Jesus is coming - Palm Sunday 2024
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Today is Palm Sunday, the day that we celebrate with believers around the world this triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as King of peace.
This is the beginning of what we celebrate as Holy Week. Historically, if Jesus would have entered the city today - he would be crucified on Friday, and resurrected on Sunday. In that is our hope of eternal life, our salvation, our everything. The Story starts in Matthew 21.
In Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12. The story is repeated, with different details each time.
This morning we are going into the 19th chapter of the Book of Luke, where we find Jesus going into Jerusalem, but we are going to back up a little bit in the journey, to catch a parable that Jesus taught on his way.
And I want to go into this passage because 1 - it is on the way to Jerusalem, just one more day of walking. and 2. because it examplifies who/where we are today.
11 As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem, and they thought the kingdom of God was going to appear right away.
12 Therefore he said, “A nobleman traveled to a far country to receive for himself authority to be king and then to return.
13 He called ten of his servants, gave them ten minas, and told them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’
15 “At his return, having received the authority to be king, he summoned those servants he had given the money to, so that he could find out how much they had made in business.
16 The first came forward and said, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten more minas.’
17 “ ‘Well done, good servant!’ he told him. ‘Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, have authority over ten towns.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five minas.’
19 “So he said to him, ‘You will be over five towns.’
20 “And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it safe in a cloth
21 because I was afraid of you since you’re a harsh man: you collect what you didn’t deposit and reap what you didn’t sow.’
22 “He told him, ‘I will condemn you by what you have said, you evil servant! If you knew I was a harsh man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,
23 why, then, didn’t you put my money in the bank? And when I returned, I would have collected it with interest.’
24 So he said to those standing there, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’
26 “ ‘I tell you, that to everyone who has, more will be given; and from the one who does not have, even what he does have will be taken away.
27 But bring here these enemies of mine, who did not want me to rule over them, and slaughter them in my presence.’ ”
I wanted to share this parable with us this morning, because it describes our place in history right now.
And some of it, is horrifying.
The way that it is described here that the people who reject Jesus will be handled, is scary.
We are going to talk about that a little bit this morning.
Where we will focus though, is on these instructions to believers.
The expectation
They were getting close to Jerusalem.
The crowd that was with Jesus would soon go before him with palm branches like those we are celebrating with this morning.
And he knows there is something on their hearts.
They thought - the kingdom of God is coming down right now.
It was basically one day away, in their minds.
And what they wanted, what they hoped for, was good.
They had been following Jesus for a while, they had seen miracles. They saw Jesus raise Lazurus from the dead. They knew the things that were said about him.
And so he tells them this story.
The Authority to be King
A noble man travels to a distant land to receive the authority to be king.
Herod the great and his son had to do this - they recieved their authority to be kings from Rome, and they had to go in person to get it.
Jesus receives his authority from God the Father.
The trip that must be made
Jesus knew he was going away.
The instructions for those who wait
Do Business while I am away.
The nobleman in the story gives his servants a portion. An investment. And he says Do business.
We do business on behalf of the King.
His seal. His authority. His words out of our mouths.
We do business for the benefit of the King.
His glory. His profit. His Return.
Doing nothing is not an option.
22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror.
24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.
25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.
5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
What do we have ?
It may be just a little bit.
But how are we going to use it?
We all have:
Time
Talent
Treasure
Time - everyone has the same amount of this. Everyone has the exact same amount of time. We get 24 hours in each day. Each year, we have over 31 Million seconds.
Talent - this is going to be different for everyone. What are the gifts and abilities that you have that are unique to you?
We did a test here a few years ago - and the results were basically that everyone was perfectly assigned to where they needed to be in the church.
Which I didn’t necessarily disagree with, but it was funny.
Treasure - This is the biggest divide. Some of us are scraping pennies together. Some of us are sleeping like Scrooge McDuck on piles of Gold.
And having, or not having, isn’t really the problem. The question becomes how did you get it, and what are you doing with it now.
Those seem to be discussed with the other parable of the talents.
What is it that we all share?
The Gospel - this is the thing that has been left with us.
If you don’t have it - you can’t do business with it.
23 Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.
Testimony - what are our experiences of God? We praise his name when we TALK about those things. When we share his goodness. When we give him credit for the things that he has done.
What are we going to do with it - how are we going to make it work for the kingdom of God.
How do we make - the things that we have been given grow into the next and the more things.
When he comes back - we will all give an account.
The Reward:
More and abundantly more.
27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done.
The warning:
There are two warnings: 1, for the one who did nothing with what was given. 2, for the subjects who rebel.
We know - we can’t just do nothing.
We have the things that we have, as big or as small as they might be, for the kingdom of God.
The third servant doesn’t seem to have the relationship with the king that the first two had. He considered him a harsh man, when in reality he was generous.
We can find ourselves in that position too.
We get to a place where we get angry with God because something doesn’t go our way - when we never trusted it with him to begin with.
Those who won’t serve the coming king, he doesn’t tolerate.
Only three of the servants returned - or at least there are only three who we see..
One commentator said “Hard thoughts of God are a common mark of all unconverted people. They first misrepresent him, then try to excuse themselves for not loving and serving him”
The subjects who hate him, are destroyed. That is the promise of the gospel. Hell awaits those who refuse the grace of the Lord. Because they have sinned, just like I have sinned, but refused the gift of the cross.
Conclusion:
So here we sit.
Those of us who have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Anxious for his return.
Anxious for the King that was promised, and the kingdom that comes with it.
We wait. Like the disciples.
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
Acts 1:6
With a mina.
Just a little bit.
19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out,
20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.
21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.
But with this instruction:
Do business while he is away.
Take what he has given us, and use it to make his name great.
What he gives us today - is a test for what we will have in eternity.
Small things are a big deal to Jesus. 10 Minas was still not very much.
10 Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.
11 So if you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will trust you with what is genuine?
12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?
Over the next day or two, the people who heard this would have an opportunity to praise Jesus, to shout HOSANNA
And they would take their coats.
And they would cut tree branches.
Whatever they had, whatever they could find, just the little bits
and they would use it for the Glory of their God.
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 colt 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.’ ”
32 So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 “The Lord needs it,” they said.
35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it.
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!
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”