what sort of King are we embracing?
[TS] This morning I want us to focus on two CHARACTERISTICS of King Jesus, and then I want us to focus on two more tonight.
We find the first CHARACTERISTIC in Mark 11:7…
Exposition
Exposition
When we embrace Jesus, we embrace a humble King (Mark 11:7).
When we embrace Jesus, we embrace a humble King (Mark 11:7).
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it.
[EXP] The colt that Jesus rode was a young donkey that no one had ever ridden. Matthew tells us that there was a grown donkey and a young colt, but Mark focuses on the young colt because Jesus rode that young donkey in Jerusalem. The Jews thought such a donkey was especially suited for holy purposes. No donkey could’ve served a more holy purpose than this never-before-ridden donkey on this day.
But what does riding on a colt have to do with Jesus being a humble King? The answer to that question is found in Zechariah 9:9.
The end of Zechariah is about God’s salvation and God’s Shepherd. When this word from God comes through the Prophet Zechariah, God’s people are under Persian rule, but Zechariah 9 proclaims God’s divine judgment on the nations around Judah; it proclaims God’s protection over His people; and it proclaims the coming King.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The coming King will be just. He will bring salvation. And how will God’s people recognize Him? He will be mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
When the folks in Jerusalem saw Jesus riding in on that young donkey, they thought they saw divine judgment on the Gentile nations riding in.
Jesus will certainly bring divine judgment on all nations when He comes again, but He rode into Jerusalem on this occasion to bring judgment on sin and death.
And Jesus would bring judgment on sin and death through His humility.
Zechariah 9:9 said the coming King would be humble. We think of kings as upholding justice in their kingdom, and Zechariah 9:9 said the coming King would be just. We think of kings as saving their people when necessary, and Zechariah 9:9 said the coming King would bring salvation. But the King foretold in Zechariah 9:9 would uphold justice and save His people through His humility.
How would that happen? How did Jesus uphold justice and saves His people through His humility?
It is spelled out for us in Philippians 2.
In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippian believers to humble themselves before one another, to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves,” (Phil. 2:3). Paul said this is how we should live because this is what Jesus did for us in His humility. Listen to Philippians 2:5-8…
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
[ILLUS] The humility of Jesus is incomparable. The closest comparison I can think of would be the original lyric in the hymn Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed which said, “Alas, and did my Savior bleed And did my Sov’reign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I?”
If we could imagine what it would be like for you or I to literally become a worm, we would only get a bit closer to understanding what it was for Jesus—who was very God of very God—to become a man.
[EXP] But Philippians 2 doesn’t say that the lowest point of Jesus’ humility was Him taking on flesh as a man. No, the lowest point of Jesus’ humility was His dying as a man on the cross. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
This is the humble way in which Jesus upheld the justice of God and brought us salvation:
He took on flesh and lived the life of perfect obedience before God that we should have lived.
He died on a Roman cross to pay the price of death for our sins so that God “would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus,” (Rom. 3:26).
[APP] Do you have faith in this lowly Jesus? Do you have faith in this humble King who rode into Jerusalem declaring to be the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed Son of God?
Have you given up the delusion that you’re perfect or that you’re good enough to get into Heaven?
Have you trusted in the perfect righteousness of Jesus?
Have you trusted in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus?
Only the humble Jesus who took on flesh to be crucified in our place can perfectly justify us before God who is perfectly just.
[TS] Do you know this humble King? Will you humble yourself before Him? Will you submit to Him?
I think submission is the idea behind the coats in Mark 11:8.
When we embrace Jesus, we embrace a ruling King (Mark 11:8a).
When we embrace Jesus, we embrace a ruling King (Mark 11:8a).
8 And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.
[EXP] One day the Prophet Elisha told a young prophet-in-training, “Search out Jehu… and bid him rise from among his brothers… take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have anointed you king over Israel,’”. The young prophet did as instructed. When Jehu, was commander of Israel’s army, told his men what the Lord had said, 2 Kings 9:13 says…
13 Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king!”
What was the point of these men placing their garments under Jehu on the bare steps? What did it have to do with their proclamation of Jehu as king of Israel?
Well, their coats on the bare steps served as a makeshift, temporary throne for King Jehu, and their coats under him and their proclamation, “Jehu is king,” communicated to all Israel, “King Jehu reigns over us!”
Jehu then cut a bloody path through wicked men and women who worshipped idols and murdered God’s prophets. At one point he tricked worshippers of Baal in Israel into revealing themselves. Then he killed them, and eradicated Baal out of Israel (2 Kings 10:28).
[EXP] As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on His donkey and the folks laid their coats in the rode before Him just as Jehu’s men once laid their coats under him, maybe the folks who saw Jesus that day were thinking, “Here comes our Jehu! Here’s comes our king! He will slaughter our enemies! King Jesus reigns over us!”
But King Jesus had not come to cut the blood from His enemies but to pour out His blood for His enemies.
The folks who laid their coats in the road didn’t understand this. In fact, the Apostles had a hard time understanding this. They too were looking for a sort of mighty King Jehu rather than a crucified King Jesus.
When Jesus first told them that He would be crucified and resurrected, Peter had the audacity to rebuke Jesus, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Jesus responded by telling Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s,” (Mark 8:31-32).
When Jesus told them a second time that he would be crucified and resurrected, the Apostles, “did not understand (His) statement, and they were afraid to ask Him,” (Mark 9:31-32). After the strong rebuke that Peter received, we understand why they hesitant to ask any questions.
And then by the third time Jesus told them about His upcoming crucifixion and resurrection, James and John are so confused that they think it a good time to ask to rule alongside Jesus when He reigned on His throne (Mark 10:33-37). James and John were so confused that they were thinking about their own greatness rather than the suffering of Jesus (Mark 10:41-45).
But the folks who laid their coats before Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem—the folks who were in effect saying, “Jesus rules over us!”—these folks weren’t thinking about the suffering of Jesus either.
Their king would reign on a throne!
Their king would slaughter their enemies!
Their king would exalt them as a nation once again!
Their king would never die on a cross.
They were confused.
We must not be.
[APP] We must understand that King Jesus ascended to His throne at God the Father’s right hand where He has all authority in heaven and on earth, but He ascended to His throne after He was raised up on the cross and after He was raised up from the dead.
What I’m saying is, King Jesus rules over us from His throne because of what He did for us on His cross.
This is what Philippians 2 says. In the passage I’ve already mentioned, remember what it said about Jesus and the cross in Philippians 2:8…
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
But then comes the rule and reign, the exaltation of King Jesus in vv. 9-11…
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Oh we submit to a reigning King! And gladly, joyfully submit because we can see what those in Jerusalem could not see on that day when they laid their coats before Him!
We can see that His death was the plan all along!
We can see that His cross was the price that He paid to save us!
We can see that He has earned the right to reign over us as King because of what He did for us on the cross!
Bow your knee to King Jesus!
Bow your knee to King Jesus joyfully! Bow your knee to King Jesus gladly!
Lay your coat under Him, and declare, “King Jesus reigns over me because He died for me!”
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]
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