The Disciples and a Donkey
Easter Last Words • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
So we have come again to what I would argue to be the most precious seasons of the year for the Christian. You know I love Christmas, but Jesus birth would mean little to us 2,000 years later without the rest of His story. So today we begin the build up to Resurrection Sunday where along with Christians from all around the world are walking together up through the events of Jesus’ last week here on earth.
Jesus’ life was prophesied about throughout the Old Testament and it is introduced to us in the New Testament through the biographies of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Four books that we rightly call the “Gospels” because they give us the story of Jesus which is “good news” to all who believe.
The week begins with Jesus heading into Jerusalem and three of the four Gospels record this scene where Jesus tells two disciples to go get a particular donkey and bring it to him. I will read it from Matthew 21 where it says...
Matthew 21:1–11 (ESV)
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.”
As far as we can tell that is all the information that these two disciples recieved at this point. We... know the rest of the story, but they didn’t. Jesus simply told them where this donkey was and that they should go get it. They likely had no clue that this simple task was about to fulfill a major piece in the story God is writing…so they may have had questions. And it may have looked something like this.
VIdeo: The Disciples and The Donkey
Even though they probably had many questions, they trusted what they knew of Jesus. I love that line, “Yeah, but if you gonna trust anyone…it’s him right?”
The rest of the Palm Sunday scene unfolds like this...
Matthew 21:6–11 (ESV)
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.”
How could these two Disciples have known that this act of trusting Jesus by untying a donkey would lead to an event that would be celebrated 2,000 years later…not to mention the events that would happen later that week and change the world forever.
For over two thousand years followers of Jesus have celebrated the significance of Palm Sunday as the time when the donkey felt the weight of carrying Jesus into Jerusalem to initiate the Passion week. This week that begins with such a joyful celebration...would end with horror at the end of the week with the ultimate act of trust. When Jesus would put His life into His Father’s hands as He carried the weight of the sins of the world on His back.
Our Easter Series this year is entitled “The Last Words of Christ” and we are actually going to start our series with the very last words that Jesus said. The last words that Christ spoke as he hung on the cross are an incredible example to us in how God the Son completely trusted the Father.
They are recorded in Luke 23:46 where it says
46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
When Jesus said those last words and then breathed His final breath, it was as if a fuse got lit on a barrel of gunpowder that was about to blow the kingdom of darkness to smithereens.
When Jesus did what He did and said what He said on the cross, He was trusting everything that he had come to do into the hands of His Heavenly Father.
Curtain and the Tombs
And this was not just about what would happen to Jesus, because Jesus mission was to make a way for you, me and the whole world to be reconciled or re-connected to our creator God who we had long been separated from.
The gospel of Matthew gives some more specific details about what was put in motion when Jesus did and said those final things on the cross. The final act of trust that Jesus showed on the cross was not an ending as much as it was a beginning.
Look how Matthew describes what happened after this fuse was lit by Jesus’ last words. He says...
Matthew 27:50–51(ESV)
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
This Ripped Curtain is more significant that we might realize as we sit here on the other side of the world 2000 years later.
First this massive curtain in the Temple was there to separate sinful man from our holy God. No one but the high priest would ever dare to enter through this curtain and even he was only allowed to do so once a year with a rope round his ankle and bells on the end of his cloak. Do you know why?
The curtain was there to separate the holy place of God from the sinful state of man so that if the High Priest entered without having first dealt with his sin through the right sacrifice…The holiness of God would instantly demand his life.
So when the bells stopped jingling it told those outside the curtain that the priest had forfeited his life and the rope was to pull his body out because no one else could go in.
That is how serious the presence of this curtain was and why it was made to be such a strong and impenetrable wall. Because this curtain was massive, even by our standards today. The Bible tells us that the curtain was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide.
For comparison, here is a picture of an American Flag the same size. Do you see those people at the bottom who are holding it respectfully so it doesn’t touch the ground as the cables and trucks pull it up into place.
