Palm Sunday 2024

Good Morning Church! This morning in recognition of Palm Sunday we are doing something that we have never done here. As you know I have invited you all to join me in a fast this week as we approach Resurrection Day, to prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate the most important day in all of history, Resurrection Day. But, If you don’t know what Palm Sunday is, it is the Sunday before Easter. It is the day that Jesus was presented to the world as the Passover Lamb.

Jesus Christ came to this earth to seek and to save the lost. And now was the time, and this was the place as He entered the City of Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. It was His last few days of ministry before going to the cross. As He rode in the people responded. In Matthew we read...

Matthew 21:9 NKJV

9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna can be defined as “I beg you to save!” or “please deliver us!”

But before the Resurrection, He would endure the cross. This morning I want us to look together at the cross. Not just at the cross, we will talk more about that next week. But this morning, I want us to consider the last words of Jesus while He was on the cross. Jesus made seven statements after the nails had been pounded through His hands and His feet. I’ve asked some of the men from our church to join me in the teaching this morning, each one of these men have been assigned one of the statements to share with us.

When we finish, we will share Holy communion together. We will take them in their apparent order when you combine the Gospel accounts. The first with be from Ron Miller.

Ron Miller

Luke 23:34 NKJV

34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

Sean Veilleux

Luke 23:35–43 NKJV

35 And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” 36 The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” 38 And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS 39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Jim Braley

John 19:26–27 NKJV

26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

Brian Eggert

Matthew 27:45–46 NKJV

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

I want you to consider for a second the excitement you have seen, you have heard about, that you have read about, concerning the eclipse of 2024. Maine is a destination center, and many plan to travel to experience an event that is going to last for about 3 and a half minutes, not quite that long depending upon where you are viewing it from. People are making plans, cities are making preparations, it is a planned event. This was not, and this did not last minutes, but hours.

Jesus was hanging on the cross already as the darkness came upon them. It says it was the sixth hour which would have been the middle of the day, the noon time hour, and the land became dark. God made it so man couldn’t look upon Jesus as he suffered on their behalf. Paid the price for their sin, took on the shame. Became sin for us.

Some of these statements are so personal, so transparent, some revealing to us His humanity, and some His deity. But in my mind, none more important than this. This pain and suffering was shadowed from man from the 6th hour until the 9th, from noon until 3. Three hours he hung there. The thoughts in His mind are not shared with us. Where the bible is silent, I dare not speak. But then as the sun returns, He cries out, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. The bible tells us that some thought that he was calling for Elijah.

See the statement was spoken in a mix of languages Eli, Eli was Hebrew, and lama sabachthani is Aramaic, and perhaps that caused some confusion. For centuries theologians have dissected this statement. It is an interesting discussion. See the bible tells us that the righteous God has eyes that are pure and cannot look upon evil. And we know, that when that cross, Jesus didn’t become a sinner, He never sinned, but He became sin for us. Theologically interesting because He says why have you forsaken Me? God, where are you. Why did you leave Me? But we know that even in that moment when Christ felt completely abandoned.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (NKJV)

19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,...

verse 21

2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In that moment, He was forsaken so that we never would be. He was forsaken, so that we could be saved. On that cross, He took upon Himself every sin that we ever commited, every filthy thought, every evil deed, so that we could take on His righteousness, for there was no other way.

Forsaken, but God was in Him, it’s too much to wrap our heads around. So I want to focus on this. I don’t know the thoughts of Jesus during the hours of darkness, but here He speaks them out loud. Where are you God? Why did You leave Me God? His toughest moment of the passion week wasn’t the false accusations, it wasn’t getting his beard plucked from His face, or being whipped, over and over and over again. Not the nails driven into His flesh it was this, this moment. But let’s look again at His words.

Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)

...“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

In His greatest moment of pain and despair His cry is My God, My God. Expressing His relationship, expressing that even when He feels forgotten, forsaken, abandoned, He is His God. This is a model for us, when we feel that God is not there, that He’s no longer listening. Because Jesus was forsaken, we never will be. He will never leave us or forsake us. Cry out My God in your time of need.

Matt Foster

John 19:28 NKJV

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”

Brian Eggert

John 19:30 NKJV

30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

It’s this statement that makes all the others matter. Only in the Gospel of John do we have it recorded. The Greek word translated here as finished in the is tetelestai, it was a term used in accounting that means “paid in full.” The night before his Crucifixion, the Bible tells us that Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

Mark 14:33–36 NKJV

33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” 35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”

If there is any other way, but there was no other way for payment to be made in full.

John 19:30 NKJV

30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

See when someone sins against us, or perhaps owes us a debt, we can recognize how much we ourselves have been forgiven, and tell them to forget about it. Say they owe you money and you find out they have come upon even greater misfortune. “Forget it,” you don’t owe me anything. We can chose to do that, but God can’t. At least not in the same way.

See God is loving, He is kind, full of mercy. He is full of compassion, He is even slow to anger. But, God is also just. He is the God of Justice. That means He’s not arbitrary. If He forgives me just because He feels like it, well then what about you? Or if He forgives you, and you’ve done worse stuff than me, then how is that fair if He doesn’t forgive me?

See we are all born owing a debt that we cannot pay. We can thank Adam for that. Adam sinned and passed that nature down to all of humanity. We aren’t born and then become sinners, we are born sinners. The God of justice says that the wages of sin is death, separation from Him, and that is a debt that must be paid, He requires it. He is just.

When Jesus came as God in the flesh He also was fully man. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, through a virgin girl, Mary. He was without sin, and never sinned, not even in thought. As I said previously, on the cross He became sin for us. Now, I wish I could explain to you theologically what occured in this moment, but I can’t. Anyone that tells you that they can, that they have the answer, is only speculating.

We know only what the bible tells us, but what it tells us is glorious! In this moment, not during the darkness, not when they mocked Him, not when He saved one of the others on the cross that day, but at this moment Jesus realized that it was finished. The payment was paid in full. Those that would place their faith and trust in Him, His finished work on the cross, would be saved! Those of us that who were once “dead in our trespasses and sins” can now be made alive in Christ. Because it is finished we are no longer condemned by The Law, but now be can be cleansed by love. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and by His sacrifical death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, the debt has been paid in full, tetelestai.

Nick Higgins

Luke 23:46 NKJV

46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.