Not that is a big flag, but you would need something like 50 of those to equal the curtain in the Temple because while they are the same height and width the Temple curtain was about 4” thick, the width of a man’s hand and so it weighed in about 4 tons. It was sewn together in 72 of these big sections like a quilt and it took 300 priest to carry it in.
So this was not a loose thread that worked its way into a little tear and then started to rip. God ripped this massive curtain apart to send a message.
This barrier between our sinful lives and God’s incredible holiness was no longer needed.
When Jesus trusted the Father with what was next and breathed his last breath He paid the price for the sins of the world so that the separation was no longer needed. But that was not the only effect.
Along with God tearing the curtain and the earthquake shaking everything it says next....
Matthew 27:52-53(ESV)
52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many
So along with God removing the barrier of our sin, he also removed the barrier of death. This was a foretaste of what was to come in the final resurrection of the dead.
Can you imagine the kind of impact that having these saints coming back from the dead would have in pointing to the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice? Someone you knew was dead is now alive because of Jesus.
A Ripped Curtain and a busted tombs would have sent a message that people had to pay attention to.
And that was the point. Those who opposed Jesus, his teachings and claims to be the Son of God wanted to send a clear message to the world by having him murdered by Crucifixion. The urgency to send this message developed a week earlier when Jesus had come into Jerusalem on the donkey to the shouts of the people who were declaring,
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
In the days of the Roman Empire, those would have sounded like fighting words. To have a mass of people come together and call for rescue from the ancestor of their peoples royal line…that would have been seen as a threat to Roman rule.
And make no mistake, the Jewish religious leaders used this to their advantage. Rome may have provided the cross, but it was the jealously of the Jewish leaders that put Jesus on it. The people were following after him and He was getting too powerful so they wanted Jesus to be crucified in order to send a clear message to the world…and it did. It just wasn’t the message that they were intending.
We see some of the strongest evidence in the response of one very unlikely group…the Roman centurion and his men who were charged with keeping watch over the crucifixion.
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
That is a lot of stuff that happened all because Jesus trusted and put His life in the hands of His Heavenly Father.
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
Jesus’ final words on the cross are words expressing full trust. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” That is a powerful moment of trust when all the results of what happens next are put into the hands of someone else.
There is a big basketball game tomorrow night, the NCAA National championship between ____________ and ____________. And putting the results in the hands of someone you trust is a big part of how you coach championship basketball games.
It reminds me of the final scene of the classic basketball movie Hoosiers. Gene Hackman’s stars as the head coach of a little 1-A sized High School called Hickory in the state of Indiana where basketball is king. In Indiana basketball, all the schools were in one big playoff pool that decides who the state champion will be. This little school named Hickory makes an incredible run through the playoffs and makes it all the way to the state championship game against a powerhouse, inner-city team that should dominate the game. But Hickory hangs in there and puts itself into a position to win the game.
On the team, there is one great player named Jimmy Chipwood. Jimmy never misses when he shoots the ball. It always seems to go into the basket no matter the situation. And in this climactic scene, the score is tied as the boys from little Hickory steal the ball right at the end of the championship game and call a time out in time for one last play.
They get into the huddle, and the coach draws up a play to use Jimmy not as the go-to guy but as the decoy. He puts the game winning shot in the hands of another player. But this call changes the energy of the moment as the team seems to deflate with a lack of trust in the success of that play.
And amidst the cheering fans the Couch yells. “What’s wrong with you? What is it?”
Finally, Jimmy Chipwood, with all the pressure of the moment, quietly asks for the ball to be placed in his hands. He looks up and says, “Coach, I’ll make it.”
The coach agrees, seeing how his team trusts him and they run the play to put the ball in Jimmy’s hands to either win or lose the game. As time is running out, Jimmy launches the shot from the top of the key on the court and as the clock hits “zero”…it goes in!!!!
Of course this moment of trust is not a life or death moment; however, it helps illustrate how trust in one can impact many. When the game was on the line, and there was only one shot left to win state, the team all wanted the ball in Jimmy’s hands because they all trusted him the most.
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
And Jesus is our example in all things, including this. Once He completed His part of the rescue mission to save the world from sin, death, the devil and hell, it was time to trust His Father with the rest.
After Jesus did all He was sent to do. He came from heaven to earth, was born of a virgin, lived thirty three years of a completely sinless life even though He was tempted in every way just like we are and He went all the way to the cross and hung there for six hours starting at 9 am and wrapping up about 3 pm. After all of that, He fully trusted Himself into the hands of his father.
Jesus had full confidence that His Father would make the shot that not only would win eternity for us but also that His Father would not let Him decay in a tomb.
Paul taught this about Jesus to the Jews at Antioch in Acts chapter 13. There he quotes from Psalm 16:10 where it says
Psalm 16:10 (NIV)
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
Jesus fully trusted that when He would be laid in a tomb and left there in the cold, damp, darkness where no light would be seen after the stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb to seal Him inside that...God the Father’s hands would be the hands that would raise Him back to life.
That’s why Luke speaks of Jesus final moment in this way
Luke 23:46 (ESV)
46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
It wasn’t some wimpy, uncertain, “I hope this is the right choice” kind of voice. It was loud. He was clear. There was no guesswork as to what Jesus was doing. He was doing just what He said He would do when it came to His life.
We read it this way from John 10 where Jesus says...
John 10:9–11 (ESV)
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
And down to verse 17...
John 10:17–18 (ESV)
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Jesus was saying, “I did my part. I finished my mission. And now the only way to eternity with God the Father is through me.” Even though the veil was torn, that doesn’t mean that all roads lead to heaven now. Jesus is the only way, He is the only door into eternal life with God the Father.
And Jesus willingly went to the cross to make this way possible for us. Evil men with evil intent were involved, but they didn’t take Jesus’ life from Him. No Roman soldiers. No religious mobs. No cowardly governor. Nobody took Jesus’ life from Him. He gave it for us and he entrusted it to the Father.
We wouldn’t recognize this, but when Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” He was quoting a well known Jewish prayer from His day. It was actually part of a routine bedtime prayer that originated from a Psalm that David wrote when he was on the run from King Saul. It is from Psalm 31:5 and it says,
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
They said this prayer at the end of their day, not the start, because first century Jews wanted to make sure that the last thing they did before they drifted of to sleep was to put themselves into the hands of God they trusted.
This was not unlike the prayer that many people learned as kids. “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Or… “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
With these last words, Jesus was putting everything into the His Father’s hands.
Application
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
It all has to do with whose hands you are putting your life into with full trust.
Whose hands are you putting your life into with full trust today? Jesus laid down His life and put it right in the middle of His Father’s hands. And His Father brought Him back to life on the third day that first Easter Sunday morning.
Today, if you are a follower of Jesus and you have put your life into His hands with full trust, then you need to remember two things. First, that despite our “trust issues” Jesus’ disciples are expected to obey Him. Secondly, that He has given you a place in His story. Live it! As the old saying goes, “Those who leave everything in God’s hands will eventually see God’s hand in everything.” Won’t you tell someone about what He has done for you this week?
But If you have not yet put your life into the hands of our Heavenly Father, the question for you remains: “Whose hands are you fully trusting your life into today?”
Would you make the decision to trust in Jesus and put your life into the hands of the Father today? His hands are strong hands. His hands can hold you through anything you ever will face. His hands are the hands you want holding you up and whose hands you want to be holding at the end of your life when you breathe your last breath one day.
Because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, the veil is removed, death is defeated and we can pray along with Him, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit!”
But before He died, Jesus led his disciples in a passover meal that he updated to include the new covenant that was established by his death and resurrection. We call that experience “communion” and so at this time I would like to ask those who are preparing to get things ready as the rest of us prepare our hearts for this experience...
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